*Lord’s Lunch:  President Dave highlighting the Lord’s Lunch on October 22 at Trinity Lutheran Church for which Rotarian volunteers are needed.  Please respond.   

*Habitat fund-raiser:  Rachel Kerns, executive director of Portage County Habitat for Humanity announced that on October 22nd, Habitat for Humanity will be holding its Recycle, Repurpose, ReStore event at the American Legion in Kent. Habitat, she said, is trying to raise $34,000 for a family of seven for a home being built on Summit Road in Ravenna (near Kent). Rachel says people can access information on Habitat’s webpage. www.habitatofportage.org 

*Food Relief here:  it was announced that the Mobile Food Pantry would be here October 18th for donations to help those in Portage who are food insecure.

* Newest member: Nicholas Shearer, new Kent chief police, was introduced by Bill Myers, chief of the Kent Fire Department. Shearer and his wife, have two daughters.  He coaches soccer.  Chief Shearer is a Summit County native and grew up in a family of law enforcement officers. He is a strong believer in community outreach.  He also served on the SWAT team for five years.

 

 

Stanton Middle School Principal Anthony Horton introduced our Middle School Rotary Student of the Month, Caleb Gilliland. A member of the 8^th grade Titans Team, he said that Caleb participates in many school and co-curricular activities and leads by example. Caleb is a three-year member of the Orchestra in which he plays the cello. He is a two-year member of the Cross-Country team, and he will be a two-year member of the Track and Field Team. He is also a two-year member of the Drama Club in which he enjoys being an actor.  He is currently taking Advanced Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 for high school credit.  At Stanton his cumulative GPA is a 3.9.  All of his advisors and coaches report that Caleb is an asset to their programs, he is reliable, he’s not afraid to volunteer or step-up when needed, he always has a positive attitude, and he always gives 100%.

 

Outside of school Caleb is very active in his church, which is the River of Life Community Church, in Hudson.  Through his church Caleb has volunteered his time to handout donated books in neighborhoods to youth in Akron.  Along with his father he helped repair a church member’s basement foundation so she could open her home to refugees from Ukraine.  Caleb also plays the drums for his church’s worship team and helps run the sound equipment as well.   After high school Caleb is planning on attending college and is thinking about attending Law School after he gets his Bachelor’s degree.  He says he gets his desire for service from his parents, Brianne and Jeff Gilliland, who were in attendance to see Caleb receive his Rotary Club honor.

 

 

One out of three women experiences some kind of domestic violence, physical or psychological, and one out of four men do, our speaker, Michelle Carroll, the assistant director of Portage County Domestic Violence Services for Safer Futures, told us. Safer Futures offers shelter, protection, supportive counseling, and legal advocacy for victims who seek its assistance.  The shelter is kept confidential to protect the inhabitants. An arrangement with the Ravenna Police Department enables those who call in to be picked up confidentially and brought to the center.  The center is set up to house 14 individuals and is currently over capacity. Citing 2019 statistics, prior to the pandemic, she said Safer futures provided 3,460 shelter nights for 719 adults.  She said this year, 1,000 adults have requested Safer Futures assistance. Safer Futures lacked space to shelter 122 adults so far this year.  Safer Futures has a 24/7 hotline.   She said a safe place for visitations has been set up called, “Place of Peace.” She said a collaboration with Kent State’s Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services has enabled the creation of a support group for victims. Safer Futures is grant funded and comes under the umbrella of Family and Community Services which receives grants from several sources including the United Way of Portage County.    Carol Crimi, in giving the response, mentioned that during her years of providing legal aid for students at Kent State, she represented many victims of domestic abuse including a victim, who was eventually murdered.