Learning About Del-Co and The History of Water Management
Our guest today was Glenn Marzluf, CEO of Del-Co. Marzluf provided some interesting information about Del-Co, including; 1) It was founded in 1974 and includes 1800 miles of water pipeline in 7 counties covering 800 square miles, 2) Del-Co is a customer-owned cooperative that services 140,000 customers. The Duott Reservoir currently holds more than 3 billion gallons of water.
What was more interesting was the history of water management that he provided us. Beginning with the Roman Empire's aqueduct system, water management and waste-water management has certainly evolved; however, today's systems use the same principles of pressure created by gravity. Our above-ground storage takes use the effects of gravity to create the water pressure in our homes and businesses. The New York City metro areas are served by aqueducts from up-state New York with the longest reaching 129 miles. In Chicago, pumps reserve 1 billion gallons of water daily from Lake Michigan to change the flow of the Chicago River.
Announcements
On Oct. 17th, the American Lung Association is hosting a Better Breathers Club gathering at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 6PM in Metro Center. Cindy shared that persons with chronic lung diseases including CPOD, pulmonary fibrosis, Asthma and lung cancer should consider joining in this event to learn better breathing techniques using yoga.
The 2019 Polar Bear Open is set for Saturday, Feb 29th. If you are able to assist in gathering sponsors, please reach out to Ingrid Fields or Susan Robenalt.
Sinan is looking for students interested in being exchange students in the next school year.
The international Rotary convention is scheduled for June in Hamburg. If you're interested, consider registering before the Dec. price increases.
We provide a hand up, not a hand out through the Freedom Station, a place where veteran injured warriors go to receive housing, care, and assimilation to make the critical transition from military service to civilian life.
Today’s Speaker Vic Tambone, Colonel, USAF (Ret.) is a member of the Board of Directors of the Warrior Foundation, a non-profit veteran help organization that established the Warrior Foundation Freedom Station.
Our announcements:
Wolf has requested more volunteers to help on Saturday set up or to judge the robotics competition on this Sunday September 30th in Worthington. Please reach out to Wolf if you can help with any set up on Saturday or to judge the competition on Sunday.
Jack Curtis reminded the club tat we serve the Dublin Food Pantry the first Monday of every month from 5:30 to 7:30.All are welcome participants.
Dave Williamson will send out the details and logistics once finalized for the Motts Military Museum tour by ur favorite tour guide and 911 Barn.
On 10/24 we will honor the Rotary Polio Remediation progress and global impact. Dwight will share more as we get closer to that date.
Today’s meeting hosted several guests to hear our keynote speaker, Vic Tambone, Colonel, USAF (Ret.). Vic shared the founding of the Warrior Foundation Freedom Center in San Diego and the passion and drive of the all-volunteer organization that we will pattern for the Freedom Station Ohio.
Vic is a lifetime appointed board member of the Freedom Center San Diego and with his distinguished service in Washington DC to President Bush, Henry Kissinger and to our nation with his service.
Clarence Mingo, Franklin County Auditor, Talks of Unprecedented Growth
Our guest today was Clarence Mingo, Franklin County Auditor. Mingo is a native of Canton and holds undergrad and law degrees from OSU and is an Army veteran who served in the Persian Gulf War. He has volunteered his legal services to indigent citizens through the Legal Aid Society.
According to the Auditor, Franklin County is in a period of unprecedented growth which is evident in the growth in property values. Post-Great Recession, we experience modest growth in the 2011-2014 period, but in the pervasive property value assessment that was completed in 2017, property values were up 10-60% since 2011. In 2017, a home sold every 30 minutes, and so far in 2018, a home has sold every 56 minutes in the county. Per Mingo, Franklin County is becoming the "jewel of the Midwest" and has the highest bod rating possible and an excellent cash and liquidity position.
With all of this prosperity, it was especially sobering but important to be reminded that 32% of citizens in Franklin can't afford a 2-bedroom apartment, 25% of children live in food insecurity, 28% of Ohioans don't have a bank account, and due to stagnant wages, the working class ($80K per year income) cannot afford to own a $150K home (and our county increasingly does not have homes available in this price range).
Announcement Reminders
The Memorial Tournament Pro Am Day fundraising committee met on Friday and will meet every 3rd Friday of the month at 7AM. We welcome any interested members to join.
We need video and recording equipment for our exciting upcoming meeting on September 28th when we will have distinguished speakers sharing the Veterans Freedom Center effort that was built in their community and what we might consider for our community. The intent on recording this session is that we create a communications tool that can be reused often with partners and donors. Please connect Kent or Dwight to anyone who can help.
The donations we made to The Andrew Green Foundation were well used and effective. Dave McKee shared that the Haiti High School receiving those funds achieved 28 out of 29 students passing the mandatory exam compared to a much lower average normally. The connection to our friends in The Prodigals from Irish Festival days with Andrew’s brother, has been a meaningful opportunity for us to support this school and in Andrew’s honor.
Our most heartfelt condolences go out to Claudia and Tom Trusty with the passing of Claudia’s sister, Elena. We have signed and sent a card from our group and ask to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
Wolf has requested more volunteers to judge the robotics competition Sunday September 30th in Worthington. Please reach out to Wolf if you can help judge the competition.
Dr. Todd Hoadley, one of our very own members led the discussion about the November 6th Ballot information and Issue 5.
Page introduced Dr. Hoadley, Superintendent of Dublin City Schools, Kristy Venne Director of the Emerald Campus and Brian Kern, Financial Officer.
This quote is from Dalma Kiss, the exchange student from Budapest, Hungary that our club is sponsoring this year. We are lucky to clearly have one of the nicest Hungarians in Dalma! She did an incredible presentation for us today followed by an extended Q&A which provided us with great insights into her home country and city.
Hungary, with a population of 9.8M people is smaller in size than New York State with just a fraction of the people. The language is quite difficult to learn, given the alphabet has 44 letters.
Hungarians invented Vitamin C, the ballpoint pen, Rubic's Cube and matches among other things. Lake Balaton is there and is the largest lake in Central Europe.
Hungary is part of the European Union. Dalma described different cuisines - all of which look and sounds delicious. Budapest, her home city, has 2.5M people.
In addition to educating us about Hungary, Dalma shared that she has two sisters, one older and one younger, and she enjoys playing and watching basketball, listening to music, including TwentyOne Pilots, and she is an excellent artist.
Thank You, Dalma, for your very poised and well-prepared presentation.
Announcements
Reminder that the fall district meeting, Ro Talks, is being held in Pickerington on Sept. 29th. Contact Kent Underwood for more information,
Polar Bear Open raffle items are needed. If you are interested, please contact Jim Bandeen.
Veterans Affairs committee is meeting at 6:45AM SHARP on Sept. 21st. to prepare for the presentation to the club on Sept. 28th and discuss plans for the Freedom Center. Contact Dave Williamson with interest.
Our guests today features Sharon Schrieber and Maddie Mattey from Adaptive Sports Connection as well as two board members and an inspiring spokesman, Adam Greathouse.
Adaptive Sports Connection is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA, and they serve disabled children, adults and veterans with a wide range of adapted sporting opportunities. They have been operating for 25 years. Examples of the opportunities that they have available with adapted equipment include Kayaking, Sailing, Paddle Boarding, Water skiing on the Scioto, as well as adaptive bicycling at Glacier Ridge Metro Park, Snowboarding or skiing at Mad River and more.
Our guests shared a number of very inspiring stories about how they have positively changed the lives of many disabled individuals. Adam Greathouse shared his own incredible story of how Adaptive Sports quite literally saved his life.
Check out AdaptiveSportsConnection.org to learn more about how to volunteer and support this fantastic organization.
Announcements:
Welcome and Congratulations to Joe Yersavich, our newest Dublin AM Rotarian! We're thrilled to have Joe officially on board; he is the leader of the Dublin branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Jim Burness made note of the interest to participate in a Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic. Please see the email that Jim sent earlier this week and reach out to him if you are interested or need more details.
David Bentz provided these updates: two fundraising sub-committees have been assembled, and the Polar Bear Open committee will begin meeting the fiest Friday of each month at 7am, and the Pro Am Day committee will meet the 3rd Friday of the month.
Claudia Trusty announced that she is looking for a person to volunteer to be our club's liaison to the Interact Club at Dublin Jerome H.S. Contact Claudia if you are interested.
Roberta announced that we need Greeters to sign up for September and October. Please sign up via the website (search for the email from Roberta for the website link).
The District Fall Seminar is being held on Saturday Sept 29th in Pickerington. Save the date if you are interested; more details to follow.
We need 4 more sign-ups for the Food Pantry in September.
"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others can't help buy to enjoy it themselves."
This quote from Areyah Kaltman, Executive Director of Lifetown, was a fitting opening to today's speaker topic. Also joining us was Lifetown's COO, Shaunacy Webster. Rita Hook invited and introduced our speakers; Rita is a volunteer at Lifetown. It is a simulated village in new Albany that provides critical life-skills training for disabled and economically disadvantaged public school students. Lifetown's mission is to provide these skills to our areas's most marginalized children - with a particular emphasis on educating these children to avoid substance abuse and addiction. Research shows that disabled children as 2-4 times more susceptible to addiction.
Lifetown serves 50-70 school aged children every day - requiring 20 volunteers daily, or 1,300 through the school year. The children visit Lifetown 4-6 times per year for each school year - K-12. Lifetown has developed a curriculum called Stop to Live to focus on stemming the tide of opiate addiction as these children become teens and adults. Visit www.lifetown.org for more information and to seek volunteer opportunities.
Announcements:
Irish Festival this weekend: Contact Andy Keeler is you can help out with shifts - 8pm Friday, Saturday 4pm, 8pm and Sunday 8am.
Dublin Food Pantry - we need a couple of volunteers for this Monday evening, 8/6.
School Supplies or Cash Donations - next week is the last week for collections by Claudia.
Congratulations to Dave Lundregan who had his red New Member sticker removed!
Perfect Party Aug. 18th at 6:30 at Andy Keeler's home to welcome our new exchange student from Hungary. She arrives August 8th.
Roberta Kayne delivered the highlights of today's meeting by sharing a slide show of photos and commentary on her January trip to Cuba. Roberta joined a group from Global Volunteers that traveled there to tutor English. Roberta's talents as a photographer shown through in the amazing pictures she shared. Global Volunteers (globalvolunteers.org) boasts 35,000+ volunteers in over 35 countries. You can see most of the photos from Roberta's presentation at www.RobertaKayne.com/Cuba.
Gretchen Spears, a student at Dublin Coffman, provided us a terrific presentation about the history and culture of Slovakia. Gretchen will be traveling there this coming school year as an exchange student sponsored by our club.
Pat Losinski, CEO of Columbus Metropolitan Library, joined us to deliver his personal thanks for the donation that we have pledged to the new library branch under contsruction in Dublin.
Announcements
Dublin Irish Festival - shifts are still needing filled - particularly Saturday morning and on Sunday. Contact Andy Keeler. Also, for training on the inventory control application on the iPads, please stay after next Friday morning's meeting or arrive 10-15 minutes early for your shift.
Fundraising - David Bentz announced that the two main fundraisers this year are the Memorial Tournament Pro Am Day and the Polar Bear Open.
August 18th Perfect Party - mark your calendars for 6>30pm on Aug 18th for a perfect party at Andy Keeler's home. Watch for more details coming via email.
August 10th - Emerald Campus Grand Opening - if you are interested, please sign up. Contact Peter Georgiton for details.
Our Literacy Committee has launched the tenth annual Back To School Supply drive. We will be collecting supplies on July 27, August 3 and August 10. Cash donations are very welcomed! Check your email for a list of the items requested by teachers at the 3 schools we support.
Register to join us for the ribbon cutting and tour of Dublin's new Emerald Campus on Emerald Parkway. We'll meet up at 9:50 at the school. Check your email for an invitation and registration info.
We had an engaging Main Speaker today, Bradley Frick sharing “Constitution 230”.
But first our announcements:
Bob Rosenberg was recognized “Rotarian of the Year” in this 20th year of his membership and some of his contributions were announced. Best wishes also to Bob and Irene for their 46th wedding anniversary this weekend.
We had visitors from Taiwan Rotary 3461 and 3462. Sharon Kendall and The GSE Taiwan Director introduced the students and professionals visiting the area and reviewed some of the highlights of their trip.
Andy reminded us that there are still vital volunteer opportunities for our Irish Festival and the signup link is right here for you to use now:
Registration Site:
Click on the “Sharing o’ the Green” button at DublinIrishFestival.org
If you did serve for an organization in the past please sign into your account OR enter your username, click on the Forgot Your Password? link. Note: if you forgot your username, the group leader will have access to that information. Please DO NOT create a new account if you have served in the past • A new page will open, reenter your username in the space provided and click Continue • An email will be sent to your e-mail account prompting you to reset your password. Follow the instructions provided in the email and choose a password that you can remember for the rest of the season!
If you did not serve for an organization in the past please click the Create New Account.
Create a username and password, click Next. (We recommend using your first initial and last name all LOWERCASE case as your password)
Enter Dublin AM Rotary join code: 18blarney (all join codes must be entered in ALL LOWERCASE. Click Next. If you have multiple join codes, enter one and proceed to the next page where you will receive instructions on how to enter another. IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE, YOU CAN CONTACT BONNIE COLEY-MALIR AT BONNIE.COLEY@ME.COM OR 614-330-6540, OR ANDY KEELER AT ANDY.KEELER@KEELERNADLER.COM OR 614-402-3765
Wolf talked about our exchange student and her upcoming arrival August 8th and a possible Perfect Party around August 11th. Cindy has graciously volunteered if no other hosts anxiously steps in.
Dwight won the big pot and donated $1,000 to the veteran’s committee fund.
Our guest speakers today were Dr. David Guion, Executive Director, and Janet Cooper, Director of Engagement, from the Dublin Arts Council. David and Janet walked our members through 8 Trends and discussed how the DAC is responding to those trends. The presentation was very informative and affirmed Dublin's rising national and international acclaim for our the arts in our city.
The Trends that DAC is Responding To:
1) Using Technology to Engage and Measure
2) Community Artmaking
3) Equity, Inclusion, Diversity - Example is the B.R.E.A.D Festival which this year is Oct. 14th at Coffman Park.
4) The Participatory Museum
5) Multi-faceted Experiences - Example is Sundays @ Scioto which is in its 35th Year
6) Social Justice Focused Programming
7) Understanding Relevance - Example is the Riverboxes project
8) Creative Placemaking
Announcements:
Last Call for confirming attendance at the June 29th Installation Dinner - contact Kent
Irish Festival Sign Up - only 15% of shifts filled - contact Andy
Dublin Food Pantry - volunteers needed 1st Monday of July or August 5:30-7:30 -contact Jack
Parade marshaling July 4th - need a few more volunteers - contact Dwight
August 13th - 8th Annual Blue Jackets Outing - volunteers needed to assist during this outing which benefits the 3rd and Goal foundation (Brady Quinn) which re-habs housing for veterans - contact Dwight
Independence Day Parade Marshals Needed - We need volunteers to serve as marshals during the parade on July 4th. See email from Dwight.
Dublin Food Pantry Volunteers Needed - July 2nd shift has no volunteers - register via our website or contact Dave Lundegran (davelundegran@gmail.com) to sign up.
Host Family Needed July 10-13th for Taiwan Exchange - contact Sharon Kendall skendall@healthy-goals.com if you would like to host.
June 29th Installation Dinner - See Kent's email and register for the Installation Dinner Party at Bonnie and Rick's party barn.
It's time to register to volunteer for the Irish Festival beverage inventory control service that our club provides each year. See the email that Andy Keeler sent out. Registration instructions below:
Registration Site:
Click on the “Sharing o’ the Green” button at DublinIrishFestival.org
If you did serve for an organization in the past please sign into your account OR enter your username, click on the Forgot Your Password? link. Note: if you forgot your username, the group leader will have access to that information. Please DO NOT create a new account if you have served in the past • A new page will open, reenter your username in the space provided and click Continue • An email will be sent to your e-mail account prompting you to reset your password. Follow the instructions provided in the email and choose a password that you can remember for the rest of the season!
If you did not serve for an organization in the past please click the Create New Account.
Create a username and password, click Next. (We recommend using your first initial and last name all LOWERCASE case as your password)
Enter Dublin AM Rotary join code: 18blarney (all join codes must be entered in ALL LOWERCASE. Click Next. If you have multiple join codes, enter one and proceed to the next page where you will receive instructions on how to enter another.
IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE, YOU CAN CONTACT BONNIE COLEY-MALIR AT BONNIE.COLEY@ME.COM OR 614-330-6540, OR ANDY KEELER AT ANDY.KEELER@KEELERNADLER.COM OR 614-402-3765
Dublin Library is receiving a donation from Dublin Rotary Foundation for $25,000. The announcement made at today’s meeting by Susan Robenalt also discussed the community presence and direction of this donation.
The Irish Festival time is upon us and Andy will be emailing links to our membership for volunteer registration. This is an important fun and “fund-raising” event for our club, please look for the email and register!
Mike Isler announced that we are looking for additional members for the communications committee. There will be a meeting announced for this committee through email. Please join us at the meeting and get in touch with Mike now if you are interested.
Exchange students are arriving from Taiwan in conjunction with other Rotary groups and Sharon announced that we are looking for 2 additional host families now. She offered to help with transportation and other support if you can host one of the students.
Kent Underwood reminded our members that 2 emails have gone out and we have many members attending the installation dinner 6/29 and 1 final email will be sent to encourage all the members to sign up. Also make sure to make the meeting!
Kent also did an honorary guest membership badge presentation to Frank Dillenschneider recognizing his fabulous attendance at our club meetings.
Susan West reminder us to enjoy the Dublin Arts Sunday evening Summer Concert Series on Dublin Rd. at the park, the Dublin Arts group will be speaking at one of our meetings soon also.
Tim Byrd from Sales XCeleration was our guest today, in addition to Frank of course.
Featured Speakers: Kirsten Minnie Intelligence Analyst
Krista Weida and Heidi Hrabcak, Lawyers for American Vets, speaking to Dublin AM Rotary today about assistance for disabled veterans. Photos by Mohan Viddam
Many Visitors From Our Interact Clubs at the Dublin High Schools!
It was a great meeting today, as we had many visitors from our 3 Dublin high schools as well as several educators visit to provide updated in the Interact Clubs. We also had 4 additional students from Dublin Coffman who came to speak about their Ted-x Innovation Drive initiative.
Each of the clubs provided inspiring lists of great service activities which they have already completed as well as planned activities. It is great to see these young people so committed to service to others, and we hope they all become future Rotarians.
Here are examples from each presentation:
Coffman - St. Jude Walk, Dog Biscuits sold to raise money for guide/assist dogs, and St. Jude Really all completed and plans for a Mongolian Pen Pal project
Scioto - Hurricane Relief through Goodwill clothing drive, Donations for Honor Flight, Thanksgiving Dinner donations, Toys for Tots collections completed
Jerome - Project Linus with 22 blankets made and donated, Cookies for the Convalarium, sold Paper Hearts for Valentines Day to raise money to combat childhood cancers completed and plans for flower pots for Mothers Day to residents at Convalarium.
Ted-x Innovation Drive
Four very industrious students from Coffman visited to share the initiative they are executing to bring a Ted-x event to Dublin. On July 7th, the first independently organized Ted event will occur in Dublin with the topic being "Challenging the Status Quo" with 7 planned speakers talking about Innovation. These students are seeking volunteers to assist at the July 7th event.
Announcements:
May10th-12th - Our Washington Township FD is selling hangining baskets for $15.00 at Station 91 on Shier Rings and Station 92 on Hard Rd. All proceeds benefit Honor Flight.
The Rotary exchange student program is having a dinner at St. Patricks on May 12th to raise money for a service project which is designed to aid Shelter Box.
Also looking for one of our Rotary families to host the incoming exchange student from Budapest for one month of the stay. Contact Sinan.
The District Meeting is on May 19th.
Also on May 19th at Otterbein is the All State Robotics competition. Contact Wolf if you could volunteer to help with set up or tear down.
Pat Losinski who leads the Columbus Metropolitan Library system and Nikki Scarpitti who is acting development leader visited our Club this morning and provided an update on the new Dublin branch of the library that has construction underway.
A scale model of the new library enabled our members to visualize the impressive architectural plan for the library itself and the surrounding grounds. The architectural firm nbb,j which is a globally recognized firm, is involved in the design and construction plan. The presentation provide imagery of the inside of the new library which will feature public meeting rooms, study rooms, naturally lighted spaces, a cafe, outdoor community plaza and other features that the previous library did not have. The new library will increase the space for children to over 5,000 square feet from less than 1,000, will increase overall square footage to over 40,000 on 2.5 floors up from from 20,000, and the adjacent parking structure will include 200 spaces reserved for library patrons during operating hours.
The Dublin branch had 333,000 visitors, a circulation of 1.5M books, and 186,000 audio book downloads.
The new library construction budget is $21.1M, with $2.8M to be raised through private donations. The new library is planned to open in May 2019.
Announcements
Perfect Party tomorrow night beginning at 6pm at Sarah Richardson's home.
If you are interested in leaning more about hosting an exchange student. reach out to Sinan.
Strides for Sobriety 5K raised over $11K! Congrats to Jack, Ramona, Laurie, Dave and all who helped planned and participated!
Rotary Business Cards are available each Friday at the sign-in table and should be used to invite prospective members to join a Friday morning meeting and have breakfast on the Club's dime to learn more about Rotary and DublinAM.
Our guest speaker today was Merry Korn, President/CEO of Pearl Interactive (website is pinsourcing.com). Merry spoke about her personal journey with Pearl as an example of how to cultivate a Social Enterprise, i.e., a for-profit business that serves a social mission. At Pearl, they have focused on hiring disabled individuals, including disabled veterans, retired veterans, military spouses and other disenfranchised workers. She told some amazing stories of how they have enabled their workers to change their lives using technologies that allow remote contact center work. In addition to the good that they do through hiring the workers that they do, Pearl also has honed its mission to a social mission - remote health monitoring of those with chronic health issues.
Because of the attraction of both Enterprise and Government entities to Pearl's mission to hire disenfranchised workers, it is aiding them in growing the business profitably. Federal Government contracts have increased in particular because of the veterans they employ.
Announcements
Strides for Sobriety 5K run is this Sunday. There is still an opportunity to participate - or to donate. Visit Columbus Running for more details or reach out to Jack Curtis.
Sharon Kendall announced that we are participating with 7 local area Rotary clubs in a New Generations Service Exchange in June. Our club is expected to host the Taiwanese exchange students during the firs half of June. Reach out to Sharon if you are interested in being a host family. Also, June 27th will be an outing to a Columbus Clippers game which is an opportunity to interact with the students.
Dwight announced that the final Blarney Bash numbers are being tallied, and we expect to earn between $5K-$15K for our Foundation, plus we raised $7.500 for Syntero and Strides for Sobriety.
April 13th Meeting Notes - Merry Korn, CEO, Pearl Interactive
Our Main Speaker was Steve Bunyard, President Dublin Methodist Hospital
We had visitors from Dublin Coffman High School Water Club, Brad Rasberry and Sri Varre looking for support for their Water Walk April 7th 9-11 to raise funds for water filtration systems and help with access to safe and clean water. Frank D. committed $50 from the Hilliard club to the Water Club. This of course stimulated great competitive pressures with Dave Williams and our sergeant at arms today, Lee Beall, and we collected a matching amount from the pot for these fine young folks and their cause
Announcements:
Rev. Steve Smith announced tonight is Fish Friday at St. Patrick’s tonight at 6 pm.
Heartland High School lunch volunteers will be working Saturday.
Dwight Seeley announced that we will be covering the financials and Blarney Bash contributions at an upcoming meeting.
Jack Curtis welcomes more sponsorship, walkers and runners and company giveaways for the gift bags at the Stride for Sobriety event coming soon.
Our Guest Speaker- Steve Bunyard is here to commemorate the first 10 years of the Dublin Methodist Hospital and the care they bring to our community. Joining Steve was Athena Sidenstricker and Betsy Ralley.
Terry Lyden, founder of The Miracle League of Central Ohio, and supporter of Canine Collective, speaking to Dublin AM Rotary today about Miracle League and Canine Collective.
Jean Lally, owner and founder of Canine Collective. Canine Collective rescues dogs from kill shelters and from abusive and neglected situations and finds them good homes.
Go to dublinbridges.org and enroll to assist others in need.
Our guest speakers today were Rick Bannister, who founded Westerville Bridges just over a year ago and has expanded that to Neighborhood Bridges. In addition, Jill Kranstuber, co-director of Dublin Bridges joined our meeting. What began with Rick's simple idea has become a huge success in connecting advocates for those in need in our suburban Columbus communities to volunteers in the community who can fill the needs. Using email and social media to connect advocates to volunteers, the Neighborhood Bridge has connected over 500 advocates to fulfill over 8,000 needs in the first 400 days. As Rotarians, we can be both volunteers - of goods, services or financial assistance - and we can be advocates.
Dublin Bridge has a 100% success rate in fulfilling the requests for assistance that advocates have brought forward. Many of these are coming from advocates within the Dublin City Schools. Other advocates include Washington Township Fire, Dublin Police, Syntero, Welcome Warehouse, and the Dublin Food Pantry. Rick, who is a member of the Westerville Rotary and Westerville School Board, explained that since 2000, the percentage of those in the U.S. living below the poverty line in the suburbs has grown to exceed that of the inner cities. Jill and Rick shared several heartwarming stories about how moving the kindness of the community has been to readily fulfill a wide range of needs to others in their community. More than 15 of our Dublin AM Club members took the challenge and signed up during the meeting and hopefully many more will do the same!
Announcements:
Blarney Bash is March 10th - Go to the Blarney Bash website dublinblarneybash.com/volunteer to sign up for a volunteer shift. Remember that you'll be required to attend Alcohol Server Training if you are signing up to volunteer for beverage serving.
Congratulations to the Polar Bear committee (Sinan and Pete especially) for a record-breaking fundraising year ~$8,800!
Watch for an email from Bonnie about a program on March 8th at 5PM with the District Governor and a discussion about giving to Rotary.
March 16th is the tour of Tolles and Luncheon. If interested, reach out to Claudia.
Meeting was run by Dwight Seeley and the Committee Panel today was run by Sarah Richardson
Guest Kyle Harnden Host Ryan Keenan
Happy Bucks announcements shared our good news today.
Announcements:
The Polar Bear Review was announced by Sinan Yaykin and was a great event. Record golfer levels, exceeding 85 participants and successful fundraising from Sponsors and Hole Sponsors. A detailed event financial summary will be forthcoming in a future meeting. Thanks to all those who organized and contributed and attended to make it such a fun and successful time for our club. More to follow.
Wine Down Wednesday was announced by Peter Georgiton as a coming event this week. Join fellow Rotarians around 5:30 in the Shawnee Hills Wine shop and be social together.
Roberta Kayne will be collecting electronics this next Friday at the meeting. Look for details from Roberta and just bring working or non-working electronic hardware to the meeting.
Claudia Trusty shared good news about a new Interact Club, more opportunities to get involved with be discussed.
Dave Williams had several updates for Blarney Bash:
Go to the volunteer site www.dublinblarneybash.com and sign up for your volunteer shift if you have not done so yet.
Friday 3/9 our meeting will be held at the set up site again this year and alcohol sales training covered by the Dublin police. (Yes-mandatory for this event again). Please plan on volunteering Friday.
Connect with Alan Abouhassan to add swag or marketing materials to be handed out from the sponsors.
You have hopefully received your 4 tickets that every member purchased for Blarney Bash. Special thanks to Kent Underwood and his son for organizing these into cheerful envelopes waiting for YOU!.
• Paul Harris and 125 Club- Ramona Please contact Ramona to sign up for these important giving opportunities
• Tour & Lunch of Tolls March 16th, 11:30 $8.50 Per person Contact Claudia to sign-up
• Honor Flight April Timeframe Dave is looking at pulling together a honor flight for 5-6 Veterans in the April timeframe, more details to follow
• Heartland Recovery High School Fundraiser March 24th 12-14 Volunteers needed Contact Jack to sign-up
• Strides for Sobriety April 15th, more details to follow
• Blarney Bash March 10th- 30 days away and we are still in need of sponsors Please contact Dwight or Alan for more details We have a need to have the ability to broadcast the Big 10 tournament in the tent- if you have any resources or ideas please contact Dwight
• Wine Wednesday Moved to Feb 21st at the Village Wine Shop due to Valentine’s day
Today's Speaker:
We had the privilege of welcoming food critic Steve Stover to discuss some of his top food picks for Central Ohio dining and trends he is seeing in dining. We have a wide variety of foods to discover everything from Vegetarian, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese in Central Ohio. Now is a great time to get out of your comfort zone and try some of the new and exciting dining options!
Welcome our newest Dublin AM Rotary Club members announced today: Dave Lundregan and Ryan Keenan!
Dave is a long time Dublin resident and a VP at Park National Bank. He has raised 4 daughters and has dedicated his community service interests toward education initiatives.
Ryan is also a Dublin native - a DCHS grad and Miami U alum - and grew up knowing Rotary through his Dad's participation in our club. Ryan works in the family's insurance business.
