President Gail Moseley opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Mary Dula followed with the invocation.
Mary welcomed visitors, Tony Malorni and our speakers Amanda Johnson and Sarah Schmidt from Kent State University. She also thanked Steve Dunton and De-De Mulligan for checking us in this morning.
CELEBRATIONS:
Rotary Anniversaries: Karen Monbeck has been a Rotarian for 26 years this week and Ray Evans for 18.
Wedding Anniversaries: Rich and Cathy Bedell are celebrating 30 years of marriage this week.
Birthdays: Maria Ferrara led us in singing to Mike Kostyack, Annie Hanson and Andy Denton
Drawing: Gail Moseley had the winning ticket but Ron Taggart pulled the 5 of hearts. There are only 14 tickets left.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Foodbank Volunteer Time: Tonight from 4:30 to 6:30 is our volunteer time at the Foodbank in Akron. Please help if you can.
Don Coughlin thanked Gail for arranging for us to have tickets to Tootsie last week at E.J. Thomas. People enjoyed the show for our fifth Wednesday evening event.
Board Meeting will be this Friday, December 9 at 7:15 a.m. at City Hall. Minutes of the November board meeting are attached to these minutes.
Salvation Army Bell Ringing will continue for the next two Saturdays at Acme in Stow. For both of the next two weeks, help is needed from 1:00-3:00. Contact Mary Dula at 330-715-6358 if you can help.
Stuff the Bucket: Next Wednesday we will Stuff the Bucket for the Salvation Army at our meeting. Bring cash or checks made out to The Salvation Army.
Tips for Bellacinos Staff: As you sign in next week, there will again be another chance to contribute to a gift for the Bellacinos staff that takes care of us each week.
The Rotary Foundation: In order to wrap up our Foundation campaign, Dave Renninger needs to have our gifts next week. You may bring your checks to the meeting made our to The Rotary Foundation or mail them to him at 5179 Bramble Creek Trail, Stow, OH 44224.
Bruce Redmon Memorial Bench: Dick Hall is in charge of donations toward a bench in memory of Bruce Redmon. It will be placed at the back of the funeral home. This is not the official club donation but the bench will be the result of Rotarians who wish to participate as friends of Bruce in acknowledgment for all he did for the club. See Dick Hall with your contribution.
Helping Hands Wrapping Event: Tuesday, December 13 at 5:30 is the day we will gather to wrap the gifts for our Holiday Giving for the 12 families we have adopted. Note that we will meet to do this in the community room of the SAFETY BUILDING which is on the opposite side of the parking lot from City Hall. Food will be provided by Bellacinos.
Helping Hand Gift Delivery: The gifts are due to be delivered to the recipients on Saturday, December 17. Unfortunately John Long is unable to coordinate this part of the giving due to a family emergency so Annette Oborn is now in charge. If you would like to help deliver, please contact Annette at 330-689-0485.
Holiday Party: Next week at the time of our regular meeting, we will have our club holiday party. Bellacinos will have a special menu for us and we will do more to celebrate, but without a gift exchange. This will be our last meeting for 2022.
Football Pool Winners: Those who won for the final week of the Football Pool are: Diana Stalker, Steve Dunton, Ron Dodds, Thomas Egan, Michael Anese, Cheryl Roy, Dan Bender and Chris Hagan. Thanks to Pat Messmore for coordinating the event and to Annette for mailing the checks.
Bulldog Bag Items: Starting in January, you can bring your donations to the club meetings, but in the meantime, drop them off at City Hall or the library. By January 11, the group would like to have the following from us: Ramen noodle packs, packs of Nutrigrain bars, toothpaste and toothbrush, boxes of 8 granola bars and 8-pack boxes of hot chocolate.
PROGRAM: Brad Ruth introduced Amanda Johnson, PhD and Sarah Schmidt from Kent State University. They were speaking to us about an upcoming Peace Education Seminar to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from July 11-14 next year. (See the flier about the trip attached to these minutes.)
Dr. Johnson is Director of the Gerald H. Reed Intercultural Education Center at Kent State and has previously worked in Equador, S. Korea, Chile, Saudi Arabia and Virginia Tech. Sarah Schmidt is Administrator of Global Education at Kent State with a focus on peace education.
The basic premise of the conference will be to bring educators together from K-12 areas around the world to look at the power of education to explore and live peace. Because Rwanda's experience in recovering from genocide, which killed 28 million people, has led to creating ways for victims and perpetrators to live together in reconciliation villages, it seemed to be a logical location for the world-wide conference. There will be a general theme of rebuilding and peace building which should translate into a vision of northeast Ohio educators which can be shared with their peers. This venture will be working directly with educators and is not a curriculum that is "handed down from the top." The tools learned here will feature conflict resolution with skill sets that can be applied to all levels of education. The curriculum will be inclusive and will involve environmental justice. It will be student-centered, and focus on human rights, social justice and how to teach peace peacefully. As the teachers return from the conference, they will be able to use the strategies with others in the school systems.
Gail ended the meeting by leading us in the Four-Way Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Tonight: 4:30 to 6:30 Volunteer Time at the Akron-Canton Foodbank
Friday, December 9, 7:15 at City Hall, Board Meeting
Saturday, December 10, Bell-Ringing for the Salvation Army at Acme in Stow
Tuesday, December 13, 5:30 Holiday Helping Hands Wrapping Party at the Safety Building in Stow
Wednesday, December 14, 7:30 Holiday Party for our morning meeting. Stuff the Bucket for the Salvation Army and donations for The Rotary Foundation.
Saturday, December 17, deliver gifts for our Holiday Helping Hands
Wednesday, December 21, no morning meeting. Merry Christmas
Wednesday, December 28, no morning meeting, Happy New Year.
Wednesday, January 11, work on the Habitat House in Cuyahoga Falls as part of our Cluster Project.
Submitted by Andy Denton