President Amanda Senn called the meeting to order at 12:20. We sang the “My Country ‘tis of Thee” and Asad Khan offered the invocation. Dom Bollenbacher led us in singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” with Mrs. Roeger at the piano.
There were no visiting Rotarians at today’s meeting. Janice Mortimer from the Portage Foundation was the guest of Mary Beth Harper. Rotary Exchange Student Emelie Helbert and Neil Cooper of the School of Peace and Conflict Studies were also guests. Laura Martin Miller brought her daughter, who was out of school because of a snow day.
Announcements
Tom Hatch announced that Tap Talks tonight at 7 pm will feature Steve Sosobee and Dr. Zeena Salman, founders of the non-profit HEAL Palestine. He also encouraged everyone to RSVP to Nithya Venkataraman to attend the International Potluck on February 1 at North Water Brewing.
Rachel Kerns invited everyone to attend the 2026 Community Peace Summit of February 7 at Stocker Arts Center at Lorain County Community College in Elyria. This is a free event sponsored by Rotary District 6600. Register at www.d6600peacesummit.org
Nancy Whitehead thanked everyone for donations of produce for Kent Social Services. So far we have contributed 45 bags of produce, plus more this week, with a goal of 108 bags by next week.
Dom Bollenbacher noted that the Auction Committee meeting will be held next week. The Auction will take place on March 10 with a Kentucky Derby theme. She also has tickets for the Jaycees Reverse Raffle to be held on February 27. Dom encouraged anyone interested to attend an informational meeting on January 28 at City Hall about serving on an advisory committee planning for major disruption in our downtown because of new sewer installation. Lastly, she invited everyone to show up next Saturday for Main Street Kent’s Snow Day event in downtown Kent.
Randy Smith thanked all who participated in the recent Lord’s Lunch event.
January Birthdays
Answering this year’s question, “what’s an amazing place you’ve visited that you will likely never be able to visit again?”, were Kaleena Gharky who loved visiting Disney World, Stacey Richardson who recalled a once in a lifetime trip to Northern California with her whole family, and Carol Crimi who visited a small district in Italy, Molisano, where her grandfather was born. She described attending a 350 year old religious tradition where children were dressed as angels and saints and paraded throughout the town on the shoulders of local citizens. Rotary Exchange student Emilee drew Carol Crimi’s name as the winner of a free lunch.
Today’s Program: Youth -led Reconciliation in Post-War Sri Lanka
Bill Childers introduced Professor Shanti Nandana Wijesinghe, a visiting professor at Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies. He is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Peradeniya, the most prestigious university in Sri Lanka.
Professor Shanti discussed his work with youth following the Sri Lankan Civil War, which lasted from about 1983 until 2009. The goal was to bring reconciliation and a renewed sense of cultural identity to Sri Lanka by engaging youth in joint creative activities, painting, dance, and writing, bolstered by psychological support, social empowerment, and leadership training. He shared images of Sri Lankan children from various backgrounds, Tamil, Muslim, Christian, and Hindu, working together to learn, create, lead, and heal together. He also passed around copies of their creative work.
Key insights resulting from his work are:
Reconciliation succeeds not through dialog alone but through shared living, learning, and creating.
Reconciliation is experiential, not rhetorical.
Youth networks function as long-term peace infrastructure
Arts and culture outperform formal dialogue tin trust-building.
When young people experience unity in daily life, reconciliation becomes irreversible.
Response
Asad Khan thanked Professor Shanti for his presentation and noted that empowering youth as leaders in their communities is an idea that can help reconcile opposing factions in our society.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas Hatch