Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent
Meeting on June 9, 2020
President Roger Sidoti welcomed the group.
Patriotic song God Bless America was led by David Dix.
Randy Smith led the group as we recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Invocation prayer was offered by Ralph Kletzien.
Visiting Rotarians & Guests
There were no visiting Rotarians today.
David Myers introduced his wife, Emilie Myers.
Announcements:
Randy Smith announced that the 100th Anniversary celebration dinner scheduled for October 2020 has been postponed.
Carol Crimi announced that there will be a Rotary Foundation board meeting via Zoom tonight from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.
Roger Sidoti shared a thank you card written by Katie Kulis on behalf of the RHS graduating class of 2020. Rotary was able to provide donations toward senior class t-shirts and goody bags to all graduating seniors.
Todd Kamenash encouraged everyone to save the date for Saturday, July 25. There will be special online event for Rotary that evening. Details will follow.
Roberta O’Keefe needs people to sign up for weekly prayer. If you are willing, please let Roberta or Roger know. They would like to schedule through end of July.
Birthdays
The following Rotarians have June birthdays:
6/4 Tom Hatch
6/17 Dave Sommers
6/18 Nancy Whitehead
6/24 Bruce Hansford
6/25 Sue Hetrick
Speaker
Dave Myers introduced Roger Hoover, photographer and creator of Kent Porch Portraits.
Roger is well known in the Kent community as a musician and artist. He has worked with Main Street Kent, owned his own creative firm Rust Creative, is a founding member of The Portager, and recently created a series of photographs of local community members during COVID-19 quarantine titled, Porch Portraits.
Roger began his now-famous Porch Portraits by photographing his neighbor, Charlie age 77. He went on to take photos of musicians, chefs, artists, local business owners, bartenders, Kent Social Services, Kent PD and Fire, residents of Kent’s south side, and many others. Roger felt that one of the ways he could make a difference during the initial stay at home order was to capture how local citizens were affected. He aimed to take un-posed photos of people on their front porch in a documentary style, rather than as a portrait. His work captured a moment in history.
In total, he photographed 128 families in the course of 90 days. He estimates that he spent 1,029 hours working on this project during March and April taking 6-7 portraits a day. His work has been viewed over 200K times in over 45 countries. It was featured on The Today Show, CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC. A Go Fund me raised $3,400 to help with the project.
A common theme he heard during the project was the overwhelming compassion and empathy of community members wanting to help others by offering meals or money for rent.
To see examples of this project, and his other work, you can find Roger on Facebook at: Roger Hoover Photography and on his website at: www.rogerhoover.com
Curtis Stumpf provided the response.
Upcoming Programs:
• 6/16 Kent Rotary Foundation Presentation
• 6/23 Amanda Rabinowitz from WKSU
• 6/30 Club Assembly Presentation/Installation of Rotary Board 2020-2021
Respectfully submitted,
Stacey Richardson
