Rotary Club of Kent meeting minutes
Rotareminder: Kent Rotary, July 28, 2020
Next week: Dana Lawless-Andric, Kent State University Associate Vice President for Community Outreach and Engagement, will discuss KSU plans to reopen campus.
Hugely successful fundraising during July: A grand total of more than $13,000 was raised in last Saturday’s Christmas in July fundraiser organized by Todd Kamenash and Alyssa Mazey. Approximately $2,500 was donated during the event for Kent Social Services and that amount wwill be matched by the Kent Rotary Foundation. In addition to the Christmas in July proceeds, Rotary members sent checks totaling about $17,000. Todd thanked Alyssa, as well as Lauren Talion, Roger Kramer, Rachel Kerns, David Myers, Paul Organ, Randy Smith and Carol Crimini.
Club history: Jim Myers reported on how in the early years, the Rotary Club of Kent sponsored and helped other clubs in the area start and obtain charters.
Program: Laing Kennedy, who arranged all the presentations in July, concluded his month by discussing “Ethics in Sports.” Laing, who teaches Ethics, as well as other courses at Kent State University, talked about some of his students and their class projects. He also discussed the idea of ethics—doing what ought to be done—and showed members an ethical framework using the acronym SLEEPE as part of this Corrupt-Free Sports model. Most importantly, he illustrated his points with real-life examples, including the current dilemma of whether or not sports should be played this fall. Laing also related stories about the ethical dilemmas he faced as Athletic Director at Cornell University and at Kent State University.
Responder Curt Stumpff called Laing’s presentation “timely” especially since many now realize how important sports are to our daily lives and what a void we have without sports. Curt also remarked that we should incorporate many of the points Laing made into our own lives and teach these ethical values to our children.
Submitted by Mary Beth Harper