What a busy month its been! SO BUSY in fact that I am SO LATE in getting this article out to our club!
With only four more meetings to go and coming out of an awesome planning retreat for President-Elect John Margida's upcoming year, it's fun to look back over the last month and remember all of the accomplishments of our Club!
We welcomed new members to our club this month in Mario Micale, Paul Jarrett, Deborah Farquhar Jones, Tim Able, Judge Jill Lanzinger, and Meghan Whitehead.
We had more than a few great presentations! With a special reminder as a follow-up to our ShelterCare presentation by Wes Fair and Kim Polatas to watch your email for the list of items being collected for the Street Outreach Services Center for homeless teens on June 5th and 12th. Some of the items include gently used or new mens clothing and shoes, NEW mens socks and underwear, personal hygiene items, and if you have an organization looking for a larger item the center is in need of a new dishwasher. Special thanks to the Tuesday Musical Club, John Shulan for Bath Astronomy Center, Amy Belles for Kulture City and we celebrated and congratulated our final scholarship recipients for the academic scholarships and our Paul Harris Fellows!
Our Scholarship Winners:
Brandon Bell - Firestone Community Learning Center
Wesley Brown - Kenmore/Garfield High School
Emma Dudones - Ellet Community Learning Center
Claire Heinle - Our Lady of the Elms
Catherine Horvath - Archbishop Hoban High School
Hanna Lidderdale - St. Vincent/St. Mary High School
Tyezhe' Wilson - Buchtel Community Learning Center (Not able to attend)
L-R: David Miller, Kevin Keeney, Stephen Buie, Ed Wagner
Our Service Committee, led by Karen Meek, kept us busy with projects for Rise Against Hunger, Interact, and cleaning the Rotary Camp cabins, just to name a few — thanks to all who came out to help!
We have some more fun coming up in the next couple of weeks that I hope you can attend — so please mark your calendars!
June 23rd from 12-4pm when we will hold our first Club Family Picnic at Rotary Camp (click to register). Dessert, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Beverages, Condiments to be provided. Bring a side dish to share and come for an afternoon of fun!
July 6th the annual President's Dinner will be held at Rotary Camp from 6-9pm. Please RSVP (click here) at your earliest convenience. Dinner will be provided by Jeff Kline's Robert J Events and Catering.
Rochelle Sibbio is President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Summit County.
Habitat of Summit County has been building homes for families for over 30-years. Families partner with Habitat to achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build a better future. They have built over 197 homes and housed for than 200 adults and 375 children.
The purpose of Rotary Cares is to show our support for Akron Rotary members and their families when dealing with the loss of a loved one, the hardship of illness and also to celebrate the joy of a new baby, job, marriage or other events in their lives. Please be sure to email me with any news you would like placed here.
Thoughts and Prayers are with the Reinke Family:
It is with a heavy heart that we express our deepest condolences to the family of Rotarian Graham Reinke. He suffered a massive stroke on May 23rd while rehabbing at Rockynol. The obituary has not yet been published as the family is planning a celebration of life in a month or so and we will share the details accordingly.
Graham is shown on the left in this photo receiving the Avenue of Service Award from our 2014 Club President Lance Chima. Graham will be greatly missed.
Smart Business presented the Corporate College Smart 50 Awards in celebration of Northeast Ohio’s top executives and in recognition of their talent to effectively build and lead innovative and “smart” organizations. Read the full story by clicking here.
ShelterBox has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of our humanitarian efforts in areas of immediate disaster relief and extreme conflict around the world.
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The winner will be announced in October 2018. The nomination is a great acknowledgment that ShelterBox provides much more than material aid – we provide the foundation for recovery, hope, and the stability needed for peace, one family at a time, at home or anywhere in the world.
Thank you to all who help make our work possible!
Bob Farkas, son of Akron Rotarian Lynda Farkas, became a Paul Harris Fellow at his home club in Florida. He is wearing the PHF pin from his late father, Akron Rotarian Dick Farkas.
Congratulations to Stew Buchanan for 25 years working as an usher at Progressive Field!
Shown with Kimberly Brandle and President Julie Brandle.
During the Rotary District 6630 Conference of Clubs:
Our North High School Interact Club was commissioned.
Audrey Carroll, sponsored by our Club, was commissioned as an Outbound Youth Exchange Student and will be heading to Germany.
Rotary Club of Akron Co-hosted Rise Against Hunger Event with The University of Akron
Contact: Douglas Hausknecht, Rotary Club of Akron 330.780.7925 hauskne@uakron.edu
On the evening of Wednesday April 25 over 250 volunteers representing the Rotary Club of Akron and The University of Akron (UA) gathered in the ballroom of the Jean Hower Taber Student Union. By the end of the evening some 42,000 meals had been packaged and boxed for Rise Against Hunger.