Announcements:
Don't forget Feb. 3rd (tomorrow night) is the Progressive Dinner starting at the McKee's.
Polar Bear Open is February 10th and sign ups are going great (70+ golfers) and gift baskets to be auctioned also are going great. Get registered and register your friends and family. Contact Pete F. or Sinan with questions.
Blarney Bash is just 5 weeks away! March 10th. We are still short of the fundraising goal but with some good prospects according to Alan. Contact Alan with opportunities for sponsors. Dwight updated on the family activities planned for the afternoon following the parade. There is a fantastic line up of activities and entertainment. Wolf updated the the Best Legs in a Kilt contest has already signed up some key participants including Dana McDaniel, Mayor Greg Peterson and our own Superintendent Todd Hoadley.
Dwight announced that we will be participating in an opportunity to donate children's picture books that will be translated and provided to communities in need. Watch for future emails from Dwight about this endeavor.
Curling Presentation!
Thank You to Stephen and Jan Smith for providing a very entertaining and interesting presentation on the sport of curling. With the Olympics about to kick off, it was great to understand all of the details (the stone is made of a unique granite and way around 42 pounds), the methods (the broom sweeping actually speeds up the stone by heating the ice), the history and the rules!
Today's presentation featured Kristy Venne, Director of the Emerald Campus, and our club's own Dr. Todd Hoadley, Superintendent of Dublin City Schools. We also welcomed numerous guests to the meeting from Dublin Schools and the Board of Education, Tolles, Dublin City Council and the Dublin Schools Business Advisory Council.
Dr. Hoadley shared some facts about our schools; 16,300 students speaking 61 languages and coming from over 100 countries. Enrollment has grown 20% in the past decade and 40% of students live in the City of Columbus limits.
The Emerald Campus is located in the former Verizon Wireless building on Emerald Parkway across from Dublin Coffman High School. Instead of investing to build a traditional 4th high school, our schools leadership elected to pursue an innovative approach with a flexible space geared to innovative programming. At the heart of this decision is the need to address the changing workforce and changing economy that is requiring new approaches to educational opportunities for our kids.
Financially, a traditional 4th high school would cost taxpayers ~$100M, while the Emerald Campus facility will be 20% of that cost.
Ms. Venne discussed the various academies and programming that is available and will be available in the future at Emerald Campus. With a focus on a non-traditional, problem-based experiential learning approach, the academies include Engineering, Dublin Teachers, Young Professionals, Biomedical, and IT.
The school board is also considering a proposal to relocate the Central Office to the 4th floor of the Emerald Campus building and convert the current Central Office location to a preschool center to free up space in the elementary schools.
Wolf Lant shared that March 10th Blarney Bash will include the Best Legs in a Kilt event, a fundraiser to support Strides for Sobriety. Details to come.
Alan Abouhassan asked all members to contact him with any potential sponsors for Blarney Bash.
Sinan Yakin said the Polar Bear Golf Open has 50+ registered golfers. You still have time to signup your foursome for this fun event.
Sinan also introduced Gretchen, the outbound student we are sponsoring. Gretchen asked that any members interested in hosting an inbound student during the 2018-2018 school year please contact Sinan. Gretchen will find out soon where she will travel in August.
The Progressive Dinner is planned for Feb 3. Please signup today online or contact Peter Georgiton.
Our Speaker
We were very fortunate to have Dana McDaniel, Dublin City Mgr, share 2018 updates with our club. In fact, Dana share so much information that it would be impossible to capture it all here. Sue Burness made the PowerPoint presentation available to our members as well as a video that shows how the Bridge Street project a will look when completed. Please review them all and share with friends and family. It is a very exciting time in Dublin!
Exciting and Busy Friday Meeting today! Focus on Education in Mongolia and in our Community in Ohio.
With many visitors from Tolles and the focus on the Technical and Career Guidance we are fortunate to have for our Dublin students and 6 other communities served by Tolles, we also had the opportunity to hear from Ari Khurelbaatar, Past President of the Narlag Ulaanbaatar Rotary Club visiting with David Hansen and David Kittredge of the Hosting Dublin Worthington Rotary Club.
Announcements:
• Peter Georgiton shared February 3rd is the date of the Progressive dinner, Sarah Richardson is sharing her home and has the details!
• Peter Fuhlbrigge shared that the Polar Bear Open is up to 40 golfers on February 10th, more are welcome. A good crowd is expected for sure.
• A reminder that our major fundraising event is March 10th this year and Blarney Bash can use more sponsors, Allan will be sharing more on this. We will be getting a volunteer opportunity for sign ups as well from Cindy Groeniger. Volunteers will be appreciated during the event, before for set up and the day after for take down activities.
• Jack Curtis is still asking volunteers to contact him for the March 24th fund raising lunch event benefiting Heartland High School.
• A new date, April 15th, the Strides for Sobriety 5K event and more details to follow.
Visitors from Mongolia
Our visitors from the Rotary Club of Narlag Ulaanbaatar shared their appreciation for kindergarten and primary school books that were shared from the State of Ohio. Past President Ari Khurelbaatar discussed the importance of early childhood schooling and shared many data points such as 60% of Mongolian citizens are below the age of 30!
Meeting was run by Dwight, Get Well wishes go out to Bonnie
Announcements:
• Jack Curtis announced a new Recovery High School has been announced in Columbus and our Rotary has been asked for Volunteers to staff their fund-raising event 3/24/2018 around 11:30 am. Jack will welcome all volunteers now and look for follow up on that request.
• Claudia Trusty is encouraging our creative skills -please use your smart phones to take pictures at our meetings and events. The Communications Committee needs more photographers and reporters and the sign-up email will be coming out. Please join in this method of club support.
• The Polar Bear Open happening February 10th needs an attendance push, please socialize this among your community friends and family. Contact Sinan Yaykin for more information.
• Wine Down Wednesday is coming up this week. Join fellow Rotarians around 5:30 in the Shawnee Hills Wine shop for a comfortable, casual glass and fellowship.
• Roberta Kayne expressed her appreciation for our support of her Global Volunteers efforts and the imminent trip to Cuba with school supplies. She will have photos and a good experience to report when she returns soon.
Our Main Speaker was Nate Traucht, founder of The Fitness Edge Company.
The Fitness Edge has been a Dublin company at 6419 Old Avery Road since 2000 with a continuing focus on long term health through nutrition and fitness. Personal training and semi private lessons are offered to create a Life Transformation. Nate has achieved amazing results including national titles in his own program and works with many of our Dublin neighbors.
Nate also shared the priorities he recommends based on his own success and the successful work with his practice:
Focus on Nutrition first
Look at adding weight training next for the best benefits
Add Cardio to your training third-walking, running, bicycle or other preferred methods
Supplements are another step in the progression
Use a professional trainer for the most important thing- your heath and well being
Thank you for sharing these tips Nate! A great time to focus on our Health and Wellness Goals.
Our Literacy Committee had a great time with 3rd graders at Olde Sawmill Elementary, one of 5 Dublin City Schools receiving dictionaries this year. Jack Curtis, Bob Rosenberg, Todd Hoadley & Claudia Trusty were treated to a special performance the kids wrote and performed, highlighting why dictionaries are important. Just one more way Dublin AM partners with Dublin City Schools to make a difference in the lives of students in our community.
Our speaker this week was our own Stephen Smith of St. Patrick's Episcopal. Bonnie shared some facts about Stephen. Did you know that he has been leading St. Patrick's since 2003, is a tri-athlete and an author?
Stephen shared Christmas inspiration he has gained from comic strips and Charlie Brown's Christmas. He talked about how we are all flawed and in some way each of us is a mess and needs a divine presence in our lives.
The straightforward message is this: we work Christmas so hard, but Christmas is supposed to work us.
Announcements
No meetings Dec. 22nd or Dec. 29th due to the holidays
Blarney Bash Sponsorships have increased to $9,750. The goal is $60,000
Julie Rinaldi offered the opening prayer on kindness & Dave Williamson led the pledge.
Announcements:
• Dwight Seeley said they still need Blarney Bash sponsors
• Paige Vornbrock announced that Dec. 15th we will honor two Dublin citizens: Judge Clayton Rose and Chai Weber
• Peter Fuhlbrigge provided an update on the Polar Bear Golf Open event being held on February10th.
• Jack Curtis announced their need for more Food Pantry volunteers on Mondays 5:00 to 7:00
• Rich Weber announced a Christmas event at Coffman High School
• Dave Williamson needs sergeant-at-arms volunteers for January through June.
• Susan West sent around sign up sheets for speaker suggestions
• Sarah Richardson reminded members of the Holiday Party Friday, December 8 at Muirfield Country Club starting at 6:00
• Susan Robenalt needs shoppers for Saturday December 9th meeting at Kohl's on Sawmill at 9:00. Money for the families will be collected at Friday meeting on Dec. 8th as well as at the Holiday Party that evening
• Claudia Trusty was Sergeant-at-arms – She opened with riddles which nobody got but were good for laughs
• Guests were introduced: Frank from Hilliard, Dave Lundergan with Park National Bank guest of Ramona, Steve Heiser Asst. District Governor (Area 2)
Thank you, Dave Williamson, for sharing your presentation today and reminding all of us of the meaning and purpose of Veterans Day.
Happy Veterans Day to all of our club members those family members and friends who are veterans.
Dave explained that Veterans Day was originally Armistice Day, commemorating the end of WW1. Veterans Days is celebrated on Nov. 11th because it was 11am, on 11/11 in 1918 that the armistice was executed to end WW1.
While Memorial Day honors the veterans who died in active combat, Veterans Day honors all Veterans - living and passed. Veterans are defined as those in Active Duty, Reserved Forces and National Guard.
Honoring our veterans is something that dates back to George Washington who spoke about the importance of our country holding veterans in high esteem. There are ~22M living veterans. When you add those living veterans to active duty military, this represents just 7.3% of the U.S. population.
Announcements
No Meeting on November 24th due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
December 8th is the Holiday Party - watch for the upcoming invitation email.
Dec. 4th 5:30-7:30 is our next shift at the Dublin Food Pantry to assist shoppers. Sign up on Club Runner or reach out to Jack Curtis.
The Polar Bear Open date has been changed to February 10th.
Sarah is in recovery herself, after struggling with addiction since the age of 15. She discussed her substance abuse disorder and how community aided her recovery. “I felt very limited and trapped…But I’m really grateful that my high school community in Houston, Texas had a really strong youth recovery community and continuum of care. I never stopped receiving services, and that’s what made it so successful for me,” says Sarah.
Welcome Maurie Donnelly and Sam Laufersweiler - our newly inducted Dublin AM Rotary Club members!!
Announcements:
-First Monday of the Month (including this Monday, Nov. 6th) - our club volunteers to assist at the Dublin Food Pantry helping shoppers. Please contact Jack Curtis to sign up.
-Slots remain for Bell Ringing at the Dublin Kroger stores on Dec. 2nd and Dec. 16th. Contact Bruce Andrews.
-Greeters needed to sign up for December. See email from Roberta, and please sign up.
-Save the Date for the Polar Bear Open on Feb. 4th.
- Remember to join the "dublin a.m. rotary club" Facebook Group.
Speaker Notes:
Today's discussion was all about the 2018 Blarney Bash. March 10th, 2018 is the day! Save the date and plan to volunteer.
Please Like and Share the Blarney Bash Facebook Page to being spreading the word.
Help is needed to drive sponsorships to the $65,000 goal. Sponsorships range from $250 to $20,000. Reach out to Wolf, Dwight or Alan.
There are some key changes planned for this year's Blarney Bash;
The afternoon, post-parade activities will continue to be family focused with a number of enhancements including magicians, Boy Scout and Lego League activities, performance by the Dublin Cornet Band, and the Wee Folk Crafts area.
Everything will occur in a single tent this year, and we will reconfigure the tent between the afternoon and evening activities.
'Ol Bag of Nails will be serving food this year, instead of the food trucks.
The big change for the evening activities is the addition of the "Best Legs in a Kilt" Contest which will be advertised in advance and will draw interest and participation in the evening portion of the Bash.
Today was the annual return of former Buckeye Football stars, Ryan Miller and Craig Krenzel. Ryan updated us on the great work that the 2nd & 7 foundation (www.secondandseven.com) continues to do to improve literacy skills for 2nd graders. Now in its 18th year, the foundation has expanded into 20 states and will deliver its 200,000th book this year!
Claudia Trusty and David Bentz at Daniel Wright Elementary delivering school supplies from Dublin AM Rotary. We heard from a reliable source that the much needed supplies were "grabbed up" quickly by the teachers and were greatly appreciated!
Delivering School Supplies to Daniel Wright Elementary School
District Governor Shane Pyle - Even Ordinary Rotarians are Extraordinary
This week's speaker was our District Governor, Shane Pyle. His presentation was part performance art, part stand-up comedy routine and part serious reminder of the purpose of Rotary. The main themes of his talk were about how even ordinary Rotarians do extraordinary things. He shared a story about how Rotary International's Polio Plus effort to eradicate polio worldwide began with an average Rotarian, an M.D. who convinced his local club to contribute to a service project to provide the polio vaccine to villages in need. Shane also spoke about how we need to balance the traditions or Rotary with the changing times. Our traditions can't be more important than our membership.
He also invited our club members to participate in the district conference - Zanesville 360 - May 19-20th at the Zane State campus.
Pyle is a third-generation Rotarian. He was born in 1964, the year his grandfather James Pyle was president of the Coshocton Rotary Club. His mother, Sandy Pyle, was club president in 2002-03, and his father Kevin Pyle was president-elect when he died in 2005. Shane served as club president in 2003-04, while his stepfather, Roger Viers, of the Gahanna Rotary Club, was District Governor of District 6690 in 2000-01.
Shane joined the Coshocton Rotary Club in 1998, and became very involved in district – level activities in Rotary, having served as assistant district governor, Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), and district legislation. At the club level, Shane is involved with Youth Exchange, Rotary Foundation, Group Study Exchange, Kick Cancer, African Water Well projects and mosquito netting projects, and newsletter/social media editor.
Our speaker today was Dr. Lisa Hinkelman and the topic, "What’s Going on For Girls and How Can We Help Them?”. This was a fascinating, concerning but hopeful discussion about how our society needs to improve experiences for girls in grades 5-12 to ensure they are happy, safe and able to realize all of their potential.
Dr. Lisa Hinkelman is the Founder and Director of Ruling Our eXperiences, an evidence-based empowerment program for girls that focuses on equipping girls with skills to effectively negotiate the challenges of adolescence. Started in 2006 in Columbus, Ohio, ROX has grown to a nationally operated program with thousands of participants in urban, suburban, and rural schools. Hinkelman has spent years working with girls, parents, and educators in both educational and counseling settings and has been aggressively researching the experiences of diverse girls for the past ten years.
The life of an adolescent girl can be hard: dealing with friendships and girl drama, navigating dating relationships and sexual pressure, battling concerns with weight and body image, and coping with stress and pressure. All of these issues are currently influencing the lives of girls. Add to this the constant usage of technology and social media, and these struggles are significantly amplified. Technology is more present than ever, and the temptation to engage frequently with social media can be challenging for girls to manage. These factors make middle and high school years challenging for many students— and particularly difficult for girls. Girls often report feelings of isolation, self-consciousness, and sadness and even experience depression and anxiety—at twice the rate of boys. The reality is that there is relevant and important local and national data that we will share on how girls are feeling, experiencing themselves and other girls, what they think about their options and futures, and what they want and need from the adults in their lives.
Announcements:
On August 25th, please bring school supplies (or cash for purchase of school supplies) to donate to students in need at Riverside, Daniel Wright and Chapman elementary schools.
Supplies needed:
Supplies requested:
5th grade: colored pencils, composition noteboooks, binders and hand sanitizer 3rd grade: #2 pencils, clorox wipes, gallon and quart bags, plastic school boxes, 2nd grade: pencils, crayons, tissues 1st grade: fat markers, clorox wipes, dry erase markers, glue sticks Special education: hand sanitizers, tissues, 3 ring binders, notebooks, glue sticks ELL teachers: crayons
Clippers Game this coming Sunday August 20th spearheaded by Pete Georgiton Go to Club Runner to sign up. Tickets are $14 and game starts at 5:05.
Rotarians had a successful Wine Wednesday this past week. There will be a Wine Wednesday on the 2nd Wednesday of each Month at The Village Wine Shop, 9280 Dublin Rd., Powell.
Next two Fridays we Roberta Kayne will be collecting electronics of all kinds to benefit MCS at T.O.U.C.H.
Next two Fridays Claudia Trusty will be collecting school supplies or money for school supplies.
This coming Tuesday there will be a marketing planning meeting at Wolf Lant’s office to come up with Blarney Bash marketing strategies.
Cindy Groeniger thanked everyone particularly Andy Keeler for their help at Irish Festival. All who participated had a great time and Andy did a great job organizing again this year.
Dave Williams was Sargent- at-Arms:
Guests: Price Finley District Rotary Foundation Chair
John Mederos District Global Grant Chair
Brad Reinbolt
Steve Heiser Asst. Governor
Frank Dilenschneider Rotarian Guest Hilliard Club
Nick Glimsdahl , Chair of the International Committee, introduced Mohan Viddam to present an update on the Global Grant for Water Purification project to provide water purification equipment to villages in cooperation with Community Pure Water (CPW) organization in the parts of India.
Mohan gave an impressive presentation of how the purification system actually works and how it is introduced to and set up in communities along with the corresponding commitment that needs to be made by the village and CPW. A big part of this is educating the villagers on the benefits of clean water and presenting it in a way to show the economic benefit to them and their families.
Big thanks to Andy Keeler for once again coordinating our club's volunteer participation this year - the 30th Annual Dublin Irish Festival. We have many club members volunteering time for beverage inventory control - ensuring that the adult festival goers are able to celebrate responsibly once again this year. Numerous club members have volunteered for more than one 4-hour shift. Andy will personally log about 40 hours Fri-Sun!
Don't throw out those unused, broken or outdated electronics. Roberta Kayne is organizing a drive to collect items for T.O.U.C.H., a group that helps previously incarcerated people learn new job skills by repairing broken electronics. Roberta says "if it plugs in, bring it!" Collection day is being planned but will probably be in September.
Presentation:
Today's speakers are well-known to us all: Bonnie Coley-Malir, Dwight Seeley and Wolf Lant. Today they shared some of their experiences at the 108th Rotary International Convention in Atlanta. Over 33,000 attendees from 174 countries traveled to the convention to learn more about RI's efforts and plans for the 2017 - 218 Rotary year.
Our guest speaker today was a very impressive 12-yr. old young lady, Lilly Byrne, who was introduced by her Dad, Matt.
Lilly is a rising 7th grader at Weaver Middle School in the Hilliard district. Lilly's extra-curricular interests include Entrepreneurship and Synchronized Swimming. In swimming, Lilly's team made it to the Junior Olympics and placed 8th in the U.S.! But, the main focus of Lilly's visit with our Club was her impressive entrepreneurial pursuits.
Lilly participated in the Young Entrepreneurs Academy which is a 30-week program designed to enable and empower children in grades 6-12 to identify their passions and transform their ideas into fully formed business or social movements.
Lilly's passion is to ensure that people have ready access to healthy food and snack alternative instead of unhealthy junk or fast foods.
Lilly developed her idea for a healthy snack vending operation called Love to go to Lilly's (www.lovetogotolillys.com). Lilly developed a business plan and a sales pitch and competed "Shark Tank" style with 1,500 other participants across the U.S. She was one of 100 finalists and finished 7th in the U.S.! She has launched 2 vending machines and is looking to expand through a franchisee program. She hoped to empower other young woman in a "Girl Powered" business. She intends to sell 5,000 healthy snacks by the end of this year, and she would like to have over $100K in franchise revenue in 10 years. Lilly's passion is for healthy food alternatives and choices for a healthy lifestyle. She intends to donate a portion of her franchisee profits to local childrens' hospital nutrition programs.
Lilly is an inspiration, and we were privileged to have her speak to our club.
Welcome, Laurie Reinbolt , who was announced as our club's newest member. Laurie and her husband are proud parents of a young son and daughter. Laurie's reasons for joining Rotary are to get involved and give back to the community. Laurie will definitely help keep our club great!
Irish Festival Volunteers - we still need to fill approx. 40% of our Irish Festival volunteer spots. Please refer to the email sent by Bonnie previously, or reach out to Andy Keeler (andy.keeler@keelernadler.com), who will help you get signed up for a shift. The festival is in 2 weeks, so please sign up soon!
August 20th 5:30pm Columbus Clippers Outing - please mark your calendars for this upcoming social event. More details forthcoming.
Julie announced Miracle League next team session will be at 10:45
Andy needs more volunteers for the Dublin Irish Festival
Peter announced the Columbus Clippers social event is 8/20
Claudia announced the Communications Committee is welcoming more volunteers and is meeting at 7 am next Friday-we need reporters and photographers
Unused or obsolete electronics will be collected-Roberta Kayne will email details
Nick announced a new member to the International committee will be arriving in about 8-9 months during Happy Bucks-please congratulate our future father
Guests at our meeting Friday July 14th:
Chris Amorose Groomes City of Dublin City Council
Dana McDaniel City of Dublin City Manager
Greg Peterson City of Dublin Mayor
Heinz von Eckartsberg City of Dublin Chief of Police
Tim Lecklider City of Dublin City Council
Lynn May Dublin Board of Education President
Stu Harris Dublin Board of Education
Dr. Todd Hoadley Dublin Board of Education Superintendent of Schools (and Dublin AM Rotary member)
Our Meeting today was facilitated by our new President Bonnie Coley-Malir as she creates a greater understanding of the Opioid Epidemic in our community. We were fortunate to have our past President Ramona Penland-Coyle and Julie Erwin-Rinaldi as our speakers as each have been affected by the challenge of Opiate dependency and are working in our community to conquer the epidemic’s effects on our loved ones and our community and our State. A few facts that were shared with us:
Heroin was created as a pain killer in 1898 and has been used in the morphine and heroin forms.
This morning we enjoyed a wonderful presentation from the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. Melissa and Ashton brought four of their animal ambassadors so we could learn more about them and see close up how beautiful the animals are. Quite amazing! What a great way to start the day.
June 23 Meeting Notes & Photos COLUMBUS ZOO VISITORS
Want to join a Dublin AM committee? Here are a few...
If you would like to offer an invocation to open our Friday meetings contact Faye Herriott
If you would like to serve on the Communications Committee as a reporter contact Claudia Trusty
Have ideas for our club social activities? Contact Peter Georgiton
Help our club and city as a Marshall for the July 4th Parade. Contact Dwight Seeley
If you are a veteran you can help lead the Pledge each Friday. Contact Dave Williamson
Bonnie sent out an invite for everyone to sign up to help our club at the Dublin Irish Festival. Your friends and family are welcome to help us at the very fun event. More volunteers, more fun!
Alan Abouhassen is heading up our Sponsorship Committee for the 2018 Blarney Bash and he is looking for a co-chair to help lead this effort.
Today's Speaker: Lena Sloutsky
Wolf Lant introduced Lena Sloutsky with T.O.U.C.H., Teaching Opportunity Unity by Connecting Hearts. As Board President for the group, Wolf knows first hand the work they do to help and support ex-offenders and at-risk men and women in Central Ohio.
- We will not have meeting on Friday, June 2nd due to The Memorial Tournament.
- June 23rd is the Installation Dinner celebration at Bonnie's home. Please see the registration email from Dwight and RSVP.
- Our Dublin AM Rotary Foundation Board is seeking a new member to replace Dave Holliday, whose term is coming to an end July 1st. Please reach out to Susan Robenalt if you are interested.
- June 9th Meeting will involve our Club's Communications tools and capabilities.
Welcome to our two newest club members, Kaitlyn Gushue and Steve Schmidt! Kaitlyn is a small business owner focused on children's parties and corporate events and is the daughter of our own Grace Gushue. Steven is retired from Battelle but continues work there occasionally and is an active volunteer. We are trilled to have both of you as members of Dublin AM Rotary!
The principal and librarian from Daniel Wright Elementary School received a $500 donation from our Club. They reminded us of the unique needs of the school, which has more than half of the 700 student population on free or reduced lunch, 37 different countries of heritage and more than 20 primary languages that are spoken with English being learned as a second language.
The annual installation dinner will be held on Friday evening, June 23rd, at the home of Bonnie and Rick Malir.
David Bentz would like any family volunteers to contact him if they are interested in hosting an 18 year old exchange student from Thailand during the weeks of June 19th and June 26th.
Julie Rinaldi reminded us that there is a Miracle League league game tomorrow that will include a balloon launch to honor one of the past participants who recently passed away. Those members who can volunteer as buddies for tomorrow's game should arrive around 12:00.
The Interact Club at Dublin Coffman High School is hosting its Drive in Movie on Saturday evening - featuring Back to The Future. Proceeds support Strides for Sobriety.
Friday meeting breakfast options are increasing in price. Some new choices are available and coffee will continue to be one of the options. John Susie let us know that Sarah Richardson was recently recognized by the professional health insurance underwriters association of which they are both members. Bob Heatherington and the Interact Club are looking for volunteers and ticket buyers for the drive-in movie coming up this weekend. Dave Williamson is recruiting for Sargent at Arms for all interested in this club role. Jack Curtis and Dave Williamson endorsed the experience of being a Miracle League player buddy. Julie Erwin Rinaldi announced that the next game for our Miracle League Dodgers is Saturday, May 20, 12:15pm; we have a big team and buddies are always needed. Claudia Trusty reminded committee chairpersons to submit all outstanding touchpoints as this Rotary year is drawing to a close.
This morning's presenters were two Coffman students, Ellie Blankenhorn (center) and Paige Warren (rt), and their Broadcast Video Instructor, Amanda Blackburn (lt). Amanda is an instructor at Tolles Career & Technical Center. Tolles works in each of the Dublin School District and provides instruction in all three Dublin high schools.
As part of their studies these students, along with Coffman students Abby Vollmer & Kylie Young, created a public service announcement video which was later entered into a competition sponsored by the Business Professional of America. Their video, Tire Safety, was entered into regional competition. The all girl team won first prize and will be competing at a national competition in May!
Dwight: June 23 installation dinner at Bonnie's house
Claudia and Bob: Seeking a variety of forms of support for the Coffman Interact club's drive-in movie night on Saturday, April 22. Proceeds will benefit Strides for Sobriety
Volunteers to assist with traffic flow and parking; arrive at Coffman about 7:30pm
Movie tickets can be purchased, concession refreshments can be donated, and monetary donations gladly accepted
Ramona: food price changes for next Rotary year are coming; additional info and options will be communicated soon
Dave H: A Paul Harris fellowship was presented on behalf of Ramona
Dave W: contact Dave if you are interested in serving as Sergeant at Arms
Guests
Kaitlyn Gershue (daughter of Grace)
Steven Schmidt (Wolf)
Nick ? (Dwight)
Guest Speaker: Pat Losinski, CEO, Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML)
Pat provided a brief overview of awards presented to the CML and the future direction of libraries throughout the world. This served as a precursor to what is coming to Dublin and why the design is so important. It will be an integral part of the community located on the current site, but design will complement the Bridge Park area and will include a transition that links to the historic district. Highlights of the new library include:
41,000 square feet of space which is double the current library
More parking with the construction of a parking garage
areas for young children, teenagers, and community meeting rooms
a Cafe
In the near future, a development campaign will be communicated. Funds raised will address the gap in costs from original estimates to what it will take in today's market. Early corporate and community interest is very promising for a successful campaign.
For comments and questions, you can e-mail newdublinbranch@columbuslibrary.org.
For more information and details, go to http://bridgestreet.dublinohiousa.gov/dublin-branch-of-the-columbus-metropolitan-library/
Pete Cushnie introduced two new Rotarians and their sponsors. Susan Robenalt sponsored Bob Heatherington and Rich Weber sponsored Brian Hill. Welcome to Dublin AM!
Cap Clegg opened the meeting with a devotional, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Jeff Schoener was Sargent of Arms. Guests were: BJ Stone from Dublin/Worthington selling 50/50 tickets, Frank Dilenschnieder from Hilliard promoting the Great Comedic Debate between OSU and Michigan,
Interact Students from Coffman, Jerome and Scioto High Schools.
Announcements:
Jim Listebarger announced 2 Robotic Competitions May 27th at Otterbein and June 24th at Coffman HS. Wolf Lant announce they are looking for two sponsors for local Metro HS Team going to Nationals in St. Louis.
Sadly, we must say goodbye to Sara Ott’s, who is heading to Aspen as their new Assistant City Manager.
Presentaton:
Dublin AM Interact committee chair, Cap Clegg, introduced each high school's faculty advisosrs: Jill Harris from Jerome, John Witt from Scioto, and Megan Burton and Karen Brothers from Coffman. Our club committee includes Asch Mikhail, Claudia Trusty and Raj Hora. Students from each High School talked about the projects Interact had done at each of their respective schools.
Dublin AM Rotary is very happy to welcome our newest member, Joe Evans. His sponsor, Dave McKee, introduced Joe to the club. Joe may be new to our club but he is definitely not new to Rotary. Joe is a Past President of the New Albany club. We look forward to getting to know you better, Joe!
