Dear Fellow Rotarian,

 

Co-President, Brad Ruth opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Program Host, Jeff Film, followed with the invocation.

 

Brad thanked Gail Moseley and Steve Dunton for getting us checked in this morning.

 

Don Coughlin reported on two of his grandchildren.  Will Holland graduated from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts last year and has taken a gap year before starting college.  He is in Edmonton, Alberta Canada participating in the hockey scene.  His sister Megan, lettered in three sports at Deerfield and will be playing lacrosse at Colgate University next year.

 

Rotary Anniversary:  Congratulations to Karen Monbeck for observing 25 years as a Rotarian today!

 

Birthdays:  Mike Kostyack and Mark Ferguson celebrate birthdays this week.

 

Our sympathy goes to Ray Evans upon the death of his wife, Jan and to Jim Laber upon the death of his father, Bernhardt Schneider.  Ray's wife's calling hours will be Friday, December 10 from 6:00-8:00 at Redmon Funeral Home with a service Saturday, December 11 at 11:00 a.m. at First United Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls.  Mr. Schnider's calling hours will be Sunday, December 5 from 2:00 to 5:00 at Redmon's.  

 

DRAWING: Dave Renninger's table had the winning number and Brad Jagger DREW THE JOKER!  We will start all over again next week.

 

Dictionary Project: Teams delivered the dictionaries to the third and fourth graders at all of the Stow and Munroe Falls elementary schools this morning.  Holy Family will have a separate delivery.

Thanks to Pat Messmore and John Pribonic for coordinating the project.

 

Ronald McDonald House  It will be our turn to make a dinner for the residents this month.  Bob Oborn will arrange to have a meal catered and delivered this time.

 

Holiday Giving: Gail said that there is still a need for a few families to be adopted for our giving project.  Contact her at gmoseley1973@yahoo.com and she can help you choose a family.  We will be wrapping the gifts on Wednesday, December 15 from 5:30-7:30 in the Council Chambers of City Hall.  

 

Board Meeting will be Friday, December 10 at 7:15 at City Hall.  

 

The Rotary Foundation:  Dave Renninger thanked the 9 additional people who gave him checks for the Foundation this morning.  

 

Bulldog Bags:  Items needed for December are: oatmeal packets, hot chocolate packets and dental floss.  Your items can be dropped off in the reception area of City Hall.

 

In discussing how the pandemic has affected him, Jeff Film, Program Host, told us that it has been a horrific time for first responders.  He has learned not to take every day for granted because things can change so quickly.   He emphasized the importance of vaccines for everyone who is able to take them because the non-vaccinated people are the ones who are really getting very ill at the present time

 

Jeff then introduced Stow Fire Chief, Mark Stone, who has been chief since 2014.  He was originally from Northern Wisconsin but ended up in Stow in 2000 after doing ambulance and rescue work in other communities.  Since becoming chief in Stow he has moved the department to a digital format which he feels has improved their ability to be successful.  Many buildings in the community are on that digital platform so if a fire is reported the staff can know right away what all they are dealing with in fighting a fire in that part of the structure.  

 

Chief Stone stated that his job is to put themselves out of business because they have done such a good job of educating the community about fire prevention.  The goal is safety for his staff as well as citizens of the community.  One of our advantages is that we are a younger city, so the building ordinances have some built in requirements that older buildings in other communities don't have. Building inspections by the fire personnel can often head off problems before they occur, even though the owners are upset by an inspection if they are sited for violations.  This is another form of fire prevention.

 

When children go to Safety Town, each family going into kindergarten receives a combination smoke and CO2 detector.  As they are given to the families every year, it makes a huge difference in fire prevention for our community. He also explained that beginning in 2019, the hearing impaired had access to a new type of detector.  It communicates through their Echo and if the alarm for their smoke detector goes off, their alarm flashes lights and the person can feel a vibration under their pillow if they are asleep.  These are not restricted to people who are totally hearing imparied, but can also be used by those who have a hearing deficit but take their hearing aids out at night.  Contact the fire department if you know someone who needs one of these devices. In addition, shortly senior citizens will have envelopes to attach to their refrigerators which will contain important information in case of an emergency.  

 

Firefighter Mel is key to the prevention/education part of the department, and we are fortunate in that we are the only city where that is a full time position and her only job.  Chief Stone said that he could not emphasize enough the importance of smoke and CO2 detectors.

 

JOKE:  Don Coughlin was our jokester this morning about a man in a library.  You can ask him to repeat the joke for you.

 

Brad will ask Jennifer Coleman to have a joke ready next week for our zoom meeting.  

 

Wednesday, December 8, morning meeting on Zoom with Jon Perkowski, co-owner of Jonny Burrito's Food Truck speaking on how COVID made his dreams come true.

 

Wednesday, December 15 morning meeting at Silver Lake for our Holiday Party.  Bring checks for Stuff the Bucket for The Salvation Army.

 

Wednesday, December 15, 5:30-7:30 Wrapping Party in the Council Chambers of City Hall.  Food will be provided.  Bring your donations for the families we have adopted.