Byesville Rotary sponsoring Red Eye to New York City fundraiser

Announcements:
* The District Govenor will be attending the September 20 meeting. There will also be a membership breakfast at this meeting. All members are asked to invite a prospective member to this meeting.

* There will be a reception with the District Govenor at 6:00pm on Monday night, September 19, at the Colonel Taylor Inn. All members are invited to attend. Board members should plan to attend.

* Workers are needed for the September 11 Chicken BBQ. so far only 6 people have signed up.

* The bus tour to New York City fundraiser needs to have more seats sold or it will have to be cancelled for this year.

* Members are invited to bring ideas for new fundraisers to the next meeting.

Byesville Rotary members are selling tickets for a trip to New York City. This fundraiser will raise money to support various local service projects supported by the Byesville club such as the Christmas Food Basket Program or the club’s literacy projects. The tour will leave for New York City the evening of November, Friday 11, and will return the morning of Sunday, November 13.

The New York trip is planned just at the beginning of the shopping season for Christmas presents. New York stores will be full of new ideas for the new year. Shopping is not the only attraction the Big Apple has to offer. On the last trip, several of the tour participants Rotary travelers took in a New York play. This November the musicals Book of Mormon, Spiderman, Jersey Boys (the story of the Four Seasons), and Wicked will be playing on November 12.

Other members of the bus trip toured choose to see the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. Others decided to enjoy the great food available in the Big Apple.

A seat on the bus can be reserved by contacting Tanya Hitchens at 740-581-2099 or jjhitchens@yahoo.com. The total cost of the bus trip is $99. Fifty dollars is due to reserve a seat

Trips were the topic of the day at the meeting. Dr. Mamidi, a club member, shared a picture montage of a trip he took to Russia. He and his wife took a 2 week river cruise that started in St. Petersburg and finished in Moscow. The couple toured the Hermitage which was once a Tsar’s palace and now contains one of the largest art collections in the world.

The Peterhof Palace was the highlight of his trip. Dr. Mamidi stated, “I saw the most beautiful garden I have ever seen.” He went on to explain that none of the many fountains in this garden used pumps. Each fountain was powered by natural gravity as the water flowed from its source in the mountains down to the gardens.

He and his wife also saw many churches which he pointed out are very different from Western churches because each is capped with an onion dome. Dr. Mamidi was told that the onion domes were meant to collect prayers.

The club meets 7:30 am every Tuesday 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 Randy Launder, 740-801-0017.

Rotary sponsored ShelterBoxes serve disaster victims

Pictured: Sharon Miller, Guest Speaker, and Oziel Jeffries, President-Elect of Byesville Rotary.

No reading assignment for next week. Bring your dollars, the Sgt. of Arms will be bringing the trivia book.

The Board meeting has been moved to Wednesday, August 24, 12n at Plus 1 Pizza in Byesville.

The meeting date with the District Governer has changed. This change also affects the membership breakfast. More information to come.

The club voted to provide $50.00 for a memorial gift for Rom.

Keep selling tickets for the NYC Red Eye Trip. Deadline to reserve seats is Sept. 1. Seats can be reserved with a $50 deposit by the deadline date.

Sharon Miller, guest speaker, at Byesville Rotary, described the ShelterBox program to club members. She explained that ShelterBoxes, also known as “big green boxes,” were developed to be delivered to disaster sites. The boxes contain basic tools and supplies that people need for survival after a disaster hits.

The boxes are the brainchild of Tom Henderson, a Rotarian in England, who established the program in 2000. ShelterBoxes contain survival supplies to support up to 10 people. Contents include a tent, a water purifier, a cook stove and utensils, blankets, children’s activities and basic tools like shovels. The basic contents are supplemented by tools and supplies customized for the climate and the type of disaster. The distinctive green boxes are often the first aid that arrives in a disaster area.

