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Visiting Rotarians There were no visiting Rotarians today. Guests Today’s guests included: Gail Pavliga, State Representative Adam Alderson, United Methodist Church of Kent Michelle Hartman and Anne Moneypenny, KACC Jennifer Lennox, Davey Tree Denise Baba, PARTA Tim Naftzger, Portage Community Bank Birthdays Jeff Roeger introduced Rotarians with June birthdays: Tom Hatch, Tammy Hunter, David Sommers, Kelly Tremaine, Nancy Whitehead, Bruce Hansford, and Sue Hetrick. Members in attendance shared their greatest service to others before the singing of Happy Birthday. Announcements Doug Fuller shared that the next Tap Talk at North Water Brewing will be on Tuesday, June 21 at 7 PM. The topic will be preservation, both buildings that we’ve lost and buildings that should be preserved. President Kathy reminded everyone about the Story Walk Kick Off on Saturday, June 18. Rotarian and Fire Chief Bill Myers, along with David Myers, will be reading from the story walk book Share Your Rainbow: 18 Artists Draw Their Hope for the Future. The club will be passing out cookies and copies of the book at Hometown Bank Plaza starting at 10:00 AM. The event goes until 1:00 PM. President Kathy shared that the club will be doing milkweed planting on June 24 at 2:00 PM. If you are interested in helping with this project please contact Anita Herington. Rotary’s ‘End Polio Now Night’ at the Cleveland Guardians will be July 13. Gates open at 6 PM and first pitch is at 7:10 PM. The Guardians will be playing the Chicago White Sox. For ticket information visit www.rotarydistrict6630.org. Program – Reflecting and Reinventing the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce (KACC) Roger Sidoti introduced today’s speaker, Michelle Hartman. Michelle is currently the Interim Executive Director of the KACC. Michelle graduated from Malone College with a business administration degree and settled in Kent with her husband Darrin and three children. As a Kent resident for the past 28 years, Michelle has been both a leader and volunteer in the community. Her work with the Burbick Foundation helped to promote economic development in the city for over 12 years. She is also an active community volunteer, including organizing the Brunch Bunch fundraising event for many years. Michelle discussed how the chamber was able to survive and thrive before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. She is now looking to steer the KACC into the ‘new normal’ post pandemic. Her presentation explored the ways in which the chamber is using lessons from the pandemic to move forward to best help businesses in Kent. She says it is necessary for the KACC to rebuild and reconnect so they can stay relevant. To identify how to do this successfully, Michelle recently partnered with Kent State University business students to conduct a survey (SWOT analysis) of previous, current, and potential chamber members. Survey results were used to create a new strategic plan and help to identify and update the chamber’s purpose and mission. Survey responses indicated the following about the KACC according to respondents: Strengths: community, value, networking, reputation, trustworthy Weaknesses: communication, social media presence Opportunities: education and learning opportunities Threats: economic downturn, Industry memberships, ROI for being KACC member Michelle and her team will be using this information to rebuild the KACC to make it even better for members. They’ve already brought back the weekly newsletter, will be hiring a social media intern from Kent State, and recently hosted a successful multi-chamber member event. In addition, the Heritage Festival will be back on July 2. This year’s festival will be scaled back from previous years allowing Kent businesses to shine. Michelle’s parting words were that KACC is ready to be flexible, creative and innovative, and will take opportunities to learn and continue moving forward. Today’s responder to the program was Chas Madonio who said that if you need to get something done in the city call Michelle. Respectfully submitted, Stacey Richardson
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