If you have been to any of the last few Rotary International Conventions you have seen Rise Against Hunger (formerly, Stop Hunger Now) in the House of Friendship. In Atlanta, conventioneers packed 150,000 meals. Rotary International asked clubs and districts to continue the effort this Rotary year and provided 10% matching funds to add to the encouragement.Akron Rotary joined with UA in its third year of the Husein-Unternaher Service Project as part of what is now called UA Remembrance Day. The project began when the death of Zakareia “Zak” Husein inspired his friends, fellow students and the larger community to do a good deed in his honor. Following the death of one of Zak’s friends who had participated in the first project, Duncan Unternaher, the project took on added significance as a way to honor the memory of everyone lost from the university’s family.
L-R: Akron Rotarians Matt Slonsky, Doug Hausknecht, Meghan Whitehead and Club President Julie Brandle, with UA Chair of Marketing Terry Daugherty
Some of the students participating in packing for Rise Against Hunger in the
2018 Husein-Unternaher Service Project.
Production lines ready for packing in the
Jean Hower Taber Student Union at The University of Akron
The special bond between the university and the Rotary Club of Akron dates to the earliest days of the club. Hezzleton Simmons who was to become president of the university helped to found what is now the Rotary Camp for Children with Special Needs, now in its 95th year. Throughout the century-long relationship administrators, faculty, staff and alumni have been active members and officers of the club. Students have served the club and camp in many capacities from scrubbing walls and building beds to raking leaves to class projects involving engineering, business, education and many other disciplines.
When the two families are so intertwined it is natural that we sometimes share losses. A member, a spouse, a former member, an alumnus, a student may have ties to both organizations. The 2018 UA Remembrance Day embraced the relationship with a joint sponsorship between club and university. Names from each organization were projected as part of a continuing slide show and volunteers were encouraged to wear a sticker identifying, “I am serving in memory of _________.”
This year brought another Rotary connection that no one had anticipated. One of the students being remembered, Kaleb Oney, had been an outbound exchange student for the Rotary Club of Bellevue Ohio (District 6600). Kaleb’s family previously had hosted five inbound students as part of the program. We were honored that his parents and some of his friends from the university participated in the memorial and the service project.
Kaleb’s family shared this reflection on their Rotary Exchange experience. “Our first Rotary exchange student was from Brazil in 2009. Then we hosted young men from Mexico in 2010, and France in 2011. We had our first exchange daughter from Belgium in 2012 while Kaleb was an outbound Rotary exchange student to Chile. Our last exchange daughter was from Thailand in 2015. The whole experience was wonderful. We recently encouraged one of our neighbor boys to be an outbound Rotary exchange student. To us, the Rotary Exchange Program has made the world a little smaller and more easily understood. We hoped to share our family life and customs with these kids, and we were eager to learn about their values and customs in hopes for peace and understanding.”
The family of Akron Rotary was remembered in the slide show and a display of photographs and brief statements in the room throughout the memorial service and food packing events. Marcia Holcomb’s husband, John, was an alumnus of the UA College of Law. Mary Weaver’s husband, Stuart Terrass, was both an alumnus and former administrator at UA. Akron Rotarians also served or contributed in memory of John Daily’s wife Ardell, former Akron Rotarian and Chili Open Chair Wayne Brennessel, and Ray Miller.
Volunteer groups purchase the food to be packed for Rise Against Hunger at a cost of 29 cents per meal. Our club and club foundation matched the contribution of Rotary International to augment the contributions of individual donors from UA, Rotary and the community. Akron Rotarians who attended included Julie Brandle; Steve and Andrew Buie; Doug and Carol Hausknecht; Marcia Holcomb; Karen Meek; Roger Read (with Sally Miller); Matt Slonsky; Meghan Whitehead plus some Rotaract organizers and prospects.
What better way to place Service Above Self than to do so in memory of family and friends?
Participants served to honor the memory of someone lost from Rotary. The University or a more personal loss.
Awesome volunteer opportunity for creative Rotarian with PowerPoint skills and consistent luncheon attendance. Duties include updating weekly slides and arriving by 11:45 am to start slideshow. Occasionally asked to assist the weekly speaker load their presentation into the “on deck” position! Knowledge of Dropbox a PLUS!
Have you ever wondered why some Akron Rotarians have gold name badges?
Posted by the Akron Rotary Planned Giving Committee
Perhaps you thought they are a great fashion accessory or that they improve cell phone reception. While these may be true, the real reason is to symbolize commitment to the perpetuation of the good works of Akron Rotary.
The more Rotary experiences you have, the more committed you will be to this idea; the good work of our Akron Club, Camp and Foundation and the Rotary International Foundation must continue in perpetuity. What we accomplish today is owing largely to the vision and generosity of those who went before us.
