Co-President, Steve Dunton opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Program Host, John Long, followed with an invocation related to the difficult times we are in.
Steve thanked Sgt. At Arms, Todd Hearty and his assistant Matthew Aguiar for checking us in.
CELEBRATIONS:
Birthdays: Jenny Coleman has a birthday this week.
Raffle: John Long had the winning ticket and then proceeded to pull the joker, so he and Chief Stone will split the tiny pot.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Mary Parr shared that her daughter successfully defended her thesis and will graduate with her Master Degree from Ohio State in August.
Ray Evans announced that he became engaged to Linda Moran last Saturday evening.
Ron Taggart said that his niece now has her official baby sitter certificate. So, if anyone is interested in her services, contact Ron.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
When you have an announcement: Steve and Jeff ask that if you have an announcement you tell Todd when you check in so he can add you to the list.
Stuff the Bus: Carrie Malotte announced that this event will take place on August 2nd and 3rd at Giant Eagle at Target Plaza and at Marc's on Graham Rd. We need people to work at these sites both days, as well as people to donate supplies. See the attached list for requested donations. If you go to our Facebook page, you can find a QR link to Amazon for easy purchase. This is how we gather materials for the Teacher Supply Cupboard. Sign up as you sign in.
Football Books are available now from Pat Messmore at a cost of $20 for a chance to win $20.00 per quarter in each of the Ohio State Football games. He asks that when you complete the book information that you print legibly. We need clear information for mailing the checks.
Adopt-A-Spot: Marty Tass reports that the spot is doing well thanks to John Long, Rich Bedell, Will Sumser, De-de Mulligan, Carrie Malotte and Mary Parr who have weeded so far If you want to have a turn weeding, just let Marty know.
Club and Foundation Budgets: Rich Bedell began by thanking those who served on the budget committee. They were Linda Trevorrow, Christina Gary, Dave Christman, Gail Moseley, Annette Oborn, Jeff Film and Steve Dunton. He then presented the budgets to the club for their approval. The budgets were previously approved by both the foundation and club's boards. After Rich's explanation, Annette moved to accept the budget and with a second by Linda, the membership voted their approval unanimously. Annette thanked Rich for all of his hard work in putting this together.
Membership: The board voted to approve the membership application from JoAnne Loparo. Her sponsor is Jenny Coleman. Any comments should be given to either Jeff Film or Steve Dunton in the next two weeks. You can read the entire minutes of the July 12 board meeting which are attached to these minutes. Many thanks to Gail Moseley for recording those.
PROGRAM:
John Long, Program Host began by sharing several jokes. The one appropriate to today's program was: Q: Why do firemen have dogs for mascots? A: To locate the fire hydrants. After he waited for the groans to stop, he introduced Stow's Fire Chief, Mark Stone. After time as an EMT and then working in Akron as a firefighter, he came to Stow in 2000 and became chief in 2014. John shared that one of his major accomplishments ha been to take the department to a digital platform for their functions.
Chief Stone shared the mission of the department: Saving lives and property through prevention, supression , education and quality emergency medical service. The EMS part of their service is about 80% of their work. Historically, the first department, opening in 1934 was volunteer. In 1957 they went to some fire fighters being paid but still supported by many volunteers. In 1989 they added their first paramedics.
In the past few years, a growing number of calls have come into the department. In 2022, there were 5067 calls. In 2023 there were 5307 and it is projected that by 2025 that there will be 5700. In looking at the functions, during the past year, there were 3862 calls for EMS and only 23 fire calls. Chief Film feels that this may be due to the amount of public education and also the 2523 inspections that were made last year. He really praised Fire Safety Educator,Mel, for the work that she does in the community. Last year she presented 322 programs for preschoolers and to 306 seniors with many in between. Stow has several specialized teams....Hazmat, the Dive Team, Confined Space Rescue, Swift Water Rescue and Trench Rescue. All are teams that service not only Stow but also other communities as well.
Current advances include Assist 77 which is a program that works with firefighters and police after a critical incident to help them through he trauma of the situation. There also is now a drone team where firefighters work with with the airport here. Drones are used to look for lost people in a fire situation because their thermal qualities enable them to see through smoke.
We are fortunate to have such high quality services available when we need them, such as in recent devastating house fires that people experienced in Stow.
Steve closed the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way-Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wednesday, July 24 7:30 at Bellacinos, when our morning speaker will be Doug Wurta introducing us to the Akron Cooperative Farm...its Beginnings and Impact on the Immigrant Community in our area.
Wednesday, July 31. There will be no morning meeting but we will have an evening social time at Sarah's Vineyard. Sign up as you sign in next week.
Friday August 2 and Saturday August 3: Stuff the Bus at Giant Eagle and Marcs
Friday, August 9, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at Stow City Hall
Wednesday, August 14, 4:30-6:30 Volunteer time at the Akron Canton Foodbank
Saturday, August 17, Back to School Bash
Labor Day Weekend. Summer Sunset Blast at Silver Springs Park. Volunteers will be needed.
Wednesday, October 9, in the evening Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction at Guys Party Center.
Submitted by Andy Denton
Andrea Denton
330-474-7265
330-414-1934