Co-President Steve Dunton called us to order by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance. Then Co-President Jeff Film followed with the invocation about resposibility and service.
Steve thanked Sgt. at Arms, Todd Hearty and his helper Gale Stawiery for getting everyone checked in and welcoming our visitors, Bill Schukay and District Governor, Dale Smith.
HAPPY BUCK: Lesley Salhany gave a happy buck for appreciation to all of those who voted in the Community Choice Awards which resulted in Berkshire Hathaway Simon and Salhany being named first choice in real estate companies in the area.
DRAWING: Gail Moseley's table had the winning number but she drew the king of clubs so the pot will continue to grow.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction: Chairperson, Gail Moseley said that things are moving along very well for the big event which will be October 9 beginning at 6:30 at Guy's Party Center in Akron. People who have tickets and have not yet paid are asked to get the money in as soon as possible or return the tickets that you are not using.
There are a few special things to note.
1. Anyone who has agreed to help on the committee should plan to stay for a few minutes after next week's meeting.
2. Still needed are: gift cards, bottles of wine and baskets for the Silent Auction
3. If you are donating money for a basket, please give that to Gail by next week so that there is time to shop for basket items.
4. If you are planning on someone putting the basket items together, please give them to Tony Malorni by the end of September...the sooner the better.
5. Seating: Andy and Karen Monbeck are working on seating for the event. If you ticket is paid for and you have people you would like to be seated with, please text or e-mail Andy with the information. 330-414-1934 or dentontaz@aol.com. We will be meeting Friday morning again, so anything before that would be helpful.
6. There will be no morning meeting the day of the Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction.
Move to "The Center" On October 16, we will plan to begin meeting at The Center, (formerly SYB) on Steele's Corners. Look for further details in the next couple weeks.
Credit Card Survey: There has been discussion about the possibility of allowing credit card payments for breakfast. If this were to occur, the cost would be passed to the cardholder. Chief Film will be sending out a survey related to this, so watch for it and help the board decide whether this would be a good step or not.
Foodbank: Since we will not volunteer on our usual October 9 time, because of the Reverse Raffle, Mary Dula is checking to see if we could volunteer on the fourth Wednesday instead.
Fifth Wednesday: October 30 will be a fifth Wednesday, so that means no morning meeting but some sort of social event in the evening. If you have a thought of what we might do, contact one of the presidents.
PROGRAM:
President Steve introduced District Governor, Dale Smith who has a degree in ceramic engineering and retired from Avery Dennison in 2021. Moves have taken him to many locations, where he has been a Rotarian, beginning with Cambridge, Ohio. He also has been in Macon, Georgia, Kent, Camden and most recently the Mentor club, where he served as President. He is a Paul Harris +5 and a Bequest Society member.
Dale began by thanking Bob Oborn and Carrie Malotte for their work on the district and complimented the club for achieving the District Citation Award. (This marks the second year in a row that our club has accomplished that.)
Mr, Smith described how each club that he as been a part of inspired him in some way on his Rotary journey, from being inspired at his first club to feeling he became a changed person when he went to PETS (President Elect Training)
Because he experience being a new club member 5 times, he had some thoughts for us to consider. He praised our club for recruiting the many new members this year. However, now our job is to keep the people as members and then to inspire them to really become Rotarians in service and not just members. As he talked about reasons for joining, overwhelmingly the reasons revolved around service, and another significant percentage joined for fellowship/relationships. So when new people become part of the club, engage them in service, and individually invite them to serve. Also, engage them in a social activity by not having them respond to a blanket invitation, but inviting them personally. He also suggested forming a "Companion Club" for some of the people who may not have time or a schedule that allows for meetings, Those individuals could still become Rotarians but only participate in the service events that the club sponsors, without the meeting requirement.
We must be welcoming and continually listening to each other for how we can meet the needs of our members. We must have personal contact with those who are not showing up for meetings or other events. Let people know they are important to the club. On October 19, there will be an event at Mentor High School which is a Club Experience Summit. At that event clubs who have increased membership will give ideas as to how they have accomplished this. Our club will have representatives on the panel. There will also be a session featuring new members who will discuss what attracted them, why they joined and what keeps them. We all can learn from them.
President Steve closed the meeting by leading us in the Rotary Four-Way Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Wednesday, September 25, 7:30 a.m. morning meeting at Bellacinos. The speaker will be Rochelle Sibbio speaking on "Building Affordable Housing Using Volunteers"
Wednesday, October 9. There will be no morning meeting but Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction will be at Guys Party Center in the evening.
Friday, October 11, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Wednesday, October 16, 7:30 a.m. Weekly meeting at The Center
Andrea Denton
330-474-7265
330-414-1934