What RC of Hudson Clocktower Has Been Doing
January 2021:One of the most excited new opportunities is welcoming members of the 2020 Leadership Hudson class as members of our club. We are looking forward to getting to know our new members and hope that they enjoy being part of our club and learning about Rotary and its many wonderful experiences! Thanks to all of the Rotarians who have volunteered to be sponsors. Photo: The 2020 Leadership Hudson Class, courtesy of Leadership Hudson.
Our weekly meetings provided several opportunities.
January 6, 2021 We began the month hearing from Jim Ahern, Director of Hudson Job Search which is an ecumenical effort of churches in Hudson to help job seekers find positions. As of today, 4500 clients have found success through Hudson Job Search. Jim is also one of the facilitators of the 4-way speech contest.
We continued our monthly segment of "When in your Life did you feel most Vibrant and Alive?" Ted spoke of two experiences while a college student at Dartmouth and their effects on him.
January 13, 2021 We kicked off our new book discussion group with the Leadership Hudson Alumni on the book, GMorning,GNight! by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Books were also chosen for February of Blink and Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladstone. Readers are invited to read one or both books.
Jeremy Lavoie, the Hudson High School student presented the book collection project for the Cleveland community and prisons which has collected 9,100 books. Books are still being collected and can be dropped off at Jeremy's house, 7165 Colebrook Dr., Hudson by the garage. Jeremy will also pick up books. His e-mail: pslotter@windstream.net. The next book distribution will be during the Hudson Schools Spring break at the end of March.
January 20, 2021--no meeting so members could witness the inauguration.
January 27, 2021--Dan Reynolds, the Executive Director of the Akron Rotary Camp joined us as part of our monthly segment of "What is Rotary?". We learned about all of the great work that is being done at the camp to provide a summer camp experience for disabled children.
We also featured our "Business of the Month": Lager & Vine. Cliff Cravens, owner, spoke about the experience in operating a restaurant during Covid-19 including the safety features that have been added. Lager & Vine is our home for our meetings and has been featured on our website during the month of January. Thanks to John Murphy. our webmaster for an excellent presentation about Lager & Vine, which Cliff very much appreciated!
Looking ahead...
February 3, 2021--11:45---Lisa Sabol, President, Leadership Hudson Board.
February 10, 2021--5:30--Book discussion group--led my Jim Knauf and Kate Schladerman. Books: "Blink" and "Tipping Point".
February 17th--11:45--Donna Skoda, Summit County Health Commissioner
February 24th--Bob Drew--2021 Tax Update. Club Assembly: election of officers for 21-22.
February Business of the Month--Olive My Heart. The new owner, Gayle Creme will be speaking at the February 24th meeting.
Leadership Hudson Alumni update. Rotarians are invited to the February 11th, 7:00 p.m. meeting at which Dr. Danielle Coombs will be speaking. Danielle is an assistant professor at the Kent State School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She is an author and media commentator.
We have a Snowman!! Rotary Clocktower teamed with the Leadership Hudson Alumni to create a Snowman for the Hudson "Tour of Snowmen". Downtown Hudson is overrun by snow people! We can vote for our favorites through February 28th while making a donation to the Hudson Community Service Association. I hope that you will have an opportunity to take the tour. Our Snowman is on Main Street in front of the Fair Trade Store.
Rotarians tackle the environment! In June, 2020, Rotary International approved a new area of focus for Rotary: the environment, which is Rotary's seventh area of focus. It joins peacebuilding and conflict prevention; disease prevention and treatment; water, sanitation, and hygiene; maternal and child health; basic education and literacy; and community economic development.
In case you missed it, the October, 2020 Rotary has an excellent article about pollinators, which stated: "Seventy-five percent of the world's plant species are dependent on pollinators to survive." Without the help of pollinators, 30 percent of the food in any grocery store would disappear.
Rotary Clocktower is in discussions with the morning Rotary Club on a joint project to create pollinator gardens within the Hudson community. A proposal is being prepared to give to the Hudson Schools to create pollinator gardens at the schools. Chris Foster, a member of the morning club has offered his greenhouse for the planting of the seeds. We are exploring the possibility of offered the plants to Hudson citizens at the Farmers Market. Pat Myers is co-chairing this service project on behalf of our club, and Ted Olson will be working with this committee as will I. Please contact us if you would like to be involved.
