Building Relational Bridges
by Steve Buie
This year has been very much like a Charles Dickens novel. One could say it has been the best of times and the worst of times, simultaneously. The pandemic has caused us all to reach deep and come up with creative ways to transition, get better, and move forward with renewed vision. Your Akron Rotary Club is right on time the step up and help meet a deep need for barbers and salon owners in the black community of Akron.At the beginning of the year our club formed a diversity/inclusion committee to look at ways to build bridges with black Akron and the international community. On Saturday June 6th, a team of Rotarians and Rotaract students gathered at The Akron Rotary camp to put together care packages of needed supplies for salons and barber shops to be able to get back to business with confidence. Supplies were distributed on a Sunday afternoon.
What's really wonderful is that this need was only shared with the club one time and $6,300 was raised to help. What a wonderful way to start the journey of building relational Bridges within our wonderful community. Stay tuned, there's more to follow in the coming days, months, and years. We are Akron proud!
Steve Buie
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Thank you to all who helped make our Pack That Truck Challenge a success!
by Christina Horak
It was great to see some familiar faces, while practicing social distancing, and work together for a great cause.
Just as a reminder, we are still accepting online donations through June 30th, so if you didn’t get a chance to stop by yesterday or contribute online, you are still able to do so here: http://give.akroncantonfoodbank.org/goto/akronrotary
Below you will find a revised email template to copy and send out as you see fit, to help reach our goal of $15,000. Remember The Akron Rotary Foundation will match up to the first $7,500!
Thank you again to all who came out and for your service above self!
EMAIL TEMPLATE FOR YOUR USE:
The Akron Rotary Club is a group who shares a passion for and commitment to enhancing communities and improving lives across the world. Please join President Pat O’Neill for Akron Rotary’s Pack That Truck Challenge to benefit the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
As of May 20, 2020 the Akron Beacon posted that Ohio’s 16.8% unemployment rate is the highest recorded since tracking began in 1976, which is approximately 823,700 Ohioans who have lost their jobs.
Even though our live event is over and was a great success, let’s continue to step up to reach our financial contribution goal of $15,000. This will provide 60,000 nourishing meals. The Akron Rotary Foundation's president, Jim Redmond, spearheaded a challenge grant from the foundation that will match the first $7,500 raised in monetary donations. Your support is crucial for this valuable cause, which can be done here: http://give.akroncantonfoodbank.org/goto/akronrotary
We are grateful for this incredible opportunity to impact so many families in need and be beneficial to all concerned.
Thank you for your service above self!
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North High School Interact Sends Appreciation
by Mario Micale
As some of you may know, our Rotary club is a community partner with North High School. We have had several events throughout the year where members of the club went and donated their time and expertise to help students. We also had been working on a professional skills-like event in late March that was unfortunately cancelled due to the virus. Nevertheless, we made a great impact at the school and are more ready than ever to support NHS this upcoming year.
We received a message from Janice Weaver, the Academy Coach from North High School, sharing the following:
First, I want to say THANK YOU for supporting North High School's Academies in the 19-20 academic year. As I'm sure you can imagine, this year was a unique one. We had our first graduating class to experience the full academy model, and even though it ended on an unexpected note, it is clear that they benefited from your support as a partner.
In total, The Rotary Club of Akron invested 41 hours over 10 engagements equaling $4,100 in time and talent! In addition, any planning time on your end also counts towards your total investment, and is currently not reflected in the figures above.
I will be meeting with Janice virtually to plan for this fall. We are very excited about our history and continued support of North High School. If anyone has any suggestions for programs they would like to see, please contact me at josephmariomicale@gmail.com. Great job Rotary!