Byesville Rotary learns “Downtown is living room of the community”

Pictured: Joe Waske, Byesville Rotary President; Heather Dickson, Executive Director of Cambridge Main Street; Rich Dair, Speaker Host.


Heather Dickson, the new Executive Director of Cambridge Main Street, explained that she developed a passion for helping small business early. She has practical experience running a small business. She opened her first coffee house in Little Rock. This shop was followed by two more. When she decided to return home to the Cambridge, she fell back on what she knew and opened a café –Uppities—in New Concord.

She began investigating opening a shop in Cambridge. Her first stop for information was to speak to Fran Taylor who told Dickson that she was leaving her position as Director of Cambridge Main Street. Dickson decided to apply for the job.

Dickson brings energy and excitement to the position. She explained to Byesville Rotary that the Main Street organization is non profit and is supported by volunteers and some private funding.

Main Street is organized around 4 committees. The Organization Committee is responsible for hiring and organizes membership drives. The Economic Restructuring Committee helps businesses stay open and seeks to bring new business to the area. This committee hosts Merchants Matter meetings. Anyone interested in business is invited. Meeting topics vary but are all focused on topics of interest to local business owners such as petty theft.

The Design committee focuses on the physical aspect of the downtown areas such as the looks and user friendliness of the streetscape. This committee is involved in the current renovation of the Wheeling Ave. This project involves range of goals from unseen, underground upgrades of the water lines to the design of the new sidewalks and the choice and placement of new trees. If all goes well the project will be completed November 1.

The Design committee is also working on developing banners that will be hung downtown on the light poles. Committee members are developing a set of standards that banners must meet. Any individual, business, or organization can sponsor a sign about their group or business.

The Promotions committee gets the word out about downtown activities such as the Bike Show and Road Fest. Recently the committee hosted a Garden Tour and Wine Tasting at Dr. Mitchell’s home. Response to this event resulted in the largest number of people attending to date.

For more information about the Main Street organization, contact 740-439-2238.

The club’s next meeting will be 7:30 am, June 28, 2011, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chairs Marty Patchen, 740-685-3828, or Larry Miller, 740-439-2767.

Byesville Rotary finds out “What $5.00 can do”

Pictured: Joe Waske, Byesville Rotary President: Oziel Jeffries, Scholarship Committee; Erin Paisley, Meadowbrook scholarship recipient; Shana Fair, Scholarship Committee; Marty Patchen, Scholarship Committee.

Readings for next meeting:
June Rotarian, "Good grief," p. 23 and "Superbug," p. 27.

Shana Fair spoke to club members about the American Cancer Society Relay for Life in Guernsey County. She is representing the Byesville club as a Relay Honorary Co-chair for 2011.

Fair explained that the original event was just one man who ran for 24 hours. This surgeon wanted to a do something to draw attention to the fact that dealing with cancer is a 24 hour job for cancer patients and their families. He was able to raise $27,000 because people donated money to run a lap with him.

She pointed out that today Relay is the largest end-cancer movement in the world. There are Relay events in over 5,000 communities and 20 countries. In Guernsey County, over 400 people comprising about 30 teams are involved in the event.

She stated that she liked the event because, “…every fundraiser is a volunteer. There are no professional fundraisers—just friends and neighbors working to raise money to end cancer.” She went on to say that if a person talked to any one of the Relay volunteers, that person would discover that each of the volunteers had a personal reason for being part of the Relay. Some are cancer survivors. Others know a family member or a friend that has been touched by cancer.

She went on to say that supporting cancer research and providing support for local cancer patients is expensive. Every dollar donated is important. People should never decide not to give because they feel that a $1 or $5 donation is too small.

When the American Cancer Society (ACS) combines everyone’s $1 and $5 donations, the organization has enough to support 25% of all cancer research funding as well as provide services that can be used by Guernsey County cancer patients. Small donations add up to the $1000 needed for the ACS to give 1 night’s free lodging to a cancer patient and their caregiver in Hope Lodge or help buy a $2000 microscope needed for cancer research.

Erin Paisley, a Byesville Rotary club scholarship recipient, attended the meeting. She will be attending Zane State College in the fall and is enrolled in the Occupational Therapy program. Byesville Rotary also awarded scholarships to Allison Beros, who will attend Zane State, Brandon German, who will attend Mt. Union, and Jared George, who will attend OSU.

Byesville Rotary’s next meeting will be 7:30 am, June 7, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary can call Membership Chairs Marty Patchen, 740-685-3828, or Larry Miller, 740-439-2767.