Ann Marie Hughes shared the story behind her book, Letters to Ann. Capt. John F. Hughes, a Columbus native, served as a doctor in the Korean war. Ann Marie talked about not only Capt. Hughes' letters and the stories he shared with his daughter, but also some of the history behind the stories.
Blarney Bash thank you from Ramona to Raj, Cindy and Dave and all who volunteered and participated in the many committees and tasks
Cindy also announced the thanks for the support and efforts of all the members of the club.
The Interact Club from Coffman High School came to share news about their upcoming April 22 Drive In Movie. They asked for Dublin AM for participation in both the concessions and the donations. Details will be emailed to all members next week.
Julie announced a successful event and recognition for Betty Isaacs and the Author event.
Wolf has $100 raffle tickets for a corvette giveaway
Sara has openings for the food pantry shift 4/3 from 5:30-7:30 pm
Dave can use volunteers for follow up Blarney Bash Saturday 10 am at Fifth Third Bank
Featured Speakers: Mike Close and McGee Isaacs
A Talk About The Supreme Court
Out of the 104 Million cases filed with the state and federal courts, only 80 cases will have permission to have The Supreme Court hear the case. We are fortunate to have 2 members that have been heard in the US Supreme Court. READ MORE
On February 10, 2017, Dublin AM hosted a Rotary Conversation about technology and the impact on ourcivilization. The hope was that we could bring an important social issue to Dublin AM and invite the club to engage in a stimulating and awareness-building conversation. Ann Ralston, with the support of Gene Oliver and our table technology translators, curated a conversation seeded by a TED Talk called "How
Do We Fix Civilization?” by Salim Ismail.
Steve Sandbo, District Governor, attended our meeting and asked Ann to submit an article about the meeting, which was published this week in the District 6690 Newsletter. Read it here.
Speaker Price Finley, our District Foundation Chair and Ramona Penland, Dublin AM Rotary's 2016-17 President
Announcements:
March 17's meeting will be held at the Blarney Bash tent at Metro Center. Please plan to help with movement of tables, chairs, etc. - and dress appropriately.
Volunteers needed for the Blarney Bash 8-11pm shifts. According to Ron Morgan, we need 5 beverage ticket sellers and 9 servers for this shift.
A few iPads with 3G/cellular service are needed for Blarney Bash. Please contact Bonnie if you can donate the use of an iPad for the day.
Sara Ott is recruting Scholarship Committee members to help review and select our Club's scholarship application winners from the 3 Dublin High Schools.
Claudia Trusty is seeking a couple of volunteer to help review and select Scholarhip application winners for the District Scholarhip award winners that our Club awards to high school seniors from within our Rotary District.
Miracle League - we are seeking a volunteer to take over our Club's assistance with the Miracle League team that we sponsor. Contact Julie Rinaldi if you are interested.
March Madness - a group has been set up by Alan Abouhassen on the ESPN Tournament Challenge app; Group Name: DublinAM Rotary Password: rotary
$20 entry to participate, and the winnings will be split 50% to the winner of the bracket challenge and 50% to our Dublin AM Rotary Foundation charities.
It's all about the Blarney Bash! We need everyone to volunteer on March 18 to support our biggest fundraiser. Ask friends, family, co-workers to join you. It's fun and a great community event. Signup HERE.
Our Speaker: Ryan McCarty
Without a doubt, Ryan's message reached every member, and reflected what Rotary is all about, too. Ryan spoke about creating a Culture of Good with business leaders to energize, empower and engage employees. He is completing a 2 month bus tour, taking his message across the country. Imagine what could happen, he said, if all employees of all businesses were given the permission to care about not just their job but also their fellow employees, customers & causes they were passionate about.
It's all about the Dublin Blarney Bash! Our meeting was led by co-chair Raj Hora (his co-chair is Cindy Groeniger) who shared news & updates about the Blarney Bash, scheduled for March 18, and there was a lot to share!
Raj asked all members to volunteer for at least one shift during the Bash. It is our biggest fundraiser and needs the support of all our Rotarians. It is easy to volunteer with the new online signup. Why come alone? Ask family, friends and co-workers to join the fun!
The Polar Bear Open is Saturday, February 4th! Club members are encouraged to register to golf and raffle prizes are still wanted. Contact Sinan Yaykin if you can offer raffle items.
Sara Richardson acknowledged several club members whose companies have signed on as sponsors for The Blarney Bash. Sponsors are still wanted, so please keep recruiting.
Dave Williamson spoke about an enhancement to this year's Blarney Bash. There will be two tents this year to allow for more focus on children's activities in one area and expanded fundraising opportunities in the main tent. This will result in an increased need for members to volunteer to help with the expanded logistics.
Guest Speaker Notes:
Our guest speaker was Brian Zuercher, the CEO of SEEN, and also the son of our fellow Rotarian Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher. Brian has spent the last decade building companies from consumer software to ag tech industries. Most recently Brian led SEEN, a marketing technology firm to become a leader in influencer marketing working with global brands like Reebok, Hilton, Hershey's, Scotts and more.
Brian has made his presentation slides available here.
Following the Prayer/Pledge opening several “Thank You” letters received from Dublin 3rd graders to whom the Club had given dictionaries were read by a variety of members.
The program was conducted by club member retired Air Force Colonel Dave Williamson who presented a multiple slide program depicting the 8th club sponsored “Veterans Honor Flight” to Washington D.C.
This year’s flight was hosted by Rick Malir and his wife Club President-Elect Bonnie Coley-Malir, who arraigned transportation for the six veteran honorees, from Net Jet Air.
We welcomed Ingrid Fields as our newest Dublin AM Rotary member. Ingrid is a Strategic Solutions Director for VMware, a cloud computing software company. Ingrid and her husband, Bob, reside in Muirfield Village and have two sons who have recently completed college and started their careers.
Bruce Andrews shared that the Red Kettle campaign made over $8,000 during the weekend collections that our club members participated in!! With the additional donations from our Club members to the family gifts adoption program, over $10,000 was donated to those in need during the holiday season.
Tomorrow, Saturday, January 7th, at Dublin Jerome High School, there is a Robotics competition. Volunteer judges are still needed (report time 7:30AM). If you can't volunteer, please join as a spectator during the day.
On Friday, Jan. 13th, a performance - A Celtic Evening - at Abbey Theatre featuring the Richens Timm irish dancing troupe is planned. Complimentary tickets can be obtained for our club members and their guests by contacting Dwight Seeley.
Our Communications Committee will be meeting at 7:00AM on Friday the 13th and additional club members are being welcomed to the committee.
The Progressive Dinner is planned for January 28th. Cindy Groeniger is looking for volunteers to host homes and to help deliver food items to the host homes on the day of the event.
The Polar Bear Open is planned for February 4th. Please signed up for golf and encourage your friends and neighbors to join in as well. Please reach out to Sinan Yaykin or David Bentz with raffle items or to donate as a hole sponsor. The Polar Bear committee is meeting each Friday at 7:15AM weekly until the event.
Guest Speaker Notes:
JL Holdsworth, Founder and Head Performance Coach of The Spot Athletics provided us a very insightful talk with tips on "training for a pain free body".
Do you grocery shop at Kroger? If so, you can now designate Dublin AM Rotary Charitable Foundation to get a portion of your grocery bill - at no additional cost to you. All you need to do is register your Kroger Plus card identifying our foundation as your Kroger Community Rewards partner. Register online at krogercommunityrewards.com. Be sure to have your Kroger Plus card handy or simply login to your existing Kroger account. Our NPO number is 37564 or you can search by simply entering Dublin (I just did it - super easy!!).
Sarah Ott - Looking for 3 volunteers on January 2, 5:30pm - 7:30pm at the Dublin Food Pantry
Sinan Yaykin - Polar Bear Open on February 4 is now accepting player registration. Do you have any potential raffle items? Please join the Facebook page. More event emails will be coming soon...
Cindy Groeninger - Holiday Party is tonight starting at 6pm. Please remember your White Elephant gift (for each attendee). Remember, re-gifting and items currently in your home that might be looking for a new home are strongly encouraged. Less is more!
Cash was found in the meeting room following the December 2 meeting. If you are the person who lost it, please contact Ramona.
Guests:
Ingrid Fields (Mike Isler)
Ted Smith (Bonnie Malir)
Mike Adolph (Alan Abouhassan)
Katie Rapp (Bonnie Malir)
Our speaker this week had to cancel, but thanks to some quick thinking by Ramona, we got a glimpse into one of her family's holiday traditions called "Whatzit?". The meeting was divided into table teams and we worked together to guess what item might be enclosed within the giftwrap. It was harder than you might think and it was another opportunity to get to know some fellow Rotarians just a little bit better.
The 3rd grade classes at Olde Sawmill Elementary School received their dictionaries November 22! Everyone was very excited and thankful! Rotarians and Literacy Committee members Dr. Todd Hoadley, Claudia Trusty and Julie Erwin Rinaldi represented our Club today!
In addition to words, these books share amazing facts, maps and fun factoids that inform and entertain. Dublin AM has donated dictionaries to every 3rd grader in the Dublin School District for 11 years. Thanks to our club members, over 13,200 children have enjoyed the books. We hope they all become life-long learners.
Rotarians & District Staff Working Together on Project Dictionary
Dublin AM Rotary supports Dublin Schools in many ways. One of our favorites is Project Dictionary, and Literacy Chair Julie Erwin Rinaldi championed the effort again this year. Each year we purchase a teacher-chosen dictionary for every third grader in the district. That's about 1300 dictionaries every year! Rotarians join district staff and Central Office to place a book plate in each book. For some children, this may be the first book they have owned. For others, it is a right of passage to get their very own dictionary.
According to teachers and Supt. Toad Hoadley, a Dublin AM member, the books serve a critical link for students. While digital tools and the Internet are far more progressive than a paperback dictionary, the books help students connect their imagination to learning and exploring.
- The holiday party is in one week - December 9th - at Tartan Fields. See the invite in your email and R.S.V.P
-Susan Robenalt spoke about the shopping and gift wrapping that members of our club are doing on December 3rd. With donations from our members. we have adopted families through the Salvation Army and Syntero.
- No meetings December 23rd and 30th due to the holidays.
- Sarah Richardson reminded everyone to review and respond to the Blarney Bash Sponsorship request (see emails from Sarah).
- Bruce Andrews reminded us that Salvation Army Bell Ringing begins this weekend. Please remember your shifts! Thank You, Bruce, for reminding us all of the importance of proper, constant ringing of the bell, maintaining a clear "vortex" surrounding the kettle for maximum donations, and being overall exemplary "Ringmen" and "Bell Buddies".
Guest Speaker:
Our speaker this week was Kamal Boulos, owner of the very popular Refectory Restaurant and Bistro. Kamal provided us with a fascinating glimpse into the approach and values that have elevated The Refectory to elite status in the 40 years that he has been its leader.
Rather than discussing the details of great food preparation, menu choices, ambiance, etc, Kamal talked about the values and leadership principles that propel his success. Relentless focus on increasing knowledge and applying that knowledge is one of his keys to success. Another key is aligned values across all of the restaurant staff; for example, focusing equally on the quality of experience of every diner and not focusing more on those who happen to be spending more. Another key to success that aligns closely to our Rotary values is the focus on giving to the community. The Refectory - even in tough economic times - has continually increased their community involvement. In particular, they are taking a comprehensive approach to supporting the Arts community in Central Ohio.
Kamal graciously offered an opportunity for our club members to attend an upcoming Music Series dinner event with a waiver of the $20 cover charge. Email kamal@refectory.com to participate.
- Sarah Richardson announced that over $700 was raised today in addition to donations of boxes of stuffing in the first week of our Club's support of the
Dublin Food Pantry (DFP) and their 2017 Harvest of Hope event. Each year, DFP provides families the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving meal, and we are collecting boxes of Thanksgiving stuffing/dressing and/or monetary donations again next Friday, 11/11.
- Claudia Trusty announced that the Literacy Committee is planning to meet at 10:00 AM on the 14th at the Dublin Schools Administration building on Coffman Rd. to apply labels to the dictionaries to be donated. Any Club member who is available is welcome to join in.
- Bruce Andrews passed the clipboard for the first time to generate sign-ups for Salvation Army Bell Ringing on Dec. 3rd and 17th
- Susan Robenalt announced that the shopping at Kohl's for 22 people is planned on Saturday, Dec. 3rd beginning at 9:00. We are adopting families through the Salvation Army and Syntero. Please email Susan if you can help with the shopping.
- On Friday the 18th, a perfect party is being planned at Mohan Viddam's house, and attendees will get to see pictures from Mohan's India trip and Roberta Kayne's Italy trip. More details to come.
- Dave Williamson reminded everyone about the Nov. 19th scheduled tour of the Mott's Military Museum beginning at 9:30. Warren Motts, who was our speaker at last Friday's meeting, will be our tour guide. Cost is $8 per adult and $5 per child. Check your email for a message from Cindy with the registration link.
Notes from our our Guest Speaker, Molly Arbogast, Executive Director of the Dublin Food Pantry:
The Dublin Food Pantry (DFP) was started in the Dublin Community Church in the 1970s and has grown significantly since then and was officially incorporated as a non-profit entity. This is a "Choice Pantry" which is set up like a grocery store where volunteers assist patrons in selecting food items that they know how to use and prepare. This ensures that the food items that are donated to no go to waste and are utilities once brought home.
DFP has ~100 weekly volunteers and ~500 one-time event volunteers during the year. The pantry serves residents of the City of Dublin or those with the Dublin City Schools boundaries. 49% of the patrons have children under 18, while over 50% have a household member over the age of 60. 36% are of Middle East/North African origin, and 32% are of Asian origin. It's important for the DFP staff to be able to adapt to the changing origins of its patrons to ensure that the food items offered are appropriate.
Food insecurity is a growing concern, and suburban food insecurity in communities like Dublin is often a hidden need. Ohio ranks 3rd highest in the U.S. in 2015 in food insecurity. The food insecurity problem impacts performance in school, job performance, short and long term memory issues and other health issues, including mental health concerns.
In 2015, DFP provided ~130,000 meals for ~9,000 families. In addition to providing the food items and hygiene items, DFP serves as a point of referral to other services that these residents may need (e.g., Welcome Warehouse, Syntero, etc).
Over 260,000 pounds of food were donated to DFP in 2015. Donations can be made between 8am-8pm daily. Specific food items requested include Dried Beans, Rice, Peanut Butter, Baking Items like Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda, etc., and Condiments. Toiletry items including Toilet Paper and Feminine Hygiene items are also of particular need.
This year, in addition to our Club's current collections in support of Harvest of Hope and our ongoing collection of toiletry items monthly, we will also be including DFP in The Blarney Bash.
A total of 48 Rotarians and 1 guest attended the meeting and heard announcements concerning a speaker’s survey, The Polar Bear Open and learned the Veterans Honor Flight has been postponed until late October or early November.
Tim Redman introduced the speaker – Ruth Milligan, co-founder with Nancy Kramer – of Tedx an outgrowth of an organization called “TED” founded in California some 25 years ago. The acronym “TED” stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.
Ruth Milligan has a strong background in the Rotary organization through her father who was a founder of the Clintonville Rotary Club and was a Rotarian for 55 years.
Ruth explained TED is a non-profit organization devoted to spreading ideas through short powerful talks – no longer than 18 minutes – covering almost all topics from science to business to global issues, with the motto “ideas worth spreading.”
Over the years the TED conferences have spread both nationwide and globally. It has remained based in California and now supports independent organizers in cities across the nation identified now as Tedx.
Eight years ago Tedx was brought to Columbus by Ms. Milligan and Ms. Kramer.
Ruth completed her presentation by recalling speakers who have appeared at Columbus conferences covering topics “you may have not heard before or are uncomfortable with.”
Speakers are allowed no notes and there is no podium “to hide behind.” Ruth discussed the impact speakers have had and show showed a series of slides of Columbus speakers.
Debbie Lutz invited anyone interested to join she and Susan Robenalt at the Salvation Army kickoff luncheon on Thursday, October 20. They have secured a table sponsorship so please contact them if you are interested in joining.
Dwight Seeley announced that Sinan Yaykin will be the Polar Bear Golf Open Chairperson assisted by Pete Fuhlbrigge. An event date has not yet been confirmed, but those interested in participating on the planning committee are invited to attend the committee meeting on Friday, September 16, 7am.
Cindy Groeninger announced that Tuesday on the patio will be held on Tuesday, September 13, 5:30pm, Muirfield Vilage Country Club. All are welcome!
Sarah Ott is looking for volunteers to support the Dublin Food Pantry. A signup sheet was circulated. Ramona reminded us of the importance of serving those in our own local community and this is a great opportunity. Contact Sarah for more information and details.
Kent Underwood introduced Gene Oliver as a full member in Dublin AM following the successful completion of all orientation activities. Congratulations Gene!
Kent also announced that he will be stepping back from his role as the leader of new member orientation and that Amy Snow will step into this role. Kent, as a new member of Dublin AM and on behalf of all of us who were welcomed warmly into the club through your leadership, thank you for your time and being among the first to represent our great club! Amy, thanks for stepping up and best wishes for successful new member orientation.
Lucy Depp Park and the Underground Railroad
We know that Dublin has a rich history which is often recognized in street names and school names. Today, we learned more about contributions made through the Underground Railroad and with whom it all started...drive slowly the next time you are on Harriott Rd. and you will see more detail on historical markers and a beautiful white barn.
Our guest presenters were Gwynn Stetler, Theresa Deering, Zelda McDaniel, and Mike Hamilton. They shared with us the rich history of what is now commemorated by historical markers at Lucy Depp Park. Each of them has a personal connection to this history and have put in an extraordinary amount of effort and time to ensure that its significance is recognized and not forgotten. This Lucy Depp Park link will provide much better information than could be provided in this meeting summary. This Dublin history is an important period of time in our past and another piece of the puzzle that contributes to where Dublin stands today. Everyone is encouraged to visit this site located on Harriott Rd. near Dublin Rd.
Following the opening prayer, announcements and the Sargent-at-Arms, the speaker, Dublin A.M. Rotarian Sara Ott, Washington Township Administrator, made a presentation around her participation in the Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) trip to Rotary District 4620, in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil in May of 2016.
Assisting in the presentation were Michelle Ritchlin, of the Lancaster Noon Rotary Club and Will Fountain, sponsored by the Circleville Sunrise & Noon Rotary Clubs and employed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Others on the trip included Team Leader, Emilia Alonso-Sameno , President of the Athens, Ohio Noon Rotary Club, a professor of Spanish – Katie Schafer, sponsored by the Zanesville Daybreak Rotary Club, employed at Zane State College.
The team traveled to three Host Cities. In addition to Sorocaba. They included Itapetininga and Cerqueria Cesar. In addition they visited nine other satellite cities. The GSE program was stopped by Rotary International in 2013, but revived in 2015 by Jan Zupnick and was completely funded by eight Rotary Clubs including – Dublin A.M.; Bexley-Whitehall; Dublin-Worthington; Columbus, Zanesville Daybreak; Circleville Sunrise, Circleville Noon and Marietta. A Brazilian inbound team is scheduled for 2017.
During a Q/A session the three presenters answered a series of questions covering such topics as health care, education, living conditions, the coming Olympics and politics both in Brazil and the United States. In several areas, such as education and healthcare, they reported a noticeable disparity between rich and poor or as the presenters put it – between the haves and have nots.
They were received very well in all places visited and spoke highly of the friendliness of the people. They also noted that Rotary Clubs in each location were among the leaders of the city and populated mostly by the well to do.
There will not be a September 2 Dublin AM Rotary meeting due to the Labor Day Holiday Weekend ---Wolf Lant
It was sadly announced that Kimberly Joan Lipovsek, the daughter of Thomas and Joan McGloshen, died on August 12th, following a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Services were held on August 20th. ---Wolf Lant
The Veteran’s Honor Flight to Washington D.C. has been scheduled for Sunday, October 2nd.Please share with Dave the names and contact information of Veterans you know who may want to participate in the annual Veteran’s Honor Flight. ---Dave Williamson
Warren E. Motts is the October 28 Dublin AM Rotary speaker. Mr. Motts is the founder and executive director of the Motts Military Museum. ---Dave Williamson
Columbus Clippers Baseball Game. Time is running out on registering for the Dublin AM Rotary get together, scheduled for August 28. The event risks being cancelled if not enough Rotarians and guests register. ---
PRESENTATION: Bob Gecewich, Head Football Coach for Dublin Jerome High School---introduced by Dr. Todd Hoadley, Superintendent Dublin City Schools
Coach Gecewich made a strong case and provided descriptive examples of how business principles are applicable to managing a football team. Some of the key points incorporated into his engaging presentation included:
The value of hard work.
Working with an expansive number of“shareholders”.
Developing partnerships (with the community/middle school and youth programs, and others).
Proactive utilization of public relations, marketing, budgeting and knowing your competition.
The importance of consistency of culture to lead change and maintain growth.
Acknowledging obstacles and playing to the strengths of student athletes.
Continually assessing operations, inventorying the assets, prioritizing and planning for the future.
Demonstrating that people matter and that as a leader you listen and gather insights from others.
Celebration of life for Paul Buchanan is tonight starting at 6pm at the Cedarbrook Nursery. Please register for this event and bring an appetizer, side dish, or dessert (depending on last name). Similar to a perfect party, meat, beer, and wine is being provided. Lots of laughter and memory sharing is the main event.
The social committee has registration open for the Columbus Clippers game on Sunday, August 28, 4:05pm. This will be a great way to wind down summer before the season is over.
Andy Keeler thanked all volunteers for their service with the alcohol inventory during the Dublin Irish Festival. Similarly, we thank Andy for leading our effort in preparation and execution as he made it easy for us to both work and enjoy ourselves during our shifts. (Special kudos to those who worked the Friday noon - 4pm shift where the lion's share of work was done in the heat and humidity.)
Our Speaker
Page Vornbrock and Dr. Todd Hoadley introduced our speaker, Ryan Prestel, CEO, JadeTrack, as they have gotten to know him through his work with the Dublin Schools Business Advisory Council. Todd noted that Ryan has saved the Dublin school district $3.7 mm through his work on sustainability. Ryan is a 2002 graduate of the Dublin school system and is an exemplary example of our school system and the impact being made in our own community.
Ryan began by providing a description of what is meant by sustainability, including what it means to different people and varying perspectives. He created JadeTrack which provides technology-enabled energy and sustainability solutions. Through a combination of software, data, and analytical tools, organizations can improve their energy management, carbon management, building analytics, and sustainable surveys. To highlight the importance of this, Ryan noted that companies are utilizing JadeTrack's tools for ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) reporting to meet regulatory requirements and the needs of a variety of stakeholders who monitor corporate social responsibility. Examples of what has been done with the Wendy's Corporation and Dublin City Schools were highlighted. The company currently has 7 employees and is expected to grow to 10 before the end of the year. To learn more, check out the JadeTrack website (www.jadetrack.com).
Clipper’s Game Outing – Jim Warburton announced that an outing to take in some baseball and socialize with Rotary friends and family is planned for Huntington Park on Sunday August 28th – 4:05PM. Sign up on the website is forthcoming or see Jim or another member of the Social Committee to sign up. The tickets are $20, or $17 for Seniors and Kids, and it includes a $10 food/beverage voucher.
Chris Curry announced a Celebration of Life party to honor our departed friend and Rotarian, Paul Buchanan. It is being held at Cedarbrook Nursery on Friday, August 12th, 6-9pm. Attendees can bring a side dish to share.
David Bentz announced that our Tuesday fellowship will be held this coming Tuesday at Le Chatelain on Bridge St. beginning at 5:30. Please stop by after work for some fellowship on the patio!
Ramona Penland-Coyle presented a Paul Harris Fellow to her friend and co-worker of 16 years, Dr. Bob Derick. Ramona chose to honor his many contributions to charitable activities local and internationally. Dr. Derick has arranged financing for doctors to travel to third world countries to perform surgeries to the disadvantaged in those countries, he has been on a number of mission trips and gives generously to a number of charities. Ramona reminded us that while Bob is not a Rotarian himself, he lives in our spirit of Service Above Self.
Our Speaker
Our Guest Speaker was Mark Deans, Practice Lead for Sequent’s Organizational Development Practice. Mark is a member of the Association for Training and Development and the Association of Change Management Professionals.
As explained by Mark, Change Management is involved in initiatives that significantly reshape a company or organization. Organization Change Management (OCM) is the practice of managing this change across the organization through effective planning, deployment and sustainability. The need for OCM is evident in the research which shows that 17% of projects fail so badly that they put company’s at risk. Also, on average, key project investments only deliver 56%, on average, of their predicted value.
There are a variety of causes for these failures, which can be avoided through an effective OCM process. Whether fuzzy business objectives or lack of executive support and leadership, there are pitfalls that Mark talked about avoiding through a methodic OCM approach. For example, executive leadership must set the tone and vision and hold the organization accountable for the change on a sustained basis.
July 29, 2016 Meeting – 49 Rotarians and 6 Guests in Attendance
Andy Keller reminded that there are still shifts unfilled for the Irish Festival next weekend. Please consider filling one of the open shifts. Bonnie Coley-Malir offered to help sign up anyone who is interested in volunteering. Please email Bonnie at bcoleymalir@yahoo.com.
Dave Williamson reminded everyone that there is an upcoming Veterans Honor Flight on October 2nd with an invitation to fly World War 2, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans to our nation’s capital to visit the monuments honoring their service to our country. Information and registration can be linked to from the link on our club’s website.
Steve Osbourne introduced four young women who participated this in the Youth Exchange that Dublin AM has sponsored. The Spears sisters introduced their exchange “sisters”, Antonia from Austria and Elena from Barcelona. Antonia and Elena have enjoyed their time so far in Dublin with the Spears family and have visited Niagra Falls, Clipper and Crew games, a performance of Tecumseh, Cedar Point and the State Fair.
Martin Golden, District Director from the U.S. Small Business Administration, was our guest speaker. The SBA was formed by President Eisenhower in 1953, and it has been elevated to cabinet-level status to reflect the importance of small businesses in driving our country’s economy.
While the agency has just 1,500 employees, it’s supported more than 28 million small businesses. The categorization and definition of “small business” varies by industry, but roughly any company with less than 500 employees is in this classification. The SBA does not lend money but, instead, guarantees loans made by banks to small businesses. A variety of different loan options exist, some of which include SBA service fees. Those service fees allow the loan guarantees to not require taxpayer subsidization. Loans of up to $5M can be obtained at Prime + 2.75% up to 6% and loans under $150K can be obtained with no fees. There are also options for Fixed Asset Loans at higher amounts for manufacturing, heavy equipment, real-estate, etc. which can be obtained with requirements for job creation and retention. Micro-loans are available at higher interest rates than be used for a very wide variety of small business needs, which is an attractive option to consider instead of credit card use. Marty noted that Huntington Bank is the top lender of small business loans in Ohio.
Marty noted that the lending guarantees and loan options are only a portion of the SBA’s responsibility. The SBA also runs a contracting business development program which enables qualifying small businesses to participate in the Federal Government’s $90B worth of product and service purchasing. These programs ensure that Minority, Disadvantaged, Veteran owned and other qualifying businesses act as suppliers to our government. The SBA also does a considerable amount of Counseling and Education to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Club Announcements
Andy Keeler reminded that there are still shifts unfilled for the Irish Festival next weekend. Please consider filling one of the open shifts. Bonnie Coley-Malir offered to help sign up anyone who is interested in volunteering. Please email Bonnie at bcoleymalir@yahoo.com.
Dave Williamson reminded everyone that there is an upcoming Veterans Honor Flight on October 2nd with an invitation to fly World War 2, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans to our nation’s capital to visit the monuments honoring their service to our country. Information and registration can be linked to from the link on our club’s website.
Steve Osbourne introduced four young women who participated this in the Youth Exchange that Dublin AM has sponsored. The Spears sisters introduced their exchange “sisters”, Antonia from Austria and Elena from Barcelona. Antonia and Elena have enjoyed their time so far in Dublin with the Spears family and have visited Niagra Falls, Clipper and Crew games, a performance of Tecumseh, Cedar Point and the State Fair.
Our Speaker
Martin Golden, District Director from the U.S. Small Business Administration, was our guest speaker. The SBA was formed by President Eisenhower in 1953, and it has been elevated to cabinet-level status to reflect the importance of small businesses in driving our country’s economy.
While the agency has just 1,500 employees, it’s supported more than 28 million small businesses. The categorization and definition of “small business” varies by industry, but roughly any company with less than 500 employees is in this classification. The SBA does not lend money but, instead, guarantees loans made by banks to small businesses. A variety of different loan options exist, some of which include SBA service fees. Those service fees allow the loan guarantees to not require taxpayer subsidization. Loans of up to $5M can be obtained at Prime + 2.75% up to 6% and loans under $150K can be obtained with no fees. There are also options for Fixed Asset Loans at higher amounts for manufacturing, heavy equipment, real-estate, etc. which can be obtained with requirements for job creation and retention. Micro-loans are available at higher interest rates than be used for a very wide variety of small business needs, which is an attractive option to consider instead of credit card use. Marty noted that Huntington Bank is the top lender of small business loans in Ohio.
