Rolling Hills Interact raises money to support canine officer

Pictured: Andrew Nameth, Pumpkin King, Senior; Jacklyn Beskid, Pumpkin Queen, Senior; Emily Hull, Sophomore; Johnny Barba, Junior; Clay Happ, Junior; Gunner Burkhardt, Freshman; Sara Sinclair, Freshman; and Austin Clendenning, Sophomore.

The Meadowbrook Interact Club sponsored a Halloween Dance to raise funds which will be donated to the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Department to help defray costs for the purchase of the Department’s new canine officer. Pictured are members of the Pumpkin Court who were awarded prizes for best costumes—two awards were presented to each class.

 

Byesville Rotary learns Senior Citizens Center and Rotary share similar goals

Pictured: Shon Gress, Executive Director Guernsey County Senior Center, and Oziel Jeffries, Byesville Rotary President.

Reading for Oct. 30: October Rotarian--"Discover Lisbon," p. 30.

 Byesville Rotary is interested in reducing hunger in Guernsey County. Club members sponsor an annual Christmas food basket program which insures that families in the Rolling School district will have food for the holidays. The club also provides monthly donations to the food pantry sponsored by the Main Avenue United Methodist Church in Byesville.

Shon Gress’s goal as Executive Director of the Guernsey County Senior Center is to insure that every homebound senior citizen age 60 and over has a hot meal delivered to his or her home Monday through Friday. Gress reported that in 2011, the Meals on Wheels program delivered over 133,000 meals to Guernsey County seniors.

In addition to providing meals, the program also provides potentially life-saving safety checks for homebound seniors. Staff delivering meals can verify seniors are healthy, have not fallen and/or identify potential health hazards such as gas leaks.

He explained that meals can be customized to meet individual needs such as low-fat, non-gluten, vegetarian, or diabetic meals. Meals on Wheels can also provide frozen meals to be eaten by seniors on week-ends.

Gress pointed out that in recent years the Meals on Wheels program has faced funding challenges. Government support in Ohio for the program has stagnated or decreased. At the same time, costs for food, gas, utilities, and labor have increased.

Gress is asking that the local community support the Meals on Wheels program by approving a five year .5mil levy. The passage of this levy will insure that the Senior Citizens Center can continue to provide hot, nutritious, home delivered meals to senior citizens. Additionally, the levy will enable Gress to expand the Meals on Wheels service to include providing home delivered meals to disabled veterans of any age who live in Guernsey County. Gress stated that at this time there is no state or federal program that supplies meals to disabled vets.
In other club business, Sharon Miller introduced Meadowbrook Interact student John Barba who attended the club meeting. The Meadowbrook Interact club will sponsor a dance at Meadowbrook on Saturday, October 27. Students are encouraged to wear costumes. Miller invited Rotary club members to attend the dance. Club members are needed to judge the Halloween costume contest that will be held at the dance.

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 Evelyn Spring, 740-439-4343.

Byesville Rotary welcomes new member

Pictured: Oziel Jeffries, Byesville Rotary President; Evelyn Spring, Membership co-chair; Jen Navicky; and. Marty Patchen, Membership co-chair.

Reading for next meeting: October Rotarian:  "Up Front," p. 11, and "World Round-up," p. 14.

Byesville Rotary club members welcome Jen Navicky as a new member. Jen was sponsored by her husband, Dan Navicky, who is also a member of the club. Byesville Rotary is proud to point out that their club is a “family affair.” With the addition of Jen, the club now has 4 couples who both are Rotarians and two members who have children in the Meadowbrook Rotary Interact Club.

Guest speaker, Rusty Roberts, Health Education instructor for the Rolling Hills School district, spoke to the club about efforts to improve the quality of education in Rolling Hills. He pointed out that the district took the initiative to make improvements by accepting the challenges of the “Race to the Top” program. He added that not many school districts in the state chose to accept this challenge. Mr. Roberts credits the staff and administration at Rolling Hills for the improvement.

Mr. Roberts’ contribution to improvements in education at Rolling Hills was the development of a classroom program which uses community-based agencies to expand learning opportunities in the classroom. This classroom program has been nominated twice for the Magna Award which is a national award recognizing outstanding educational practices.

Mr. Roberts pointed out that bringing real-life experiences into the classroom motivates students and inspires them to learn. The classroom program Mr. Roberts designed introduces students to local community-based agencies which are used as a springboard to involve students in real life experiences. Students are motivated to learn because they are developing skills they may need to use as they graduate and move into the world of work.

Registration for the Byesville Rotary Christmas Food Basket program will be Wednesday, October 24, and Thursday, October 25, from 9:00am--1:00pm, and Friday, October 26, 4:00pm—7:00pm. Registration will be held at the Main Avenue Methodist Church Activity Center located behind the church at 223 E. Main, Byesville. Families living in the Rolling Hills School district are invited to participate in the program.

No registrations by phone will be accepted. For more information call Bob Long 740-685-3620. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the food basket program can call Bob Long or contact any Byesville Rotary member.

Meadowbrook Interact members John Janczarek and Kylie Janczarek attended the club meeting.

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 Evelyn Spring, 740-439-4343

 

Byesville Rotary donates to Guernsey Co. Sheriff’s canine officer program

Pictured: Oziel Jeffries, Byesville Rotary President, presents donation to Det. Sgt. Jeff Paden, Guernsey County sheriff’s Department.

Reading for next meeting: October Rotarian,  "President's Message," p. 1, and "News,studies, and recent research," p. 18.

Det. Sgt. Paden accepted a $300 donation from the Byesville Rotary. The funds will be used to help defray the costs of purchasing a new dog to replace Rosie, the current canine officer who is being retired. A new dog costs about $10,000, and equipment needed for the dog such as a special car insert for the dog and a door popper can add up to over $2200.

Bob Long, Co-chair of the club’s Christmas food basket program, reported on plans for the 2012 food basket distribution. Dennis Harding will serve as co-chair and Jim Vaughan volunteered to assist. The club typically provides baskets for 200-225 families living in the Rolling Hills School District each Christmas.

Long needs volunteers to work at the food basket sign-up sessions and for bell ringing shifts. Sign up for the food baskets are planned for October 24 and 25 from 9:00am--1:00pm and Oct. 26 from 4:00pm—7:00pm at the Main Avenue Methodist Church activities building. Food basket distribution is planned for Dec. 15.

Jim Vaughan reported that the Breakfast with Santa committee has begun work. The breakfast will be held on Dec. 22, at the Stop Nine Senior Center from 9:00am-12N.

The club is exploring the possibility of sponsoring a Rotaract club which is the Rotary service club for college students and young professionals aged 18-29. Joe Waske updated club members on the research he has done. He pointed out that the club has 3 options—explore working with a local college or university to establish a club, explore working with a 2ed Rotary club to co-sponsor a club, or establish a virtual club. Club members voted to explore working with a 2ed club with the goal of establishing a Rotaract club that would appeal to the young people in Guernsey County.

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 Evelyn Spring, 740-439-4343.