Rotary International asks us to Serve to Change Lives through its Focus Areas
This month Rotary International asks us to Serve to Change Lives by promoting peace in our community. Explore the possibilities with us at our meeting Wednesday at noon at Wick Park or virtually via Zoom.
RCY’s weekly meeting falls on Feb. 23, which is the 117th anniversary of the founding of Rotary International. Past President Bill Lawson of Mahoning Valley Historical Society will take us back to 1905, when Paul Harris created the Rotary Club of Chicago to bring professionals together in a spirit of friendship.
Last Week's Meeting
Paul N. Olivier, vice president of Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley, updated Rotarians on the progress of the Beeghly Campus emergency room expansion in Boardman. It’s a $25 million project with significant donor support.
Akron Children’s acquired the former Tod Children’s Hospital in 2008 and completed a new medical office building in 2017. The ER was deemed to be too small, and so a 30,000 square foot addition is underway. The expansion will increase the number of treatment rooms, add consultation rooms for staff and families to meet, increase space to treat patients who experience behavioral health issues, and improve the nursing station and provider areas. Construction should be complete in about 1 year.
More than 33,000 patients were treated in 2021 at Akron Children’s Beeghly Campus, Olivier noted.
Olivier credited Rotarian C. Reid Schmutz, a member of Akron Children’s Foundation Board of Directors, with securing donations for the ER expansion.
Additional contributions will be welcomed, and construction site tours will be offered later this year, Olivier said
RCY’s 107th anniversary party will be held on Thursday, March 10 at the Youngstown Country Club. The event will begin at 6 p.m. The Paul Harris Fellow induction will also be held, and there are quite a few honorees this year.
Advance reservations are required; RSVP by March 2.
Cost is $50 per person for members and guests. Buffet dinner includes vegetarian and vegan options.
As its January meeting, the RCY Board of Directors discussed club leadership during the 2022-2023 year and voted to the District 6710 Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund. Read the complete meeting minutes here.
New Guidelines Support Creation Of Pollinator-Friendly Parks
By Matthew Shepherd, Steph Frischie, Aimee Code
While the term “park” often brings to mind a neatly maintained area with vegetation limited to turf, lawn, and trees—the naturalistic landscapes created by park architects of past centuries, for example—parks can be so much more than green places with tidy plants. The inventory of a park department or district may include swim centers, sports fields, playgrounds, and community gardens, but increasingly it includes creeks, wetlands, woodlands, forests, prairie, and other natural areas.
Parks departments have become significant natural resource managers, tasked by their communities to care for and take leadership on a multitude of environmental concerns, from waste reduction and recycling to water quality and wildlife.
Reimagine parks as a key to community and pollinator health
Around the nation, the value that nature in parks offers to local residents is being recognized and acted upon. Multipurpose parks provide sports fields and restored creek corridors, support regional greenways and neighborhood trails, and offer spaces for family picnics or friends to gather for coffee.
Traditional playgrounds with slides and swing sets are being reimagined as nature play areas where children can explore and get grubby—and gain the emotional benefits from time spent outdoors. Informal recreation in the form of walking, running, biking, birdwatching, and other individual pursuits have become the dominant uses of increasingly varied park facilities.
At a fundamental level, parks that provide a healthy environment also support healthy people and healthy communities—and at the heart of a healthy environment are pollinators.
The five Rotary districts in Ohio are in a competition to provide handmade blankets to children in foster care and other youth in need. The statewide Rotary goal is to donate 1,600 blankets to My Very Own Blanket, a volunteer organization in Westerville that seeks to provide comfort and security to 30,000 foster children this year.
Rotarians have many ways to participate, as follows:
Donate a quilt or knitted/crocheted blanket, whether you work alone or with a quilt guild or knitting group. Purchase a Blanket Tag to be sewn on your blanket. Sign the Blanket Tag with your club’s name so it receives credit.
Purchase a fleece blanket kit for $10 to get all you need to make a blanket for your club project. When ordering select your district (6650) and put your club name in the Comments box. Sign the Blanket Tag with your club’s name.
Sponsor a blanket. Donate $10 or more to sponsor a blanket kit that will be made by other Rotarians.
The district that donates the most blankets per capita, based on membership of each district as of July 1, 2021, will win the contest.
See President-Elect Sharon Letson for more information.
RCY Observes Black History Month Through Little Free Libraries
Our club is observing Black History Month this February by stocking many of the Little Free Libraries located in the city of Youngstown with books that reflect greater reading diversity.
With the assistance of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, RCY purchased a supply of new books for the Little Free Libraries. Some gently used books were also donated by the PLYMC, and other books were donated by the community at large. Several club members volunteered to stock the libraries with the books.
“PLYMC was thrilled to partner with Youngstown Rotary for the Black History Month Little Free Library project” said Aimee Fifarek, Library executive director. “Library staff selected a collection of books that recognize, celebrate, and honor the history and important contributions of African Americans as well as appeal to all ages, reading levels, and interests. We hope that these materials will provide people with inspiration and spark conversations across Youngstown and beyond.”
The locations that were stocked are:
Downtown: Wean Park and 20 Federal Place
North Side: Wick Park, Jewish Community Center, two private residences, and on Cordova Avenue across from Harding Elementary School
West Side: Calvin Center on Mahoning Avenue and Rocky Ridge Neighbors garden, 100 block of South Hazelwood Avenue
East Side: YMHA Rockford Village Give the Children a Chance Pavilion
on South Truesdale Avenue
Sourh Side: Oak Hill Collaborative South Side Academy Boys & Girls Club of Youngstown
RCY has been mounting wooden boxes that are Little Free Libraries on posts and filling them with books since 2014. Notes project chair Elayne Bozick, “RCY took on the project with the goal of creating neighborhood gathering places in order to foster relationships and support literacy.”
THIS WEEK IN ROTARY HISTORY
February 22, 2009: Youngstown Rotarians took a field trip to the new Newport Branch Public Library for lunch and a tour.
CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION
Birthdays:
Deanna Rossi - Feb 22
George Nelson - Feb 24
John Fahnert - Feb 27
John Slanina - Feb 27
PROPOSED NEW MEMBERS
There are three prospective new members to present:
Erica Morris
Classification: Community Engagement Sponsor: Trina Williams (proposed) Title: Founder, YO-Survive Community Council
Erica is a Youngstown resident who feels the need to serve her community. She is looking forward to meeting their needs.
Melissa Bateman
Classification: Community Engagement Sponsor: Bonnie Deutsch Burdman Title: Director of Community Engagement, Youngstown Area Jewish Federation
Prior to joining the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, Melissa worked for the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals for 20 years as a staff attorney, first for the Honorable Joseph J. Vukovich and then for the Honorable Carol A. Robb. She was admitted to the practice of law in Ohio in 2001 and to the practice of law in Florida.
Diana Homick
Classification: Insurance Sponsor: Don Foley Title: Insurance Agent, Cailor Fleming Insurance
Melissa was born and raised in Youngstown and has resided in Canfield community for 18 yrs. She has worked in the insurance industry for 20 years, and has been an insurance agent for Cailor Fleming Insurance the past 7 years. Family, children, and animals are her passion and where she places her focus when she’s not working.
