After President Annette Oborn opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, Gail Moseley led us in a meaningful invocation.
Annette welcomed Olivia Saltzmann on zoom and our in person visitors, Dan Mazzola, Kim Polatas, our Assistant District Governor, and Leslie Powlette Stoyer, our speaker.
CELEBRATIONS:
Rotary Anniversaries: Mark Ferguson is observing 17 years as a Rotarian this week and Jeff Film, 9 years.
Wedding Anniversaries:
Leslee and Gary Salhany celebrate 40 years of marriage this week, Mike and Alaina Kostyack are celebrating 33 years and Annie Hanson Hilaire and Mike Hilaire are celebrating their fourth anniversary.
Birthday: Maria Ferrara led us in singing to Tom Loepp for his birthday.
Raffle: Annie had the winning ticket but drew the 5 of spades, so we all have more chances to win.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Dues: John Long reminded us that dues are due now. He would very much like to have everyone's check by next Wednesday because after that he will be gone for a month.
Football Books: Pat Messmore reminded everyone that the books are in and are only $20. Two thirds of them are gone after the first week, so act now. To reserve your book(s), contact him at pat@messmoreagency.com.
Stuff the Bus: Annette thanked everyone who worked on Stuff the Bus this past weekend. Carrie Malotte and Dinah Henderson did a great job of directing everyone. We collected an amazing amount of school supplies for the teachers in our distict. If you still want to drop off supplies, there are boxes at City Hall and at Marc's.
Youth Protection: Jeff Film thanked everyone for reading the Youth Protection information and then taking the quiz. He said only a handful of people have not yet done it. If you need more information or another copy of the information, contact Jeff at: jfilm706@gmail.com.
Rubber Ducks Game: Jeff reminded us that he has tickets for the August 18 game in Akron, Tickets are only $12. Get your tickets from Jeff, pay him and then the club will write one check for all of the tickets.
PROGRAM:
Gail Moseley, program host, said that her memorable Rotary moment was last weekend's "Stuff the Bus" event. She was so impressed at how the community just gave and gave.
Gail then introduced Leslie Powlette Stoyer, Executive Director of the Akron National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in Akron. She has been in that position since 2011. Prior to that, she practiced corporate and real estate law and attended Seaton Hall University.
Leslie explained that NAMI (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) in Summit County is part of a national organization based in Arlington, Virginia. The state office is in Columbus. Their mission is to support, educate and advocate for anyone affected by a mental illness. It was begun by two women at a kitchen table in Madison, Wisconsin, who felt that anyone with a mental illness needed to have a voice. One in every 5 people are affected by mental illness and will experience mental illness within a year. Since the pandemic, one in three people are experiencing anxiety and depression since the pandemic. Within the juvenile justice system, 70% of the youth are affected by a mental health condition and 50% of veterans experience mental illness symptoms. With youth, 50% of all mental health conditions are manifested by age 14 and most people who are going to exhibit symptoms of mental illness do so by age 24. What makes this problem especially difficult is that there is a nationwide shortage of mental health clinicians and the wait time is often three months.
To try to address these issues, NAMI offers a wide variety of opportunitites. To support families, Family to Family meets once a week for 8 weeks with in-person and zoom opportunities. Peer Support is for those experiencing the symptoms and have a diagnosed mental health condition. Once a month, such individuals experience assistance from those with lived experience. NAMI Basics offers help to those who are caregivers of youth and teens. This offers an on-line module and is free at NAMI.org. Ending the Silence is presented to middle school, high school and college classes to try to break down stigma and to offer help and hope. Homefront is an on-line, four times per year program designed for active duty, military and or veterans.
NAMI also offers several programs for clients. Participation needs referral from a case manager, therapist or doctor and includes the Housewarming Program, which will be our Cluster Project for this year. When clients are able to go into their first apartment, the Housewarming Program provides them with all of the non-furniture needs for setting up their apartment. This includes kitchen items, bathroom and bedroom supplies such as linens. They fill about three orders per week for the designated individuals. People moving into the apartments may have been homeless, in a group home or incarcerated prior to being able to manage their apartment.
For further information about NAMI both locally and nationally, go to www.namisummit.org or www.nami.org. You can reach the local office by calling 330-252-1188 or at info@namisummit.org.
President Annette ended the meeting by leading us in the Four-Way-Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wednesday, August 9, 7:30 a.m. Morning meeting at Bellacinos, with John S. Knight, CEO and Director of the Akron Art Museum as our program
Friday, August 11, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Thursday, August 17, "End Polio Now" benefit game at Progressive Field.
Friday, August 18. Rubber Ducks Game in Akron with fireworks afterwards.
Wednesday, October 11 in the evening Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction
Friday, June 14, 2024, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Submitted by Andy Denton