Fairfield Rotary - Weekly Letter from the Club President

As I compose this to all of you with only two days left in my term, it is hard for me to believe that a year has gone by. In this, my final letter to you as President of the Fairfield Club, I will briefly talk about some of the events that were a little bit different this year as well as review what I feel are our challenges going forward as a Club.

First, let me again congratulate the Ethical Business Committee on an outstanding Program this past Friday. Led by Jim Mullaney, this group which includes Art Friederich, Brian Begley, Patti Partch, Bob Jung, David Haft, Doug Jacobs, and Howard Dirksen, put on a terrific Program. For those of you who missed it, we listened to a truly inspirational speaker, Ronald Hummonds, talk about how his faith and character helped him persevere through a horrible childhood, as well as homelessness, toward becoming a successful entrepreneur. And congratulations to DNA Diagnostics, our Fairfield Rotary 2008 Ethical Business Award Winner!

Reflecting back on this year, the things I am personally most proud which we accomplished together - and were somewhat unique for us - include the following:

Our One Way Farm privacy fence Project last September – completed working together with the West Chester Rotary Club
The great contingent of Rotarians who joined me to meet and hear Rotary International President Wilf Wilkinson speak at the Cincinnati Rotary Club
The City of Fairfield issuing a proclamation naming April 18, 2008 “Rotary Day in Fairfield”
Collecting a ¼ ton of donated food for Shared Harvest the night of our Auction
Assisting our Interact Club with the Basketball Bash and Worldstock Benefits
Working in conjunction with 6 other Southwest Ohio Rotary Clubs on a regional marketing campaign – as our own Club led the way by providing almost all of the telethon volunteers
The sponsorship of both a long term inbound and a short term outbound exchange student

As you all know there were many more things we achieved as a Club this year. Please plan to reminisce about them together with me at our Changing of the Guard Dinner this Friday.

Going forward, I do have some thoughts based on my own observations and experiences this year as your President, as well as suggestions many of you have shared privately with me. Before annotating these for you, let me first say that this is the finest volunteer organization I have ever been part of. That said, nothing is ever perfect - change and improvement must be constant or our Club will not continue to thrive.

So, here are some things to think about as we move our Club through the remainder of this decade and beyond:

This is not a new issue, and one every organization contends with, but too few still do too much. We need to do a better job of getting members who are not involved, or only involved to a small degree, more engaged with the Club’s activities.
One way to accomplish the above it so have a few more events that are strictly social in nature – beyond our annual Christmas party. We need to have a better mixture of “volunteer” oriented events with things that are simply fun to do together.
Generally speaking, deference to our speakers at Club meetings was practiced this year. However, at times side conversations were prolonged and cell phones continue to ring. As President and a Club member, I found this embarrassingly disrespectful. If someone comes to our Club, volunteering their own time to speak to us, we need to do a better job of respecting them and their message.
While the Auction continues to be a successful fundraiser for us, its time may have passed. Has our membership grown weary of it? Can we be more successful and get more members engaged by establishing a different approach?
Membership – If our Club is going to thrive and perpetuate in the 21^st century, we need more youth and certainly more diversity in our ranks. How do we get younger adults and minorities interested in Rotary and active as members?
A great disappointment this year was that we were unable to send a student to the District 4-Way Speech Contest after Fred resurrected this event in 2007. With the quality of our local high school, and in particular the strength of its Drama Department, this was disheartening. Hopefully this can be re-established in the coming year.
We get high marks from the District for the many things we accomplish locally each year as a Club. However, we are viewed as lacking in our District participation. We took a small step this year in improving our District involvement - but still have a long way to go.

I will briefly share more observations that are a bit more personal in nature at the Changing of the Guard Dinner this Friday. And while we will celebrate the past year, the main purpose of this event is to kick-off the new year for our incoming President, Mark Koeninger, his Officers, and his Board.

See you all Friday!