There will always be children with special needs. There must always be people and resources to improve their lives. They are called Rotarians.
Fortunately, Akron Rotary has a planned giving program “The Centennial Society” to facilitate the perpetuation of our good works. Many Rotarians have made commitments to include Rotary (Camp, Club, Foundation and/or International Foundation) in their wills or other estate instruments. Those commitments reflect the passion for the mission. The size of the bequests are governed by each donor’s capacity as determined by them.
Here are some things you should know:
You can become part of “The Centennial Society” without specifying an $ amount. This can be confidential and modified as your capacity and/or commitment grows.
There are a dazzling array of techniques to do this. There is one to fit your individual circumstances, including tax planning, retirement income options and the structure of your support.
If you are new to Rotary and not ready to participate in this, you can still get some ideas from our in-house experts for future thinking.
During the next few weeks, members of our Centennial Society will provide a brief testimony during our Tuesday Rotary lunches as to why they are committed to supporting the continued good works of Akron Rotary!
Mid-summer we will be presenting our newest members with their gold name badges. All you have to do is reach out to any of the Akron Rotary Planned Giving committee members to begin your confidential discussion. We have had a great deal of success by simply explaining options to our fellow Rotarians and have not, and will not, resort to any fund raising that will make you uncomfortable. When the time comes, the right method for you will make you feel great.
As the weather begins to warm up and the sun is starting to peak through the grey skies we are dreaming of warm summer days. Our 95th Summer Camp season is around the corner, and we please need your help. Rotary Camp will be hiring between 70-80 seasonal staff and is looking for energetic, responsible and passionate individuals who will put the welfare of our campers first.
We would really like to connect to as many universities and/or colleges. Please let us know if you have any contacts with professor/educators and would be able to introduce J.D. Detsch, our Program Director. He would like to speak to as many students as possible to tell them about all the benefits of working at Rotary Camp. (Classes do not need to be in the special education field.)
Working at camp is a very rewarding experience. Watch this short video to hear first-hand from our counselors. Feel free share it with your colleagues, friends and family. For additional information or to reach J.D., please contact 330.644.4512 x 3204 or jeremyd@akronymca.org.
Our new Rotary year is only a month away . . . Each member was sent an electronic invoice for the 2018-19 Akron Rotary dues. A few bounced back and I will be reaching out to those affected accordingly. Anyone without email will receive a copy in the mail.
Thank you to those of you who have already paid!! The Club must pay International and District dues for our members at the beginning of the new Rotary year, so it really helps with our budget if you please pay your dues in a timely manner.
At our Tuesday meeting, I will be set up to take your credit card payments before and after the meeting. If you want to bring a check, please make it payable to the Rotary Club of Akron and put 2018-19 Annual Dues in the memo.
MEAL DEAL 2018-19
The Annual Meal Deal gives our members an opportunity to prepay their weekly lunches at great discounted price! It will be offered again for the new Rotary year. Watch your email for details!
May 12 was a busy day at Akron Rotary Camp. Akron Rotarians, members of Rotaract and employees from REM Ohio all came to help with different tasks to get camp ready for the summer! We scrubbed walls and cleaned cabins, planted some shrubs, painted an office and also broke down a wall in the arts & crafts room for more space. THANK YOU to everyone that came and helped. We truly appreciate your time and hard work! Together we continue to create a world where there are only abilities!
Club Website/Meeting Sponsorship & Booster Listings Available to Club Members and their Families
1. Become a Sponsor on our Website AND at Weekly Meetings . . .only $50/month/ad
The Akron Rotary website allows companies to display banner ads OR your company name. The distribution includes all pages, including the home page and e-bulletin and your company name/logo will also appear on the screen at each of our weekly Club meetings.
$50 / per month
Size requirements for website ads: Ad Width: Maximum of 100 pixels (square please)
Format of ads can be either graphic images or text of your company name.
Please provide a website address or email address so we can add a hyperlink in your ad on our website.
Get a personal (Club Rotarian) name only listing! For $25.00 your name will be listed in our electronic newsletter for a 12 month period. There is no website link and this is limited to Rotary Members only (the listing is for personal names – it is not available for corporate/organization names). Simply send your check to the below address and put “Club Booster” in the memo and let us know what name you want to list. You may also make it in “Memory of” a Club Rotarian who has passed away.
Checks should be made payable to The Rotary Club of Akron and mailed to:
The Rotary Club of Akron
Rotary Club Booster / Rotary Club Ad (indicate this in memo field please)
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It is with a heavy heart that we express our deepest condolences to the family of Rotarian Graham Reinke. He suffered a massive stroke on May 23rd while rehabbing at Rockynol. The obituary has not yet been published as the family is planning a celebration of life in a month or so and we will share the details accordingly. 
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Rotary Club of Akron Co-hosted Rise Against Hunger Event with The University of Akron
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