Marty noted that the lending guarantees and loan options are only a portion of the SBA’s responsibility. The SBA also runs a contracting business development program which enables qualifying small businesses to participate in the Federal Government’s $90B worth of product and service purchasing. These programs ensure that Minority, Disadvantaged, Veteran owned and other qualifying businesses act as suppliers to our government. The SBA also does a considerable amount of Counseling and Education to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
Following the standard meeting opening Dave Holliday, President of the Dublin A.M. Foundation was recognized to request additional Paul Harris Fellows to complete a 4X4 begun by Mike Isler and Roberta Kayne. Susan Robenalt and Tricia Arndt volunteered.
Cindy Groeniger offered to form a new PH 4X4 in recognition of recent deceased club member Paul Buchanan and was joined by Betty and McGehee Isaacs and Debbie Lutz.
Following announcements concerning the need for Greeters, Salvation Army workers, and volunteers and sign-ups for the Irish Festival – Assistant District Governor Steve Heiser introduced the main speaker from the Upper Arlington Rotary Club and this year’s District Governor Steve Sandbo.
Sandbo’s presentation centered on the decision by Rotary International to give greater flexibility to local clubs to achieve more relevancy in today’s environment, particularly with Millennials whom he mentioned several times.
He quoted Rotary International President John Germ as having told a gathering of District Governors to “Throw out the rule book and be free to do what is best for their Clubs.” In the absence of such a move Rotary’s survival could be in question without operational change . Sandbo also cited Michael McQueen observing – Survival for clubs like rotary is not based on how large you are, but how you adapt to changing times.
As two examples – RI is telling local clubs they have the choice of meeting only twice a month if they so desire and attendance requirements are, in Sandbo’s word “gone”.
He listed three goals to grow Rotary this year;
1. Grow membership
2. Promote gender diversity (which he defined as recruiting more women. Some clubs have no women members at present.)
3. Give a little extra to the Rotary Foundation in recognition of the Foundation’s 100th anniversary.
On the subject of the RI Foundation, Sandbo urged members to attend the 100th anniversary of the Foundation at Atlanta in August.
Sandbo also asked each Rotarian to do three things this year;
1. Ask a new person to come into the club – not by coming to a meeting, but as a volunteers for a Rotary project – which, he said, is the type of activity what speaks to Millennials.
2. Support the Rotary International Foundation, which he described as the glue which holds Rotary worldwide together – the common ground for all clubs.
3. Do one thing that makes your club more relevant – support change.
Sandbo also took time to ask continued support for Polio Plus – a program which began to 1984-85 to eradicate Polio. 2.7 Billion Children have been vaccinated. Know cases have been reduced to 19 this year – but there is more to be done.
He described his role as DG to share with the clubs in District 6690 – “What works.”
After the quote for the day, President Ramona Penland adjourned the meeting.
Dave Holliday opened the meeting with a very thoughtful invocation. President Ramona Penland-Coyle followed with her thoughts on Paul Buchanan’s impact on us as people and Rotarians. His spirit of fun and service to others were highlighted. Reverend Steven Smith offered comments about tragic loss of those close to us and the importance of being patient and letting the grief happen. Several members shared perspective and stories of Paul and his example of how he lived life to the fullest and served others.
Paul, you will be dearly missed, but never forgotten.
Speaker: Ian Wolfgang Hinz, Tantrum Theatre Producing Director
The Tantrum Theatre is a professional theatre group, made possible by a partnership between Ohio University, the city of Dublin and the Dublin Arts Council.
The mission of Tantrum Theatreis to connect and impact the Dublin and Athens communities through educational outreach and culturally diverse innovative programming that encompasses multiple theatrical disciplines, as well as to develop new work and offer new points of view on classic stories that have contemporary relevance, and offer opportunities for intercultural exchange.
Performances are currently held at the Abbey Theatre (Dublin Community Recreation Center) and will move to a permanent home in The Bridge Street District. The theatre expects to make an economic and educational impact on the city and enhance the quality of life for the community. To learn more about the Tantrum Theatre and performance schedule, visit tantrumtheatre.org
ANNOUNCEMENTS (with name of presenter in italics)
Rotarian Guest---Claudia Trusty
Dr. Ken Boltz was introduced.
Social Committee---David Bentz
There was a 63% participation response to the Social Committee survey. The most popular event requested was for a Christmas Party. There were other top activities requested and David will be providing updates. Twenty-one Social Committee members participated in that morning’s meeting.
Miracle Games Season---Ron Morgan
There are 2 games remaining for this year’s season. Please contact Ron to volunteer.
Sergeant-at-Arms ---Dave Williamson
Dave is scheduling a Rotary Sergeant-at-Arms Training Session. Please contact Dave to learn about this opportunity to be trained and how to successfully fulfill this role.
Veteran’s Honor Flight---Dave Williamson
Please share with Dave the names and contact information of Veterans you know who may want to participate in the annual Veteran’s Honor Flight to Washington, DC.
New Member Induction---Pete Cushnie
Brandon Tucker (who prefers just “Tucker”) became the Club’s 103rd active member.
New Member Committee---Pete Cushnie
Request made to Club members to donate one hour a month to join the Membership Committee.
Salvation Army Mobile Canteen---Bruce Andrews
Volunteers needed for food preparation (2 pm to 4:15 pm) and food service (4:15 pm to 7:30 pm) for first Saturday of month---for September. Fortunately, most of the year is covered.
Communications Committee---Claudia Trusty
There are still members who have not posted their photographs on the Club website. Please do so. And if you need to support to update or download a recent photograph, the Committee will provide assistance.
Dublin Slider Challenge—Pete Cushnie
There were 100 tickets available the day before the event (7/9/16).
Officer Installation Dinner ---Bonnie Coley-Malir
There were over 100 people registered to attend the event (7/8/16).
MEETING ATTENDANCE: Provided by Rich Weber
57 Total (54 Dublin AM Members, 1 Visiting Rotarian and 2 Guests)
Hope you enjoyed this morning's speaker Ian Hinz and his presentation on the Tantrum Theater. As he mentioned - he is offering our members comp tickets to Tammy Faye's Final Audition.
Enjoy!
TAKE A TIME OUT!
We invite you to be our guest at several performances of Tantrum Theater’s production of Tammy Faye’s Final Audition!
Tammy Faye’s Final Audition
· A New Play by Merri Biechler
· Directed by Dennis Delaney
Reveal yourself.
Tammy Faye Bakker was the sweetheart of Christian television in the 1980s until fraud and sex scandals brought her world crashing down. In this fevered dream at the end of her life, Tammy Faye enlists the men she loved to help her get back on TV and tape one last media extravaganza. Merri Biechler’s new play wipes clean the mascara and tears to make known the naked truth, and ask: to whom, and for what, do we so desperately devote ourselves?
To reserve your complimentary tickets, please email Ledger Free at free@ohio.edu with your name and performance of your choice (see list below of available dates)and how many tickets you’d like. We can offer up to 4 tickets a person. Tickets will be available on a first come first serve basis. We ask that if you cannot use the tickets you sign up for, please do let Ledger know so that they can go to someone else.
Friday, July 8th at 8PM
Saturday, July 9th at 8PM
Sunday, July 10th at 2PM
Wednesday, July 13th at 8PM
Thursday, July 14th at 8PM
All performances are at the Abbey Theater in Dublin’s Rec Center—5600 Post Road, Dublin, OH, and your reserved tickets will be waiting at the box office when you arrive for the show.
Tantrum Theater is a new professional theater in Dublin, Ohio. Read more at tantrumtheater.org. We hope to see you at the theater!
For the 10th year, Dublin AM Rotary has provided each third grader in the Dublin City Schools with a dictionary of their very own! This year over 1200 dictionaries were delivered to students in the district.
At Indian Run Elementary, Dr. Todd Hoadley, Supt. of Schools, joined fellow Dublin AM members in distributing the books. In return, the students gave an excellent skit on how valuable the dictionaries will be for them.
"We believe Project Dictionary supports the RI focus on literacy in a real and meaningful way," said Julie Erwin Rinaldi, the club's Literacy Committee chair.
The 55 Rotarians, 3 Rotaract members and 3 guests heard Steve Stover discuss restaurants and food in Central Ohio.Stover began by lamenting the loss in the past few years of several fine dinning restaurants including Hanke’s Cuisine, Rosendale’s and Grisby’s. This is partially due to the reduction in what Stover called “fine dinning” facilities as well as a trend toward smaller Chef owned places. “Fine Dinning” facilities simply can’t make it on their own.
Other trends he mentioned included young entrepreneurs opening eateries and what have been food truck moving to brick and mortar establishments.
Stover said there are still “fine dinning” establishments available – places like the Refrectory – but it seems people just do not want to get dressed up and get serious about dining out. In country clubs and the downtown clubs the dress codes have changed as a further sign of this trend. Further evidence that this trend is not confined to Ohio, what Stover described a one of the “finest restaurants” in the world, located in New York City, has opened a casual section where the entrees are $10 to $15 dollars.
His list of new restaurants opening included the Guild House (Cameron Mitchell), Los Alamos, Angry Bear (which, he said, not everyone likes due to it’s edginess), and Wolf Creek.
Speaking of trends Stover said “fried chicken is back” , plus egg and noodle places as well as ethnic and international cuisines. Stover had praise for local entrepreneurs who are expanding their brands such as City Barbeque, operating now with some 24 locations in four states and Cameron Mitchell who is now operating in Beverly Hills, Boston and Manhattan.
In response to a question about family dining he listed the Refrectory, Worthington Inn, Guild House, Ms, Lindys and G Michaels. Stover mentioned several other eating establishments and said for a review of many of those places go to WOSU.org. At the end of the meeting Stover passed out a 5 page list of eateries in various parts of the area.
This is your humble editor's last Reveille. Thank you for putting up with my often infelicitous prose and occasionally elephantine sense of humor. I wish I could have delighted you with the style of a Jane Austen, the insight of a Proust, the energy of a Dickens, the vision of a Shakespeare. Such excellence is, alas, beyond my abilities. I did the best I could.
All best in life to all of you: love, joy, health, wealth, and wisdom. Thanks for the chance to serve you and to join an international organization that I hope to contribute to for the rest of my life.
This past month has seen the Speaker's Committee extend themselves to give us reason (other than fine fellowship and a chance to win the Big POt) to wake up early on Fridays.
Walt Dennis explained how Scioto County Club is going to be a fantastic venue for a fantastic tournament, the 2016 U.S. Senior Open. A field with many champions will contend to win this senior Major Tournament, as Walt tells us here.
Self-described political "wonk" Mike Close displayed his usual acumen in explaining the complexities of three proposed amendments to the Ohio Constitution, bringing far more clarity to the issues than we likely would have had in a debate from proponents and opponents. Good job, Mike! Watch him here.
The six candidates for the three vacant Dublin City Council seats displayed a pleasing civility and respect for each other and the political process as they made their cases for election. Would that some national level political forums be run with such enviable grace and lack of ego. Watch them here.
Brandon Lewis made an elegant case for helping the work of the Columbus Community Hunger Project. According to Brandon, "the Columbus Community Hunger Project is focused on combating food insecurity in Ohio. Additionally we seek to set an example for our children of giving back to those in need. We are blessed to be a blessing." Watch Brandon, with an able assist from our own Todd Hoadley, here.
Recently two of our younger and active and dynamic members, Greg Gleaves and Nick Glimsdahl, were recently in the Rotary spotlight. Let's learn more about them here.
Getting to Know You: Rotary Spotlight on Greg and Nick
Put on a costume (optional) and
ride your broomstick (not optional)
over to the Burness Haunted House for a
SPOOK-TACULAR PERFECT PARTY!
Saturday, October 31 - 7:00 pm until the witching hour
The Burness Haunted House
A perfect party is the perfect way to get together.
This one just offers a little extra SPOOK!
Bring a bottle of wine (or beverage of choice)
and either an appetizer or a dessert.
Last names beginning with A-L - you are bringing a dessert.
Last names beginning with M-Z - you are bringing an appetizer.
We are hoping for a beautiful but scary fall evening so that we can tell ghost stories by the fire!
So dress for the weather!
The Holiday Party will be December 11th, from 6 to 11 pm, at Tartan Fields County Club.
Expect lots of holiday cheer, great food, and great company!
Save the Night(s): Halloween Perfect Party and Holiday Party
We are still accepting applications for the upcoming Honor Flight. Veterans of the all services during the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam conflicts are eligible (need not have seen shots fired in anger). For more information, please contact Dave Williamson. For an application, look for "Honor Flight 2015" under "Download Rotary Forms" on the right of our homepage.
Three speakers recently spoke in favor of levies that will be on the ballot this fall. Because no organized opposition to the levies has emerged, Rotary did not, as it typically would, bring in opposing viewpoints. Let's listen to their presentations and make up our own minds:
The International Services Committee recently gave an overview of their many activities, bringing literacy, clean water, health assistance, and Rotary's hopes for peace and understanding literally all over the world. Click here to see their inspiring presentation.
Recent Speakers: Dublin A.M.'s International Services Comittee
In this segment of the member spotlight, we hear from Amy Snow and Ron Morgan. Amy and Ron, thanks for sharing! Click here to see their presentation and find out whose fault it is that Amy has come to Dublin to hate teh Buckeyes.
Thanks to Kent Underwood for updating our New Member Checklist for this Rotary year. Our new members may visit the "New Member" site on our page to get a handy checklist of the landmarks to become a fully fledged Rotarian. The list is also on the home page under "Download Rotary Forms" (look to the right and lower on the page).
In 1905 Paul Harris and three of his business associates formed a club and began meeting for business networking purposes, camaraderie and friendship. They called their club “Rotary” because they rotated the meetings between each of their businesses. It soon became clear to these Rotary members that they could and should expand their purpose to include public works. Their first project was building public toilets in their hometown of Chicago.
As more Rotary clubs were established and grew, so did their public service projects based on the Rotary motto “Service Above Self” and as a way to promote, fund and recognize those who participated in such projects, the “Paul Harris Fellowship” program was established.
The Fellowship program now provides funds for District and Global Grants to local clubs, including Dublin A.M., as well as educational opportunities, food, potable water, health care, immunizations and shelter for millions of people around the world.
Over the years Dublin A.M. has received many Grants from the Paul Harris program – to mention only two - our Dictionary Project, providing dictionaries to all 3rd graders in Dublin and to our International Committee providing a library for a school in Turkey. There are, of course, others.
Over the next weeks you will have the opportunity to join 77 Dublin A.M. members to become a Paul Harris fellow or as many have done – to become a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.
It takes a commitment of $200 in each of four years to become a Paul Harris Fellow. At the end of your commitment the Club will add $200 for a total of $1,000. That money is forwarded to Rotary International which invests it for three year at the end of which 50% of the accumulated funds are returned to our District 6690 to fund District Funds, such as those mention above, and Global Grants. The other 50% is used by Rotary International to fund larger worldwide projects.
As a bonus, for every Paul Harris Fellowship you achieve Rotary will provide an additional Fellowship for you award to anyone you designate – such as Ron Morgan recently gave to Cindy Groeniger in honor of her work on Rotary projects or the three Susan Robenalt awarded to Dwight Seeley, Wolf Lant and Sue Burness for their work on the Blarney Bash. Such awards can be given by you to anyone, not just fellow Rotarians – a spouse, a friend or any one you feel exemplifies the Rotary Motto of ‘Service Above Self.”
I hope you will consider becoming a Paul Harris Fellow or a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and uphold the tradition of Rotary and most of all help those in need at home and around the world. Thank you for your consideration.
Dave Holliday – President – Dublin A.M. Charitable Foundation.
Although we had many cancellations due to the rainy summer, we had a wonderful 2015 Miracle League season! Thanks to the following Rotarians and their family members for volunteering this summer:
Cap Clegg
Dave Williamson
Brian Briggs
Grace Gushue
Bill Rish
Jim Warburton
Dave Holliday
Ramona Penland-Coyle
Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher
Todd Hoadley and his family
Julie Rinaldi and her husband David
Ron Morgan and his wife Janis
David Bentz and his wife Joanna
The miracle is helping kids who would not otherwise get to feel the crack of bat on ball.
The miracle is creating a sense of teamwork, of family, and of belonging.
The miracle is joy . . . an you created it.
Looking forward to seeing everyone out on the field again in 2016 for another UNDEFEATED season! Go Dodgers!
With gratitude-
Julie Erwin Rinaldi
Todd Hoadley and his family
William and Service Dog Tanis
Paul and his buddies! This is Paul’s 10th year with Miracle League! We have watched him grow up!
Sara and her buddies. Grace Gushue horsing around with her!
Brynn and her buddy Marilee!
Max and his buddy Jim Warburton!
Charlie and his buddy C.J.!!!
Thanks, Rotary, for Helping Make the Miracle Happen
After a summer filled with rain, Dublin's Irish eyes were smiling under perfect weather for the Irish Festival. Dublin A.M. was on hand to do our part for the city and perhaps a hundred thousand guest and, of course, to earn a little green to continue our work in the community. We worked hard but had a great time and impressed our city contacts, who said we have the beverage delivery and control system "totally wired." A special thanks to Bonnie Coley-Malir for her volunteer coordination, to the redoubtable Andy Keeler--a great combination of project manager, forklift, cheerleader, and chef--and to the dozens of Rotarians who gave of their time, sweat, and good humor to help the Club.
As members of our great Club, one thing we can all say that we have in common is that we remember the day when we were Inducted as a new member into our Club. I was fortunate to be Inducted during an “off site” Friday meeting at our Columbus Zoo. You can be assured that even after 15 years of being a member I can recall that day very well.
As we progress into a new Rotary year, we would like to grow and enhance even more our Membership Committee. We are looking for great ideas on how to enhance things like:
Communicating with new members so that they feel welcome to our Club and engage in Fellowship events outside Friday meetings to meet members of our Club.
What can we do to ensure we are exhibiting behaviors to make Rotary workable in today’s world.
Communicate with perspective Members of our Club to provide them accurate and up to date information about joining our Club.
Enhance the value of coming to a Friday meeting and a Member’s engagement to our Club.
The time commitment will be very minimal – possibly 1 hour per month. If you are interested please give me a call or send me an email to pwbgcush@gmail.com. I would be happy to share additional ideas and thoughts.
District 6690 Governor Tara Craybeeck visited to tell how she became involved with Rotary, explain her hopes for the upcoming year, and provide an inspiring view of Rotary International's work. Please click on this Linkto see her presentation.
Megan O'Callaghan, Dublin's Director of Public Service, visited give an update on the many projects happening in Dublin, including the 33/270 Interchange and the Riverside Drive/Bridge Street roundabout. Megan explained how the City is working to keep Dublin "Open for Business" during a challenging time. To see her presentation, please click on thisLink.
Note: If you'd like to see a copy of Dr. Gordon's PowerPoint presentation, look on our club website, to the right of the page under "Download Rotary Forms."
When Dublin A.M. Rotary began helping Dr. Chrisanne Gordon start up the Resurrecting Lives Foundation (Chrisanne has offered special thanks to Faith Williams for grant writing advice and Mohan Viddam for veteran job assistance), nobody was aware we were harnessing a force of nature. It seems we did, however, as Dr. Gordon has empowered, suborned, pleaded, and simply worked to create a nationally known organization working for the good of veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). To learn more about these conditions, which are affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families, please read this white paper. Please click here to see Dr. Gordan's presentation to the club. Dr Gordons' Foundation is making a huge difference in the lives of our veterans and those who love them. Rotary can be proud of the support we have offered.
Dr. Chrisanne Gordon and the Resurrecting Lives Foundation
Mohan Viddam provided photos of the opening of the Pure Water Center in Railkal, India, funded in part by Dublin A.M. Rotary. We'll hear more about this in our next report from our International Committee.
Each May, the Board of Dublin A.M. Rotary face a daunting task: choose from the many people who do so much for the club, and from the new members who are helping to ensure the future of the club, a Rotarian of the Year and a Rookie of the Year.
As challenging as it is to narrow down our choices when so many are deserving, it is also a joy to reflect upon what we have achieved through the power of great people.
Congratulations to Rotarian of the Year Cindy Groeniger and Rookie of the Year David Bentz! Please click here to see a video of the ceremony.
As always, July brings new officers and a new board to Dublin A.M. Rotary.
Wolf Lant has been inducted as President. Please click here for a video. [Your humble editor apologizes for the darkness of the videos. I may ask the club to turn up the lights on rainy days!] Thanks, Wolf, for your leadership in the past and in the coming year.
Transitional times require thanks for past service, and we at Dublin A.M. have been fortunate in having exemplary service this past year. Dave Holliday paid tribute to the past year's Foundation Board.
Special thanks are due to Bonnie Coley-Malir and Ramona Penland-Coyle for organizing a fun Induction Party, and to Chris and Mike Close for opening their beautiful home for the event. Hot guitar licks and cool vocals were provided by the Rockin' Reverend, Steve Smith.
Thanks are of course due to Outgoing President Julie Erwin Rinaldi, who guided Rotary through a year of successes. With typical modesty, Julie gave credit to everyone on the board and in the club for making the year a good one, but we all know that her commitment of time, her organizational ability, and her guidance were fundamental to the year's success. Thanks, Julie!
Thanks, too, to Alan Reuter, who donated a lovely spa package to Julie to thank her for her work this year.
We have a very dynamic speaker for this Friday’s (July 10th) meeting. Dr. Chrisanne Gordon will update the club on the activities and programs that her organization, Resurrecting Lives Foundation, has been doing to work with veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and efforts to reintroduce veterans into the work force after having encountered TBI or PTSD as a result of recent military service.
Dublin A.M. Rotary Club has provided assistance to Dr. Gordon’s Dublin-based organization ever since its inception. Having had a chance to review her presentation in advance, I am sure that you will be impressed with the breadth and scope that Dr. Gordon has taken the organization since her first presentation to the club back in 2012. I encourage everyone to attend and hear this highly energetic and enthusiastic speaker on a topic on which she has become one of the nation’s leading experts on and is benefiting so many of our returning veterans. You definitely need to hear her presentation!
Dave Williamson, for the Veterans Affairs Committee
We could still use three volunteers for the Second Annual Historic Dublin Slider Challenge. Duties are easy: you'll sell tickets, punch tickets as people visit six area restaurants to get a slider at each one, and collect tickets when people are finished. If anyone asks about Rotary, explain who we are and that all the proceeds fro the event will benefit us and be used for helping children's education here and internationally. The volunteer shift will last from 5:15 to 7:30 pm. We still need two people at La Chatelaine, and one at Tucci's. Signup on our website (under "Events," upper right hand side) or talk with Michael Blackwell.
Note: Tickets are now sold out! Volunteer opportunities still exist. Contact Michael if interested!
Volunteer Opportunities: July 2nd, The Slider Challenge
We have recently heard from Jennifer and Katie Spears, who told us about the upcoming (and some past) experiences in the Rotary International Youth Exchange program. Dublin .M. has fostered this program local for many yeas,providing young minds with growth opportunities both hear and abroad. To hear more about the program, watch this video.
For the 25th anniversary of our club, Page Vornbrock emcee'd a panel of our founding members, who discussed how the club was started and some of the memorable moments from their experience. To see this loving tribute to friendship, promoting equality and service, overcoming challenges and shared good times, watch this video.
Dr. Bob Derick of Columbus Ophthalmology Associates discussed his trips to Jamaica and Nicaragua to perform eye surgery on people suffering from ailments that could blind them. To see his inspiring story, watch this video.
Every year, we make thousands of dollars for the club by supporting the City at the Dublin Irish Festival. Our duties are fun and light: we deliver alcohol to the serving stations. We drive carts, communicate with walkie-talkies and iPads, and make sure the World's Great Irish Festival is enjoyable. We also have a lot of fun, sharing cookout food and laughter.
For detailed signup instructions, visit our club website. Look to the top left of the page and click "Dublin Irish Festival" under "Site Pages." You see complete sign-up instructions. If you have volunteered in the past and don't remember you account information, follow the instructions to get your username and password, or talk with/call/email Andy Keeler.
See you there! It's going to be a fun, and profitable, time.
Volunteer Opportunities: July 31 - August 2, Dublin Irish Festival
We need help with our annual volunteering for the City of Dublin at the Fourth of July Parade. You'll be a marshal, wearing an official vest, working to keep people (especially kids) safe while keeping the parade running smoothly. You'll get to blow a whistle and have children obey your orders to behave--and who hasn't always wished they could do that? You'll be looked up to as a respected authority, with the glamor of being in law enforcement with out the need to deal with the dangerous and unsavory. Help the city, and help Rotary. Volunteer! See Dwight Seeley to get signed up.
Volunter Opportunities: July 4th, Part 2, Parade Marshaling
As always on the first Saturday of the month, we need volunteers for the Salvation Army Mobile Canteen. You may sign up for a shift from 2 to 4:15 pm, making food that wil be taken to needy people in Downtown Columbus. You may sign up from 4:15 to 7 pm, delivering the food from the Canteen. For many people served, this might be their only hot meal of the day. This is a good opportunity for Dublin teens to see that others, including children, in Central Ohio are far needier than they ever imagined. Sign up under "Events" (upper right side our our web page) or talk with Bruce Andrews. You'll be back in time for July 4th Fireworks at Dublin!
Volunter Opportunities: July 4th, Part 1, Salvation Army Mobile Canteen
One of our International Projects is to support La Via as it in turn supports a children in Chișinău, Moldova, a part of the former Soviet Union where harsh economic conditions make life difficult for young people. They fae issues that seem almost Medieval. We pay for the work of Doina, who recently sent the following report to Rita "Smiley" Hook. Rita, thanks for relaying the news of how Rotary is (once again) helping young people all over the world to live better lives.
"As a part of the general afterschool program for the children, ages 7 to 17, about 50 kids brush teeth and receive a vitamin daily, together with an apple. I prepare and present lessons on health and hygiene monthly for each of the 6 groups, on topics such as nutrition and eating healthy, the importance of bathing and washing hands, healthy ways of dealing with stress, dental hygiene, bodily hygiene and puberty (for the older girls).
As the children are all from socially vulnerable families with limited facilities for bathing and hot water. Many use our shower facilities uring the course of the week, especially if suggested by their mentor/educator during the program. Teaching the kids to take responsibility for their hygiene and care for themselves is an important part of encouraging their self-respect.
Any child who does not have facilities at home to wash their clothes are encouraged to bring their clothes to be washed with our machine. As part of the shower routine, the child will put on clean clothes provided by La VIA. The clothes are then washed, and the child will have a change of clothes for next time. Many times I will simply throw away the underwear from home, as it is tattered and torn.
I also function as our nurse, treating superficial wounds and infections, stomach sicknesses, and ENT problems. If I take a child to the doctor, she will talk often with the parents and the child to make sure any treatment prescribed is actually being followed. La VIA helps with medical expenses as needed as well. I provide regular therapy for 3 children with varying degrees of scoliosis. One 4th grade boy also receives massage therapy weekly to help circulation on the level of skin growth and development as he has burn scars on 50% of his body.
At the beginning of the school year (September 2014), I did an assessment of the children's dental health. Of the 50 children that attend the program, 23 need dental treatment. I found a good dentist nearby that is willing to treat the children for a reduced price. The process has been slower, as the parent must go together with the child to the dentist, but this keeps the parent connected to them.
During the course of the year, the children are checked for lice. Three girls have been treated repeatedly, but now all the kids are being checked again, as we are going to camp – and trying to avoid an outbreak of lice! I collaborate with the school, but the problem is difficult to eliminate because the children often bring the lice to school with them from home. Currently 12 girls are being treated for lice.
We have also received a large donation of multi-vitamins, and have been able to share them with the families of our children. I has also collaborated with The Rehabilitation and Treatment Center for children with Turberculosis in Cornești, a transition/placement center for children in Anenii Noi, the Pediatric Unit of the Oncological Hosptital in Chișinău, and a private community center for the socially vulnerable in Chișinău to provide vitamins for them as well."
Thanks for your generosity, which makes possible the help these young people receive.
Remember we will not be having our usual Friday morning meeting on June 5th, due to capacity issues associated with the tournament. It's a good chance to get to your favorite Memorial watching spot early, exercise a bit before work, or just sleep late. Enjoy!
We recently heard from our Interact Clubs. A big thanks to the following for their work with Interact, growing the next generation of Rotarians and helping young women and men experience the joy of giving to their communities: Cap Clegg, Greg Gleaves, Claudia Trusty, Asch Mikhail, and Raj Hora. A special thanks are due, too, to school advisors: Megan Burton, John Witt, and Jill Harris.
Seeing the Interact students present always gives a great feeling. With so many young people doing so much, it makes one feel the future will be in good hands.
We also heard from this year's scholarship winners. Thanks to Rick Schwieterman and the committee (Debbie Lutz, Bonnie, Cap, and Steve Osborne) for making the difficult decision of selecting winners form the over 90 talented students who applied. Here are this year's winners. A complete list of their accomplishments, especially their community service, is available for the asking.
Coffman High School:
Jonathan Coyle
Michael Coyle
Kathleen Serio
Michelle Zych
Jerome High School:
Linda Gin
Rachel Haeuptle
Sarah Han
Scioto High School:
Vanessa Robinson
Nazar Salman
Zachary Spoelstra
William Murdoch, the CEO of Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, presented on Insight 2050 (https//www.getinsight2050.org) about the demographic changes expected in Central Ohio in the next 30 years and the likely effects of those changes in housing, retail, and transportation. Smart developers and employers should plan for changes away from single family houses towards mixed use developments, foregrounding "Infill" (revitalizing currently existing spaces rather than building new strip malls increasingly distant from urban centers). Dublin's Bridge Street Corridor Plan is looking very forward facing in light of Murdoch's presentation.
