Past President Gail Moseley opened this morning's meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. De-De Mulligan, Program Host followed with an invocation from "The Book of Monbeck"
Gail thanked Steve Dunton and Dave Renninger for getting us checked in this morning and welcomed our guests Joshua Jordan, Otis Schoenberg, Griffin Moore, and Jimmy Miller from the high school's Speech and Debate Department. Dawn Miller, Aimee Budnik, Eric Green, Aurora Cooper, Pilar Parsons and Matthew Aguiar. were also welcomed.
CELEBRATIONS:
Wedding Anniversary: Kari Suhadolnik and her husband, Dennis are celebrating their first wedding anniversary this week.
Birthdays: Jeff Film and Elizabeth Eaken both have birthdays this week.
Raffle: Tom Loepp had the winning ticket but drew the ace of spades,so the pot will continue to grow.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Board Members Needed: If you are interested in serving on our Board of Directors, please send Annette a text at 330-813-2059 to let her know you are interested in running for one of the four positions that will be vacant at the end of June because four members terms are expiring.
Bunny Trail Hop: Steve Dunton, chairperson, reminded everyone that the event will be this Saturday, March 23 at Silver Springs Park. We will be in the Oak Tree Shelter. There are two shifts needed for people to help. The first will be from 9:30 to 11:30 and the second from 11:30 to 1:30. Help is particularly needed for the second shift. Let Steve know you can work by text at 330-618-0368 to let him know you can help. Our Club Interact students will also be helping us.
Scholarship Committee: This year's committee will meet next Wednesday, March 27 at 5:00 at City Hall to go over the applications. If you are interested and have not told chairperson,, John Pribonic, please let him know right away with a text at 330-842-9687 so that he can get copies of the applications to you.
Membership Committee: Chair, Brad Ruth announced that more applications have come in which will be considered by our board at their April 12 meeting. For the people approved last month, a date for installation will be decided after next week's meeting when it is determined when sponsors and members are available.
Zoom Link for Meetings: If you find you can't attend a meeting, you can still join us via zoom. The link to sign on is attached to these minutes.
Golf Outing: As a sure sign that spring really is coming, the registration and participation forms for our June 14 golf outing are attached to these minutes. Scott Miller, chairperson is encouraging everyone to invite people to register early and give us the same level of fantastic support that we had last year.
Bulldog Bags: By April 10, Bulldog Bags would like to have the following items from us: microwave pasta cups, fruit cups, shampoo, 3-5 pack boxes of microwave popcorn, boxes of CapriSun drink pouches and boxes of mac 'n cheese. You can bring these items to a meeting or drop them off in the lobby of City Hall.
You can also help pack the Bulldog Bags if you go to City Hall on the following dates from 9:00-10:00 a.m.: April 5 and 19, and May 3 and 17.
The Duck Race fundraiser for Bulldog Bags will be Saturday, April 20 at Meadowbrook Lake Park, 5069 Hudson Dr. Ducks are only $2.00 each.
Interact Project for the District Conference: Club Interact, the high school arm of Rotary, is collecting items for the District Conference. They are collecting cleaning items and baby-proofing things for a refugee project. A list of the requested items is attached to these minutes. Donations can be brought to a weekly club meeting and place in the appropriate laundry baskets. Or, you may use the following links to Amazon and the donations will go directly to the high school.
House Items:
Baby Proofing Items:
District Conference: The conference will take place on April 26 and 27 at the Sheraton Suites. The club will pay registration if you wish to attend. Registration will be available on the Rotary District 6630 website very soon.
Speech and Debate Team Showcase: (This is what was originally scheduled for March 18) For a great evening of pride in the students of our community, be at the auditorium of the high school on Friday evening, April 5 at 7:00. At that time students will show off their skills which recently led them to sixth place in the state out of 83 programs. Five students qualified for nationals. Last year at nationals, they were judged to be 10th in the country out of 300 schools who participated. You will see debate, acting, and speaking from some really skilled students and you will see why they are so special. There is no charge but donations will be accepted. Contact Coach Jimmy Miller at JMILL231@KENT.EDU if you need more information.
