Dear Fellow Rotarian,
ROTARY MEETINGS THROUGH JANUARY, INCLUDING NEXT WEEK'S BOARD MEETING WILL BE VIRTUAL IN THE INTEREST OF SAFETY. SEE BRAD'S E-MAILED LINK FROM YESTERDAY FOR THE LINK TO SIGN IN EVERY WEEK.
This morning's meeting was opened by Past President Carrie Leising who led us in The Pledge of Allegiance. Brad Jagger, Program Host followed with an invocation directed toward all Rotarians with prayers for strength to serve and also for self-care.
Carrie stated that Brad Ruth is on vacation this week and John Pribonic is having foot surgery today so she is in charge of the meeting.
CELEBRATIONS:
Wedding Anniversary: Dave and Sandy Christman are celebrating 38 years of marriage tomorrow.
Rotary Anniversary: Andy Denton's 20th anniversary as a Rotarian is this week.
HAPPY BUCKS:
Dave Renninger reported on our donations to The Rotary Foundation for 2021. Thirty Rotarians contributed a total of $12,230 to the Foundation. Eleven members will become Paul Harris Fellows for the first time or move up to the next step. They will be recognized when the materials arrive and we are back together for an in-person meeting. Thanks and congratulations to all who participated.
Mary Dula reported on an exciting letter she received from the Akron-Canton Foodbank. Our club has been named the Volunteer of the year group for our monthly efforts. We will be recognized in an upcoming newsletter. Rotarians are strongly encouraged to volunteer at our Feb. 2 volunteer time since pictures will be taken then. The time is from 4:30-6:30 at the Foodbank. Please wear your Rotary work-shirts and let Mary know if you plan to participate. It is important that if you have volunteered in the past, you join the group again this time. Let Mary know at 330-715-6358 if you can be there. The students from the high school's Interact club will also be volunteering again. Mary also recognized Dave Renninger for getting this project started in August of 2013.
Scott Miller is chairing this year's Golf Outing Committee and is looking for people to volunteer to participate on the committee. The event will be Monday, June 6. Call Scott if you are interested in serving on the committee at 234-788-7498.
Board Meeting will be this Friday at 7:15 a.m. on Zoom. Minutes of the December meeting are attached to these minutes.
Volunteer Opportunity: If you are looking for a way to make a difference during this COVID time, see Brad's e-mail from earlier this week where he tells us how we might volunteer at Summa's testing center. Assistance is needed on a daily basis from 9:00 a.m. through 3:00 in the afternoon. Partial shifts are possible and you would not have contact with the patients.
Bulldog Bags: Items needed for January are: cups of macaroni and cheese, small bags of pretzels, toothpaste and toothbrushes. Items can be dropped off at the lobby of City Hall in the Bulldog Bag collection box.
PROGRAM: Host Brad Jagger told us about his efforts during the pandemic. He talked about how he gained a good bit of weight during the past couple of years and so has created a challenge for his church to lose weight through the "Big Fat Pastor" challenge. He has lost 12 pounds so far and is also using the treadmill to walk 1,027 miles, which is the distance between here and his favorite place, Disney World. He also is on YouTube with daily topics including "Fashion From an Old Dad" Check it out.
He then introduced two representatives from Toastmasters International who have developed an alliance with Rotary International. Toastmasters has over 300,000 members in 149 countries. Marcie Dickey is a member of both the downtown Akron club and the Hudson Crossing club. She described the format of the meetings. Each attendee has a role in the meetings either as Toastmaster of the Day, Evaluator, Word of the Day Monitor, Grammarian,Timer or Impromptu Topic Speaker. There is also a Wizard of Ahs who monitors the speakers' use of "ah", "um" and related words.
Alicia Smith-Kirk then discussed the organization's new educational programming related to their alliance with Rotary. The participant decides among 11 different pathways they want to experience. Some possibilities are leadership, humor, team collaboration, planning and motivational strategies. For each pathway there are options of how to reach the goals. The paths are self-paced and include lots of resources in the form of videos and podcasts. To find out more about the Pathways and the alliance between Rotary and Toastmasters, go to
https://my.rotary.org/en/toastmasters-alliance.
JOKE: Mary Dula ended the meeting with a great joke about how the Sahara Forest became the Sahara Desert. It was a great joke that she can share with you.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday, January 14, 7:15 a.m. Board Meeting on Zoom
Wednesday, January 19, 7:30 a.m., morning meeting on Zoom. Speaker: Scott Campbell, Director of Operations, Stow-Munroe Falls City School District.
Wednesday, January 26, 7:30 a.m, morning meeting on Zoom
Wednesday, February , 7:30 a.m. morning meeting with the site to be determined. Beginning of Career Tech month.
Wednesday, February 2, 4:30-6:30 Volunteer time at the Akron Canton Foodbank.
Saturday, February 5, 9:00-2:00 Akron Rotary's Chili Open at Hale Farm in Bath. See last week's minutes for details. or go to chiliopen.net.
Monday, June 6 Our club's Golf Outing
.png)
