President Asad Khan called the meeting to order, thanking Amanda Senn for acquiring the Kent State Hotel for today’s meeting and reviewed the agenda for the day. 

David Dix opened the meeting leading the club acapella in singing America. This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, led by President Asad. The invocation was led by Randy Smith. Lacking a piano and song books, David Dix stepped up again and led us in the singing of Row, Row, Your Boat in the round.

 

There were no visiting Rotarians, but the following guests were in attendance: 

-Chas Madonio introduced Zack Hickle

-Kathy Myers introduced Karen Kravets

 

-President Asad thanked Amanda Senn for arranging the Kent State University Hotel for our meeting today and reminded everyone we will be moving again one Tuesday in August. Everyone was encouraged to check the club calendar for details.

-Jennifer Lennox, Membership Chair, asked our club members to check and update their profile in our district’s Club Runner.

-Larry Lohman reminded the club of the District Guardians game on August 17^th. Proceeds go to the polio eradication program. Tickets are available online at the district website. In addition, he presented the prestigious A.Z. Baker Award from our District to Immediate Past President David Myers for his outstanding leadership of our club during his presidency year. 

 

David Dix for today’s venue.

Chas Madonio for the unique spelling of his name on the agenda.

Larry Lohman for our new District President-Elect

Kathy Myers for the Portage County Schools working to adopt mental health services for every Freshman.

Randy Smith for our Rotary Book Club.

Todd Kamenash for Howard Boyle who graciously allowed us the use of his hat for Happy Bucks

 

Amanda Senn introduced the program speakers, Kent Rotarians Carol Crimi and Nancy Whitehead. The topic of the presentation was The Annual Report of the Kent Rotary Foundation. 

 

Carol Crimi started the presentation by calling Randy Smith forward. Each year at the Kent Rotary Auction a person is awarded the Glenn Saltzman Award for significant contributions in the Foundation’s work, as well as their work on the yearly auction. This year the Foundation’s trustees unanimously selected Randy for this award. During his presidency Randy organized a drive to increase the Foundation’s core principle to $500,000. He has been a mainstay in the organization and tireless worker for the Auction over the years. In addition, he worked to bring the Foundation and the Kent Rotary Board into a more collaborative relationship. The award winner can name a charity to receive a $500.00 contribution from the Foundation. Bill Childers received the money on behalf of Randy’s selection, the Portage County United Way.

 

After the brief presentation, Carol clarified for new members that The Kent Rotary Foundation should not be confused with the worldwide “Rotary Foundation.” She noted that Every Rotarian, Every Year Drive in the fall raises funds for that larger entity created in 1917 by Clevelander Arch Klumph. She reviewed the 8 areas of focus of Rotary International that the Rotary Foundation supports. But emphasized, again, not to confuse that foundation with ours. Using a well-crafted PowerPoint Presentation about our local Kent Rotary Foundation she focused on three topic areas. 

 

1. Under History and Purpose, Carol made the following points:

-In 1980-81, Glen Saltzman proposed the creation of a local Foundation for Kent Rotary to leverage auction proceeds.

-The purpose was “To promote and serve charitable and educational needs of the greater Kent community and to receive by gift or bequest any money or property, either absolutely or in trust, to be used toward this end."

 

2. Under Whom We Are/What We Do she noted that:

-There are 7 trustees elected by the club on a 7-year rotation and the President of the club serves as an ex officio.

-Funds that are used to fulfill the purpose of the Foundation are acquired by the annual auction, fund raisers, donations, and bequests, and 50% of the growth of the invested capital funds.

-Any education or charitable organization is eligible to apply to receive funds.

-Funds are awarded via an application process and sponsored by a Kent Rotary Club member.

-The Kent Rotary Club Executive Board are eligible to apply for funds for its service projects.

-Applications must be submitted 8 days prior to the next meeting of the Trustees, be sponsored by a 

 current Rotarian and presented at the Trustee meeting. 

 

3. At this point, Carol introduced Nancy Whitehead who reviewed the past year’s distribution of funds via the Foundation. She noted that the Foundation funds programs and projects in the following three areas: (1) Education and Literacy: (2) Alleviation of Poverty: (3) Health and Wellness.

In the 2022-23 Fiscal Year, the following grants were awarded by the Trustees on behalf of the Kent Rotary Foundation:

 

1. Walls Parent/Teacher Association Rotary's grant of $2640 was used to purchase t-shirts

for each child, featuring the Rotary logo on the reverse side of the shirts, encouraging the students to help raise funds to offset educational expenses throughout the year and is a fun and popular event!

 

2. Kent City Schools Safety dog training received $2875. This grant enabled the Kent City School: to train a beautiful golden retriever named Matous for firearms detection and build relationships with the police. Matous also serves as a therapy dog for students having a hard time. This initiative was spearheaded by George Joseph as a safer way to protect our schools rather than arming teachers.

 

3. Kent Youth Basketball received a grant of $2500, enabling children who could not otherwise afford uniforms, program, and tournament costs, to enjoy the fast game of basketball.

KYBA has worked tirelessly to reach the goal of providing incredible training and playing opportunities at a reasonable cost.

 

4. Kent Skates was awarded $500 towards operational costs to maintain the downtown ice

arena located adjacent to the KSU Hotel and Conference center. Rotary sponsorship is noted on one of the rink's promotional boards surrounding the rink.

 

5. Imagination Library- The Ohio Governor's Imagination Library was established in 2019 and was inspired by Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine's passion to improve the lives of Ohio':

children. The United Way of Portage County oversees this initiative in our community. The Rotary Foundation awarded a grant of $2000 to help provide books for 397 Portage.

county children up to five years old.

 

6. Birdie Bags- Ben and Candace Curtis have lent their names, their time, and their passion to help others, to provide for food insecure children in our community through the Ben Curtis Family Foundation's Birdie Bags program. In 2022 the organization sent home 59,900 Birdie Bags in 21 communities. Rotary's grant of $3000 provided some of the funding for meals, snacks and toiletries contained in the Birdie Bags.

 

7. Kent City Schools Summer Reading program received a grant of $4000 to help the Rough Riders Read program provide one free book to every Kent student who attended the fun event held at four of our area park locations throughout the city. Even parents were able to participate - many adult books were donated and were available for mom and dad to select.

 

 9. Great Trail Council - $1000 was awarded to our regional Scout council to purchase supplies for a summer program entitled "Their Next Adventure" aimed at children in

grades 3-5.

 

10. Kent Social Services - Rotary provided $2466 in funding for the purchase of items that every child needs- paper, pencils, backpacks, crayons, and more. With the cost of school supplies skyrocketing, this grant was especially welcomed!

 

Nancy noted that the total distribution for the past fiscal year was $27,981 and, at this point, Carol introduced the Foundation’s Treasurer Matt Carrol. Matt presented a brief overview of the current financial state of the Foundation noting that the upturn of our invested funds will give us more to distribute this fiscal year. He also noted that all club members can access the monthly reports on our web site.

 

Nick Shearer provided the response noting that this information today was very valuable for new members. He also was pleased that many of the grants directly impacted the youth in our community, noting an upcoming Rotary project to build a Safety Town in collaboration with our schools and community will be seeking support.