PROGRAM: De-De Mulligan, Chair of the Four-Way Speech Contest thanked those who judged the contest: John Pribonic, Annette Oborn, Andy Denton, John Long and Carrie Malotte. She expressed appreciation to Brad Ruth who had everything organized from last year. The purpose of the contest is for the students to take a subject of their choosing and apply the Rotary Four-Way-Test to it. Today we heard the speeches of the three top students of our Stow-Munroe Falls contest. De-De will take the two top winners of our Rotary Four-Way contest to the regional competition on April 6. She introduced Jimmy Miller, the Speech Coach' who talked about their accomplishments as listed in the article above. He added that the students practice or compete every Saturday during the school year.
Mr. Miller introduced Otis Schoenberg, our third place winner who is also one of the qualifiers for Nationals. His topic was "Fast Fashion". Otis talked about how clothing is not made as well as it used to be. Clothes are targeted with a short shelf life because fashion trends turn over so quickly. Fast Fashion clothing is low quality, shipped out quickly and is "dangerous to earth and everything in it". Otis came to this conclusion partially because of the large numbers of children who, in other countries work in the shops for very long hours to produce the inferior products. Teens and young adults having to wear the most trendy clothes have fueled this workmanship that creates fashion that will be out of date in a short time in favor of the next fad. His conclusion stated that if the situation were rectified, it would benefit all concerned because it would cut down on bullying and ostracizing of students who do not have the latest fashion and it would also save many lives of those working in dangerous situations. It would also save the landfills from discarded clothing.
Jimmy Miller then presented Joshua Jordan who is a state qualifier in debate. Joshua is our winner of second place. His talk was about Political Party Polarization. He said that it is the truth that we are the most divided in history because of the power struggles between people of different parties. We are divided enough that we are losing the ability to see the positive attributes of people who are on a different side of the political spectrum than we are. He also explained three solutions to the problem that will be beneficial to all concerned. 1). Try to understand the other individual's perspective. As Joshua debates for one of his speech activities, he is given a topic ahead of time but has to learn how to speak from both sides of that issue because debaters never know which perspective of the the debate topic will be assigned to them. 2). We need to learn to relate to others because often both "sides" are often trying to achieve the same goal just with different methods. 3). Recognize that our differences may cause some separation but that we can still find ways to close rifts and heal wounds, because there are probably many other attributes of a person who are larger than their political beliefs.
Finally, Mr. Miller introduced Griffin Moore, our first place winner. He was a state finalist in Congressional Debate. His topic involved war and the way veterans are treated when them come home after their service, particularly as far as their scant benefits. He said that it is the truth that 72% are upset because of promises that were made and not kept. If it is to be fair to all concerned he said we must give what is promised and be ready to help with the reality of mental and physical disabilities. Griffin cited a survey showing that only about 23% of their issues are covered. He claimed that honoring the promises would build goodwill and better friendships because 20% of military families struggle with issues of healthcare costs. And the right decisions would be beneficial to all concerned because the issues of a 21% homelessness rate and a 7% suicide rate of returning military personnel would be lowered or even eliminated.
Appropriately, Gail Moseley led the group in the Four-Way Test to close the meeting.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Saturday, March 23, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Bunny Trail Hop at Silver Springs Park
Wednesday, March 27, Morning meeting at Bellacinos with Amanda Novelli of Grace House as our speaker.
Wednesday, March 27, 5:00 Scholarship Committee at City Hall
Friday, April 5, Speech and Debate Showcase at the High School
Wednesday, April 10, Bulldog Bag items due
Wednesday, April 10, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Foodbank Volunteer time at the Foodbank
Friday, April 12, 7:15 a,m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27, District Conference at the Sheraton Suites
Saturday, May 11, Heroes Day
Friday, June 14, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Friday, June 21, Board Retreat
Wednesday, October 9 in the evening, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction.
Submitted by Andy Denton
Andrea Denton
330-474-7265
330-414-1934