President Roger Sidoti welcomed the group and led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation was presented by Paul Organ. Rotareminderwill be recorded by Shawn Gordon.
Guests
Kevin Schwartzhoff guest of President Roger Sidoti. Kevin is the new Director of Kent Park and Rec. Mark Evans guest of Ted McKown. Mark is the Director of Financial Aid at Kent State.
Announcements
• President Roger and Randy Smith recognized two Paul Harris fellows: David Sommers was recognized for his fellow plus one and Joe Marken was recognized with his first Paul Harris fellow. Congratulations to David and Joe!
• President Roger announced that the club’s board will meet the 21st at 5:30 PM at Hometown Bank.
• President Roger shared with the club that there were quite a few nominations for the Rotarian of the Year Award. The board will be reviewing the nominations.
• President Roger reminded everyone to attend the December 7, 2019 Holiday Party and to see Rebekah Kulisto pay for their tickets.
• President Roger remarked that it was so nice to have several Rotarians attend and be recognized at the recent KACC Tree City Awards event.
• Kathy Myers presented to the group regarding the Brunch Bunch event this year. She has tickets and there are various prizes. Please see Kathy for information. This year’s event benefits the Center of Hope, Coleman Adult Day and the Ben Curtis Foundation.
• Rachel Kerns reported that she is assisting with the annual Toy Drive for Kent Social Services and the Salvation Army. Please consider donating toys to the drive this year. See Rachel with questions.
• Larry Lohman noted that our Interact students helped with the recent district membership meeting. The district gave them $200 for their help that day. He also mentioned that the club supports the high school Interact club and that we gave another $500 recently to support their efforts. Larry informed the group that December 3, 2019 is the Chili Challenge and he will be cooking chili for the event. It’s a 5:30 PM start time. December 5th is the district gala. Please register to attend and come in ugly Christmas sweaters or garments of your heritage.
• Will Underwood announced that the club is in need of a 4 Way Test Chair for our club’s 4-Way-Test Speech Contest scheduled for March 3rd. Please see Todd, Will or Roger for more information.
• Bill Childers announced that it is soon that time of year once more—Salvation Army Bell ringing! Our club’s dates are 11/30, 12/13, 12/18, and 12/21. Please see Bill to sign up.
• Ralph Kletzien asked the group to remember their Every Rotarian Every Year gift. The average gift size for our club is currently $111.00. The current participation rate is 54%. Last year were made 100% participation. Please make your gift today.
• Rebekah Kulis reminded everyone of the Club Holiday Party being held Saturday December 7th at The Overlook in Twin Lakes. Tickets are $40 per person. Please see her to make your reservation and choose your entrée.
Speaker(s)
The program today was given by students from Theodore Roosevelt High School. The students were members of the Planning Committee for the all high school Leadership Retreat. Heidi Jurging, one of the advisors to the group, made opening remarks followed by presentations by the students.
Heidi shared that this is the 34th year of the Leadership Retreat at the high school. This year’s theme was “The Anatomy of a Leader: Nurturing Mind, Body, and Soul.” 109 delegates attended.
The students then shared: the history of the retreat, theme, purpose, who attended, leadership topics, community leader participation, activities, leader led labs, take-aways and leadership lessons learned. The students thanked those community members, some of whom are Rotarians, for their support of the Leadership Retreat.
The Interact students who also attended shared their stories as to why they enjoyed the retreat and what they learned from it. They mentioned that they hope to use the skills that they learned to further benefit the work that they are doing in the Interact Club at the high school.
The students shared that they will be holding a Canned Food Drive this week culminating with a Can the Van at the Acme in Stow on Saturday November 23rd from 9 AM to 11 AM. Please stop by to make a donation of canned food items and support the high school’s canned food drive.
Larry Lohman served as the responder, thanking the students for their presentations and encouraging them to continue to apply the leadership skills that they learned at the retreat. He noted that they are the Rotarians of the future.
