President Mary Parr opened the meeting by leading the club in the Pledge of Allegiance. Then Program Host Carrie Malotte led in the invocation.
PROGRAM: Carrie began by sharing that her recent joy was spending last weekend in Pennsylvania for her chosen family reunion. It was a big family because there were 224 there for dinner on Sunday. The thing that she is looking forward to is that there is nothing going on this weekend.
She then introduced our speaker, Bryan Mauk whose topic was “End It For Good”. He has spent 15 years in the non-profit world working with homeless people, those who are working on re-entry after time in prison and those who are dealing with addictions. In his personal life, he is interested in home renovation and is a barbeque enthusiast.
As early as high school, Bryan began visiting the homeless on streets and in shelters and discovered a typical pattern that went from homelessness on the streets to shelters and then to prison, most of whom had experienced trauma of some sort, frequently at around age 12. He later learned that when someone experiences severe trauma or even addictions, that their social and emotional growth stops or pauses at that age. Therefore in a sense he was dealing with 12-year-old people in adult bodies living on the street or in some type of shelter.
He talked about the differences that happen when drugs are legal. First of all the market changes. Legal medications come from a pharmacy and are regulated by authorities while illegal drugs come from non-professional dealers who work in an unregulated market. Legal drugs require strict standards for how they are created. In the unregulated market, the user doesn't really know what they are getting because the seller will takes whatever steps are necessary to keep the addiction going. What they think the are purchasing may be laced with something like Fentanyl, which is even more addictive than the item they think they are receiving. The consumer is even looked at differently. A person utilizing drugs from the regulated market is called a patient while the person using from an unregulated market is called a criminal. The differences in the consumer, the substance provided and the market all need to be examined if the battle against addiction is going to have a winner.
Accountability is also an issue. Too many times the criminal justice system has a cycle in which people are trapped. For 80% of the people there, mental illness or substance abuse or both are part of their story. They are arrested for illegal usage which creates trauma and then they are sent to prison. When they are released the may start to use all over again to dull the pain they are feeling. Bryan believes strongly that harm reduction is the key. He mentioned Kratom which is called “gas station heroin”. People can drink it like tea and find that their cravings are reduced but they don't get high. There is also more interest in the use of psychedelics like Ibogane, which are thought to have the power to reset the mind.
When someone says that an addicted individual needs to “hit rock bottom” before they can be cured, realize that rock bottom may be death. Therefore it is necessary as a society that we find a better way to end addiction for good.
For further information go to curious@EndItForGood.com or contact Bryan at Bryan@EndItForGood.com.
BUSINESS MEETING:Mary thanked Todd Hearty and Dave Renninger for getting us checked in this morning.
Celebrations:
Rotary Anniversary: De-De Mulligan celebrates her 19th year as a Rotarian this week.
Birthdays: Mary Parr and Bob Oborn both have birthdays this week. Annette Oborn helped us sing well to them.
Happy Buck: Mary visited her brother in Woodstock, Illinois last weekend and did a Rotary banner exchange with him.
Drawing: Mike Dunton's table had the winning number but drew the 9 of clubs, so the pot will continue to grow.
Announcements:
Foodbank: Our volunteer time this month is today from 4:30-6:30 at the Foodbank. Interact will be back with the group tonight. Steve Dunton encouraged us to help.
Fifth Wednesday: Mary Dula is working on our Fifth Wednesday activity for September30 and exploring various restaurants. If you have an idea, please contact Mary this week at 330-715-6358.
Board Meeting: will be this Friday, September 11 at 8:15 at City Hall. Board members are expected to attend but everyone is welcome. Minutes of the August meeting are attached to these minutes.
Interact: John Probonic explained that the lst two weeks saw a lot happen with the Teacher Supply Cupboard. Things were organized into the new cubbies that were built and teachers' orders were filled and delivered to the schools.
Football Pool: The winners have started for this fall. The only member who won this week was Denise Green, who incidentially won 3 times. There is a story here that Dick Hall or Eric or Denise Green would be glad to tell you.
Reverse Raffle: Dick Hall shared that all of the tickets for the Oct. 14 Reverse Raffle are out and the majority of the money has come back in. We are still looking for Silent Auction items, gift cards in $10 and $15 denominations, or bottles of wine. Gail Moseley wants to know about your silent auction items. Give your gift cards to Lindsey Malin and your wine to donation to Annette Oborn . If you have a group that wants to be seated together, please give the names to Andy Denton, either written, texted at 330-414-1934 or emailed at dentontaz@aol.com. When you turn in a list, please make sure that everyone on the list is in agreement to be seated together and give me both first and last names.
Newer Member event: Bob Oborn reminded us of the district event for newer (within the past 3 years) members to learn that Rotary is more than our Wednesday morning meeting. It will be at Lions Park in Cuyahoga Falls next Thursday, September 17 at 6:00. At 7:00 the group will continue at a local brewery. Contact Bob at 330-801-0159 for more information.
Emergency Response for Seniors: Mike Dunton reminded everyone of the Emergency Response for Seniors session that will be on Friday, September 25th. That one is sold out but another will be scheduled when seniors will learn about how Rotarians may come to their aid during a power outage that lasts 12 hours or more. With agreement from seniors, they can ask to be contacted by phone during that outage and if there is no response, request a Rotarian's visit to check on them. This will save 911 calls and could be a real community service. There will be a sign-up sheet for interested Rotarians and training will follow. You can contact Mike at 330-606-6727 for further information.
Next Week: For our meeting next week, our District Governor, Terri Speck will be our speaker coming to us from the Westlake-Bay Village Club. Be with us!
President Mary closed the meeting by leading in the Rotary Four-Way-Test.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday September 11, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting at City Hall
Thursday, September 17, 6:00 Lions Park in Cuyahoga Falls, District membership event.
Monday, September 21, 6:00 at the FOP Lodge, Reverse Raffle Committee Meeting
Wednesday, September 23, 6:30 p.m. Citizens for Non-Partisan Politics event at The Center
Friday, September 25, 9:00-Noon at the Senior-Community Center Emergency Response for Seniors Event
Wednesday, September 30, Fifth Wednesday, no morning meeting but there will be a social event in the evening.
Wednesday, October 14, Reverse Raffle/Silent Auction at The Center in the evening. There will be no morning meeting that day,
Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Denton