The program depends on donations and volunteers to educate people about the program and to pack and distribute boxes. The goal of the ShelterBox program is to help at least 500,000 people every year. The cost of donating 1 box is $1000 which covers all the contents of the box and shipping.

Rotarians play a big part of the ShelterBox program. To date over 5000 Rotary clubs have participated in the program and have supplied about 50% of all boxes donated.

In 10 years, ShelterBoxes have been sent to victims of 140 disasters in 70 countries. In the United State, ShelterBoxes were sent to victims of Katrina and to survivors of the tornadoes in Arkansas. A ShelterBox Response team worked with the local Rotary Club and Boy Scout troop to distribute boxes to families who had lost everything. The ShelterBoxes provided shelter for about 50 families including 35 children,

Each box is pre-packed so that response to a disaster can be immediate. Each box given a unique number—donors can track where the box they have sponsored is sent. More information about ShelterBoxes is available at www.shelterboxusa.org.

The club meets 7:30 am every Tuesday 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 Randy Launder, 740-801-0017

Mid Ohio Foodbank encourages Byesville Rotary to fight hunger in Guernsey County

Pictured: Colin Baumgartner, Communications Director for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, and Tanya Hitchens, Byesville Rotary President.

Chicken BBQ this Saturday, August 13, at the Rotary Gazebo at the corner of Main and 2ed. streets in Byesville. Chicken sales will begin about 10:00am and continue until chickens are gone. Rotary members are invited to work a shift or drop by and buy a chicken--they are delicious.

A speaker is still needed for the August 30th meeting. Contact Tanya if you know someone who would be willing to speak.

The first meeting of September will be the District Governor's visit. Board members and officers should plan to stay after the regular meeting for a short meeting with the DG. This meeting will also be a membership breakfast. Tanya is asking each club member to invite a guest who is interested in joining Rotary. Deadline for a breakfast headcount is August 30. Please invite a guest by than. Thank you.

Ticket sales for the Red Eye to New York have begun. Flyers will be available next week. All members are asked to sell at least one ticket. Tanya would like to fill two buses this year--that totals about 108 tickets.

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“Records kept by the Mid-Ohio Foodbank reveal that in 2010 there were over 37,000 requests for food at local Guernsey County food pantries,” stated Colin Baumgartner, Communications Director for the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.”Twenty six percent of those requests came from children and 28% from seniors over 60.” Over 728,000 pounds of food was supplied to Guernsey County partner agencies. Over 220,000 pounds of the food supplies was fresh produce.

The mission of the Mid-Ohio Foodbank is fourfold. In addition to collecting and distributing food, the Foodbank also works to education communities about hunger, advocates for hunger programs, and collaborates with other agencies to reduce hunger in Ohio.

Local agencies collaborating with the Mid-Ohio Foodbank include the Food Pantry at the Main Street United Methodist Church in Byesville, the Pleasant City Food Pantry, the Byesville Assembly of God, and the Salvation Army.

The Mid-Ohio Foodbank is able to leverage the value of all cash donations. For every $1.00 donated, the Foodbank is able to distribute $8.00 of groceries.

The Mid-Ohio Foodbank serves 20 counties in the mid-section of Ohio, stretching from Union county west of Columbus east to Belmont County on the Ohio River. Within this area, over 500 local agencies work to provide food to senior citizens, homeless citizens, afterschool programs, soup kitchens, and food pantries. It is a big job—80% of the food offered by local agencies comes from the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

Thirty-five per cent of food bank users are working families who are struggling to get by. Their struggle tends to be temporary. Families want to get back on their feet and support themselves. Providing food to these families is the first step to recovery. Most are able to provide for themselves within a year. Almost half of the food distributed goes to the most vulnerable citizens—kids under 18 and seniors over 60.

More information about the work of the Mid-Ohio Foodbank can be found at www.midohiofoodbank.org.

Byesville Rotary 7:30 am every Tuesday 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 Randy Launder, 740-801-0017