Byesville Rotary ready for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny

Pictured: Tanya Hitchens, Byesville Rotary President; Bob Derwort and Scott Gadd, Special Olympics athletes; and Vivienne Burrows, Recreation Coordinator for the Guernsey County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Announcements and updates:

• Breakfast with the Bunny is this Saturday--March 31--at the Stop Nine Youth Center--NOT the Senior Center. Breakfast will begin at 9:00am. Don't disappoint the Bunny--be there.


• The club's first chicken BBQ of the year will be Saturday, April 21. Randy Lauder and Dennis Harding are co-chairs this year. The need volunteers to sign up to work this event.


• District conference is May 18-19. On-line registration is available on the District site.


• Next week the club will meet at the Meadow Brook High School Library for our Interact Club induction.


• There will be a Board meeting on Thursday--12n at Plus 1 Pizza.

Jim Vaughan, co-chair of the Breakfast with the Bunny committee, reported that preparations for the club’s annual Easter fundraiser are complete. He reminded Rotary members that there has been a change in location this year. The breakfast will be held in the Stop Nine Church of Christ Youth Center instead of the Senior Center.

Club members will serve breakfast from 9:00am until 12N. The breakfast menu is pancakes, eggs, sausage, juice, and coffee. Tickets are $5.00. Breakfast for children 5 and under is free with the purchase of an adult breakfast. Pictures with the Easter Bunny are complementary with the purchase of a breakfast.

Randy Launder, co-chair of the Chicken BBQ committee, reported that the first chicken BBQ is scheduled for April 21. He asked that club members sign up for a work shift.

Tanya Hitchens reminded members that the Meadow Brook Interact Club will be holding their annual induction of new members on Tuesday, April 3, in the Meadow Brook library. Byesville Rotary members are invited to attend the induction in lieu of their regular meeting.

Guest speaker for the meeting was Vivienne Burrows, Recreation Coordinator for the Guernsey County Board of Developmental Disabilities (GCBDD). She was accompanied by Bob Derwort and Scott Gadd, two of the GCBDD’s Special Olympians.

Participation in sports helps GCBDD clients develop confidence and build a positive self-image. GCBDD clients participate in basketball, track and field, swimming, bowling and golf. For each of these sports, athletes compete in local, area and state meets. At present, GCBDD athletes are busy preparing for the spring tournaments in track and bowling.

In June, GCBDD athletes will participate in the Special Olympic Summer Games which take place at OSU. Costs associated with the Special Olympics are raised by the No-Show Ball.

Golf season will start in July. Golf is considered an assisted sport. Volunteers are needed to partner with GCBDD golfers.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.

Help Me Grow staff visits Byesville Rotary

Pictured: Tanya Hitchens, Byesville Rotary President; Kelley Burkhart, Help Me Grow; Joe Rosen, Help Me Grow; and Deana Palmer, Service Coordinator Help Me Grow.

Help Me Grow staff members described the services they provide to young children. Deana Palmer, Service Coordinator for Help Me Grow, explained her organization works with at-risk children in Guernsey County. She stated that common risk factors for young children are coming from a family with low income, having no insurance, and living in a 1 parent home.

Help Me Grow staff focus on children with developmental delays. Services include screenings to determine if a child is developmentally on track, home visits to first time parents, and visits to check if a new mother is suffering from post-partum depression. Once a child’s needs are identified, staff members will link parents with local support services.

Early intervention services are available to families of all income levels and are provided to any child 0-3 years old that has a medical condition or a developmental delay. A staff member will visit a child 1 to 2 times a month depending on the severity of the child’s problem.

Joe Rosen, a staff member who makes homes visits, stated that the first step taken to help a child is to train the parents. Three common problems contribute to developmental delays: 1) keeping the TV on all the time; 2) a family member who smokes; and3) pets in the house. Pets are a problem because parents are reluctant to put the child down in case the pet and the child do not get along. This means that the child will start walking later than other children.

Rosen demonstrated some simple toys that can be used to help children with developmental delays. Parents can help a child develop motor skills by showing the child how to drop cloths pins into an empty Pringle can. Other good toys are blocks, bubble blowers, and various kinds of books like pop-up books.

Kelley Burkhart, an Early Intervention Specialist, stated that anyone—a pediatrician, birthing center staff member, or parent—can refer a child to Help Me Grow for assessment. Kelley checks a child’s cognitive development, fine and gross motor development, language and listening abilities. An important part of this process is discussing the results with the child’s parents.

More information about the Help Me Grow services is available at 439-4451.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.

