After President Annette Oborn opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance, Program Host, Jenny Coleman offered a meaningful invocation.
Annette thanked Steve Dunton, Sgt. at Arms and his helper, Dave Renninger for getting us checked in this morning. She also welcomed our visitors, Mike Peterson, Kari Suhadolnik, and Lisa Meranti, our speaker. We also had two visitors from the Rotary Club of Akron, Jacinto Nunez and Susan Colville-Hall.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Annette complimented the Munroe Falls Fire Department for addressing their smoke detector which would not quit beeping. She really praised them for their professionalism and their response in the middle of the night.
Marty Tass told us about his grandson who plays soccer for Stow-Munroe Falls High School. He was proud to be part of a game where they had a "clean sheet", which means they held their opponent, Brecksville-Broadview Heights to no score, clinching a win for Stow.
CELEBRATION:
Birthday: It is Mary Parr's birthday today, so Carrie Malotte led us in singing really well to her.
DRAWING: John Long's table had the winning number but Tom Loepp pulled the ace of spades. Thanks, Tom, from the rest of us!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Zoom: The link for Zoom is attached to these minutes. There are always going to be times you can't make a meeting, but we will try to have Zoom available every week. Please try it.
Board Meeting Summary: Annette reported that the board made the decision that all new benches that will be ordered will have the Rotary emblem as part of their design. Also, Kari Suhadolnik has submitted her application for membership, which the board approved. If you have any comments you want to share, please contact Annette within the next two weeks. Her application is attached to these minutes, as are the complete Board Meeting minutes.
Foodbank Change in Meeting Day: Mary Dula led us in a discussion as to the best date to volunteer at the Foodbank. If Interact students are going to participate, we need a different time. What was decided was that for September 27 and October 25 we will keep the 4th Wednesday. After that we will go to the second Wednesday. So mark your calendars for November 8, December 13, January 10, February 14, March 13, April 10, May 8, an June 12 for the rest of this Rotary year.
Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction: Gail Moseley reports that there are only 31 tickets left, but reminded everyone that the date is only 4 weeks away. In addition to needing to sell the rest of the tickets, the committee needs $25 and $20 gift cards, bottles of wine, and silent auction items. We will have bingo again this year. Members are asked to bring bottles of wine to the meeting on Sept 27.
Teacher Supply Delivery: Carrie explained the process for delivering Teacher Closet Supplies to the schools. Rotarians should drive up by the loading dock by Joshua's in the back of the school and students will be waiting to load your cars right after the meeting.
Football Fundraiser: Pat Messmore reported that the following club members were winners in week 2, along with all the other winners outside of the club: Pat Messmore, Tom Loepp, Tom Loepp again, and Ron Taggart.
English As A Second Language: Annette reported that we will not be doing this project this year. However, John Pribonic now has the number of third graders in the system, so dictionaries for third graders will be ordered and be ready for an October distribution.
Host Families: Jacinto Nunez and Susan Colville-Hall were here from the Akron Rotary to seek a host family for a student from France who is already attending our high school. He explained that they like to have 3 host families while the student is here so that have different family experiences. Contact him at janunez@vorys.com or Susan at 330-714-3765 if you would like to have further discussion about this.
Special Presentation: Through no fault of anyone here, Mary Dula did not receive her pin to become a "Paul Harris Plus One" member of the club as she should have almost a year ago. Dave Renninger was happy to present that to her today. Thank you, Mary.
Bulldog Bags: The next items that Bulldog Bags would like from us are: juice boxes, mac and cheese cups, bars of soap, 32oz. box of pancake mix, 24 oz. pancake syrup and peanut butter. Bring your donations to a meeting or drop them off in the lobby of City Hall or the library by October 11.
PROGRAM: Jenny Coleman, Program Host, began by talking about her happy Rotary experience. She said that she has loved it when her daughter could be with her for service like Salvation Army Bell Ringing. Jenny not only is a service-oriented person, but is teaching her daughter to be the same.
She then introduced Lisa Meranti who connects people to nature through her work as Volunteer Manager at Summit Metro Parks. She has both her BA and MA in environmental fields.
She explained that the park system has 16 parks, 3 nature centers and over 150 trail miles. There are 175 employees but over 400 volunteers. There is always a need for volunteers, so for anyone who is interested, go to SummitMetroparks.org and click on the white circle where it says "get involved".
The newest park is at Summit Lake, and is a nature center along the towpath. She talked about how we could learn to encourage wildlife in our own back yards by speaking to their educational folks about what to remove and what to add to encourage the wildlife we want and to discourage others. She talked about how the Fall Hiking Spree is now in its 60th year and goes from September 1 to November 30.
Lisa also emphasized how the parks are making use of Munroe Falls Metro Park with the Fall Family Outing which will be on September 30 and October 1. It is a great experience for the whole family and includes hayrides, campfires, snacks and other fall attributes. Also in Munroe Falls in the upcoming year will be the Mothers' Day 5K for families and even little people in strollers. There will also be a Native Plant Festival and Touch the Truck at Munroe Falls. Lisa also explained that the traffic pattern has changed there for walkers. There is no longer two-way traffic around the lake. The inner lane is for pedestrians and the outer lane is now one way for vehicles so the 1.3 mile loop is now safer for everyone. Formerly there was swimming at Munroe Falls, but this has not happened for a couple of years. But now the parks are in a master planning process for the parks that once permitted swimming. The Metroparks offer a rich component to our lives in Summit County.
Annette led us in the Four-Way Test to close the meeting.
DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, September 20, 7:30.morning meeting at Bellacinos with Rob Senderoff, Head Men's Basketball Coach at Kent State as our program
Wednesday,September 27, 7:30 Morning meeting at Bellacinos. Bring bottles of wine for Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction
Wednesday, September 27, 4:30-6:30, Volunteer time at the Akron Canton Foodbank.
Wednesday, October 4, 7:30, morning meeting at Bellacinos with District Governor, Julie Brandle as our speaker.
Wednesday, October 11, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction 6:30 in the evening. No morning meeting
Friday, October 13, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Tuesday, December 12, Holiday Helping Hands Wrapping in the evening at City Hall
Saturday, May 11, 2024, Heroes Day
Friday, June 14, 2024, Golf Outing at Fox Den
______________________________
Submitted by Andy Denton
Andrea Denton
330-474-7265
330-414-1934