Yours in Rotary as Rotary Shares,

Chris

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June 15, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians and Happy Father's Day!

This past Friday marked my last “Symmes Tavern” meeting as your President. It was personally a very memorable one for me since in addition to a great featured presentation, Chief Dickey presented our “Police Officer of the Year.” I think you will all agree that one of the most important things we do as a Club each year is to honor our Firefighters and Police Officers – those men and women who put themselves in harm’s way in order to help keep us all safe.

Police Officer of the Year

Our Rotary “Police Officer of the Year” is Sergeant Pete Lagemann. Pete started his career in the D.A.R.E. Program and helped expand it to other city schools. Currently he is working with the Fairfield School System to integrate their “tip” line with the Police Department’s information line. The “tip” line allows students to anonymously report drug activity, child abuse, bullying, etc.

Pete’s primary responsibility at this time is as head of the Special Investigations Unit (formerly known as the vice squad) where he has taken a very tough approach on drug investigations. Offenders arrested on drug trafficking charges no longer receive reduced charges in exchange for giving information on other drug traffickers, and the unit no longer primarily relies on information from untrustworthy informants to conduct drug investigations. They also investigate pornography, prostitution, and the illegal sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors.

The Police Department sees Sergeant Lagemann as a true leader of his unit – establishing policies like “flex time” so his officers are more available, while also fostering strong relationships between with other agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Ohio Investigative Unit, and various regional narcotics units.

Congratulations Sergeant Pete Lagemann and thank you for all that you do!

Featured Presentation

Mark Hecquet, Executive Director of the Butler County Visitors Bureau was our speaker. Mark was actually with us one time before, in December of 2006, when he first took over as Director of this organization. It was interesting to hear how things have changed since that time and all that has been accomplished.

The Butler County Visitors Bureau is a non-profit organization that promotes Butler County to visitors outside of our county and state. This promotion bolsters the county’s economy, not only to help create jobs, but also to assist in retaining existing employers and help make Butler County a place businesses want to come to. One of the ways they do this is by encouraging tourism. In addition to an outstanding website, the Bureau publishes a “Vistors Guide” that exhibits all there is to do in Butler County. They have also designed a “Meeting Resource Planning Guide” targeted at those who may want to hold a conference or meeting in Butler County. The Bureau even advertises our county in other adjacent states such as Michigan and Indiana. In part through their efforts, Butler County’s average hotel occupancy and hotel rate lead other counties in our area.

Finally, to help Butler County residents know about all there is to do in Butler County, they launched a “Passport Program.” The passport is a guide that lists 39 things you can do or visit in Butler County. If you visit at least 8 locations in 4 different communities, you can qualify for different prizes. However, this promotion ends on June 20^th. Passports can be picked up at the Bureau (located at 8750 Union Centre Blvd) if you are interested.

For more information on the Butler County Visitors Bureau and copies of the brochures highlighted above, please visit their website at: www.destinationbutlercounty.com

Remaining Club Calendar for Our 2007-2008 Rotary Year

Business Ethics Luncheon at Receptions – Friday, June 20 – 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Please note that this event has an 11:00 p.m. “meet and greet” start time with lunch being served at 11:30 p.m. Please plan accordingly.

Changing of the Guard Dinner at the Fairfield Community Center - Friday, June 27 – 6:15 p.m. – Please let Mark Koeninger know if you are attending. So far RSVP’s have been light. We need a great turnout! Our District Governor and Assistant District Governor are attending. We will also be honoring the winner of the Sterling Award as well as the 2007-2008 Fairfield Rotarian of the Year. Please support your Club at our year end celebration!

Next week you will receive the last weekly letter of my term. In it I will give a brief recap of our year, including my observations of what I thought went well and what we can all improve upon together as a Club.

I hope to see you all at our Business Ethics Luncheon on Friday. Have a great week.

Yours in Rotary as Rotary Shares,

Chris

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June 11, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Well, a very warm, sunny day greeted our first Club meeting in June held this past Friday.

