Meeting held on August 8, 2023
President Asad Khan welcomed Rotarians and Fulbright Scholars from Kent State University.
David Dix led us in singing My Country ‘tis of Thee followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The second song was Let There Be Peace on Earth.
The invocation was offered by Carol Crimi.
VISITING ROTARIANS
Rick Bannister from the Rotary Club of Westerville, OH.
GUESTS
Kathy Myers introduced our club’s inbound exchange student for the 2023-2024 school year. Maria is here from Brazil and will be a senior at Roosevelt. She starts her stay in the US living with the Khan family.
Kathy Myers also introduced Hattie Tracey, CEO of Coleman Health Services and soon to be Rotarian.
Asad Khan introduced his wife Beth and his daughter Sarah.
Tom Hatch welcomed the 39 Fulbright Scholars in attendance at today’s meeting. The students will spend a month at Kent State before heading all over the US for the next part of their journey. Scholars at the meeting today hail from the following countries: Afghanistan, Andorra, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Comoros, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, South Sudan, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, and Vietnam.
Bill Childers introduced Rev. Nathan Howe from the United Methodist Church.
Carol Crimi introduced Dominique Bollenbacher, the new Community Engagement Coordinator for the City of Kent.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Asad reminded everyone that next week’s meeting, held on August 15, will be at Stanton Middle School.
Chas Madonio shared that the Dog Days of Summer Festival will be next weekend, August 19, at Hometown Bank Plaza.
Larry Lohman shared that End Polio Now Night at the Cleveland Guardians will be August 17. Tickets are $35 for lower box or $25 for upper. If you want to add access to the Terrace Club, tickets increase by $45. Tickets are on sale now at the District 6630 website. August 9 is the deadline for tickets. He has raffle tickets available today, 1 for $10 or 3 for $20.
Carol Crimi knows an international student arriving for school at Kent State that still needs housing. If you know a rental that is available close to campus please let her know.
Doug Fuller shared that the Tap Talk at North Water Brewing on August 15 will feature Matt Fredmonsky from Davey Tree. He will be discussing his new book, Growth Rings, about the history of Davey Tree Company.
BIRTHDAYS
David Myers, filling in for Jeff Roeger, passed the microphone for Rotarians with August birthdays.
Rotarians answered the questions:
1. What did you want to be when you grew up?
2. If you could do it all over again, what would you do?
August 1 Tom Tadsen - Cowboy. He still wants to be a cowboy.
August 1 David McKeen – Mapmaker. Doing what he currently does.
August 2 Brian Bialek
August 3 Christine Bhargava
August 6 Chas Madonio – Athlete. What he does right now.
August 9 Charles Conway
August 17 John Ryan – Cowboy. Banker.
August 25 Rebekah Wright Kulis
August 26 Anita Herington – Nurse or Teacher. Run a non-profit, not just create them.
August 31 Brad Ehrhart
Birthdays were followed by a lively rendition of Happy Birthday.
PROGRAM
Amanda Senn introduced today’s speakers, Kathleen Wiler and Rick Bannister from Neighborhood Bridges.
Kathleen Wiler, an active parent in the Kent City Schools, lives in Kent with her two daughters. She is active in the Davey PTO and serves on the Board for Kent Parks and Recreation. Originally, from the Philadelphia area, Kathleen pursued a BA in social science and received a Master’s from Kent State. Kathleen is the Area Coordinator for Kent’s Neighborhood Bridges program. Kent’s program launched in September 2022.
Rick Bannister founded Neighborhood Bridges in 2017 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Rick lives in Westerville, OH and has four daughters. Rick is a graduate of The Ohio State University and serves on numerous boards and committees. He is an avid public education supporter and chaired or participated in multiple levy campaigns for Westerville Schools. He was the Chief Operating Officer for the Ohio Bar Association for seventeen years. Neighborhood Bridges started in Ohio but is expanding to other states now.
Rick formed Neighborhood Bridges to benefit students by providing them with basic needs and removing barriers to education so they are ready to learn. This is in response to increasing numbers of youth that qualify for free and reduced lunch, and decreasing graduation rates. There are currently 44 communities participating in the program and over 340,000 students have been helped already. The program is a public facing campaign that bets on humanity and the good will of those in each community.
Currently, Kent City Schools staff members can logon to the website to post a need for a student. The student remains anonymous. Community members can subscribe to the website to get an alert when a need is posted. It costs nothing to subscribe. Kathleen volunteers her time to review needs and publish them to the website. Notices typically go out at 10 AM each day and sometimes the needs are met within minutes, or they may take up to 48-72 hours. Kent Parks and Rec and Kent Police Department are the drop off locations in Kent. Kathleen picks up items from those locations and delivers them to the school that made the request. From there, a staff member is able to get the item to the student.
The Kindness Scorecard for Kent’s program in its first 10 months of operation:
343 subscribers
44 needs filled
$20,000 given to students in need
812 students helped
32% of requests are for supplies
19% monetary request
25% clothing request
12% furniture request (beds)
Justin Gates was the responder to today’s program.
Respectfully submitted,
Stacey Richardson
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