Principal Brian Blum and School Media Specialist [i.e. librarian] Marisa Saelzler visited Dublin A.M. to thank the club for the many contributions made to Daniel Wright Elementary this year. They are most grateful for the weekly speakers books we give them, our support for their book fair in which kids get free books. our support for their bike rodeo that provides kids bikes and helmets, and the Celebration of Literacy on which we partnered this year with Daniel Wright PTO, Dublin Branch Library, the Friends of Columbus Metropolitan Library, The Columbus Zoo, and COSTCO. They presented the club with thank-you notes from the kids and explained how we are helping a generation of young minds become better readers and life-long learners. Ove 20 languages are spoken at the school, and Dublin A.M. is a part of making it a unified school where great learning takes place. Click here to see parts of their presentation.
Please welcome Harvey Schwartz as our newest full-fledged member. Good work, Harvey!
In other member news, Page Vornbrock (2 times), Faith Williams (3 times) and Susan Robenalt (5 times) are our newest multiple Paul Harris Fellows. The club has many creative ways to become a Paul Harris Fellow, the funds from which come back to local Rotary clubs in the form of grants. For more details, see Dave Holliday. Click here to see a video of our generous members' recognition.
Oil up with the Ohio Machine on Rotary Night! Rotarians from all over Central Ohio will be descending Selby Stadium (Ohio Wesleyan) on May 16th to watch some of the finest lacrosse in the entire world. The Ohio Machine will be hosting the Charlotte Hounds on the first ever Rotary Night. Share fellowship with not only Dublin AM Rotarians and their families, but with other Rotarians from clubs across Central Ohio. We will be getting admission at the discounted rate of $10, of which $1 will come back to our club. Reserve your tickets now by signing up for the event, and the club will bill you. We need to give The Machine a headcount by Thursday, May 14th, so don't wait till the last minute.
We're collecting new and gently-used Children's Books at the Club Meetings on May 8. Picture Books, Children's Fiction, Graphic Novels for Young Minds, all are acceptable. Each book will be given to the right-aged child at a book fair at Daniel Wright Elementary. If you have books your children or grand-children no longer read, or if you'd simply like to go by a book store for a quick purchase, you will help bring smiles.
Daniel Wright is also refurbishing bikes for kids. If you have a bike on hand that would suit a young person, even if it isn't in good shape, bring it by Daniel Wright (2335 West Case Road) anytime during school hours. The bike will be refurbished and given (complete with helmet) to a child who often wouldn't otherwise have one.
Kim Miller, the Chief Academic Officer for Dublin City Schools, informed the club about how the Common Core Curriculum and the new State-Mandated Testing are being implemented and administered in our schools. Briefly, the Common Core sets a high level of achievement that all schools in the country should have their students in different areas, without setting out the exact subjects taught; while Dublin Schools often push students to go beyond this level, teachers l.ike the direction and rigor the Common Core has brought. State mandated testing has brought challenges that are difficult to face in an increasingly large and diverse district. For a far more nuanced treatment of this crucial subject, please click here to see the presentation.
Joe Fox, Director fo the Miracle League, told us about the new season and some of the improvements being done to the playing field as Dublin A.M. Rotary's on Dodgers poise themselves for another undefeated season. Click here to see a video about the Central Ohio Miracle League and the great work it does.
Steve Giles, VP of Alternative Energy for HULL, told us more about this Dublin-based company and the innovative project it has completed at the Dublin Community Recreation Center that will save energy and costs over the next 15 years. Please click here to see Steve's presentation.
Greg Gleaves and Steve Osborne have become our club's newest Paul Harris Fellows. Please click here to see Greg being presented his certificate by Dave Holliday. Thanks for your generosity, Greg and Steve! The Paul Harris program is a great way to further the work of Rotary International, and Dublin AS.M. offers several creative ways to get involved. Please see Dave for more details.
We are fortunate to have two new members joining our ranks. Please click here to see Sara Ott's Induction (with sponsor Mike Close) and some information about her. Click here to see Nick Glimsdahl's Induction (with sponsor Mohan Viddam). Please welcome them and help them get involved in Rotary!
The Wounded Warrior Project is a charity and veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, service and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following the events of September 11, 2001. They provide emergency assistance, food, clothing, and other services to returning vets and their families. Last year, the club helped out two veterans through this service. This year, we are going to help out four. You can support a vet for only $20 a month. You may sign up for just one month, or however many months you like. You'll be billed through the Dublin A.M. Rotary Foundation, so your contribution wil be tax deductible. I'm pleased and proud to announce that thanks to your generosity, our club has now pledged to support at least 17 veterans for a year each. If you would like to contribute, please see Dave Williamson. [Click here to see a video of Dave addressing the club with more details.]
Yes, this is the event you have heard about, talked about, and had so much fun at in the past. Mark your calendars for a Rotary "Spring Fling" Perfect Party. April 17, 7 pm, at the lovely home of Ramona and Barry: 6352 Conleth Circle, Dublin, OH 43017. Taxes will be done (or at least extended), grass will be greenin', and spring fever will be rising. What better way to celebrate spring than a Rotary Perfect Party? Same rules apply: bring a bottle of wine (or your beverage of choice), and either an appetizer or desert. If your last name begins with A-M, bring an appetizer. Last Name N-Z, you're bringing the deserts. We are hoping for good weather, as a few outdoor activities are planned. Ever played Bocce? Cornhole? You get the picture. Rotary Fellowship doesn't get any better than this. Sign up online or contact Jim Burness.
My, the years do fly; it seems hard to believe, but this spring is our 4th annual Daniel Wright Elementary Community Literacy Event.
It will take place at Daniel Wright on April 28th from 9:30 to 10:20 A.M.
We are having a visit from Ohio author David FitzSimmons; a copy of his work Curious Critters will be given to all of the second grade students at Daniel Wright. This work was chosen for its lovely and detailed photography, reading level suitability, and subject interest. Second graders have been targeted for this year to help create excitement about reading as they prepare for the challenge of next year’s Third Grade Reading test. The book is non-fiction and supports the Common Core’s focus on reading across the curriculum. School Media Specialist Marisa Saelzler is working with teachers to fit the book into the students’ lessons. Among other things, each student may be asked to create t-shirt with written clues on the front and the name of the animal on the back to highlight a writing component.
The Columbus Zoo is bringing animals to increase the students’ excitement and appreciation for the importance of reading.
Many thanks to Dublin A.M. Rotary, Daniel Wright PTO, and CML Friends of the Library for funding; to the Zoo for their support of the event; and to our friends at Costco, Karen Williams and Everitt Lilly, for donating water and non-allergenic snacks for the day.
As far as I know, this event may be unique in Ohio, and likely rare in the United States, for having a school, library, parents’ group, service organization, a well-loved institution such as the Columbus Zoo, and a giving business such as Costco work together as a community to a literacy issue.
Sign up online to volunteer or contact Michael Blackwell.
Of course we all love coming to early morning meetings just for the fellowship, but isn't it great that the Speakers Committee excels at providing great presenters to make us think anf help us learn?
We have recently heard from Amy Taylor, Chief Operating Officer for the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation and Capitol South. Amy is a shaker and mover in Central Ohio, and the downtown area wouldn't look the same without her efforts on such huge projects as The Scioto Mile and Columbus Commons. This work is vital for Dublin, too, as we won't be able to grow and prosper if downtown is a moribund and blighted area. You can see Amy's lively and enjoyable presentation here (your editor apologizes that the last few minutes were lost due to a low camera battery).
We also heard from Greg Winslow, Vice President for Development of Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Greg gave a a great overview of how wide-ranging the Food Bank's activities are and how much good they do coordinating resources and people to help the needy in our community. You can see Greg's presentation here.
Please welcome to the club our newest members, Betty and McGehee Isaacs. If you missed it in person, you can see their induction here. Thanks for joining us, Betty and Mcgehee, and we look forward to fellowship and great accomplishments.
Click hereto see hundreds of fun photos from our Flikr page of the event, with thanks to Mohan Viddam, Roberta Kayne, Sharon Kendall.
See more photos and lots of social media blasts here. Central Ohio loves the Blarney Bash!
Watch fun D-TV video coverage of the Bash and St Patrick's Day 2015 here. 2 minutes of rollicking times!
Message from Julie Erwin-Rinaldi, Club President:
The BASH came back big time! Thank you to the planning committee headed by Wolf Lant and his many Rotary partners! Thanks also to everyone that volunteered. Many of you worked countless hours to make this event a success! You brought Rotary and our mission to countless individuals and families who now know the important work that we do and that we like having fun! Dublin should be proud of what was accomplished yesterday!
Way to go!!! With great gratitude to all!
Message from Wolf Lant, Incoming President and Blarney Bash Committee Chair:
Thanks to everyone in the club for helping out on our first Blarney Bash event this year! It was very successful, despite the rain before the event and even though many people in Dublin were already on their spring break. Everyone who volunteered chipped in to ensure the event was successful and, despite a few minor glitches during the day, the response was overwhelmingly positive from both the crowds and the performers. We got many words of thanks for bringing back the Bash!
I'd like to especially recognize the entire Blarney Bash committee who spent countless hours over the past year pulling all the details together to make this event the success that it was. All the committee heads did a great job making sure their parts of the project were well covered and it all came together by Saturday morning so that we were ready when the first crowds from the parade followed the bag pipe player to the event grounds. The tent was better than half full by 12:30 and increased from there until late in the evening when the last band hit the stage!
The volunteers worked multiple shifts to make sure all areas were covered, and people shifted around to cover all the areas that needed extra help so that any lines that built up were quickly serviced. Some of the volunteers who worked on Thursday and Friday to help us set up, also started at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday and stayed until 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning to help clean up and tear down the site, and were right back at it by 9:00 a.m. on Sunday to help sweep the tent and clean up the surrounding grounds. I'm very honored to be a part of such an incredibly dedicated group of Rotarians who worked so hard to make sure this inaugural event was a complete success for our community.
I spoke to the Dublin police, the County Sheriff, the Washington Township EMS and Fire inspectors during the event and they all were very complimentary as to how well run our first event was. I think we can all be very proud of the job we did to bring this event back to the Dublin community and raise money for the charities we support!
We will be scheduling a wrap up meeting very soon to go over what was done well and what we can do better next year to make this event even more successful. If you all can send me an email letting me know your opinions of what was great about the event and what could be improved next time, I'd really appreciate it! We will use these comments at our wrap up meeting to help our planning for this event next year and we will communicate back to the club as soon as we have a final accounting of the financial aspect of the event.
Thank you all again for your incredible support of this project and an extra thank you to those of you who financially sponsored this event too. I'm humbled and honored to part of such a dedicated and hard working organization, and on behalf of all the people who worked on this event, we look forward to seeing this event grow and raise even more funds for the charities that we support.
Thanks to everyone who helped to organize, worked at, or played in the 2015 Polar Bear Golf event. it was a fund day and (preliminary figures suggest) raised over $15,000 to further Rotary's mission in Dublin, Ohio, the country, and the world.
Planning Committee Members: Thanks for your energy, resourcefulness, and great project skills!:
Sarah Richardson (Chair)
Ramona Penland-Coyle
Jim Bandeen
Elisabeth Berry
Pete Fuhlbrigge
Susan Robenalt
Carl Bara
Dave Bentz
Bill Rish
Jeff Schoener
Hole Sponsors--Thanks for your generosity!:
Bill Rish and the Rish Family
Bruce & Bill A., Page V., John Susie & Joel Campbell, self
Ramona, Columbus Ophthalmology Associates
Laurie and Ramona, self
Jim Bandeen, First Merit Bank and Embroidery Design Group
Cap Clegg, Columbus Financial Concepts
Claudia Trusty, Trusty & Co.
Carl Bara, State Bank
Wolf Lant, CompuCorp
Rev. Stephen Smith, St. Patrick's Episcopal Church
Sarah Richardson, Anthem BCBS
Carl Bara, State Bank
Julie Erwin-Rinaldi, Syntero, Inc. @ Dublin Counseling Center
We are in the early stages of planning a Mission Trip to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on amputees. We are looking to travel The Dominican Republic either in October 201
5
or April 201
6
. The timing would depend on what works best for everyone.
In June 2012 Rotarians Jim Burness, Sue Burness, Sharon Kendall, Paul Buchanan, Rita Hook, Bonnie Coley-Malir, along with Harvey Hook, Sarah Lutz, and 2 Interact Students traveled to Santo Domingo in The Dominican Republic to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands (http://www.ln-4.org/). We were hosted by local Rotarians, who opened their homes to accommodate us and work on this project together. Most of the "advance" work had been done by them even before we arrived, making the experience very smooth. The fellowship we shared made the trip unforgettable, as the showed us around the Capital City and even took us to a Cocoa Plantation. We also took one day to travel to Mission Emanuel, where Harvey Hook (The Gathering) has been traveling for many years, to work on a mission project. For us on that day, it was building a wheelchair ramp at Mission Emanuel's Health Clinic. We envision the next trip having a similar opportunity.
The biggest cost of this trip is the airfare. Currently, round trip tickets are between $650-$1000, depending on airline, stops, etc. The Rotarians picked us up at the airport, housed and fed us. For the Mission Emanuel volunteering, we stayed in the same hotel for 1 night as mission volunteers that came from all over the US. We ate at the hotel and I think that total cost was around $200. Some of us went to an all inclusive beach resort, of which there are many, on the front side of our trip.That part was a lot of fun but definitely optional
Last year
, we received an email from the President of the Rotary Club that hosted us in Santo Domingo, asking when we were coming back and they were looking forward to working with us again. That's where we are now. At this point we are just looking at the level of interest in our club. If you have an interest in possibly going or just questions, you can talk to or email me or any of the above Rotarians.
I think I speak for all of us who went, when you get off the plane after the trip you are a different person. It was a life changing experience.
The Speaker Committee have been working overtime to get us excellent speakers. Here are overviews of their presentations with links to videos if you'd like to see what they had to say.
Mike Bianchi, Assistant Vice President of Oncology Services for Ohio Health, explained how Ohio Health has created a national outreach to better fight cancer through the MD Anderson Cancer Network. In this video, Mike explains how a local cancer patient might benefit from this service.
Judge Paul Herbert presented on fighting human trafficking and how his specialty CATCH Court is helping victims of the sex trade create free and better lives for themselves. Judge herbert did not wish to be videoed because his presentation included about women in Central Ohio whom the court has helped, but you can learn more from this WBNS-10TV video on his inspiring work.
Township Administrator and friend of Dublin A.M. Rotary Sarah Ott presented on the operations and contributions that the Township makes to area residents, plus some recent interesting developments. Click here to see her presentation.
Informative and Entertaining Speakers: Steve Bunyard, Mike Bianchi, Judge Paul Herbert, and Sarah Ott
Former Dublin A.M. Rotarian Sinan Yaykin has shared photos from Batman, Turkey, of a portable library created by donations from Dublin A.M. Rotary. Thanks, Sinan! Children there are enjoying books in an area that doesn't often see a library. Thanks to the International and Literacy Committees from using the power of Rotary to foster literacy. Speaking of literacy, Batman in this case isn't a typo or a superhero, it's the name of a town. But Rotarians can all feel like superheroes when they see this photo.
Thanks to John Williamson for coordinating another successful progressive dinner, and thanks to Sharon Kendall and Paul Buchanan, Sue and Jim Burness, Grace Gushue, Steve and Debbie Lutz, Janis and Ron Morgan, Amy and Glenn Snow, and Evie and John Susie for graciously opening their beautiful homes. The food was tasty, the surroundings are worthy of any Tour of Homes, and the company was wonderful!
We have been joined by three wonderful new members: Steve, Mke, and Todd. Watch this video to see their induction and hear more about them and their families, and remember to give them Rotary welcomes as they start making contributions to Rotary and our community.
Also, David Bentz has completed his introductory duties, removed his red badge, and become a full-fledged Rotarian. Here's a video of his ceremony. Great work, David!
Dublin A.M. Rotarians once again showed their holiday spirit with Salvation Army Bell Ringing and Adopt a Family, benefiting families chosen by the Salvation Army and also by Dublin Counseling Center/Syntero. 38 people enjoyed a holiday this year that they might not otherwise have had. Between the Bell Ringing and our direct contributions, Dublin A.M.l Rotary raised of $15,000 this year to benefit families in the holiday season. A special thanks are due to our Interact Clubs, as students from Dublin high schools took all the shifts on one Saturday of bell ringing. In this video, Bruce Andrews and Susan Robenalt give us more details about our great holiday work.
Dwight Seeley has become a Paul Harris Fellow for the third time, benefiting Rotary International and all its good work. Thanks for your generosity, Dwight! Click here for the video!
Date of Dublin Robotics Tournament: Saturday January 10, 2015
From: 7:00 am to 5:30 pm
Location: Dublin Jerome High School
Tournament Theme: World Class Learning Unleashed
Cindy Bryden of Dublin Robotic Boosters still needs three judges for team work and is also seeking extra Robot and Project judges in case someone gets sick. The concession stand is always a great way to help for a couple of hours and no special training is required. Please review available positions below.
If you have questions, please contact Cindy Brydenat 614-793-9568 to discuss a volunteer position.
Certain jobs are limited to persons over 18 years of age and FLL has a background check for all volunteers over the age of 17. It is very simple and takes about 15 minutes. To sign up for the Dublin Ohio District Tournament, pick the volunteer positions you are interested in and do the background check.
After you pass the background check, for some positions (such as concession) you are done. For those that require training, there is an online training video and a quiz that takes about an hour.
Please consider volunteering. If you want a detailed description of the different volunteer tasks, please check the email I’ll be sending or click on the document under the “Download Rotary Forms” link (below and to the right on the front page of the website).
Thanks!
Jim Listebarger
Volunteers Needed to Help Future Leaders in Technology
Maureen Conley gave our club a dynamic presentation on a difficult and yet important topic: the need for court-appointed advocates for children who are abused, neglected, or in foster homes. They need more help than they can usually get from the foster care system. What they most need is a volunteer adult who will work with them until their case is resolved. Only about 23% of them have this sort of help in Franklin County. This short video provides a idea of who CASA volunteers help:
In her presentation, Maureen discussed the specifics of being a CASA volunteer. You can watch her presentation here.
For more details about CASA and information about how to volunteer to help ensure children grow up protected in a safe environment, visit the website http://www.casacolumbus.org/.
Maureen Conley on CASA: Court Appointed Special Advocates
The Dictionaries have been distributed to all the third graders in Dublin City Schools. Each year, we choose one of the elementary schools to present them in person from Rotary. This year, we presented at Riverside. Project Dictionary helps prepare kids for the 3rd Grade reading Test; they all must pass this test, or risk being held back from 4th grade. We've presented dictionaries since 2007. We've given over 9,000 children their own books! The first group of students we gave them to are now in 10th grade. Thanks to all of you for your support of our literacy projects and for making a huge difference in the lives of Dublin's young minds.
The holiday season wouldn't be complete without tips on how to enhance our bell ringing. I've been viewing films from last year's bell ringing, and I noticed a problem area and a way we can up our game to continue to reign as the Number 1 bell ringing group. Watch this video and remember what to do when you hit the red kettles this holiday season.
On December 4th, we had a very joyous Holiday Party at Corazon. Renowned local musician Tracy Carter provided all our favorite holiday music, while an artist captured Rotarians and their guests having fun. It was a fun night of fellowship and excellent food.
Join your fellow Rotarians, Thursday December 4th, to celebrate the season at our annual Holiday Party. We will have fun at The Club at Corazon. The theme and attire is “holiday casual.” The party begins at 7pm and ends at 10pm. Price is $30 per person, which includes 2 drinks (beer or wine) and heavy appetizers. The club will bill you. A full cash bar will be available as well.
The club is helping to subsidize attendance, so you'll get more than holiday rubber chicken. Expect to indulge in some Flatbread Pizzas, Beef Wellington, Crab Cakes, Sea Scallops Wrapped in Bacon, Sesame Chicken, and more. We have hired the renown local musician Tracy Carter to provide the music, and an artist to capture Rotarians and their guests having fun. Come early and stay late. Enjoy food, fellowship, and maybe a colorful (or sparkly) sweater or two.
We've recently heard from Jeff Oberlander, a brewmaster from Anheuser-Busch. Travis was very entertaining about the types of beer, how they are made, and what happens at the A-B plant here in Columbus. No doubt the nice samples he brought helped his presentation to go down smoothly as a fine stout. Click here to see what he had to say.'
We also heard from our own Dave Williamson, who talked about the recent honor flight. A more detailed write-up, with thanks to the vets and our pilots, will soon appear on the Honor Flight page of our website. For now, click here to see Dave's presentation--as always, passionate and caring.
District 6690 District Governor Randy Davies visited Dublin A.M. to bestow an award from Rotary International, based on our 2013-14 giving to the Polio Plus Fund. We are one of the very few clubs who contributed more than $1,500 to the fund. Click here to see the presentation. Thanks, Randy, and great job, Dublin A.M!
Thanks to everyone who helped put Rotary stickers inside our Project Dictionaries, with a special thanks to the Dublin Schools staff who also helped. Many of the books have been delivered already. Every third grader in Dublin City Schools will get one. As this lovely photograph from Cap Clegg shows, Lila is one of the many students who love their new dictionaries!
Thanks, too, to everyone who donated books so that Mike Close could enhance the library at the Veterans Apartment downtown. Mike reports that the veterans now have the books they need, with much more variety and interest than before. Great work, everyone!
We all joined our great Rotary Club for different reasons. I get that! One constant in my 15 years as a Member is the value of coming to a Friday Meeting. I always feel so engaged when I leave a meeting being WOW’d by an awesome speaker, reconnecting with an individual that I haven’t spoken to in a while, being inspired by the great things we do in our community, or getting a good spirited laugh. I leave at 8:30am ready to tackle my day with a sense of pride, excitement, and energy. When was the last you spent time in thought about the value that a Friday Meeting has on you? I challenge each of you to spend a few minutes thinking about this.
I promise a smile will cross your face.
I look forward to catching up with YOU at a Friday Meeting. I am the guy wearing a suit and tie.
Shifts are still available for Ringing the Bell at the Salvation Army Red Kettle. We are at three locations on December 6 and 20 (December 13 is being covered by our fine young Interact members): Kroger Bridge St, Kroger Perimeter, and Anderson's. Come on out for a two hour shift, or split one with a Rotary buddy: family, friends, cute kids, and friendly dogs welcome. Sign up right from our webpage (see the upper right of the page, under Events) or by communicating with the redoubtable Bruce Andrews. Thanks for helping!
Due to moves or changes in work or family situations, we regret to report that three Rotarians have tendered their resignations from our club. Thanks very much to Ken Boltz, Ryan Hoefling, and Sinan Yaykin for their many contributions to Rotary. Bon voyage, and all best for a blessed future!
We're also offering sponsorship opportunities, ranging from a very reasonable $100. A very special sponsorship, available only to Rotarians, can help with both the Polar Bear Open and the great new Blarney Bash. Talk with Wolf Lant for details.
Polar Bear Open Coming Up, Plus a Unique Bear/Bash Sponsorship Opportunity
Once again, we're working with Dublin Counseling Center and the Salvation Army to provide gifts for those who might not otherwise have a Christmas. We've upped the number of people we are going to support: we'll support six families with the Salvation Army and three with the Counseling Center. That's a huge, huge number of people we'll helping this year. Save some change, for we'll need lots of money to help. We'll pass the hat at the Holiday Party on December 4th and then again on the following Friday meeting, December 12th. Shoppers will be spending on Saturday, and we'll be delivering the gifts on Monday, so we'll be on the fast track once again to get this done and create a great holiday for those in great need. Please put these dates on your calendars. if you'd like to help with shopping, please let me know!
A special thanks are due to Raj Hora, who donated 10% of the proceeds from our recent Tuesdays at Tutto to the effort.We have kicked off with $100 thanks to their generosity. Thanks, too, to all the Rotarians who turned out to support the effort!
The Shopping Season is Upon Us . . . And You Can Help
In addition to our monthly Tuesday at Tutto Vino event on November 11th, we have several other fun opportunities to share laughter and companionship.
On November 15th, we'll gather at Shade on Muirfield (7148 Muirfield Drive) to watch the OSU Buckeyes play the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The game begins at noon, but we'll be there a bit earlier to get the party started. Even if you're not a fan, the fellowship will make this a great event.
Save the date on December 4th for our annual Holiday Party. The party will be held at The Club at Corazon , will be "Holiday Casual" attire, and go from 7-10pm. Expect some special fun events to make this a magical night to remember! Details and cost will follow shortly.
Last week, many of us met at the Dublin Food Pantry Warehouse for some much needed organization and inventorying. Many hands made for light work, and we finished lots of tasks quickly. Thanks to Dave Matthews (and a special thanks to his wonderful family for their paint work), Dave Holliday, Faith Williams, Susan Robenalt, Michael Blackwell, and Cap Clegg for joining me, giving up part of their Saturday morning so the Food Pantry would be better ready for a busy holiday season. This was a joint effort with the Dublin Worthington Club, and we hope it will be the first of many joint projects. Thanks to Dublin Worthington Rotarian and friend of our club, Al Woo, for bringing coffee and Timbits!
Once again our Speakers Committee has done a good job lining up speakers, giving us yet more reason to be out of bed for Friday meetings.
We heard from Dublin City School's Kim Claven on an exciting new initiative, K to Career. Funded by a $ million grant and created in partnership with a who's who of Dublin's IT and business community (including our own Mohan Viddam's Halcyon), this program will introduce young minds to the concepts and skills needed for a successful 21st Century Career and even equip them with programming skills that will help them with college expenses and in launching themselves in the job market. Kim is still seeking business and individual volunteer mentor help; check out the http://www.ktocareer.com/ website for more details on the program and to find out how to get involved. Click here to view Kim's lively presentation to Rotary.
We also heard from Rachel Koon, daughter of our own "Smiley" Hook, on her work with her husband in an orphanage and school in Moldova. Moldova is one of the poorest, if not the poorest, country in Europe; perhaps its only wealth is the sheer number of social problems it faces. Supported in part by Dublin A.M. Rotary, the school helps students learn for a better future, improve their hygiene, and treats the medial ills. To find out more about their work, click here to watch Rachel's inspiring presentation.
We also heard from our illustrious president, Julie, pinch hitting when a speaker has trouble making it. She covered Syntero, the joint venture between Dublin Counseling Center and Northwest Counseling, continuing to do great work helping those in our area work though psychological and substance abuse issues. Thanks, too, to Dwight Seeley (who asked not to be video'd) on his exciting new product launch of plum pudding. Dwight faced a "Shark Tank" of Rotarians interested in helping him develop his product idea. True to Rotary's traditions, our tankful of sharks may have had the least appetite and fewest teeth in the history of entrepreneurship; still, Dwight got some good help and certainly some good encouragement.
Another in our Spotlight series, introducing our members in more detail. If you haven't done the spotlight yet, please step forward. Thanks to Wendy and Laurie. Here's your video!
Spotlight on . . . Wendy Sheridan and Laurie Penland
We're enhancing the work we are doing with veterans; in the past, we've helped them training for IT careers. Now, working with Bob Evans, we are looking for veterans to train to become restaurant managers. If you know a veteran who might be interested in this program, please make sure to let me know. We're recruiting in the next few weeks. You'll be helping the someone very deserving have the opportunity to grow into a rewarding career.
We've migrated to a new version of the Dublin A.M. website; we had to, for the old version was no longer being supported. Thanks to Wolf Lant for managing the migration!
We've chosen a theme as close as possible to the old one, and many of you may notice very little difference. For the next few newsletters, however, I'll try to note a few differences you might see. Please call or email if you have any issues with the website, and we'll work through them.
This issue's tips:
If you enter an address for your event location, the website will create a map for you. Try it!
If you create a story for the website, you can enable the "Display Social Media Share Bar." Others can quickly share your information in various social media, extending your reach!
Chris Curry recently returned from a trip to Budapest, where he took the opportunity to visit a local Rotary club and exchange banners. Chris reports that the Budepest-City Club is small but very active and represents a cross-section of the some of the city's most influential and engaged citizens. Budapest, he says, is rather like the American Midwest in how friendly people are. Not so Midwestern are the gorgeous setting on the Danube and the ancient age of the city. Talk with Chris for more details about visiting one of Europe's loveliest and least touristy capitals. Thanks, Chris, for taking the Dublin A.M. banner to Hungary!
What do a diary farm in Butler, Franklin County Children's Services, and OSU Buckeyes Football all have in common? Dublin A.M. Rotary, of course, and thanks to our Speakers Commitee for getting engaging presentations to get us up on a Friday morning.