Byesville Rotary and Southeastern Med sponsor 11th annual health screening

Pictured: Southeastern Med staff member and Larry Miller, first client at the 2011 screening.

Dan Navicky and Travis Craig, co-chairs of the Byesville Rotary Health Screening Committee, reported that the club’s 2012 heath screening has been scheduled for Friday, April 27, 7:00am-9:00am. Byesville Rotary teams with Southeastern Med to provide this community service. The goal of both organizations is to provide a low-cost health screening to those who are uninsured or underinsured and to improve the health of members of the local community.

Craig reminded the club that appointments are required for anyone who wants to participate in the screening program. Walk-ins will not be accepted. Registration will begin Monday, April 16 at 9:00 am. People who want to register can call for an appointment at 740-435-2900. The screening will take place at the Byesville Main Avenue United Methodist Church activity building.

The cost of the basic screening will be $45 to be paid in cash or by check the day of the screening. The basic screening includes 26 different tests which check for potential problems such as anemia, diabetes and heart disease, kidney and liver function, plus gout and electrolyte/fluid imbalances. For an addition cost of $10 each, PSA(prostate cancer—men only) and TSH (thyroid) screenings can be added.

Screening results will be sent to the participants who will be responsible to get a copy to their family doctors. All who are screened will be reminded that this screening cannot detect all disorders. This testing does not replace routine physical exams performed by a person’s family doctor.

Associates from Southeastern Med will be at the event with educational displays. They will be providing information about health problems such as colon cancer, and heart health. A staff member from Southeastern Med will be offering free blood pressure screenings.

All testing will be performed and completed by Southeastern Med. Byesville Rotary members are needed to staff the registration check-in table and to provide assistance to Southeastern Med staff as needed. Members should see Craig to volunteer to work at the screening. The club will also provide refreshments.

For more information about this event, call Dan Navicky at the Byesville Rotary, 740-705-6250.

Byesville Rotary meets every Tuesday, 7:30 am, at the Stop Nine Senior Center at 60313 (GPS use 60299) Southgate Road, Byesville. Anyone interested in learning more about the Byesville Rotary is welcome to attend a meeting or call 740-685-3828, or 740-685-8294.

Miller shares tour of Ireland and England with Byesville Rotary

Pictured: Sharon Miller, speaker, and Dan Navicky, Speaker Host.

Reminders:

• Club members who signed up to bring Easter candy or maple syrup--remember to bring next meeting.


• Next meeting is a business meeting--remember to bring your meat donation for the food pantry.


• Members are needed to sign up for a shift to support the joint service club project--food drive on Saturday, March 24, 10:00-6:00.

Dan Navicky introduced guest speaker, Sharon Miller, who presented the final program for Rotary’s World Understanding Month. Miller is involved in many local activities which include serving as the Byesville Rotary Advisor to the Meadow Brook Interact Club.

Miller presented a slide show of a trip to Ireland, Wales, and England. She toured with a group of students and parents from Shenandoah High School. Her group flew to Shannon, Ireland, where they joined student/parent groups from Texas and Florida.

The group boarded a bus and drove south along the Irish coast then swung up the east coast to Dublin. Pictures of this part of Ireland show that the land is rocky with many granite-like rocks jutting through the soil and low growing plants. In the United States older buildings are frequently pulled down and replaced with modern designs. In Ireland, churches, homes, and local businesses are often in old buildings made of native stone with thatched roofs. Miller explained that the straw used is hollow and when packed just right provides a long lasting, waterproof roof that provides a lot of insulation.

Miller stated that visiting a business specializing in tartans was a highlight of the trip. She is Scotch-Irish and discovered that her family tartan had four varieties of plaids. Her favorites were the ancient plaid in green and burgundy red and a hunting tartan in which the main color was light blue. She chose to have a kilt made from the oldest example of her family tartan.

Miller’s tour group crossed to England on a ferry and boarded a bus that took them to Hadrian’s Wall. The wall extends 70 miles from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. The Roman’s built the wall to keep the dreaded Highland warriors out of England.

In London, architecture was very different from the old stone buildings seen in Ireland. WWII German bombing raids destroyed many buildings which were replaced with modern skyscrapers.

Another highlight of Miller’s trip was a visit to Stonehenge, an ancient religious center. Stonehenge is not the only stone circle in Britain, but it is the most developed and carefully placed in a circular plan. Miller’s tour also stopped at Avebury to see an example of a typical stone circle. Unlike the stones at Stonehenge, the stones in this circle were placed irregularly and were not smoothed and shaped.