ATTENDANCE: Members of our club joining us this morning were: Rick Archer, Rich Bedell, Bill Choler, Dave Christman. Roger Cline, Jennifer Coleman, Andy Denton, Mary Dula, Elizabeth Eaken, Ray Evans, Mark Ferguson, Sue Figler, Jeff Film, Christina Gary, Dick Hall, Michael Kostyack, Carrie Leising, Tom Loepp, John Long, Pat Messmore, Gail Moseley, John Pribonic, Dave Renninger, Brad Ruth, Olivia Saltzmann, Steve Stimmel, Bob Sweitzer, Ron Taggart, Marty Tass, Linda Trevorrow, and Marissa Williams. Guests: Jon Leissler and our speaker, Jim Mulholland.
President, Linda Trevorrow opened the meeting by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Ron Taggart, program host, followed with an invocation about respecting differences so that our shared humanness can work together in service for the betterment of humankind.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Jeff Film announced that his second grandson arrived last week. Little Miles Anthony and his mother are both doing fine.
Tina Gary became a Spartan last weekend after competing in the tough Spartan Race in Garrettsville. She said 240 burpees later she became a Spartan.
Dave Christman said that since his daughter has a job at Children's Hospital, all of his kids are off his health insurance.
Mary Dula said that she is thankful that the students from Interact did a great job weeding our Adopt-A-Spot.
Marty Tass is thankful for Chrystal Clinic taking good care of him for rotator cuff surgery.
Gail Moseley thanked Dick Hall for the great job he did in leading the Golf Outing Committee.
CELEBRATIONS:
Birthdays: Brad Jagger will celebrate on June 14.
Wedding Anniversaries: Elizabeth and Chip Eaken (26), Bill and Pam Choler (31) J.T. and Kathleen Stimler (40), and Ray and Jan Evans (61) all have wedding anniversaries before next week's meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Golf Outing: Dick Hall gave a report of Monday's Golf Outing. Linda thanked him for his leadership in the project and he in turn thanked the club for their donations, participation and volunteer efforts. The club grossed $23,894, paid Silver Lake $7,900 and after other expenses netted $15,500.
Foodbank: Mary Dula reported that the restrictions on volunteers have again been loosened, so if you are interested in volunteering on July 7, let Mary know at either mattskstrnn@yahoo.com or at 330-715-6258. The time is from 4:40-6:30. She expressed appreciation to the Interact students for volunteering last month.
Board Meeting: The board meeting will not be this Friday, June 11, but will be the following week, June 18 at 7:15 a.m. and will still be on zoom. Board members are expected to attend and Linda will send the link to anyone else who wishes to attend if you let her know at ltrevorrow@bti-cpas.com.
Blood Drive: Olivia Saltzmann Smedi reminded everyone that Wichert Insurance, located across the street from Silver Lake Country Club, will host a Red Cross sponsored blood drive on June 16 from 9:00-3:00. Appointments are necessary due to COVID restrictions. They still need to have 13 more people sign up. Blood is really needed because of the number of drives that had to be cancelled during the pandemic. Participants will receive a $5.00 Amazon gift card for donating and if you wish, your blood will be tested for antibodies. Olivia says to contact her at olivia.saltzmann@wichert.com for more information. This is a way that anyone who is eligible can offer service to the community. None of us knows when we might need to receive blood and we surely want to have it available if we need it.
PROGRAM:
Program Host, Ron Taggart related his happiness moment directly to this morning's program. He said that it was a great experience to actually travel to El Salvador to see the project. He was also able to help host an ice cream party for the area's children while there.
Ron introduced Jim Mulholland who is the Executive Director of Companion Community Development Alternatives (CoCoDA), a Non-Governmental Organization based out of Indianapolis. He began with a volunteer with the organization, became a board member and now is the CEO. He has enjoyed many collaborations with Rotarians across the US and Canada and is a Paul Harris fellow. He was with us to share information about CoCoDA's solar powered water system initiative that our club co-sponsored in 2019.
To stress the importance of water, Mr. Mulholland explained that we can live for 2 months without food but only 3 days without water. In places where water is not as readily accessible as it is here, water is also time since people spend as much as 3-4 hours per day gathering water.
There are some advantages to solar-powered water systems. First of all, they are simple and effective. Panels produce energy to power a pump which takes water to a distribution tank where the water is chlorinated. A water faucet is placed in each home along with a meter which determines the fee for each family, generally about $4 to $5 per month. In El Salvador, where the first system was placed 11 years ago, there are only about 2 cloudy weeks per year so the system is very effective.
More recently a system was placed in Zacataloza, Nicaragua. That is the system we helped support by giving the last $5000 out of the $60,000 that was needed for the project. In these cases, another benefit is that the local residents have control over their own systems. When the system reaches capacity, more panels can be added to increase the amount of water that can be distributed.
Communities to benefit from the project are vetted and a needs assessment is done. When it is determine that the municipality is ready for the project, they agree to provide manpower resources. Life changes for the communities when the water comes to their homes.
Linda explained that she is glad we were able to participate in the project and thanked Ron for bringing this need to the attention of our club.
JOKE: John Long was our jokester today and shared jokes that are on popsicle sticks. One example: Q: Where do cows go for entertainment? A: To the moooovies. John can probably share many others with him if you ask him.
Next week Mary Dula will give us our joke.
Submitted by Andy Denton