Co-president, Brad Ruth opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Co-president John Pribonic followed with an invocation about respecting everyone’s differences.
CELEBRATIONS
Birthdays: Dick Hall’s birthday is tomorrow and Gail Moseley’s is on the 16th. Mary Dula’s table led in singing to them.
Healing: It was good to hear that Bob Oborn is recovering on schedule.
John Murphy, former member of our club has been in town for a short visit and is doing well.
Drawing: Tom Loepp’s table had the winning ticket but drew the 4 of spades, so the pot will continue to grow.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Beer Tent: Christina Gary announced that she still can use help with the beer tent at the Burning River Endurance Run and Relay on Saturday, July 24, particularly for the 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. shift. If you can help, please contact her at
330-607-3003.
Stuff the Bus Project for the Teachers’ Supply Closet: Carrie Leising said that she will have a sign-up sheet next week for 2-hour shifts for Fri., Sat. And Sunday of the tax-free weekend, August 6,7 and 8.
Dues: Remember that dues are due now. If you give your check to Andy Denton at the meetings, she will get it to Annette along with those that come in the mail.
Grant Information: Information was on each table describing The Rotary Foundation’s contributions for each club in our district. This is important information because part of the district grant criteria for each club involves their donations. Although we are not one of the largest clubs in the district, our donations were very significant, totalling just short of $16,000. Christina Gary thanked the club, and especially Dick Hall for the encouragement he gave so we could surpass our goal.
Adopt-A-Spot: Marty Tass thanked Steve Dunton, Steve Stimmel and Dinah Henderson for the weeding they have done at our spot. Dinah said that the Interact students will meet at the spot to weed, every Wed. morning at 9:00 a.m.
Donations Committee: Marv Mills said that he needs someone else to serve on his committee. Please contact him at
330-928-0432 if you are willing to serve.
Football Pool Books: Pat Messmore has the books for sale now at $20.00 each. He described how the books work with the possibility of winning $20.00 each quarter. He will have the books at the meeting again next week.
PROGRAM:
Jimmy Miller, Speech and Debate Coach at the high school, talked about the importance of communication and the need to assist students in turning the nervousness from speaking in front of others into something productive. He expressed pride in his team of students for their willingness to create their speeches, rehearse them and then get up early on a Saturday morning to go somewhere for a competition. He explained that many programs around the state quit during the pandemic, while others worked harder and thrived. The S-MF students placed 9th in the state out of 64 programs.
He introduced the three winners of the Stow-Munroe Falls High School competition who had presented speeches based on The Rotary Four-Way Test. It is Emma LaMantia’s first year on the team. Sarah Schmidt is a national qualifier in her category. Nolan Miller is also a national qualifier after only two years on the team.
Emma used her time to apply The Four-Way test to her goal of becoming a therapist. She said that since anxiety and depressing are such pressing concerns for students. She feels that her career choice does meet the perameters of the test.
In a similar train of thought, Sarah put the destigmatizing of mental illness to the Four-Way-Test. She rationalized that normalizing mental illness would mean that more individuals would get help, negative judgment would go by the wayside and acceptance would follow.
Nolan based his presentation around the topic of “Small Talk.” He explained that having an option for small talk available can fill a lot of uncomfortable spaces and help people enjoy a potentially uncomfortable situation. It also can help people to learn to be better listeners through the element of surprise that small talk could bring.
JOKE: Linda Trevorrow shared a few of her jokes, such as:
Q. Why did the photo go to jail?
A. It was framed.
Q. Why do bees have sticky hair?
A. They use honeycombs.
Tina was assigned to have our joke for next week.
Brad dismissed the club by telling everyone to go out and do what we do.
Submitted by Andy Denton
