ATTENDANCE: With us this morning were Rick Archer, Rich Bedell, Bill Choler, Roger Cline, Andy Denton, Mary Dula, Steve Dunton, Ray Evans, Mark Ferguson, Jeff Film, Dick Hall, Brad Jagger, Jim Laber, Tom Loepp, John Long, Karen Monbeck, Gail Moseley, Annette Oborn, Bob Oborn, John Pribonic, Dave Renninger, Brad Ruth, Olivia Saltzmann, Steve Stimmel, Ron Taggart, Marty Tass, Kelly Toppin, Lisa Toppin. Linda Trevorrow, Marissa Williams and guests Michael Kostyack and our speaker Michael Gaffney.
President Linda Trevorrow led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to open the meeting. Andy Denton followed with an invocation about being kind.
CELEBRATIONS:
Happy Bucks:
Mary Dula thanked Mayor Pribonic and the city for the signs demanding safety for school busses.
Tom Loepp said that his daughter Stephanie married Andrew Ness.
Andy Denton said that her daughter, Marcie, successfully completed the second round of chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Now she is ready for a stem cell transplant.
President Linda announced that the board accepted the applications of Michael Kostyack and Susa nFigler for membership in the club at last Friday's meeting.The members now have two weeks to give any comments about their application to Linda.
Susan Figler, J.D. is the Major Gifts Director for Boy Scouts of America, Great Trail Council. She is a Stow resident, married to Matt and mother of four daughters, Julia, Mary, Amelia and Kate. She very active in the community including Holy Family Parish, Girl Scouts, and Walsh Jesuit Athletic Team Parent Coordinator among others. Professionally she is a Falls Catholic Credit Union Board Member, and holds membership in Assoc. of Fundraising Professionals, NEO, Leadership Hudson 2019 and Leadership Stow, 2014, the Akron and Ohio Bar Associations. Disney, theater/musicals, walking and hiking are among her interests.
Michael Kostyack is the Director of Human Resources for the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District. He lives in Seven Hills Ohio with his wife, Alaina and is the father of Arlene, Georgia and Maria. He is a member of St. Columbkille Parish, Cleveland Zoological Society. Planet Fitness Gym and is the Seven .Hills Hall of Fame Director of Public Relations. He is also a past member of the Brookpark Kiwanis. Michael enjoys exercising watching baseball and football, rock music and spending time with family and friends.
The minutes of last week's board meeting are attached to these minutes.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Reverse Raffle: Bob Oborn announced that he is looking for someone to run the video for the Reverse Raffle which will be on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 6:00. He also is looking for 12 more gift cards. A gift card will be given as each 10th number is drawn. We are getting low on tickets, so get your ticket now from the Oborns. And, turning in your money would be appreciated. If you e-mail Annette at aoborn@att.net or Bob at boborn@kentelastomer.com, they will send you ticket(s) in a self-addressed stamped envelope so that you can return the stub and your check.
Beer Fest to benefit Stow Community Foundation was announced by Marty Tass. It will take place outside of Heritage Barn with social distancing observed on October 3rd from 2:00-5:00 in the afternoon. Six breweries will be present with box lunches from Bellacinos. Tickets are $40. Marty needs two beer pourers from our club. The club will receive $60 per volunteer as a donation. To volunteer to pour, contact Marty at marty@hkbent.com For more information or to prepay your tickets, in a few days go to smfcommunity.org.
Breakfast Fund: At the board meeting, it was decided that each month for the rest of 2020 Bulldog Bags and the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank will each receive 1/3 of our proceeds. The other third each month will help to fund Holiday Helping Hands and a project for those in our nursing facilities who are veterans or past first responders.
PROGRAM:
Andy Denton,program host, explained that her happiness activity has been to get in touch with people from her past with a note or a call to let them know how they have been important to her.
Andy then introduced speaker, Michael Gaffney, Director of Marketing and Development at Community Support Services, an agency of the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Service (ADM) Board. It provides services to those who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness.
Michael explained that a major goal of the agency is to help people have as full of a life in the community as possible. They offer treatment for both physical and mental illnesses, employment assistance and unique help with housing through group homes and120 single unit apartments that they operate in cooperation with Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority. He told us about the extensive help they offer to homeless people who may have mental illness. Since the pandemic, they have had community volunteers who have packed 30 lunches every weekday because many of their sources for food were not open. Anyone interested can go to cssbh.org and find a link to provide lunches.
He also explained that people who have persistent mental illness tend to die an average of 24 years sooner than the average population. A high percentage report smoking and substance abuse but they have traditionally experienced a lack of good physical health care. To address that need, Community Support Services opened a physical healthcare clinic to offer those services along with the mental health care. It is now opened to the general public in the University Park area.
Art Therapy has become an important and unique part of the overall program. For the past several years, the agency has hosted "Art of Recovery" where artwork created by those who use services was on display and available for sale. This year the show turned into an on-line auction because of the pandemic and 51 of the 58 works of art were sold. The artist retains 75% of the price and the other 25% goes to support the program.
JOKE: John Long was responsible for our joke today and he told us about an elderly lady with several problems. He can tell you the whole joke. Next week's joke will be the responsibility of Jim Laber.
President Linda then sent us forth in service.
Submitted by Andy Denton