Ken Ruprecht from Ruprecht Dairy Farm visited to tell us about changes in farming practices that have increased production and efficiency while making dairy more environmentally friendly than it has recently been.The farm has 130 diary cows and 135 younger stock, producing 1,200 gallons of milk per say (up 45% per cow since 1978).Water usage is 65% less per gallon of milk, while land usage is down 90% and the carbon footprint down 64% per cow. At the same time, the cows are treated as well as ever, and, in fact, are housed more comfortably and are even more content, for contented cows produce more and better quality milk. Synthetic hormones are not use and are not present in the milk. Ken's presentation was very informative for an audience that is, for the most part, at some remove from the actual production of food and without a lot of knowledge of current farming practices. In this video, Ken talks about sustainability: how it can be defined and what it means in diary farming.
Deborah Armstrong joined us for a presentation of Franklin County Children's Services mission ("Franklin County Children Services is Protecting Children by Strengthening Families. Through collaboration with families and their communities, we advocate for the safety, permanency and well-being of each child we serve in a manner that honors family and culture.") and an update on how they are serving children and our county and on how we might volunteer to help in Friendship (sharing time and activities), in the Crisis Center, or in providing support and assistance to college-bound youths. Deborah's passion for helping children was inspiring. In this video, tells us about an important change made a Children's Services, from Foster Families to Kinship Caregivers.
We also received a visit from former OSU (but once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye) stalwarts Craig Krenzel and Ryan Miller. This year's prognosis: the Bucks are loaded, hungry, and ready to rule the Big 10.
Go, Bucks. Er, Bobcats, Um, Roll Tide? Go, Gators? Okay, never mind, enjoy the team of your choice and remember that you can see more of our speakers, events, and fellowship events on our pages in Youtube, Fickr, Facebook, and Twitter.
We are fortunate to have been joined by two new members. Both are Dublin residents. Carl Bara works at State Bank. David Bentz works for Dublin Advisors in accounting and finance. Thanks for joining us, Carl and David! We look forward to getting you involved in club activities and to years of friendship.
Thanks very much to Raj Hora, who served as Tasting Trainer at our Brown Bag Fellowship event. Rotarians brought a bottle of wine valued at less than $20, hidden in a bag; we tasted them to decide which was the best. Raj gave us expert in advice in flavor nuances and tasting techniques. It was a fun night of learning and friendship. The top three wines, as selected by Dublin A.M. Rotarians, are pictured above. Thanks to Sue Burness and Mohan Viddam for taking photos at the event. Don't forget to join us for our next Fellowship Event, Tuesday at Tutto Vino, on October 14. Raj will be on hand to help us enjoy fine wine and delicious food.
Posted by Michael Shuchter, Jeff Hullinger, & Bill Rish on Oct 07, 2014
"Dublin A.M. Rotary's Environmental Services Committee has been reformed, with an additional focus on state and even national environmental concerns," notes former committee chair Michael Schuchter. "If anyone has any ideas or concerns to bring forward for your individual or community awareness, please let me know what they are," requested new chair Jeff Hullinger. "I'll be serving as interim chair, but in sixth month's time, once is schedule is more free, I'll be turning it over to Bill Rish, our club's environmental expert." Thanks to Michael, Jeff, and Bill for their service!
Dave Williamson, Veterans Honor Flight Coordinator
Greetings Rotary: Wanted to provide an update on one of the club’s favorite projects – the annual Veterans Honor Flight. This year’s flight will take place on Sunday, October 5th. We have three airplanes currently available and can accommodate up to 12 veterans and caregivers as needed. We depart
Don Scott Airport here in Columbus at around 6:30 a.m. and return that evening around 7:30 p.m. I am encouraging members to canvas their family, neighbors, friends and acquaintances for names of veterans they know who would be interested in flying to Washington D.C. and touring their memorials with us this year.
We are actively soliciting applications from veterans for this year’s flight. We fly on private airplanes to Manassas, VA where we load into vans and drive into D.C. for our tours of the WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and Vietnam Memorial in the morning. We have lunch at Fort Meyer Army Post and then travel to the Air Force Memorial, Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and observe the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and finally over to the Iwo Jima Memorial before heading back to the Manassas airport and flight home. It is a long day, but on each of our previous trips our veterans have commented how important it was to see them all as each one had a special meaning to each of them.
We are open to accepting applications from veterans of WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War eras. The application is available at the Friday club meeting, is posted on the club web site, or can be obtained from me personally via email or just call and I can send one out.
If there are any questions, please feel free to contact me via phone (614-327-8102) or by email at Dave448@columbus.rr.com and I would be happy to answer them for you.
Do you ever use Amazon to order anything? If so, you now have a way to contribute to Dublin A.M. Rotary Charitable Foundation without any cost to you or the Foundation. Go to Amazon Smile (http://smile.amazon.com/), log-in with your Amazon account, and select Dublin A.M. Rotary Foundation as your charity of choice. Nothing will change when you order from Amazon except that .5% will get donated to our Foundation. Hooray! Thanks to Lisa Blackwell for alerting the club to this possibility and Amy Barnhart for setting up our account.
We heard from Alex Sheen, who started the group "Because I Said I Would" (http://becauseisaidiwould.com/). Alex spoke movingly (and received a standing ovation) about how a movement has inspired people to pledge, and honor, their word to make the world better one promise at a time.
According to the website, Alex's "father died of small cell lung cancer on September 4th, 2012. His father was good with his promises, so Alex titled his father’s eulogy “because I said I would” and created the promise card in his memory. Eventually Alex would decide to resign from his corporate position in order to advance because I said I would‘s mission.
Alex now works to better of humanity through the importance of a promise in what little ways he can. It started by waking up early before going to work and handwriting letters to people thanking them for requesting promise cards. This dedication continued to develop as he began fulfilling charitable promises. These promises include getting 100 tickets to Disneyland for children with cancer and walking 245 miles across the entire state of Ohio in 10 days to raise awareness for the victims of sexual violence (a promise he made to Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight," who were held prisoner in Cleveland for years in a dark chapter in the city's history.
Alex asked that we not video him, wanting the focus to be on "Because I Said I Would," and not himself. You can, however, see Alex in this video, if you want to hear his inspirational message. Visit the "Because I Said I Would" website to see more amazing stories of promises kept.
On Friday, September 5, 2014 from 12:00 to 1:00p.m, at the Athletic Club of Columbus (ACC), Columbus Rotary and the ACC will be sponsoring the Rotary/ACC networking event, First Friday. Any Rotarian from any Rotary Club (and any guest they might bring) is invited, as is any ACC member. You must bring a business card with you (hopefully more than one) to gain entrance to the luncheon. The luncheon will be in Talley Ho Room on the first floor of the ACC, and each person will order from the lunch menu and pay their own bill. There is no agenda, no program, just networking. Jim Bishop, the Columbus Rotarian organizer of this event, will probably take a minute to welcome everybody, but that will be all. The idea is for persons to network, and if any ACC members who are not Rotarians decide they wish to learn more about Rotary, so much the better. This event is limited to the first 40 persons who register. If the demand is great, we will increase the number who may attend and find a larger room for future First Fridays. To RSVP, please contact Jim Bishop of Columbus Rotary at (614) 229-4969. If you do not reserve a place ahead of time, please come anyway, as we always seem to have enough room for last minute guests. Also remember that this event is every First Friday, so please put in your calendar for 2014: October 3, November 7, and December 5. I look forward to seeing you there.
Randy is promoting Rotary through Service Above Selfies.
If you're at a Rotary service function, please take a "selfie" and send it Michael Blackwell. He'll post it on our website and Facebook page, plus send it to the District 6690 newsletter.
District Governor Randy Davies at Dublin A.M.: Service above Selfies
It's always a pleasure to have a visit from Police Chief Heinz von Eckartsberg (click here for a biography), a pillar of the Dublin community for 31 years, instrumental in creating a force that has helped make Dublin safe and prosperous. In his most recent visit, Heinz discussed the growth of Dublin's police force as the city has grown, the consolidation of several suburban dispatching services in Dublin, and trends in policing, including dealing with distracted driving, the growth of technology, and use of social media in police work. In this video, Heinz discusses the consolidation of many area dispatching services in Dublin. [Note: your editor apologizes for the darkness of this video and vows never again to face the windows on a bright sunny morning.]
District Governor Randy Davies and his lovely wife Kristi ("very much the better half," he says) visited Dublin A.M. to talk about activities in Rotary International and District 6690, emphasizing both the challenges in communication and membership retention and the opportunities we have for doing great things as we live Rotary's values. In this video, Randy talks about things both small and large that we can do to help make Rotary more visible.
Don't forget that Kristi and Randy welcome us to the District 6690 Conference, October 11-12 at Shawnee State Lodge and Conference Center, including bonfire, entertainment, geocaching, and hiking. A splendid time is guaranteed for all! Click here for details.
Rotary Spotlight highlights our members, with two members introducing each other, sharing some biographical details and some fun facts. This week, the spotlight is on Sharon Zimmers and Dwight Seeley. Thanks, Sharon and Dwight, for sharing more about yourselves and helping us to know you better. Click here to view the Spotlight video.
Thanks to Evie and John Susie for opening their amazingly lovely home and to Jim Burness and the Fellowship Committee for planning a Perfect Party. Thanks, too, for everyone who brought appetizers and desserts. It is the rare Central Ohio restaurant where one would eat as well as at a Rotary party. As promised, dozens of famous people attended, including international stars of stage and screen, U.S. Presidents, First Ladies, and important world political leaders, and many sports greats, including Jack Nicklaus, who admired the view of the 13th at Muirfield right next to Evie and John's yard. "I never hit the ball out-of-bounds, even by a yard," said Nicklaus, "so I've never seen the 13th from this angle before. Evie and John have a beautiful view. The course looks great from here!" A wonderful time was had by all. Thanks to Sue Burness for taking photos.
Can you best John Susie's caption?: "Talk about a rose between two thorns!"
Thanks to the Speaker's Committee for giving us yet more reasons to get out of bed early on Fridays, learning more about Rotary, our community, and the world.
Brooke Perrin visited to tell us more about Rotary District 6690's Youth Exchange Program, promoting peace and understanding and profoundly enhancing the lives of young minds.
In this video, Brooke tells us about the history and basic ideas behind the exchange program.
We also heard from Valarie Deck and Laurel Marks of Canine Companions for Independence. As explained in their website, Canine Companions is "a non-profit organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships. . . . Canine Companions is the largest non-profit provider of assistance dogs and is recognized worldwide for the excellence of its dogs and the quality and longevity of the matches it makes between dogs and people. The result is a life full of increased independence and loving companionship."
Finally, we heard from Joan Coughlin of the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio about how the BBB serves as a neutral intermediary between consumers and businesses, trying to ensure mutual satisfaction and good service. In addition, the BBB certifies businesses as accredited that meet particular standards; accredidation is reviewed and businesses that do not maintain high standards can lose it. In this way, consumers can find trustworthy businesses and also nominate businesses they think particularly trustworthy for a Torch Award for Ethics, celebrating innovation and excellence in ethical enterprising.
In this video, Joan explains Better Business Bureau's mission.
Remember you can see many of our speaker's full presentations on our YouTube channel. Don't forget to visit our Flikr page and our Facebook page to see great photos from Mohan, Roberta, and Bonnie.
Next March, we are bringing back the Blarney Bash as our premier fundraiser. A committee has been working with the City of Dublin for a year now to sort out the details, and now it's time to start generating interest and excitement. What's a Blarney Bash? Watch this video of Wolf Lant and Sue Burness to find out!
The Bash is Back!: A preview of Dublin A.M.'s Biggest Fundraiser
Join your fellow Dublin AM Rotarians for a night of fun, food and fellowship Friday, August 22 at the home of John and Evie Susie.
The Perfect Party is the perfect way to get together. Just bring a bottle of wine (or your beverage of choice) and either an appetizer or dessert. Last names A - M please bring an appetizer, N - Z please bring a dessert.
Feel free to bring guests. We look forward to seeing you at the Perfect Party!
Contribute to the cleanliness and beauty of the Scioto River. Sign-up on Clubrunner today! Alternatively, email or call me and I'll add you to the list - how's that for service!
Please join us for this fun and helpful annual event. Wade the Scioto River, picking-up garbage -- sounds gross, but it is a lot of fun! We are usually surprised with some of our finds!
We'll meet at:
Dublin Municipal Building
5200 Emerald Parkway
9am Briefing, August 16th
Gloves and garbage bags provided.
Please bring closed-toe footwear that can get wet and will help you walk along the slippery river bottom. Hat, sunglasses and sun screen are strongly recommended.
This is a great event for children, if they are old enough to wade the river shallows safely.
Please sign-up yourself and a few of your family and friends, today! Thanks for helping to keep Dublin Green.
The Dodgers, our Rotary sponsored Miracle League baseball team, had another amazing season this summer! They finished (as always) undefeated and above all, thanks to you, had a wonderful summer of camaraderie and happiness. Volunteer Rotarians are paired with the players who have a variety of disabilities. Our job is to provide the players with the support they need to participate and enjoy the game of baseball, and enjoy it they do!
A special thanks to the following Rotarians who volunteered this summer:
Thanks to everyone who volunteered at the Dublin Irish Festival, with a special thanks to Dwight, Bonnie, Rich, Andy, and Dave. While we had some storms, it was generally much cooler than usual, with the weather actually sometimes resembling that of Dublin, Ireland, rather than, as usual, Texas on a more than unusually hot summer day. Our new streamlined duties (alcohol support only) made this the best organized and smoothest running DIF for us yet. We made thousands to support our great work in the community, helped the world's greatest Irish festival run well, and had lots of fun. Great work!
Okay, so we're not yet any competition for that large corporation with the clown and hamburgers, but I'm proud to announce that Dublin A.M. Rotary has now served over 15,000 meals through the Salvation Army Mobile Canteen. Thanks to all of you who have given your time so that those in need so close to Dublin might have hot food and warm smiles.
Over 15,000 Served [Eds note: we ran this story last time, but it's too fun not to include again]
The 2014-15 Speaker's Series is off to an excellent start, providing a great reason to be up early on Friday mornings.
Sara Mitchell engaged us on the Woman's Fund of Central Ohio (http://www.womensfundcentralohio.org/), an organization that "transforms the lives of women and girls by mobilizing the collective power and passion of all women working together, [creating] gender equality and influence through our research and collaborations, [promoting] social change by growing women’s philanthropy, and [making] grants to programs that raise awareness and educate on issues affecting women and girls." You can learn more about the Women's Fund in this video of Sara's presentation.
Andre Porter, Director of Ohio's Department of Commerce, told us about how the department is organized, what it does, and how it has started a new customer service initiative that incentivizes compliance with regulation. The department no longer wants to operate as a "gotcha!" agency. Instead, while it will still rigorously enforce commerce as needed, it will give small financial breaks to the many companies and operators that are consistently in compliance, spending more time and charging a bit more for those that need help coming into compliance. You can learn more about the department in this video of Andre's presentation.
Informative Speakers: Sara Mitchell and Andre Porter
This issue's spotlight in on Susan Robenalt and Rick Schwieterman. Active not only in our club but also on more foundations and boards than you can shake a stick at, they grace us with their presence. Watch this video to learn more about each of them:
Thanks to Mohan Viddam for his generosity. Mohan has become the our club's newest Paul Harris Fellow. The Paul Harris Fellowship benefits Rotary International, allwoing them to continue their work. Our club has many creative ways to become a fellow. If you'd like more details about being a Paul Harris Fellow, communicate with Dave Holliday or Ann Ralston.
Jim Listebarger, having completed all the requirements, has now become a full member of Dublin A.M. Rotary, and is entitled to all the benefits and responsibilities adhering thereunto. Watch this video of the event. Congratulations, Jim!
Terry Foegler gave an excellently organized and cogent update on the City of Dublin's Bridge Street Corridor plans. He reviewed the demographic and economic reasons why Bridge Street is important for keeping Dublin vital. He also discussed progress so far and talked about immediate and long-term plans, including a video of what the Bridge Street/Riverside Drive roundabout will look like.
Unfortunately, your humble editor only captured the first three minutes, which you may view here.
Last week saw the installation of next's years officers and board, plus recognition of contributions for the past year.
Our 2014 Rookie of the Year is Sarah Richardson. Click on the link to see her accept the award. Your humble editor apologizes for the darkness of this and the other installation videos--the club had very low light conditions that day.
This week's spotlight is on Ann Ralston and Debbie Lutz, both long-time members who have kept giving amazing time, talent, and energy to club. Is Debbie a big-time lottery winner or not? Was Ann once the sidekick for Ronald McDonald? Watch this video of their spotlight introduction to find out!
Thanks to Michael Shuchter and Lee Beall for their generosity. They have swelled our ranks of Paul Harris Fellows. Lee is a multiple PH Fellow. Click here to see a video of the announcement of the event.
Many are the ways to become a Paul Harris Fellow. Talk with Dave Holliday for more details.
The most recent Installation Brochure did not properly list all of our Paul Harris Fellows. We regret any omissions. Here is a corrected list, which may also be downloaded from the club documents portion of the webpage. Let Michael Blackwell know if you want him to get you a copy.
Elizabeth Berry has become our newest member. Elizabeth is in financial services and brings a lot of energy and ability to the club. Click here to see her induction and make sure to welcome her warmly!
Dublin A.M. had a fun evening of fellowship (and a little fundraising) to celebrate the installation of this year's officers. Thanks so much to Chris and Mike Close for opening their lovely home; Steve Smith and Rev'd Up, who rocked the night away; City BBQ for the amazingly delicious and hearty fare; Mohan Viddam for memorializing the event in pictures; and to all who contributed to fundraising in one way or another. Together we raised over $4,000 for the good of Dublin and Rotary . . . and had a great time.
The Dublin Irish Festival is only a week out. Dublin A.M. is again "sharing o' the green," volunteering to help make the happiest Irish Festival in the world a smooth and fun event. We'll have fewer shifts this year (but still 57) and are working to streamline your volunteer experience even more to make it enjoyable as well as helpful. We'll only be handling alcohol distribution this year. Thanks to everyone who has already signed up. We still need some help for shifts, especially these:
Friday 8 pm - 12 am
Saturday 4 - 8 pm
Saturday 8 pm - 12 am
Sunday 4 - 8 pm
Sunday 8 pm - 12 am
If you haven't yet signed up for a shift, or if you'd like to do a bit more to help out, please communicate with Bonnie Coley-Malir, Dwight Seeley, or Rich Weber.
Recently, the Club met at Dublin Methodist Hospital to hear from its President, Bruce Hagen. Hagen discussed the hospital's affiliation, founding, history, areas of excellence and awards, and plans for expansion. You can find out more about Hagen in this link. Hagen was introduced by our own Page Vornbrock, who serves on the Dublin Methodist Board and who has been instrumental in the hospital's establishment. Dublin and the surrounding communities are blessed to have on of America's top-rated hospitals. You can hear about Dublin Methodist's most recent award and plans for expansion in this video.
Perhaps you saw the great presentation at our recent District Conference from Price Finley (President of the Upper Arlington Club) and Andy Mills (President of the Tri Village Club) on how their clubs have engaged in meaningful World Service Projects in Guatemala with their partner NGO, Mayan Families.
In November of this year, 11/2 - 11/7, members from both clubs will be making their 12th trip to Guatemala to inspect current Rotary projects and explore new Rotary focused potential projects in the areas on education, water, health, community economic development and literacy. Many of these projects are not large dollar projects; for any club wishing to expand their clubs impact in the area of World Service, this could be a wonderful opportunity.
The Upper Arlington Club and Tri Village club would like to invite any members of Dublin A.M. who are interested to accompany them on the trip. Please contact DGN Steve Sandbo from the Upper Arlington Club who will be coordinating and leading the trip. His contact info is as follows:
A personal note from District Governor Bart Mahoney:
Many of you know that Kathleen and I made this trip in November 2013. It forever changed our lives and is a Rotary Moment without equal. This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in an International service project with a wide variety of projects and a very broad range of commitment financially. Steve is a wonderful host and the Mayan Families (Dwight and Sharon) will show you Guatemala like nothing you will evere experience.
Please take advantage of this opportunity and see Rotary beyond District 6690.
This edition's Rotary Spotlight features Pete Cushnie and John Williamson. They introduce each other to the Club in this video, and also play "3 True things and One Lie." See if you can guess what's true and what isn't. Thanks, John and Pete, for sharing in such a fun way.
On July 3rd, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., Dublin A.M. Rotary will partner will HDBA on the Great Slider Challenge. 5 Historic District Restaurants will compete to see who can make the best small burger: Brazenhead, Dublin Village Tavern, J Liu's, Mezzo, and Oscar's. You have two fun ways to help. First, you can volunteer to help. Our duties will amazingly light: we just have to sell tickets and collect voting ballots that determine the winner. We need two or three people per restaurant. Look for your email invite to sign up or talk with Michael Blackwell. Yes, this is the same time as Red, White, & Boom, but what a wonderful excuse to miss the mess downtown: stay in Dublin, enjoy a beverage, and help us raise money for the club. You can still go to Dublin's superior fireworks event on July 4th. If you prefer, you can help us raise money by attending the event and eating sliders. Tickets are $10 or may be ordered ahead for $8 athttp://www.usaseats.com/Other-Events/Historic-Dublin-Slider-Challenge-Information. The restaurants are in it to win, so the food will be fabulous. Come help at 4:30 pm or just join your Rotary buddies for fun between 5 to 7. Either way, Dublin A.M. wins!
A Delicious Fundraising and Fellowship Opportunity
Our contributions to Daniel Wright Elementary's Free Book Fair were recognized in the Columbus Dispatch. School media Specialist Marisa Coneglio does a great job explaining in why Dublin A.M. supports Daniel Wright: they are the Dublin elementary with the greatest need. Thanks to Claudia Trusty and the Literacy Committee for supporting the book fair! Check out the story here.
We recently heard from Robin and Don Rose, friends of many of our members, about their 2 1/2 year, 11,000 mile sailboat journey to many ports of call in the United States and the Bahamas. Don has written a book based upon Robin's diaries of the cruise. For more information about their voyage and the book, including many photos, please see this link and also this write-up in the Dublin Villager about the book and cruise. Thanks for sharing your journey, Robin and Don!
We also heard from Dublin City Manager Marsha Grigsby about the State of the City, a state which is, in a word, "Excellent." Marsha spoke of the significant events in the City in the last year and some upcoming developments. She shared some videos with us to provide an overview of her topics. In this video, you'll see some of the significant events that took place in 2013. In this video, you'll see some of the significant capital improvements of 2013.
Marsha's talk reinforced that from snow removal to the development of an even brighter future, Dublin is in good hands. Thanks for your visit, Marsha!
Speakers: An International Sailing Cruise and the State of the City
Thanks to Emmet Apolinario and Ron Morgan, who have completed "4 x 4's" to become Paul Harris Fellows. This is Ron's second time being a Paul Harris Fellow. These donations to Rotary International help do great work all over the world. The club offers several creative ways to become a Paul Harris Fellow. Please speak with Ann Ralston if you'd like more information.
Jim Bandeen and Laurie ("The Nice One") Penland recently removed their red badges and become fully-fledged members of Dublin A.M. Rotary. Congratulations and welcome!
It's been a very productive year for the International Services Commitee, with lots of activity and achievements. Please click on "International Services" under "Club Information Pages" [upper left of club website] or click here to download a 2014 Progress Update. We made significant contributions in many countries: Sierra Leone, India, Turkey, Kenya, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Moldova, and even Germany, fighting disease, providing prostherics or aid in the aftermath of natural disasters, fostering literacy and health literacy, and providng clean water. Thanks to all our International Services Committee Members: Lisa Blackwell, Jim Burness, Faye Herriott, Rita Hook, Sharon Kendall, Wolf Lant, John Miller, Susan Robenault, Debbie Sheppard, Claudia Trusty, Mohan Viddam, Scott Williamson, and Sinan Yaykin.
An Amazing Year for the International Services Committee
In addition to giving a book a week to Daniel Wright's Elementary's Library and helping bring author Meghan McCarthy for a visit, we have benefitted the school yet again by sponsoring a children's book drive. Hundreds of titles were donated. They were put on display and kids from the school were able to pick books to read over the summer, keeping them interested in learning and improving their literacy skills. Thanks to our Literacy Commitee and everyone who donated for helping Daniel Wright kids thrive. The aliens in the photo, incidentally, were drawn by chidlren from the school, taught by the author we brought, further proof of the impact Rotary has had on the school.
Daniel Wright Elementary Book Fair a Success: Thanks, Rotary!
Chief Allan Woo of Washington Township Fire Department and in-coming Chief Alec O'Connell (who will take over when Chief Woo retires after a distinguished career) recently visited for an update on our local fire department: its changes, challenges, and achievements. In general, training requirements are becoming tougher with new equipment, while the education of new recruits is also tending upwards. Budget constraints are an ever-present concern and the division works hard to ensure complete readiness to fight fires, provide emergency services, and save lives. In this video, Alec discusses some of the changes in technology that are occurring, and the advantages and challenges such changes have brought.
We also heard from Purba Majumder and Susan Watson. Purba is President of Cybervation, a firm providing comprehensive technology services in the United States and India, while Susan is Director of Enterprise Customer Data at Cardinal Health. A passion for educating young women and providing guidance for Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) careers led Purba to found CoolTechGirls, a joint venture of City of Dublin, Dublin Entrepreneurial Center, and Cybervation, and Susan to serve on its board.. They work to give girls knowledge of tech careers, mentoring and motivating to enter a growing and lucrative field in which women are under-represented. This video provides a great overview of how CoolTechGirls fosters excitement about STEM careers.
Speakers: Fighting Fires, Providing Services, and Creating Careers
Most weeks at Rotary, we are putting the spotlight on our members, who introduce each other to the club and fill in some interesting details about that person. In this edition of the newsletter, the spotlight is on Asch Mikhail and Roland Pagniano. Find out about them in this video.
Many of the 2014 Dublin A.M. Rotary Scholarship Winners recently visited the club to express their thanks and talk about the community projects in which they have been involved. Dublin A.M. presented $2,000 in each of the three high school, based upon Community Service, Demonstrated Leadership, Academic Achievement, Financial Need, and Living a Drug/Alcohol Free Lifestyle. They were introduced by Scholarship Committee chair Rick Schwieterman. You can meet them in this video.
We are adding an Archive section to the website to capture print documents that might be of interest for the future. Items that might be included are letters of thanks from individuals or organizations that have received grants or other assistance from Rotary, or other correspondence sent to us. If you have an item that you think should be included, please give it to Michael Blackwell. It will be returned once it is digitized, if you want it back.
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;"><img align="left" alt="Image" class="AddImageButtonImage" src="https://www.crsadmin.com/Gen/Accounts/5164/General/1c8371c5-ba2a-4323-adbc-4a534650a663.jpg" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;" />In addition to the &quot;Rotary Touchpoints Guide&quot; posted on the <a href="http://www.dublinamrotary.org/" target="_blank">website</a>, we now have a list of everyone&#39;s touchpoints so far. It is now current as of the end of April. Look on the right of the page, under &quot;Club Documents.&quot;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;">Currently, the Touchpoints system, is under review. For now, let&#39;s be clear about how to get touchpoints and what the touchpoints are.&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16px;">To submit your touchpoints for consideration, please email your name, the date, and what you did for Rotary to <a href="mailto:RotaryTouchPoints@gmail.com">RotaryTouchPoints@gmail.com</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 16px;">If you don&#39;t use email--hey, not everyone does!--tell Rich Weber or Michael Blackwell. Committee chairs, please remember to report your committee member&#39;s touchpoints!</span></p>
<p>Here&#39;s a list of the current Touchpoints:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
I would like to thank those of you who have attended Murali Ramisetty’s presentation recently at our club. As many of you have requested, attached is the slide presentation that Ramisetty showed. Click here for photos at this event. Click here for photos of usage of water backpacks and safe water plants that I visited in Warangal on my previous visit to India.
Murali Ramisetty is a full-time social worker, heading MARI (Modern Architects of Rural India) and FAN SA (Freshwater Action Network of South Asia) NGOs. Of the many social work programs that he/MARI are involved in, I am keen on the “safe water plants/water purification systems.” He/MARI have installed 39 such plants and are planning to set up more in AP. Here are some reasons we should be interested:
1. Having executed one social work program in Warangal through Murali/MARI, which is the distribution of 300 free water backpacks to tribal villagers, I am convinced with the efficacy/integrity/sincerity of MARI. They have lower overheads and a dedicated team, headed by a passionate social worker, Murali. Either through our Rotary or Tony Somers of PackH20 & Grief, we are planning to send another batch of water backpacks to tribal villagers near Warangal, India
2. Proven technology (Reverse Osmosis) and backed by US based Safe Water Network (SWN) NGO
3. These safe water plants are self-sustaining ventures, with 20L of purified water being sold at Rs. 4
4. Water is purified indigenously in a village, as opposed to buying commercial grade and expensive purified water
5. This provides a long-term solution to various diseases borne throiugh drinking polluted water
Depending on our budget and other international projects that we are and will be involved in 2014, we can consider funding such safe water plants in India through Murali/MARI. As discussed earlier, we can consider reaching out to other Rotary clubs in our District for funding and participation.
I am also reached out to my friends of Indian origin in Columbus and Hyderabad, to consider sponsoring such plants in their ancestral villages in India. I myself am planning to sponsor one plant in my parent’s birth place/village in India and have verbal commitments from some of my high-school friends to do the same.