I hope to see you soon! (Virtually, at least for awhile longer)
February 2021:
I begin this month by sharing information from a recent news article which caught my attention about vaccines which included information about the importance of Rotary in the fight to eradicate polio.
The March of Dimes, founded by President Franklin Roosevelt, who was diagnosed with polio, funded development of the first polio vaccines, which were created in the 1950s. Polio numbers in the U.S. fell off dramatically, with the last recorded case in 1979.
Around the world, infections were still widespread. Rotary International and the United Nations established the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. The group aimed to make polio the second human disease after smallpox to be vanquished. The alliance was joined later by more partners including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it has provided more than $173 billion towards the eradication of polio.
What did Rotary Hudson Clocktower do in February?
On February 3rd, we welcomed Lisa Sabol, President of the Leadership Hudson Board. As Leadership Hudson is the primary service project of our club, it was a good opportunity to get an update on the planning for the next class and changes being addressed by the Board.
We also heard from Cynthia Peeples from the Emergency Overnight Shelter in Akron, a service opportunity that was brought to our attention by 2020 Leadership Hudson class members, Melanie Johnson and Jenn Scheeser.
For our member spotlight we heard from our President-elect John Laird about his business career that took him to many different locations.
On February 10th, our book discussion group continued with a focus on the Malcolm Gladwell books, "Tipping Point" and "Blink". Thanks to Jim Knauf and Kate Schlademan for leading this conversation where aspects of both books were highlighted including that people can be connectors or salespeople; but raised the questions of "What is the tipping point for our club?" and "What are our broken windows--what do we need to fix?"
Books were selected for future months---March and April: "Start with Why", by Simon Sinek; and May: "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown.
On February 17th, we were fortunate to have as our speaker Donna Skosa, the Health Commissioner for Summit County. Donna reviewed various aspects of the Covid-19 vaccination process and other responsibilities of the Health District.
We continued our monthly segment of "What is Rotary?" by Ted Olson sharing the details of the upcoming 4-way speech contest involving students from Hudson High School and Western Reserve Academy. The WRA students will compete on Thursday, March 11th at 8:00 p.m. Thanks to the Rotarians who have volunteered to be a judge. All Rotarians are invited to observe the competition even if you are not a judge. The final competition will occur on April 7th at 7:30 a.m. Thanks Ted for organizing!
On February 24th, our member and resident tax expert, Bob Drew presented the annual and popular tax update. Thanks to Bob for his work in providing a comprehensive overview of the tax changes in the past year!
During a club assembly, the following officers were elected for 2021-2022:
President: John Laird
President-elect: Kate Schladerman
Co-President-elect: Cheryl Maimona
Club Administrator: Gerry Sawyer
Secretary: Kathy Cybulski
Treasurer: Jake Jackson
Board member: Jim Knauf
Board member: Ted Olson
Board member: Gerry Sawyer
My best wishes to John as he continues the process of planning for his year as President which begins on July 1, 2021!
Also, during the club assembly, the 2020 Leadership Hudson class members were accepted into membership as associate members. The formal induction of the members will occur on March 3rd.
Looking ahead...
Wednesday, March 3rd--11;45 a.m. J.R. Campbell, Executive Director, Design Innovation Initiative,Professor, The Fashion School, Kent State University; Induction of Leadership Hudson 2020 Class by District Governor and member, Pat Myers; and Business of the Month, Amy Manko, owner of Ross Farm Mercantile.
Wednesday, March 10th--5:30 p.m. Book Discussion: "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek. Jake Jackson and De-de Mulligan discussion facilitators.
Wednesday, March 17th--11:45 a.m. St. Patrick's Day music by Mavis; and "Baseball!", by Wayne Nieman
Wednesday, March 24th--11:45 a.m. Susan Licate, U.S. Census Bureau
Wednesday, March 31st--5:30 p.m. Elaine Marsh, Summit Metro Parks Watershed Specialist: removal of Gorge Dam and impact on environment
Borrowing from the Rotary International webinar of February 25th on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Be engaged! Be an example!
Cheryl M.
e-mail: ctm2949@roadrunner.com
cell: 330-714-3624