Thank you to all who were able to attend the annual meeting of our club! If you could not make it, here is a short recap.
VIEW THE ANNUAL MEETING BY CLICKING HERE or copy and paste this link to your browser: https://youtu.be/Quu_Qz8E1vA
Rob McGregor, Jacinto Nunez, and Karen Hrdlicka led the charge for recruiting the next round of leadership for the club officers, the Board, new members to the Foundation Board, as well as details surrounding new Camp Board members. We are blessed to have such a deep well of competent leaders.
Here is a summary of what I shared with the club.
I asked - So, how are we doing?
When I shared my vision for leading our club back in July, I had 3 goals in mind.
- Build and expand our efforts with Diversity and Inclusion.
- Service, service, and then more service.
- Strengthen the relational and communication bonds between the club, the camp, and the foundation.
Here’s an update:
Diversity - We are gaining ground in Diversity and Inclusion. We are making and building strong relational ties. The Lebron James I Promise School and their Family Foundation with Michele Campbell and Erika Mayer. Katy Miller, Dr. Rob, myself, and Dan Reynolds, Mella, and Mike Gallucci, President of the camp board are working to help I Promise families. You will be hearing more about this with an event or two coming AFTER the Chili Open. Currently, we are working on what those events might look like.
100 Black men – we heard from Michael Irby, President, last week and the wonderful mentoring program they have going on with young black men in the city. Also, the new work they are beginning in expanding to Akron University students.
Be the Match – Dale Smith from The Rotary Club of Mentor, shared 4 weeks ago about their Bone Marrow match registry. We are looking to work to raise awareness and participation since the black population only has 28% matches. The white community has greater than 80%.
Service – We have been wise to stay outside and work with new Rotarian, Tina Boyes, who heads up the Kenmore CDC -Community Development Corporation.
We have done a Kenmore beautification day with trash pickup and gardening. 100 Black men joined us with 11 of their crew. We also had 3 days of painting 3 different storefronts along the Boulevard. The painting made a huge aesthetic difference.
And last week, we were involved with Christmas decorations for one of the offices on the Boulevard.
Lots of new life is springing up in Kenmore and our support of Tina and the Kenmore CDC is raising community pride and ownership. There will be more opportunities to serve in Kenmore in 2022.
Strengthen Relationships – We have had lots of quality conversations going on between the club, the camp, and the Foundation.
Camp has been working to help strengthen the club. The camp allowed the club to use Interest $ from their investment with the Foundation for the last 5 years. This helped to increase the presidential spend for other service projects from $4,000 a year to $15,000 a year. They also made the decision to provide weekly Rotary meeting management at no cost, thus saving the club over $10,000 a year. Lastly Dan, Mella, and Camp Board chairman, Michael Gallucci have committed to using the camp and their resources to help hurting/ traumatized children from the I Promise School, as well as other hurting children from the city. You will be hearing more details in the next couple of months.
The Foundation has been nothing but supportive of the club and the camp. Their heart and vision is to support both avenues to increase service with meaningful impact to Akron and the surrounding community.
Per the recommendation of board member, Karen Hrdlicka, we are looking to conduct a meeting of all 3 Boards sometime in early Spring to further enhance our synergy and see best how we can collectively impact more children, their families, and our city. We are gaining greater critical mass in our union.
Now, about our upcoming Holiday/Christmas Luncheon on December 21st. Please reach out to Colleen Iacianci, Brian Chima, or Cheryl Warren to confirm your reservation. We will be meeting from 11:30-1:00 and we have a wonderful time planned at Bounce Innovation Center. Good food, nice desserts, wine, spirits, and great fellowship. BTW, round tables, linens, china, Christmas/Holiday music (not with live performers) and shared Christmas memories. Please make your reservation now so we can let our caterer know. The cut-off date for reservations is December 17th.
Please invite your spouse or significant other. This is a time for us to celebrate!
All the best to each of you,
Steve
