President Bob Sweitzer opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Tony Malorni, program host, followed with the invocation.
PROGRAM:
Tony began with a series of jokes that you may not want to repeat. For instance; Q. What do you call a pile of cats? A. A meowtain. You can ask him directly to tell you the others.
He then introduced author and attorney, Jim Gardner who he described as a man of many talents. Jim's B.A. was from Ohio State University and his J.D. was from Case. He has practiced law for 30 years.
Jim began by saying that writing is a lonely business but can be a great outlet for things that happen in life, right up there with meditation and exercise. His book, Finding Our Grove was the main subject of his program today. In 1998 he had a son, Daniel, who was born with Down Syndrome. Other than Jim, he had all women in his life, so Jim started putting together “guy trips”. The trips featured visits to a wide variety of college football games in many cities. While they were there, they did not disclose that they were really OSU fans, but instead became fans of the city's team they were visiting and rooted for them that weekend. In addition to these trips enriching Daniel's life, Jim had his dad become part of these excursions after he was diagnosed with cancer. They learned together about the bands, mascots and culture of the town, in addition to becoming familiar with the world of Down syndrome.
Jim also talked about A Chance To Breathe which was a book he wrote that was the story of a 1918 road trip taken by Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone and others who were friends at that time. That publication grew out of a picture of the friends that Jim's Dad had in his office in Highland Square. The friends were on a camping trip in the midst of historical significances. Two of those topics were the Spanish flu and the end of World War I.
His latest book, about 1977 is his current project. It features the space probes Voyager I and Voyager II . They are still sending information back to earth after all these years about communication with other types of life. They took one picture of earth in a beam of sunlight which looked like a piece of dust. Imagine that all of the life on earth looked like a piece of dust to Voyager. There is still so much that we don't know.
BUSINESS MEETING:
Bob thanked Steve Dunton and Dave Renninger for checking us in this morning.
Happy Bucks: Don Coughlin let the club know that his grandson, Landon, who is battling cancer, will have surgery tomorrow to remove and relocate a bone in his leg. This will be an 8-12 hour surgery. Also, Don's youngest son will have major surgery in two weeks. Prayers are appreciated.
Mary Parr will be a retired person starting tomorrow. We are glad that she is finding a new career as our president-elect.
Wedding Anniversaries: Tina and Ethan Gary and Bonnie and Michael Housley are all celebrating wedding anniversaries this week.
Birthdays: Todd Hearty and De-de Mulligan both have birthdays this week.
Drawing: Congratulations to Tom Loepp for pulling the joker this morning. Next week we will begin again with a new deck of cards.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Foodbank: Steve reminded everyone that tonight from4:30-6:30 is our volunteer time at the Foodbank. Be part of the group if you can!
Adopt-A-Spot: Marty Tass reminded everyone that the Adopt-A-Spot planting will be Saturday morning, May 23 at 9:30 at the Doughboy. There will be a mixture of orange sunpatiens with purple scabiosa, so it should be a striking display. Marty reminded us that we have the prime spot in the city so it is very important that we keep it weeded once it is panted. Sign up to plant as you sign in next week.
Heroes' Day: Jeff Film reported that the event was a huge success last weekend particularly with donations from Petitti's and Cosco and the help of many Rotarians and students from Club Interact. Over 200 retired first responders and veterans were recognized.
Irish Beer Fest Pouring: Remember to sign up to help the weekend of June 12-14 for pouring or selling tokens in Cuyahoga Falls. See the recent e-mails from Gail Moseley for more information.
Golf Outing: Remember to recruit golfers and sponsors for our June 12 event, along with donating gift cards and company swag for prizes. We are doing well, so keep up the good work! A form for registration and sponsorship is attached to these minutes.
Next Week: For our program next week, we will recognize the seniors from Club Interact. In addition, we will recognize the 46th anniversary of our club.
President Bob closed the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Today: 4:30-6:30 Foodbank Volunteer time
Wednesday, May 20, 7:30 a.m. regular morning meeting at The Center when we will honor the seniors of Club Interact and also the 46th birthday of our club.
Saturday, May 23, 9:30 am. Adopt a Spot planting
Friday, June 12, Golf Outing at Fox Den
Friday, June 12-Sunday June 14 Irish Fest Beer-Pouring and Token selling opportunity at the Riverfront Beer Fest in Cuyahoga Falls
Wednesday June 17, 7:30 a.m. at the center. Installation of the new president and board members at our regular morning meeting.
Friday, June 19, 7:15 Board meeting at City Hall. Note the change in date due to the Golf Outing.
Wednesday, October 14, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction
Respectfully submitted
Andrea Denton, Secretary