Together, we in Rotary can benefit an area that desperately needs our help.
Murali Ramisetty's presentation to the International Committee
Thanks to Mike Close and Cap Clegg for attending our recent Rotary literacy event, in which we were joined by the Dublin Foundation, the PTOs of Daniel Wright and Eli Pinney, and Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Friends of CML. We provided an author visit to four schools and are putting books into the hands of all Wright third graders, supporting literacy.
But let's let a better writer describe the event for us. Click here for coverage in the Dublin Villager.
A big thanks again to Claudia Trusty for providing Rotary bookmarks for the students of Daniel Wright and Eli Pinney!
Celebrating Literacy through a Great Community Partnership
We are in the early stages of planning a Mission Trip to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on amputees. We are looking to travel to the Dominican Republic either in October 2014 or April 2015. The timing would depend on what works best for everyone.
In June 2012, Rotarians Jim Burness, Sue Burness, Sharon Kendall, Paul Buchanan, Rita Hook, Bonnie Coley-Malir, along with Harvey Hook, Sarah Lutz, and 2 Interact Students traveled to Santo Domingo in The Dominican Republic to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands (http://www.ln-4.org/). We were hosted by local Rotarians, who opened their homes to accommodate us and work on this project together. Most of the "advance" work had been done by them even before we arrived, making the experience very smooth. The fellowship we shared made the trip unforgettable, as they showed us around the capital city and even took us to a cocoa plantation. We also took one day to travel to Mission Emanuel, where Harvey Hook (The Gathering) has been traveling for many years, to work on a mission project. For us on that day, it was building a wheelchair ramp at Mission Emanuel's Health Clinic. We envision the next trip having a similar opportunity.
The biggest cost of this trip is the airfare. Currently, round trip tickets are between $650-$1000, depending on airline, stops, etc. The Rotarians picked us up at the airport, housed and fed us. For the Mission Emanuel volunteering, we stayed in the same hotel for 1 night as mission volunteers that came from all over the US. We ate at the hotel and I think that total cost was around $200. Some of us went to an all inclusive beach resort, of which there are many, on the front side of our trip.That part was a lot of fun but definitely optional
Two weeks ago, we received an email from the President of the Rotary Club that hosted us in Santo Domingo, asking when we were coming back and they were looking forward to working with us again. That's where we are now. At this point we are just looking at the level of interest in our club. If you have an interest in possibly going or just questions, you can talk to or email me or any of the above Rotarians.
I think I speak for all of us who went, when you get off the plane after the trip you are a different person. It was a life-changing experience.
Potential Mission Trip to the DR to Fit LN-4 Hands
Spring is here, the arctic vortex has released its icy grasp, and that means it's time for Dodger baseball. No, not those professionals in Los Angeles--they lose games. I'm talking about our Miracle League Team, the undefeated Dublin Dodgers. Their first game is Saturday, May 3rd, at 11 a.m. and, as always, we'll need volunteers to help. Look for the games to be posted as Rotary events. Please come out to assist. The games are fun, and the kids need (and love getting) your help.
Dublin A.M. recently had a visit from Interact students from the three high schools. Interact is Rotary's farm team: young people who care about giving to their communities learn about Rotary principles and work on projects that benefit others. It's always a wonderful day to see how much they give. Thanks to our Interact Leader Greg Gleaves and to the Rotarians who serve as advisors to the Interact Clubs: Cap Clegg, Raj Hora, Asch Mikhail, Claudia Trusty.
We heard from Coffman teacher/advisors Megan Burton and Karen Brothers, and fromstudent officers Kelly Shockley, Sue Strange, Jenni Slack, and Joy Head. Jerome was represented by advisor Jill Harris and student officers May Chen, Ridah Khan, Mahnoor Naqvi, and Sarah Han. Scioto advisor Andy Feicht could not be on hand, but the school was ably represented by student officer Sam Lyons.
This video of the Jerome presentation (chosen because it is the most suitable length for present purposes) nicely summarizes the many amazing things these young people do. All the videos can, however, be seen on our Club's Youtube channel.
Seeing how committed and excellent the students are always makes we old folks feel the future is in good hands. Thanks again to the Rotarians who are helping to guide them so we all have a better future!
Due to popular demand, we are continuing our coverage of The Rotary Spotlight, in which two of our members introduce each other to the club and tell us a bit about theirSpotlight partner. Your editor unfortunately missed one week of the Spotlight, but in this video we do have the pleasure of seeing Faye Herriott and Andy Keeler.
Did you know . . . . that Faye Herriot spend her summers and weekends on a farm in Blacklick, Ohio?
Dublin A.M. has developed a contact from Sierra Leone, a country recently wracked by civil war. We are providing LN-4 artificial hands (many people lost limbs in the war) and H2O Water Backpacks for distribution, but the people of this poor country could use more help. Next Friday, April 18, please consider bringing the following to our club meeting: household goods, especially cooking utensils (but not electric or gas appliances--electricity or gas is often unavailable); clothing of any size, men's, women's, or children's; books; or medical equipment, such as crutches, wheelchairs, scooters , prosthetics. All will be shipped to Sierra Leone without cost to us. Thanks!
As you have perhaps seen, another stride in eradicating polio has been made: the World Health Organization has declared India to be polio free. As long as Polio remains in the world (and nearby countries have seen some increase in cases due to civil strife), India and many other nations will remain at risk. Still, this is a time of celebration for India, the world, and Rotary, which has done so much eradicate this horrible disease. Click here for a CNN news story.
Once again Rotarians have had excellent reasons to brave cold weather early on Friday mornings, with speakers who are engaged, informative, and enjoyable.
Kathy Gill, COO and Publisher of CityScene spoke on the changes faces media creators in the digital age. The changes crated by moving from print environment to a operation to an online and virtual realm have been profound and far-reaching. What worked even 20 years ago no longer works in marketing and messaging now. In this video, Kathy shares some of these changes, including some that can help any business owner market better today.
In addition, Dr GeorgiAnn Dinanco, Drug Support Specialist, spoke about Strides for Sobriety, an organization that benefits young people who are trying to recover from addiction. Often, addition treatment is not covered by health insurance, leaving teens (once they are no longer treated for suicide or medical symptoms) unable to be in rehabilitation and at grave risk for recidivism. In this video, Dr. Dinanco discusses who is at risk and also an upcoming fundraiser (for which Dublin AS.M. is a major contributor) to help.
At a recent meeting, Ann Ralston gave an excellent presentation on the Dublin A.M. Rotary Foundation, Rotary International Foundation, and Paul Harris Fellowships. It was a brief and clear explanation of what these groups do and how they help people all over the world. She also thanked Rick Schwieterman for completing his fourth Paul Harris donation and Cap Clegg for completing his third. She also welcomed Jeff Schoener to our club's distinguished group of Paul Harris Fellows. Thanks, Rick, Cap, and Geoff!Watch this video of the ceremony.
Thanks to all Dublin A.M. Rotarians who helped keep order and promote safety at a blustery St. Patrick's Day Parade. You made sure it was not only the grandest and greenest but also the happiest and safest celebration. Good work!
Here's our list of honored marshals: Jim Bandeen, Paul Buchanan, Lou Charobee, Cap Clegg, Pete Fuhlbrigge, Robert Hoppe, Raj Hora, Sharon Kendall, Jim Listebarger, Ron Morgan, Ann Ralston, Julie Erwin-Rinaldi, Bill Rish (guest), Jeff Schoener, Dwight Seeley, and John Susie.
The past three weeks have brought a diversity of topics, from helping the young minds in need, through innovation in technology and business, to helping the terminally ill die in peace and comfort.
Former OSU Basketball and NBA star Lawrence Funderburke presented on his Youth Organization. Raised by a single mother in Columbus's Hilltop area, Funderburke knows what it means to grow up without advantages. With single-minded determination to create a better life, first for himself and then for his family, he has earned an advanced degree in addition to his OSU undergrad degree; he's a Certified Financial Planner, but his passion is helping young people succeed by taking advantage of education, especially through attention to finance. His story and his dedication are an inspiration. In this video, he discusses his organization's focus:
Bret Bordner, the Vice-President of Laser Reproductions ("a leading provider of rapid prototyping, manufacturing and product development services" in Columbus), spoke on 3D printing. Using spools of what look like fishing line, 3D printers are able to work directly from documents to create prototypes and even finished products, greatly simplifying, speeding up, and in some ways even revolutionizing the design and manufacturing process. Bret is shown here with some of the products produced by a 3D printer.
Steve Wishart of VITAS Healthcare spoke on the misconceptions and facts of hospice care. In this video (the darkness of which I apologize for), Steve discusses the hospice health benefit: when hospice care usually begins for patients, how the decision to begin hospice care is made, the importance of having directives for health care to ensure that one's wishes are followed in the event of health crises, and what VITAS does in the Dublin community.
We need to kick-start the Scholarship Committee very soon. So far, we've received applications from students at two the the three high schools and expect to hear from the third soon. Once we know many applications we have, we'll put together the timing and process by the end of the month. We'll review the candidates, pick the top one or two from each school and make a decision about whom to award the money. We'd welcome your participation. It's always amazing to see how much these young people have to offer, if difficult to decide between so many gifted and qualified candidates. You'll enjoy it! If interested, please let me know!
A few weeks back, we heard from Lawrence Funderburke about his foundation and youth organization, helping kids and especially those in the most disadvantaged areas get an education boost. After it, a number of us with him and among ourselves abut ways we could help, either by making connections with schools or through volunteering. If you'd be interested in participating in an initial dialog with him and in helping, please let Susan Robenalt, Claudia Trusty, or me know.
Just a reminder – We are collecting new and gently used CHILDRENS BOOKS!
Daniel Wright Elementary will host a book fair for its students, many who do not have access to books in their homes. The book fair will be held in May so kids will have books to read over the summer.
Books for this drive are for children in grades Pre-K thru 5th only (ages 4 to 12)
Bring your book donation to our club meetings on March 28
Please share the book drive with friends, co-workers and relatives
If you prefer to make a cash donation, we will purchase books on your behalf
Wendy Sheridan will be at the meetings to collect your books
We recently received this message from Andy Feicht, who works with our Interact Club at Scioto High School. Andy brought some of the students from Scioto to experience the Salvation Army Mobile Canteen. It turned out to be not only a great but a greatly educational experience for them:
Five kids came for the first part (cooking the meal), which may have been 1 or 2 too many. They got in each others' way as much helped each other. Still, they had fun working in the kitchen and getting to know each other.
For the second part (driving downtown in the canteen and serving the food), two students joined me and and one of my friends. It was awesome taking the kids out and letting them see firsthand how people outside of their "bubble" actually live. They talked about how much it helped them to appreciate what they have in their lives. It was especially alarming for them to see kids of their own age coming out to receive the food. My students were surprised at how friendly and thankful all of the people were to be receiving the food they didn't think would make a great meal. Overall it was a fantastic experience for them, both fun and meaningful. It made them, and me, realize how many privileges we enjoy and how much work we all have to do to help everyone in Central Ohio have what they need.
Our organization has just celebrated the 109th anniversary of its founding. As part of the celebration, the room where it all started is being moved, renovated, and being made more accessible and interesting for visitors. Here are some of the details. If you're ever in Chicago, it's worth a visit to see how history was made.Enjoy!
23 February 1905 was a cold winter night, but Paul and Sylvester were used to the cold of Chicago's winters, and after dinner, they walked to the Unity Building to meet two other men in Room 711 of the Unity Building. www.room711.org is where the story begins.
Visit this website for 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 years of enjoyable reading. Share it with your friends. It's the true story of one man's dream, made greater by millions of Rotarians. There's a great video there of the early years.
Room 711, which has been located on the 16th floor of Rotary World Headquarters in Evanston, IL since 1993, has been recently relocated to the 1st floor. Visitors will have better access to the room which will become part of a larger visitor experience that is being developed. A re-dedication and ribbon cutting was held on 21 February 2014 with many 711 Club members in attendance. 711 Club President Dick Galitz spoke about the significance of the room and its place in Rotary's history.
In the photo, History and Archives Manager Stephanie Giordano, 711 Club President Dick Galitz, and Deputy General Secretary Pete DeBerge cut the ribbon at the dedication of Room 711 at RI World Headquarters.
The Speaker's Committee continues to give us good reasons to get up early on a Friday mornings.
Recent speakers have included, among others, Dave Kott, Erica Shell Castro, and the club's own Steve Smith.
Dave Kott, Chair of District 6690 Rotary Foundation, discussed how Rotary's Foundation works at the local, district, and international levels, as well as giving us interesting facts about and ways to give to foundation locally or at the district or higher levels. In this video, he thanks a few members of Dublin A.M. who have been playing important district roles as well as setting out the Rotary Foundation's main goals and areas of focus.
Erica Shell Castro is the Executive Director of Montaña de Luz. This "Mountain of Light" is a home for children HIV/AIDS in Honduras. Erica notes that "Montaña de Luz began as a place of rescue and hope for children living with HIV/AIDS, at the top of a small mountain in south central Honduras. In 2001, it welcomed its first child, and by 2010 it had grown to be a home for 35 children of all ages, complete with clean living quarters, purified water, proper medical care, loving staff, educational support and a nurturing family atmosphere." Advances in medicine have allowed it to become a launching pad and not just a hospice, but the need for help is still great. Visit their website for more information.
Steve Smith gave us an update on curling, a fun and accessible Winter Olympic sport, which (amazingly enough) one does NOT have to be young and formidably athletic to enjoy immensely.
Steve began with this video from the Columbus Dipspatch, taken of members of his curling club, setting out the basics of the game, including scoring.
He then presented on the sport's history, Olympic tradition, and fun factors, as we see in this video.
If you'd like to see a speaker on a particular topic or know of someone who would make an interesting speaker, please let Faith Williams know.
Don't forget you can see more great club photos on our Facebook Page and our Flickr page, as well as videos of the speaker's presentation on our Youtube page.
The Rotary Global History Fellowship exists to give Rotarians messages about our rich traditions:The fellowship accumulates and preserves the complete history, values, and philosophy of the Rotary movement, as well as encourages others to do the same at every level of the Rotary movement, and publishes those histories, values, and philosophies. If you never visited the site, it is well worth a look. It includes among other pages one called "What Paul Harris Said" that sets out the philosophy of Rotary in Harris' words in brief snippets. Included is this radio interview from 1945, in which Harris describes how Rotary was founded and what he hoped for it in the present and the future. His message will still seem timely today. Enjoy!
Jim Bush has removed his "red badge" and become a fully-fledged Rotarian. Jim, Vice-President of First City Bank, and his wife Lisa are Dublin residents. He was instrumental in the success of our recent Polar Bear Open. Congratulate Jim when you see him. Jim, welcome, and thanks for all the great things you've done for the Club so far.
And speaking of the Polar Bear Open, this year's event was a great success. Thanks to Sinan Yaykin, who started the planning, Sarah Richardson who saw the day through to completion, and the whole team who supported Polar Bear. Rich Weber and Amy Barnhart report the following:
We had 112 golfers
The golf club raffle sold all 50 tickets, so it grossed $1000
The regular raffle brought in around $1,123
The live Woodhouse Spa Package Auction brought in $500
Income was over $21,000, and nearly all of it has been collected already
Expenses are likely to be small, so nearly all of the funding can go to our great causes!
Thanks to our generous sponsors, with special nods to Asch for the great food and Alan for the Spa Package: Medical Mutual of Ohio, Stratos Wealth Partners, Underwood Orthodontics, Dublin Cleaners, Dublin Springs Hospital, First City Bank, and the Dental Care Plus Group.
In the last two weeks, we've heard from informative expert speakers a two widely diverse topics: the treatment of childhood cancers and the Iraq War.
Dr. Timothy Cripe, Division Chief of Oncology at Nationwide Children's Hospital, discussed the challenges confronting he research and cure of childhood cancer. New and innovative treatments are needed to make progress, and yet many of the treatments are unbillable to insurance; meanwhile, funding for childhood cancers is surprisingly inadequate when compared for funding for many other types of cancer. As a result, the resources and funding to treat the number one disease killer of children can be difficult to find. Nevertheless, Nationwide Children's has built an expert team and become a leader in the field. At once humble, passionate, engaging, and informative, Dr. Cripe quickly made many friends at Dublin A.M. In this short clip, he discusses cancer funding and introduces us to a patient, and concludes his talking points:
Dr. Dr. Peter Mansoor, General Raymond Mason Chair of Military History, OSU, has recently written a book on the Iraq War: Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War. Providing an insiders view of the Surge--a massive increase in U.S. forces that pacified the country after an outbreak of civil war following the U.S. occupation--Dr. Mansoor honestly and thoughtfully analyzed the errors in judgement that created an unstable climate in Iraq while revealing how U.S. forces learned from experience to enlist the aid of Iraqis to pacify the country, if only temporarily. His impressive analysis created lots of questions and certainly left us better informed about a world trouble spot. In this clip, he discusses the effects of the Surge:
Faith Williams and the Speaker's Committee continue to do an outstanding job bringing thoughtful and engaging speakers on a wide variety of topics. If you know of a speaker from whom we should hear, let Faith know!
This year's annual Progressive Dinner was yet another great success. Thanks to Sharon Kendall, Paul Buchanan, Susan Robenalt, Sue and Jim Burness, and Ron Morgan for opening their homes and providing warmth on a very cold night. Thanks, too, to the mystery family who briefly hosted Sue Burness for dessert. Funny story--you'll have to ask her for details. Thanks to Alan Reuter and the Fellowship Committee for working out yet another fun event!
In January, Dublin A.M.'s Board regretfully accepted resignations from Bill Young and Ricard Ulm. Both have other commitments or an increase in business that prevents them from continuing. To both, we send thanks for their service to Rotary and to the Dublin Community with a wish that they rejoin us if time ever allows.
Once again the Speaker's Committee, headed by Faith Williams, has given Rotarians great reasons to get out of bed early, even on the coldest of winter days.
Celeste Carano presented on More Than Me, an organization that helps girls in Liberia, Africa. They work with community leaders to identify girls at risk of being forced into sexual or domestic slavery in one of the world's poorest slums. The girls are given an education and support to ensure that their lives become about opportunity and achievement rather than exploitation and misery. It's at tough fight: the opportunities in a country disrupted by civil war and cultural divisions are often all too few. Still, More Than Me has success stories and is providing hope where there would otherwise be none. You can find out more about More Than Me here, including how to give to the foundation.
In this video, Celeste talks about how the organization was started and introduces us to some of the young women it has helped.
We also heard from Dublin City Schools Superintendant Dr. Todd Hoadley. Todd is working to to take an already great school district, and make it even more excellent. He presented some biographical information and then discussed some of the challenges that he and our teachers face with new state-wide curricula in a time of increasing student diversity in Dublin.
In this video, Todd discusses the "whirlwind of changes in public education" clearly but compellingly. His energy and passion are clear; Dublin AM members have reason to be pleased that, even though we miss David Axner as a member, our schools continue to be in excellent hands and will become even better as our educators and student prepare to provide and receive the best of 21st-Century educations.
Don't forget you can see our speaker's presentations in their entirety on our Youtube Channel.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Salvation Army Bell Ringing this year. It was a smashing success!This year, our club alone raised more than $19,000. If you add to that the amount we contributed to the Adopt A Family program, it was well over $21,000 cash money that we contributed to those causes. This money is not a line item in our budget because of how it is raised, and so we might forget it later in the year; however, as you think of all the other great fundraising we'll do this year, keep it in mind and be very proud of how much you've done, and are doing, to help those in need.
Incidentally, we don't yet know if we rang the bell more hours than Kiwanis in our friendly competition with them. Details on that as soon as I know them!
The Polar Bear Open is this Saturday, February 1, and Old Man Winter, batting 1,000 in January, is going to strike out big time on that day. Sub-zero temperatures will give way to a high of 40 degrees. Don't miss this chance to celebrate the first day of real golfing weather 2014, laugh at Old Man Winter's feeble attempt to frustrate us, and help Dublin A.M. help our community
Remember, you don't have to be good at glf. In fact, you don't even have to have played ever before. It's fun, and you'll earn the bragging rights to say you golfed in February in Ohio. Click here to sign up. Why not sign up a foursome--the more golfers, the more fun! A light breakfast and great lunch are included for the February 1st shotgun start at Safari Golf Club. See you there!
Our December speakers presented on very diverse topics but were both very enjoyable.
Jeff Sondles told us about the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, an excellent outing for families and anyone interested in the history of aviation history. In this video, Jeff tells us about some new buildings and provides information on their vintage B-25, which actually still flies.
Our own Rev. Steve Smith told us about Hanukkah traditions. In addition to playing a mean lead guitar for the band Rev'd Up, Steve is gifted at explaining the history of biblical times in a way at once clear and fascinating. His holiday presentation is always enjoyed by the club. In this video, having explained the historical geography, Steve explains how the Maccabees were able to create a Jewish state in Palestine for the first time in centuries, leading to the start of the Festival of Lights.
In a world in which there is so much need, it can be difficult to decide how best to make a difference. One option for truly helping is to give to The Rotary Foundation. I did so as part of the holidays, and I encourage you to consider it. This thank-you message from the foundation explains why it is so vital:
"Thanks to your support of the Annual Fund, a teacher will have books and supplies for her students, an expectant mother will receive regular prenatal care, and neighbors will greet each other around their newly constructed well.
Rotarians are the hands, eyes, and ears of The Rotary Foundation. Because they understand the communities they serve, Rotarians can identify the most pressing needs and work in the most efficient way to produce sustainable solutions. Through our Foundation, Rotarians provide essential resources and expertise to these projects, increasing both their scope and their effectiveness. Thank you formaking these vital efforts a priority."
A Merry Christmas to all and my thanks to you for all you have done for the world through Rotary and for trusting me with the honor of being your president.
Club Member Sinan Yaykin is sojourning in Vienna and took the opportunity to exchange Rotary pennants with a club there.
Sinan reports, "During my time here, I had a chance to visit the Rotary Club of Wien-Ring in the first district. They meet every Friday at 1 PM in the famous Hotel Sacher (where John F. Kennedy, Indira Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth had stayed), and were very welcoming. I have included my picture with the president exchanging our banners for you to enjoy.
I will be back in Central Ohio in mid-February and certainly will come to one of our Dublin A.M. meetings. Till then, Happy New Year to everyone!"
Thanks to all of the Dublin AM Rotary members and their family members who donated money, shopped or wrapped gifts for the Adopt-a-Family program! A special thanks to Bruce Andrews for his leadership with the Rotary sponsored Salvation Army efforts throughout the year and to Susan Robenalt for once again taking the lead on organizing the shopping efforts of our very special and dedicated shoppers! We were able to purchase gifts for 29 children and their family members in need this year! Families served by both the Salvation Army and the Dublin Counseling Center received gifts as a result of your generosity.
We are grateful to all who were involved in this giving campaign. Please know that your efforts and your contributions made a tremendous difference in ensuring that needy, vulnerable families in our community have a happy holiday. Only the families with the highest degree of need were chosen to receive gifts. You've given them a Christmas they would otherwise not have and have made Central Ohio a happier place over the holidays.
The Dublin AM Rotary’s Literacy Committee is at it again! All of the third graders in the Dublin City School District received their own copies of “A Student’s Dictionary” from the Dublin AM Rotary on Monday, November 18th. The picture(s) below are of 3rd graders from Thomas Elementary School who had just received their dictionaries from our Literacy Chair Claudia Trusty and Superintendent Dr. Todd Hoadley. It was pajama and reading day at the school so everyone was perfectly attired and psyched for the event! I think that Claudia and Dr. Hoadley were in their street clothes, but there are no pictures to prove it. The students thanked the Rotary for their dictionaries in the 19 different languages currently used at the school! Over 1,200 3rd graders received dictionaries this year across the District!
Claudia explained that an English as Second Language (ESL) teacher stopped her and wanted her to tell the Club that the dictionaries have been a very helpful tool with their ESL students. This effort is especially significant given the State of Ohio’s 3rd Grade Reading Guarantee, which focuses on reading skills and reading improvement.
The dictionaries are funded through the Club’s Community Services budget and a grant that we received from District 6690 and is an annual literacy initiative facilitated by the Club’s Literacy Committee.
Happy reading!
Dictionaries Arrive on Pajama and Reading Day at Thomas Elementary!
Golfers of all ages and abilities have the opportunity to face Central Ohio's biggest links challenge: The Polar Bear Open. We'll tackle Safari Golf Club, made even more challenging by February weather. Neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor missed shots will keep us from the swift completion of our appointed round, after which we'll enjoy great chili from Sunny Street Cafe. $80 gets a cart, a goodie bag, food, and the right to brag about playing golf in Ohio in February. Great raffle prizes will be on hand too. It's great fun even if you don't really play golf. Reach out to your friends and sign up now!
In mid- to late November, we heard about helping the needy (and especially the elderly) in Central Ohio, Helping Vets on our wonderful Veterans' Flight, and the Columbus Blue Jackets' efforts to build a contender:
In this video, Chuck Gering of LifeCare Alliance tells us about his organization, which doe so very much in Central Ohio, including providing Meals on Wheels, Cancer Support, and ever so much more.
In this video, Dave Williamson gives an overview of this year's Veteran's Flight to Washington, including information about the two vet who were honored. Special thanks this year to John Miller for flying to our Capitol, and to Mohan Viddam for making a contribution that paid for the aviation fuel.
Finally, in this video, Greg Kirstin, Senior VP of the Columbus Blue Jackets, tells us about some of the front office changes that have happened this year at the Columbus Blue Jackets as they work to build a contender and win the Stanley Cup.
Don't forget you can see videos of the entire presentations on our Club's YouTube channel, including all of Greg's presentation on the Blue Jackets.
Many hands made short work as we put Rotary bookplates in the dictionaries we are going to give (again) to every Dublin City Schools' Third Graders. There were a total of 1,200 dictionaries donated this year! I would like to thank Claudia Trusty, Dave Holliday, Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, Bonnie Coley-Malir and Jim Warburton for helping, and for the Administration of Dublin City Schools for joining in.
Thanks for Help Putting Rotary Bookplates in our Project Dictionaries
Thanks to everyone who helped families get holiday meals on November 23rd: Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher, Lisa Blackwell, Sharon Kendall, Paul Buchanan, Laurie Penland, Ramona Penland-Coyle, Valerie Pesson, Tony Gugliemotto, Michale Shuchter, and Jim Warburton. (Editor Blackwell is working from someone's memory of an event he couldn't attend--sorry to anyone I missed!). Thanks in part to your help, the Dublin Food Pantry was able to provide meals for 250 families, who would not have had a Thanksgiving family meal otherwise. Wonderful Work!
We are looking for volunteers to help receive and stock goods at the Dublin Food Pantry on Monday, December 9th, starting at 5 pm. Many hands make short work! Teenagers are welcome. If you can't make it by 5, get there as soon as you can. All help is appreciated! Sign up to volunteer in Clubrunner or talk with me
Thanks for Your Help at the Dublin Food Pantry in Nov, and Another Chance to Help in Dec
The Salvation Army of Central Ohio, has recently began to provide short-term, emergency housing to human trafficking victims at an undisclosed location. The Guest House is Central Ohio's only emergency shelter for
victims of human trafficking.
To make this location safe and welcoming to escaping victims, The Salvation Army is in need of individuals willing to donate their time and talents in the following areas:
-Licensed Electrician
-Qualified Plumber
-General Contractor (kitchen and bathroom repair) Please e-mail Samantha Hudson at samantha.hudson@use.salvationarmy.orgif you are willing to help in this capacity or support someone who is able to do the work.
Samantha Hudson, LSW
Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist
The Salvation Army, Columbus
Office (740) 369-4821 EXT 215
Work Cell -(614) 935-1511
Central Ohio Rescue and Restore http://centralohiorescueandrestore.org/
Plan to join us for our only Holiday Party this year, at Tartan Fields on Thursday, December 5 with drinks and appetizers at 6:00 pm and dinner at 7:00 pm.
You'll have great fun with a photo booth on site and visiting with new and old friends!
The price for this priceless evening is $35 per person. And remember, there is no meeting the day after the party - so you won't have to wake up early for Rotary on Dec 6!!!
Fun, a memorable evening, a Rotary touchpoint, and no early-morning alarm--what could be better?
Please come to a special Rotary Day/Night at the Columbus Zoo!
This is an opportunity to visit one of the greatest zoos in the world and see Christmas lights like none other. What a great way to involve the Family of Rotary! Thanks to the Rotary Club of Columbus for arranging this opportunity.
Rotary Day at the Zoo is December 17th. In your email, you've already received an invite and a voucher for discount tickets and free parking. If you need another copy, though, call or email Michael Blackwell.
Hope to see you there!
Bart P. Mahoney
District Governor 2013-2014 Rotary Club of Whitehall-Bexley
The Rotary Reveille was on temporary hiatus due to the editor's schedule, but we're back with all the Rotary news that's fit to print, and maybe some that isn't, in a detail-packed holiday edition of the newsletter. Lots of great events are happening in Dublin for the holidays, and Rotary has many fellowship and community giving opportunities this month. If you can find any time around our Holiday Party and our first Saturday of Salvation Army Bell Ringing, make sure to attend the Tree Lighting on December 5th and the Historic Holly Days on December 7th: music, dancing, gingerbread houses, animals from Columbus Zoo, live reindeer, and of course the Big Elf himself will be on hand. Click here for full details. See you there!
