Date: 6/3/25
Rachel Kerns called the club to order, we sang the patriotic song “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Kathy Myers gave the invocation and we sang the fun song “Hey, hey good lookin’.” We had a visiting Rotarian who was introduced by Bill Childers, which was Kim Lorenz, who is a Rotarian from Bellevue, Washington, and is the Rotary liaison for World Vision.
Kathy Myers introduced her guest, Addisah Sherwood, who is a former Rotary ambassadorial scholar and is currently an attorney at Davey Tree. Bill Childers introduced his guest, Greg Dostal from Portage Community Bank.
Announcements
Amanda Senn announced that Rotary would have a booth at the Kent Heritage Festival, and that she’d have a signup sheet next week. She also reminded the club that on June 12, we’d have Rotary happy hour at Paul Organ’s business at 234 S Water Street from 5-630 p.m. Please RSVP to
jennifer.lennox@davey.com.
Stacey Richardson announced that the club will be hosting an inbound exchange student next year, Emily, who is 16 and from Germany, arriving in August. She’ll be staying with Stacey’s family, then Asad Khan’s, then a non-rotary family.
Tom Hatch announced that the Tap Talk on June 17 will be on the history of Ray’s at North Water Brewing Company at 7 p.m.
Larry Lohman gave an update on the club’s hosting of a student from Japan coming to KSU to do master’s work. The grants were approved Monday, so the club will be hosting her starting in August. He will invite her to meetings and activities with the club. Larry also announced that Camp RYLA (Rotary youth leadership awards) is next week, and he invited all Rotarians to picnic on Tuesday ($20) and the closing dinner on Thursday ($25). Anecdotally, Larry mentioned that his daughter went to RYLA, and that the interviewers at her college were very interested in hearing more about that and her Interact time. Larry was going to send a follow-up email about the RYLA events, and he will be there Tuesday and Thursday.
Todd Packer is giving a workshop on tips and tricks about finding government grants. The free workshop is on 6/18 at Youngstown State from 8:30-12 p.m.
Bill Childers announced that the Kent Rotary Salvation Army Food Team distribution occurs the first Wednesday of every month 800-1100am. He encouraged everyone to join for an hour or more. The next distribution is Wed July 2. Please advise Bill Childers (330.730.3458) if you will join. Meet at the corner of Summit St & Horning Rd. in the Kent State parking lot. Best access is from Horning Rd. It is outside, and will be held rain or shine. Dress for the weather. All are welcome!
Kim Lorenz gave a quick explanation of how the Rotary Foundation funding is often matched with funding from World Vision. Also he has a book on Amazon called “Tireless”, which includes a chapter on Rotary.
Birthdays:
Jen Lennox shared that she had bought a funny shirt in college and her mom had questioned her about it.
Tom Hatch: He had a roommate in college who was a bad influence, and bought a car without his parents’ knowledge.
Dave Sommers: At age 11 or 12, Dave had a toy rocket that he launched 2-300 ft. in his backyard. The wind caught it and it landed on roof. He used TV antenna to climb up on roof and retrieved the rocket, but when got off the roof, his mom was there. A neighbor had ratted him out.
Todd Packer: In 5th grade he was studying ancient Egypt in school, and they had a lesson where the teacher explained that the Egyptians made their own makeup. So Todd and his friends decided to make lipstick using toothpaste, grape jelly, pretzel sticks (as the applicators). He brought it to class and didn’t get a good grade (!). But, he said it sparked a career in innovation.
Suzanne Hetrick: Went to a cottage on the lake as a kid. A nearby camp used same lake, and had candlelight ceremonies. Sue and her friends would hide in bushes and howl like dogs during the ceremonies. She said her parents must have found out because they gave them a heavy guilt trip about inconsiderate people. Thus ended Sue’s foray into entertainment.
Program:
Justin Berthiaume, realtor, was introduced by Stacey Richardson, who noted that the Berthiaume realty office is next to Paul Organ and John Flynn’s offices. The Berthiaumes have two kids and are very active in the Kent community.
The Berthiaumes have been in Kent since 2012. They were from the East Coast and moved to NE Ohio so Kristin could coach softball at Hiram. They loved the atmosphere of Kent and found it a very welcoming place, and not long after they moved to Kent, Kristin got her realtor license, and is now a realtor too.
Their philosophy is that it’s all about relationships with clients, and they want clients for life. They have sold 75 homes in their neighborhood, as that’s where they started selling and building their client base. Their kids went to Longcoy, and they volunteered and met more people, like Paul Organ who is their financial planner, and John Flynn, who is their lawyer. It’s important to them to work with people in Kent.
They are the #1 agents in Kent since 2016 (as judged by volume). Keller Williams is the broker, but they’re a family company. They have 8 realtors, including Justin and Kristin, Amanda Edwards, Taylor Platt, Lauren Moffatt, Tracie Irwin, Anna Lasnaya, and Chad Frank.
He shared that Kent has a lot of diversity in the market and had some Kent market details (as of 1/1/2025 until 6/3/2025):
- Average days on market: 34 days (was 18 days last year),
- Average price: $287,000. (last year 292K, 2016: 192K),
- Current homes for sale: 12 (in the Kent city school district. The last few years it was 36-40 houses.)
- Homes sold so far this year: 59 (which is consistent with prior years)
Brian Bialik asked Justin to predict how the housing inventory will change over next 5 years. Justin said the demand is still high, and that they’re still seeing multiple offers (though less than during COVID). In general, though, any house that needs work, people are slower to buy. In general, the trends are good, and it’s a positive sign that houses are sitting longer. The changes in the rates are to help that level out, and they are good for the market.
John Emig asked how the competitive bidding cycle is affecting the inspection timelines. Justin said his group always recommends inspections, and said you can do own due diligence inspection or put a cap on repairs to keep the process moving.
Responder: Jeff Roeger thanked Justin and said he appreciated the explanation of the business. He also enjoyed hearing how they came to our community. He pointed out that realty is a good barometer of the health of the city, and that the Berthiaumes are often the first people to meet new people coming to Kent. He’s glad they’re such a positive, community-based organization.
Submitted by Jennifer Lennox
.png)
