It was great to be together again in-person and online. Here are some quick notes for us for the coming week or two.
DUES – As I mentioned in the meeting on Tuesday, the board approved raising our dues for the coming Rotary year (July 1, 2021 – Jun30, 2022) to $225. We have increased costs due to our new hybrid format and we will not be collecting additional funds from members for each lunch purchased. Doing the latter penalizes those who attend in person. Treasurer Matt Carter will be sending the dues notices out and will have copies at our Tuesday meetings. If you have any questions, please reach out to me or any board member.
LUNCHES – The church women and men who have served us for years are looking forward to serving us again starting in September. In the meantime, we are looking into some other lunch options for those attending in person. Thank you to: Rachel Kern, Amanda Senn and Chas Madonio for looking into that and finding a good option for us.
COMPUTER – Our current club computer is quite old and is running Windows 7. Thank you Matt Carter and Andrew Popp for agreeing to help me make a selection and purchase that will best suit our club and our budget.
SHIRTS – We are looking forward to getting some Kent Rotary shirts for club members to purchase. Thanks to Walt Strawman for wearing the shirt he purchased the last time shirts were available. The shirt committee will decide whether to have a polo style, a t-shirt style or both. That committee is Dave Myers, Bill Nome and Mark Pennell. We look forward to your report!
MEMBERSHIP – Everyone present indicated that they were proud to be Kent Rotarians. Remember to tell your friends, families, and colleagues about what Kent Rotary means to you and invite them to be your guest at a meeting. We cannot increase our membership without increasing our visitors. Kent Rotary is here to support our Kent community and the greater community. I hope that our club’s membership can more closely reflect both in age, gender and racial diversity.
David Dix played God Bless America; Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Kathy Myers, and Sue Hetrick provided the Invocation. Rotarians returned to the Rotary Song Book to sing Home On The Range.
Guests: There were no guests or visiting Rotarians at today's meeting.
Announcements:
President Kathy announced that the 100th Anniversary Committee would be meeting in person today after Rotary. She also said the Capital Campaign Committee would be meeting this evening at Paul Organ's office.
President Kathy informed Rotarians that incoming District Governor Larry Lohman's induction and banner presentation would be July 14 in Parma. For details visit www.rotarydistrict6630.org. You can also learn more about the Rotary Indians game the evening of July 22 when the Rays will be visiting the Indians on that site.
Membershp Chair Amanda Senn announced that the next Rotary Happy Hour will be tomorrow, July 7, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the North Water Brewery. A food truck is planned at the site.
She also announced that the joint Kent Service Clubs will be hosting a Happy Hour at the upper room of Laziza on July 30 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Foundation Chair Carol Crimi reminded Rotarians that the Foundation will be meeting in August. If you have funding proposals, get them to Carol no later than July 31.
Roberta O'Keefe passed around the sign up sheet for invocations for the rest of the year. If you would like to offer a prayer, please text Roberta at 330-235-3598.
Program Chair Asad Khan announced that he is excited about the programs scheduled for this year. Programs will begin locally and then move to themes, some of them remote. He said that almost the entire year is booked but there is one month available. Anyone interested in chairing that month should contact Asad.
100th Anniversary Moment: Jim Myers shared memories of the first Rotary family picnic held July 3, 1945 at Martin Davey's farm. Details below.
Program: President Kathy discussed her hopes and plans for this Rotary year. She reminded Rotarians of the importance of attendance for meetings and events as this counts towards district awards such as the A.C. Baker award.
Dues for this year will be $225. The Ways & Means Committee adopted budget for this year includes an increase in dues to supplement revenue needed to cover the costs of technology, a new computer for the club and to replace the $1 per lunch the club used to get from weekly meetings. President Kathy noted that the Board unanimously agreed to raise the dues and that our annual dues are still relatively low compared to some other area clubs.
Matt Carter and Andrew Popp agreed to help select a replacement computer for the club. Please pay your dues by September. If you have extenuating circumstances, please see one of the Board members.
The Methodist church is willing to start serving weekly lunches beginning in September. In the meantime Rachel Kerns, Amanda Senn and Chas Madonio will explore lunch options for July and August including food truck and preordered box lunches.
President Kathy's goals of promoting Rotary more and increasing membership were next addressed. Dave Myers and Bill Nome will look into again getting golf shirts or t-shirts made for club members.
President Kathy wants to increase membership by gender, race and age. She called on Amanda Senn to help her distribute two personal insight grids aimed at accomplishing this goal. Titled Each One Bring One, the first grid asked members to:
Describe your most meaningful experience in Rotary.
What is the benefit of Rotary in your life?
Describe Rotary in 10 words or less.
Thinking to the next year, what are you most excited about in Rotary?
The second grid asked members to think about how they could share their Rotary experience by inviting someone to a Rotary meeting, service project or social event; identifying 5 people who may not know about your Rotary experience, and listing five times in your regular routine where you could share about Rotary.
Response was by Roberta O'Keefe who endorsed President Kathy's themes and thanked last year's Board for doing such a good job in a difficult time.
On the evening of July 3, 1945, a Rotary family picnic ushered in the activities of the Kent club for the year 1945-46, when Harry Longcoy was President. Upon the invitation of Martin Davey, the event took place at the Davey Farm located a short distance west of Twin Lakes. For the occasion Martin provided a large tent which had been erected on a knoll overlooking Lake Martin and which gave an ideal setting for serving the tureen supper enjoyed by Rotarians, Rotary Anns and their children. An abundance of roasted peanuts and soft drinks were provided by the host.
President Longcoy, at the suggestion of Past President Art Perry, created a new office, that of librarian. The duty of the librarian was to collect information and data relative to the activities of Rotary in Kent and that the information may be used for a continuous history of the club.
Looking forward to the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the Rotary Club of Kent, President Harry appointed a special committee to plan for the historic event. The committee was composed of Arthur Babbitt, the newly appointed Librarian as honorary chairman and Jim Greene, acting chairman, along with a suitable committee.
That Anniversary history will be repeated this year!
I am a friend of Dick King's and wanted to let his fellow Rotarians know there will be a Celebration of Life on Monday July 19 from 5-7 pm at his church, Southeast Church of the Nazarene, 771 Dunbar Rd., Tallmadge. If you're able to send an email to members who knew him we would be grateful. Please feel welcome to call me with any questions at 330.607.1500.
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 info.rotarykentohio.org@gmail.com. We will add it to the next appropriate eBulletin.