Happy Thanksgiving and Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday
My Company, Halcyon Solutions, is seeking help from Dublin AM Rotarians to find IT jobs for the recently graduated class of military veterans. Halcyon has been training military Veterans free of cost in IT (software testing) for the past two years, and helping them get jobs. Halcyon has about a 70% success rate finding jobs for these Veterans. We train about 5-10 Veterans in each batch. Our current class, which started on September 23, 2013, graduated on Fri., Nov 1st, and we are looking for jobs for them.
Some of the veterans from this class are willing to relocate outside Columbus. You can find downloadable resumes for all our trained veterans.
Click here for more information about our free and non-profit IT training for Veterans. Attached is the Veterans training program brochure. Halcyon wishes that more Employers can partner with us, to help veterans by giving them jobs after the training. Halcyon is also planning to providing customized training in non-IT skills, such as Customer Support, Help Desk, Call Centers, etc., in order to reach out to more veterans.
Please help us and the veterans by referring veterans to us, so we can consider them for our future IT training classes. Also, please introduce employers in your area to Halcyon and our vets, so that they can partner to provide jobs to our trained Veterans.
Here is a list of some companies in Columbus, who are currently hiring Software Testers, in which Halcyon’s Veterans are trained: 31 Gifts, NetJets, DSW, Big Lots, Worthington Industries, Honda, Limited, Abercrombie, Battelle, OSU, State Auto, Safe Auto, Safelite Autoglass, Nationwide Insurance, JPM Chase, OCLC, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Mettler-Toledo, Huntington Bank, various State Agencies of Ohio, AEP, BMW Financial Services, Grange Insurance, NiSource, OhioHealth, Progressive Medical, CenturyLink, White Castle and Wendys. Companies in Northern Ohio include Keybank, Smuckers, Medical Mutual of Ohio, GoodYear, Timken, Progressive Insurance, Nestle and Diebold, while Southern Ohio includes Fifth Third bank, P&G, Great American Insurance and Kroger.
If you have an HR contact at any company that hires for IT, please let them know about a great source for trained and reliable help.
For more information, please contact me, and thanks.
Kiwanis Club has shown surprising and admirable spirit of late, stepping well above its weight class to challenge reigning champion Dublin A.M. Rotary for the honor of ringing the Salvation Army Red Kettle Bell the most hours this holiday season.
Let's watch this video from the Club's Bell Ringing Expert Bruce Andrews, who provides us with details of THE CHALLENGE and also helpful hints on avoiding bell-ringing injuries while in competition.
Some shifts are still waiting at Kroger Bridge Street, Kroger Perimeter, and Anderson's, December 7, 4, or 21. Sign up on the Club's website (see Events), if you haven't yet.
Because this time, yes, it's personal. The Club's pride rests on you. And your children. And your grandchildren. And your dogs. This is a great family event. Why not sign up now!
This Time, It's Personal: Ring the Bell, and Beat Kiwanis
Come on out for our second annual wine tasting. Bring two identical bottles of wine and an appetizer. Wine expert Raj Hora will put them in covers so we can do blind tasting. He'll also provide expert instruction in wine tasting, with score sheets. We'll taste a bit of wine, score the results, and award prizes to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd finishers. Great company, great wine (mostly), and great company. Thanks to hosts Sharon Kendall and Paul Buchanan for opening their home for this event!
We are delighted to have Laurie Penland join Dublin A.M. Rotary! According to her sister, Dublin A.M. Rotarian Ramona Penland-Coyle, Laurie is the "nice one." Please welcome Laurie and help make sure she feels at home! Please click on this video to see her remarks upon being inducted.
We received the following information about the Rotary Global Essay Competition, with a request to pass it along. It looks to be a great way to make new Rotary friends and take a trip to a fascinating destination. It could be a great opportunity for a Rotarian or an Interact student!
Dear Friends,
I am District Governor of District 3131 Pune, India and on behalf of my district and members wish you all a great year ahead. Together we will make this world a better place to live.
I am writing to you all to appraise you on a unique event that our district is organizing this year. One of the clubs in my district, RC Pune Katraj has organized a global essay competition (ROGEC) with a view to Engage Rotarians and allow them a platform to express themselves on global issues concerning Rotary. The theme for the year is World Understanding and Peace.
This competition is open to all Rotarians, Anns, Annets, Rotaractors and Interactors from across Rotary world. The winners will be invited to India for 5 days and will get involved in various informative and cultural activities.
A literature is attached with this mail giving elaborate information. Detailed information is available on www.rogec.org and updates are available on www.facebook.com/rogec2013.
I request you to circulate this mail among your members, share this information through your Club bulletins and encourage participation in this event from your club.
Looking forward to a great year ahead.
Regards,
Rtn. Dr. Deepak Shikarpur
District Governor, RID 3131, INDIA
Thanks to our Speakers Committee, led by Faith Williams, for bringing in more great speakers to enlighten and entertain us on our Friday mornings. Remember, if you have a great idea for a speaker, reach out to Faith!
Recently we heard from Harvey Hook, husband of our own Rita "Smiley" Hook, on how his organization, The Gathering, has partnered with Mission Emanuel in the Dominican Republic. One the the loveliest countries in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic is also one of the most desperately impoverished. These two organizations are doing amazing and heartening work lifting people out of poverty by providing education opportunities, building a medical center, sponsoring medical and dental missions, improving sanitation and access to water, and partnering with Rotary to help accomplish more than any single group could do alone. Thanks to Harvey and to all who help him give the children of the DR a brighter future.
John Algie, President and GM of the Columbus Machine, told us about how professional lacrosse is growing in popularity as a spectator sport. He encouraged people interested in a fast-moving and fun spectator sport to come watch a game.
In this video, John tell us about the beginnings of the Machine and of professional lacrosse.
On a more serious topic, Ohio Representative Teresa Fedor told us about recent developments in Ohio's Human Trafficking laws, with an emphasis on how big the problem is in every area of our state and how legislators are working in a bi-partisan way to help combat this shameful final vestige of slavery.
In this video, Rep. Fedor talks about the horrific effects of human trafficking and explains how what is sometimes dismissed as voluntary or victimless is generally neither. Her passion on solving a problem that is very much in alignment with Rotary's principles is inspiring.
Remember that you can watch videos of the full speakers' presentations on our YouTube channel.
Former member and still club friend Sharon Custer has been traveling the world. Her most recent trip was to Spain and Portugal. While there, she stopped to take pictures at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in Europe. When she saw this monument, she had to send us a photo to show Rotary's international reach. She sends her best to everyone!
International Services has supported a part-time medical assistants for an orphanage in Chisinau, Moldova for two years. Rita and Harvey Hook's daughter, Rachel, and her husband, John Koon, are missionaries at this La Via orphanage. Formerly in the Soviet block, Moldova is a very poor country where many parents abandon their children to seek work in another country.
For this year, we have supplied funds to hire a new assistant, Donica.
Donica will work with 60 children who come from socially-vulnerable families or who have been orphaned. These children are taught basic hygiene like bathing and proper dental care. They also are checked regularly for lice and other medical issues which then need to be addressed by a medical doctor, dentist or ophthalmologist. In after school programs, the children learn how to wash themselves and their clothing and to maintain good personal hygiene and clean living environments.
The Membership Committee regretfully announces two resignations, both from members who changes in life do not currently leave them time to participate fully.
Thanks very much Neil Thompson and Dr. David Axner for their contributions to our club and for having enriched our lives.
Thanks to Rick Weber, who presented on Dublin AM Rotary's finances: where the money comes from, where it gets spent, and what we have on hand now. Between the efforts of Treasurer/Secretary Rich and Bookkeeper Amy Barnhart, Dublin AM's financial house is always in order, with 100% transparency and accountability.
Also presenting were former OSU Football stalwarts Ryan Miller and Craig Krenzel, who discussed OSU's upcoming football season. Funny, lively, and articulate, Ryan and Craig engaged their audience with a detailed look at both offense and defense for 2013. They predict a great year but warn that OSU, should the Buckeyes make it through the season undefeated, will face a level of competition in a national title game far greater than they have seen all year, It may take as much focus and effort to win any final game as it does to go the entire rest of the season without a loss.
In this video, selected because of its great commitment to supporting literacy, Ryan Miller discusses his Second and Seven Foundation, which gets college and high school athletes into elementary schools to foster reading. If you want to hear about prospects for OSU's 2013 season, please visit our YouTube page for videos of Ryan and Craig's complete presentation.
I'm happy to report that the International Services Committee continues to make progress on existing initiatives even as it creates new ones.
We are partnering with PackH20 to send water backpacks to India, Haiti, and Kenya.
We will have mission opportunities in 2014 to Nairobi, Kenya, to provide healthcare seminars and distribute reading glasses, and to India to work in leper colonies and provide glasses and dental care. We may have opportunities to fir LN-4 artificial hands as well. Either will cost $3,200 but also offer opportunities to go on safari or see the Taj Mahal. The trips are open to Rotarians and families.
We are helping support John and Rachel Koon, who made a presentation to the club in July about their mission to Moldova. They will let us know when they have hired new medical staff to assist so we can send funding.
In our school libraries in Turkey project, the small portable libraries were stored for the summer, but will be redeployed in September. We will see photos. We are partnering with the Literacy Committee on a fund raising shredding event to support this effort. We will also be receiving a $500 District 6690 grant.
So far, we have spent $1,196 of our total budget of our $13,000 budget.
Thanks to committee members Lisa Blackwell, Jim Burness, John Cunningham, Faye Herriott, Rita Hook, Sharon Kendall, Wold Lant, John, Miller, Susan Robenalt, Debbie Sheppard, Mohan Viddam, Scott Williamson, and Sinan Yaykin.
We meet the second Friday of each month. Please join us!
Rotarian of the Year Mohan Viddam has provided us on an update on his company's Veterans training program:
"We are glad to announce that our next class for military Veterans in IT (SQA; Software Testing) is scheduled to start on Mon, September 23, 2013. Please refer Veterans to contact Alan Day (aday@halcyonit.com ; 614-322-3951), if they are interested in attending this free 5 week course at our Dublin office. A few Employers in Northern Ohio and one in Pittsburgh, PA, are also interested in partnering with Halcyon by giving jobs to our trained Veterans. Accordingly, we are hoping that some of the Veterans in our next class would be willing to relocate to Northern Ohio or Pittsburgh. We are also open to Veterans, currently residing in Northern Ohio and Pittsburgh, to come to Columbus and attend the course. Classes are held from 6PM-8PM every week-day.
We hope that Employers in Central and Northern Ohio will continue to partner with Halcyon, by offering jobs in SQA to our trained Veterans. Click here to know more about our “Halcyon’s Veteran’s Workforce Development Program.” Halcyon started this program at the end of 2011, and is having 70% success rate in places vets with jobs. We have started interviewing Veterans to be considered for our next class. Thanks!"
This program gives valuable IT skills that make our vets competitive in the job market. Thanks, Mohan, for what you do for our vets and our community!
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Areyah Kaltman, Executive Director of Lifetown, was a fitting opening to today's speaker topic. Also joining us was Lifetown's COO, Shaunacy Webster. Rita Hook invited and introduced our speakers; Rita is a volunteer at Lifetown. It is a simulated village in new Albany that provides critical life-skills training for disabled and economically disadvantaged public school students. Lifetown's mission is to provide these skills to our areas's most marginalized children - with a particular emphasis on educating these children to avoid substance abuse and addiction. Research shows that disabled children as 2-4 times more susceptible to addiction.
a Kayne delivered the highlights of today's meeting by sharing a slide show of photos and commentary on her January trip to Cuba. Roberta joined a group from Global Volunteers that traveled there to tutor English. Roberta's talents as a photographer shown through in the amazing pictures she shared. Global Volunteers (globalvolunteers.org) boasts 35,000+ volunteers in over 35 countries. You can see most of the photos from Roberta's presentation at .jpg)
Dublin's New Library Taking Shape
Our visitors from the Rotary Club of Narlag Ulaanbaatar shared their appreciation for kindergarten and primary school books that were shared from the State of Ohio. Past President Ari Khurelbaatar discussed the importance of early childhood schooling and shared many data points such as 60% of Mongolian citizens are below the age of 30! 
The Fitness Edge has been a Dublin company at 6419 Old Avery Road since 2000 with a continuing focus on long term health through nutrition and fitness. Personal training and semi private lessons are offered to create a Life Transformation. Nate has achieved amazing results including national titles in his own program and works with many of our Dublin neighbors.
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Today was the annual return of former Buckeye Football stars, Ryan Miller and Craig Krenzel. Ryan updated us on the great work that the 2nd & 7 foundation (www.secondandseven.com) continues to do to improve literacy skills for 2nd graders. Now in its 18th year, the foundation has expanded into 20 states and will deliver its 200,000th book this year!
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Today's Speaker: Lena Sloutsky
This morning's presenters were two Coffman students, Ellie Blankenhorn (center) and Paige Warren (rt), and their Broadcast Video Instructor, Amanda Blackburn (lt). Amanda is an instructor at 
Pat provided a brief overview of awards presented to the CML and the future direction of libraries throughout the world. This served as a precursor to what is coming to Dublin and why the design is so important. It will be an integral part of the community located on the current site, but design will complement the Bridge Park area and will include a transition that links to the historic district. Highlights of the new library include:
Ann Marie Hughes shared the story behind her
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Our guest speaker was Brian Zuercher, the CEO of SEEN, and also the son of our fellow Rotarian Marilee Chinnici-Zuercher. Brian has spent the last decade building companies from consumer software to ag tech industries. Most recently Brian led SEEN, a marketing technology firm to become a leader in influencer marketing working with global brands like Reebok, Hilton, Hershey's, Scotts and more.
Following the opening prayer, announcements and the Sargent-at-Arms, the speaker, Dublin A.M. Rotarian Sara Ott, Washington Township Administrator, made a presentation around her participation in the Rotary Group Study Exchange (GSE) trip to Rotary District 4620, in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil in May of 2016.
PRESENTATION: Bob Gecewich, Head Football Coach for Dublin Jerome High School---introduced by Dr. Todd Hoadley, Superintendent Dublin City Schools
Our Guest Speaker was Mark Deans, Practice Lead for Sequent’s Organizational Development Practice. Mark is a member of the Association for Training and Development and the Association of Change Management Professionals.
or the 10th year, Dublin AM Rotary has provided each third grader in the Dublin City Schools with a dictionary of their very own! This year over 1200 dictionaries were delivered to students in the district.
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As always, July brings new officers and a new board to Dublin A.M. Rotary..jpg)
We have a very dynamic speaker for this Friday’s (July 10th) meeting. Dr. Chrisanne Gordon will update the club on the activities and programs that her organization, Resurrecting Lives Foundation, has been doing to work with veterans suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and efforts to reintroduce veterans into the work force after having encountered TBI or PTSD as a result of recent military service. 
We could still use three volunteers for the Second Annual Historic Dublin Slider Challenge. Duties are easy: you'll sell tickets, punch tickets as people visit six area restaurants to get a slider at each one, and collect tickets when people are finished. If anyone asks about Rotary, explain who we are and that all the proceeds fro the event will benefit us and be used for helping children's education here and internationally. The volunteer shift will last from 5:15 to 7:30 pm. We still need two people at La Chatelaine, and one at Tucci's. Signup on our website (under "Events," upper right hand side) or talk with 
As always on the first Saturday of the month, we need volunteers for the Salvation Army Mobile Canteen. You may sign up for a shift from 2 to 4:15 pm, making food that wil be taken to needy people in Downtown Columbus. You may sign up from 4:15 to 7 pm, delivering the food from the Canteen. For many people served, this might be their only hot meal of the day. This is a good opportunity for Dublin teens to see that others, including children, in Central Ohio are far needier than they ever imagined. Sign up under "Events" (upper right side our our web page) or talk with .jpg)
Dave McKee
Oil up with the Ohio Machine on Rotary Night! Rotarians from all over Central Ohio will be descending Selby Stadium (Ohio Wesleyan) on May 16th to watch some of the finest lacrosse in the entire world. The Ohio Machine will be hosting the Charlotte Hounds on the first ever Rotary Night. Share fellowship with not only Dublin AM Rotarians and their families, but with other Rotarians from clubs across Central Ohio. We will be getting admission at the discounted rate of $10, of which $1 will come back to our club. Reserve your tickets now by signing up for the event, and the club will bill you. We need to give The Machine a headcount by Thursday, May 14th, so don't wait till the last minute.
We're collecting new and gently-used Children's Books at the Club Meetings on May 8. Picture Books, Children's Fiction, Graphic Novels for Young Minds, all are acceptable. Each book will be given to the right-aged child at a book fair at Daniel Wright Elementary. If you have books your children or grand-children no longer read, or if you'd simply like to go by a book store for a quick purchase, you will help bring smiles..jpg)
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The Wounded Warrior Project is a charity and veterans service organization that offers a variety of programs, service and events for wounded veterans of the military actions following the events of September 11, 2001..jpg)
Of course we all love coming to early morning meetings just for the fellowship
We also heard from Greg Winslow, Vice President for Development of Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Greg gave a a great overview of how wide-ranging the Food Bank's activities are and how much good they do coordinating resources and people to help the needy in our community. You can see Greg's presentation 
We are in the early stages of planning a Mission Trip to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on amputees. We are looking to travel The Dominican Republic either in October 201
Thanks to 
Join your fellow Rotarians, Thursday December 4th, to celebrate the season at our annual Holiday Party. We will have fun at The Club at Corazon. The theme and attire is “holiday casual.” The party begins at 7pm and ends at 10pm. Price is $30 per person, which includes 2 drinks (beer or wine) and heavy appetizers. The club will bill you. A full cash bar will be available as well.
Thanks to everyone who helped put Rotary stickers inside our Project Dictionaries, with a special thanks to the Dublin Schools staff who also helped. Many of the books have been delivered already. Every third grader in Dublin City Schools will get one. As this lovely photograph from 
We all joined our great Rotary Club for different reasons. I get that! One constant in my 15 years as a Member is the value of coming to a Friday Meeting. I always feel so engaged when I leave a meeting being WOW’d by an awesome speaker, reconnecting with an individual that I haven’t spoken to in a while, being inspired by the great things we do in our community, or getting a good spirited laugh. I leave at 8:30am ready to tackle my day with a sense of pride, excitement, and energy. When was the last you spent time in thought about the value that a Friday Meeting has on you? I challenge each of you to spend a few minutes thinking about this.
Shifts are still available for Ringing the Bell at the Salvation Army Red Kettle. We are at three locations on December 6 and 20 (December 13 is being covered by our fine young Interact members): Kroger Bridge St, Kroger Perimeter, and Anderson's. Come on out for a two hour shift, or split one with a Rotary buddy: family, friends, cute kids, and friendly dogs welcome. Sign up right from our webpage (see the upper right of the page, under Events) or by communicating with the redoubtable 
Due to moves or changes in work or family situations, we regret to report that three Rotarians have tendered their resignations from our club. Thanks very much to Ken Boltz, Ryan Hoefling, and Sinan Yaykin for their many contributions to Rotary. Bon voyage, and all best for a blessed future! 
Once again, we're working with Dublin Counseling Center and the Salvation Army to provide gifts for those who might not otherwise have a Christmas. We've upped the number of people we are going to support: we'll support six families with the Salvation Army and three with the Counseling Center. That's a huge, huge number of people we'll helping this year. Save some change, for we'll need lots of money to help. We'll pass the hat at the Holiday Party on December 4th and then again on the following Friday meeting, December 12th. Shoppers will be spending on Saturday, and we'll be delivering the gifts on Monday, so we'll be on the fast track once again to get this done and create a great holiday for those in great need. Please put these dates on your calendars. if you'd like to help with shopping, please let me know!
Save the date on December 4th for our annual Holiday Party. The party will be held at The Club at Corazon , will be "Holiday Casual" attire, and go from 7-10pm. Expect some special fun events to make this a magical night to remember! Details and cost will follow shortly.
Last week, many of us met at the Dublin Food Pantry Warehouse for some much needed organization and inventorying. Many hands made for light work, and we finished lots of tasks quickly. 
We heard from Dublin City School's Kim Claven on an exciting new initiative, K to Career. Funded by a $ million grant and created in partnership with a who's who of Dublin's IT and business community (including our own Mohan Viddam's Halcyon), this program will introduce young minds to the concepts and skills needed for a successful 21st Century Career and even equip them with programming skills that will help them with college expenses and in launching themselves in the job market. Kim is still seeking business and individual volunteer mentor help; check out the 
We're enhancing the work we are doing with veterans; in the past, we've helped them training for IT careers. Now, working with Bob Evans, we are looking for veterans to train to become restaurant managers. If you know a veteran who might be interested in this program, please make sure to let me know. We're recruiting in the next few weeks. You'll be helping the someone very deserving have the opportunity to grow into a rewarding career..jpg)
6th Annual Veterans Honor Flight is Coming Up
On Friday, September 5, 2014 from 12:00 to 1:00p.m, at the Athletic Club of Columbus (ACC), Columbus Rotary and the ACC will be sponsoring the Rotary/ACC networking event, First Friday. Any Rotarian from any Rotary Club (and any guest they might bring) is invited, as is any ACC member. You must bring a business card with you (hopefully more than one) to gain entrance to the luncheon. The luncheon will be in Talley Ho Room on the first floor of the ACC, and each person will order from the lunch menu and pay their own bill. There is no agenda, no program, just networking. Jim Bishop, the Columbus Rotarian organizer of this event, will probably take a minute to welcome everybody, but that will be all. The idea is for persons to network, and if any ACC members who are not Rotarians decide they wish to learn more about Rotary, so much the better. This event is limited to the first 40 persons who register. If the demand is great, we will increase the number who may attend and find a larger room for future First Fridays. To RSVP, please contact Jim Bishop of Columbus Rotary at (614) 229-4969. If you do not reserve a place ahead of time, please come anyway, as we always seem to have enough room for last minute guests. Also remember that this event is every First Friday, so please put in your calendar for 2014: October 3, November 7, and December 5. I look forward to seeing you there. 
Thanks to Evie and John Susie for opening their amazingly lovely home and to Jim Burness and the Fellowship Committee for planning a Perfect Party. Thanks, too, for everyone who brought appetizers and desserts. It is the rare Central Ohio restaurant where one would eat as well as at a Rotary party. As promised, dozens of famous people attended, including international stars of stage and screen, U.S. Presidents, First Ladies, and important world political leaders, and many sports greats, including Jack Nicklaus, who admired the view of the 13th at Muirfield right next to Evie and John's yard. "I never hit the ball out-of-bounds, even by a yard," said Nicklaus, "so I've never seen the 13th from this angle before. Evie and John have a beautiful view. The course looks great from here!" A wonderful time was had by all. Thanks to Sue Burness for taking photos.
Join your fellow Dublin AM Rotarians for a night of fun, food and fellowship Friday, August 22 at the home of John and Evie Susie.
Hello!
The Dodgers, our Rotary sponsored Miracle League baseball team, had another amazing season this summer! They finished (as always) undefeated and above all, thanks to you, had a wonderful summer of camaraderie and happiness. Volunteer Rotarians are paired with the players who have a variety of disabilities. Our job is to provide the players with the support they need to participate and enjoy the game of baseball, and enjoy it they do!
Thanks to 
Thanks to 
Perhaps you saw the great presentation at our recent District Conference from Price Finley (President of the Upper Arlington Club) and Andy Mills (President of the Tri Village Club) on how their clubs have engaged in meaningful World Service Projects in Guatemala with their partner NGO, Mayan Families.
This edition's Rotary Spotlight features 
Our contributions to Daniel Wright Elementary's Free Book Fair were recognized in the Columbus Dispatch. School media Specialist Marisa Coneglio does a great job explaining in why Dublin A.M. supports Daniel Wright: they are the Dublin elementary with the greatest need. Thanks to Claudia Trusty and the Literacy Committee for supporting the book fair! Check out the story 
We recently heard from Robin and Don Rose, friends of many of our members, about their 2 1/2 year, 11,000 mile sailboat journey to many ports of call in the United States and the Bahamas. Don has written a book based upon Robin's diaries of the cruise. For more information about their voyage and the book, including many photos, please see 
Thanks to 
It's been a very productive year for the International Services Commitee, with lots of activity and achievements. Please click on "International Services" under "Club Information Pages" [upper left of club website] or 
Chief Allan Woo of Washington Township Fire Department and in-coming Chief Alec O'Connell (who will take over when Chief Woo retires after a distinguished career) recently visited for an update on our local fire department: its changes, challenges, and achievements. In general, training requirements are becoming tougher with new equipment, while the education of new recruits is also tending upwards. Budget constraints are an ever-present concern and the division works hard to ensure complete readiness to fight fires, provide emergency services, and save lives. 
We also heard from Purba Majumder and Susan Watson. Purba is President of Cybervation, a firm providing comprehensive technology services in the United States and India, while Susan is Director of Enterprise Customer Data at Cardinal Health. A passion for educating young women and providing guidance for Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) careers led Purba to found CoolTechGirls, a joint venture of City of Dublin, Dublin Entrepreneurial Center, and Cybervation, and Susan to serve on its board.. They work to give girls knowledge of tech careers, mentoring and motivating to enter a growing and lucrative field in which women are under-represented. 
I would like to thank those of you who have attended Murali Ramisetty’s presentation recently at our club. As many of you have requested, attached is the slide presentation that Ramisetty showed. Click 
We are in the early stages of planning a Mission Trip to fit LN-4 prosthetic hands on amputees. We are looking to travel to the Dominican Republic either in October 2014 or April 2015. The timing would depend on what works best for everyone.
Spring is here, the arctic vortex has released its icy grasp, and that means it's time for Dodger baseball. No, not those 
Dublin A.M. recently had a visit from Interact students from the three high schools. Interact is Rotary's farm team: young people who care about giving to their communities learn about Rotary principles and work on projects that benefit others. It's always a wonderful day to see how much they give. Thanks to our Interact Leader 
Dublin A.M. has devel
As you have perhaps seen, another stride in eradicating polio
Once again Rotarians have had excellent reasons to brave cold weather early on Friday mornings, with speakers who are engaged, informative, and enjoyable.
Thanks to all Dublin A.M. Rotarians who helped keep order and promote safety at a blustery St. Patrick's Day Parade. You made sure it was not only the grandest and greenest but also the happiest and safest celebration. Good work!
Congratulations to Dublin Robotics Team 1014, who won the engineering excellence award at a FIRST competition in Terra Haute, IN. Great work, team!
We need to kick-start the Scholarship Committee very soon. So far, we've received applications from students at two the the three high schools and expect to hear from the third soon. Once we know many applications we have, we'll put together the timing and process by the end of the month. 
A few weeks back, we heard from Lawrence Funderburke about his foundation and youth organization, helping kids and especially those in the most disadvantaged areas get an education boost. After it, a number of us with him and among ourselves abut ways we could help, either by making connections with schools or through volunteering. If you'd be interested in participating in an initial dialog with him and in helping, please let 
Five kids came for the first part (cooking the meal), which may have been 1 or 2 too many. They got in each others' way as much helped each other. Still, they had fun working in the kitchen and getting to know each other. 
23 February 1905 was a cold winter night, but Paul and Sylvester were used to the cold of Chicago's winters, and after dinner, they walked to the Unity Building to meet two other men in Room 711 of the Unity Building. 
Thanks to everyone who participated
In a world in which there is so much need, it can be difficult to decide how best to make a difference. One option for truly helping is to 
Thanks to all of the Dublin AM Rotary members and their family members who donated money, shopped or wrapped gifts for the Adopt-a-Family program! A special thanks to 
The Dublin AM Rotary’s Literacy Committee is at it again! All of the third graders in the Dublin City School District received their own copies of “A Student’s Dictionary” from the Dublin AM Rotary on Monday, November 18th. The picture(s) below are of 3rd graders from Thomas Elementary School who had just received their dictionaries from our Literacy Chair 
Fellow Rotarians:
My Fellow Rotarians, of Dublin A.M. Rotary,
Come on out for our second annual wine tasting. Bring two identical bottles of wine and an appetizer. Wine expert 
We received t
Thanks to our Speakers
John Algie, Pre
On a more serious topic
Jim Warburton Oct 03
Thanks to Rick Weber, who presented on Dublin AM Rotary's finances: where the money comes from, where it gets spent, and what we have on hand now. Between the efforts of Treasurer/Secretary Rich and Bookkeeper Amy Barnhart, Dublin AM's financial house is always in order, with 100% transparency and accountability.
Also presenting were former OSU Football stalwarts Ryan Miller and Craig Krenzel, who discussed OSU's upcoming football season. Funny, lively, and articulate, Ryan and Craig engaged their audience with a detailed look at both offense and defense for 2013. They predict a great year but warn that OSU, should the Buckeyes make it through the season undefeated, will face a level of competition in a national title game far greater than they have seen all year, It may take as much focus and effort to win any final game as it does to go the entire rest of the season without a loss.
I'm happy to report that the International Services Committee continues to make progress on existing initiatives even as it creates new ones.
Rotarian of the Year Mohan Viddam has provided us on an update on his company's Veterans training program: