Rotary Club of Kent Ebulletin February 10, 2026 (Feb. 10, 2026)

Kent Rotary Auction

Bell Tower Brewing

Mar 10, 2026
6:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Donate to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Ohio

This program provides children ages birth to 5 with a free book in the mail every month. That's 60 books mailed to every child born in Ohio to start their own personal library and build necessary literacy skills.

Now through March 13, Rotary's Statewide Presidents-Elect Service Project is raising funds for this important project. Click HERE to donate online.

View the flyer here to learn more.

Kent Rotary Flag Program

The Rotary Club of Kent is excited to introduce the Kent Rotary Flag Program, and community-wide initiative designed to honor our nation, beautify our neighborhoods, and support meaningful local projects. Entirely volunteer-driven, this program offers residents and businesses a simple and patriotic way to celebrate America's most cherished holidays. Join us in creating a powerful display of unity across Kent - one flag at a time.

An annual subscription is $55, and the flag can be displayed at your home or business.

A note from Past President Kathy

It was truly an honor (and a lot of fun!) to lead the Kent Rotary meeting this week. In the spirit of Valentine’s week, we treated ourselves to a lively rendition of “That’s Amore,” giving everyone the chance to channel their inner Dean Martin. Many thanks to David Dix and Dominique Bollenbacher for helping bring the song—and the smiles—to life.

Jenn Lenox and Larry Lohman shared an engaging presentation about the possibility of forming a Kent Rotary Companion Club. Sue Hetrick captured the highlights beautifully in her meeting minutes, so be sure to scroll down for her summary. The presentation sparked thoughtful conversation and great feedback, including an insightful perspective from prospective member Janice Simmons-Mortimer. If you know someone who might be interested in the companion club, please share their name with Jenn and/or Larry so they can be invited to the upcoming informational meeting.

Thank you again for the privilege of leading the meeting. This Valentine’s Day, may the moon hit all our eyes with a little extra amore.

With gratitude,

Kathy

Rotareminder February 10, 2026

Rotareminder for the Rotary Club of Kent

February 10, 2026

Meeting opening:

Past president Kathy Myers called the meeting to order. President Amanda Senn was unable to attend the meeting today. Sound booth volunteers were Mark Pennell and Roger Kramer. Nithya Venkataraman agreed to take photos. Our patriotic song was God Bless America, played by David Dix. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the invocation, offered by Kathy Myers. We then sang “That’s Amore”, with David Dix on piano and Dom Bollenbacher leading the singing.

Visitors/Guests:

There were no visiting Rotarians and no guests.

Announcements:

Carol Crimi brought a card to congratulate Laura Martin Miller on the birth of her baby.

Tom Hatch announced the next Tap Talks program featuring Sandy Reid explaining the Seed Campus of Davey Tree.

Larry Lohman is seeking folks to attend Grants Management Seminars for our Club. Contact Larry for dates and times. These are on-line. The District website also has information.

Nancy Whitehead noted that the Foundation Board will meet tonight. She also told us about a peace conference that she attended along with Rachel Kerns and Kaleena Gharky.

Dom Bollenbacher handed out flyers about the Rotary Auction event on March 10th.

Janice Mortimer, a guest of Nithya, distributed flyers about the Pickleball Classic sponsored by the Portage Foundation.

Todd Kamenash is looking for someone to run the March Madness event for Rotary. He will coach an eager volunteer through the process. This event raises funds for literacy projects.

Happy Bucks:

Joan Seidel contributed to the fund to celebrate her tickets to the World Cup

Chris Martin added happy bucks as a happy Grandpa who has welcomed a seventh grandchild to the family.

Justin Gates offered happy bucks for Tom Larkin and family, even though the Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl.

Kathy Myers offered consolation bucks to Doug Fuller for the Patriots and for her daughter, who lives in Seattle and celebrated the Seahawks win.

Program:

Jen Lennox noted the theme of programs this month as being initiatives of our Club. Today we were given an overview of companion clubs for Rotary. Past District Governor, Larry Lohman, explained the purpose and role of companion clubs. Larry outlined some historical information about membership trends. Although our membership roster remains over 100, we tend to keep to the same basic membership numbers. We do well each year recruiting new members to join our club. However, some of our new recruits find that the Rotary club is not meeting their needs or desires.

Recently a team of members went to a Rotary District workshop on companion clubs. Larry Lohman, Rebekah Wright-Kulis, Rachel Kerns, and Jen Lennox wanted to bring this concept to our members. A companion club holds a meeting about one time per month. In addition the club performs 1 or 2 service projects during the month. And there may be a social meeting or event as well. Members of a companion club would pay the same dues as regular Club members. Regular Rotary club members could float back and forth between the regular club and the companion club. The companion club would be guided by a chairperson, not a president. Right now the companion club exploration team is seeking names of individuals who might be interested in such a venture. In addition the team wanted to get some feedback from the audience about this novel concept.

There was an animated question/answer period. There were questions to determine the benefits of this new venture versus making changes to our current situation that may help us retain more of our new members. There were more questions and comments than we had time to discuss today. Stay tuned for further exploration.

Response:

Dom Bollenbacher thanked the speakers and applauded the questions and the conversation on this topic.

The meeting ended with the recitation of the Four-Way test.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Hetrick

Rotary Club of Kent eBulletin Submissions

Information in this eBulletin comes primarily from the Rotareminder, board meeting minutes, and stories submitted by members.

If you have any Rotary stories, events or speaker information to benefit the Club, please submit it to rotarykentohio@gmail.com. We will add it to the next appropriate eBulletin.