Featured Presentation

Our featured presentation was made by Sally Williamson, a consultant for Butler Tech who works with Project SEARCH.

Project SEARCH is a new program in Butler County available to help students with disabilities get rewarding, meaningful jobs with local businesses. This is a program brought about by a partnership between education, social service agencies, and the private sector and aims to shatter previous misconceptions about employment opportunities for those with disabilities.

The focus of the program is to aid students with disabilities in making the transition from school to the world of work. Previous transition programs have placed students with disabilities in very menial jobs. However, Project SEARCH purposely seeks out jobs that are complex in nature, but which can be broken down into a series of small, structured tasks. The result is that the jobs are much more rewarding for the students, and employers get very capable, conscientious employees. This is a preparatory program (1 year) for students to transition into competitive employment and independent living by emphasizing employability skills, independent living skills, social skills, and work relationships.

Currently Ohio Casualty, Atrium Medical Center, Butler Tech, Butler County MRDD, Ohio Rehabilitations Services Commission, and several Butler County School Districts are all partnering on this Project. In order to be eligible, an individual must have a significant disability and be eligible for RSC and MRDD assistance. They must also have completed their high school academic requirements, but elected to defer receiving their High School diploma (permitted by Federal law for those with qualifying disabilities).

Fred noted to all of us that if you are an employer or work for a Company that has positions with high turnover, you might be a great candidate for the Program. Please see Fred if you need more information or detail.

Club Business

Rotary Foundation “Matching” Challenge – Last Chance Friday, June 13!

Last week I sent out a challenge to all Club members for donations to the Foundation which, for qualifying members, will be matched up to $100. Please see that note for details. You must be present at our next meeting and make your donation directly to Dennis Stuckey. This week (June 13) is your last chance to take advantage of this offer.

Ethical Business Luncheon – Friday, June 20 - @ Receptions

You have complete details on this. Please make plans to attend at Receptions on Friday, June 20. This event will take the place of our regular Club Meeting.

Changing of the Guard Dinner – Friday, June 27 – Community Arts Center

You should have already received a formal invitation to this, our last event of the Rotary year. Please let Mark Koeninger know if you are attending.

Club Meeting, Friday, June 13

Our featured presentation this week will be given by Mark Hecquet, Executive Director, Butler County Visitors Bureau. Patti Partch is scheduled to lead us in prayer and pledge. We hope you can join us!

Yours in Rotary as Rotary Shares,

Chris

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June 3, 2008

Greetings Fellow Rotarians!

Our last meeting of May was also highlighted by our last two student speakers of the academic year. In addition, we enjoyed a featured presentation by some of the fine folks from Big Brothers/Sister of Butler County.

Student Presentations

Our first high school student speaker was Cammie Haddix. Cammie was the Field Commander from the Marching band and is also a member of the Interact Club. She participated in the “Teacher Academy” at Fairfield High School which helps prepare high school students to become teachers after college. The program actually gives them the practicum they would normally take as “teachers in training” during their junior year of high school. Impressively, Cammie served as President of the State Association affiliated with this program and was awarded the FMEA Scholarship. She plans to attend the University of Louisville and major in Music Education and Therapy.

Ethan Unklesbay was involved in the “Science Olympiads” – a state wide science tournament that culminated when the team made the state finals at the Ohio State University placing an impressive 15^th in the entire state. Also, after being of member of the Choir for 4 years, he joined the Choraliers Show Choir for the 1^st time as a senior. He really enjoyed this experience noting that he found it very interesting to travel to other schools and see how different they were from Fairfield. Ethan emphasized how much he has really loved being a student at Fairfield High School. He plans to major in Music or Special Education at Brigham Young University this fall.

As noted above, this week concluded visits to our Club from Fairfield High School’s Class of 2008 seniors. I think you will agree that we heard from an absolutely outstanding group of yound adults and future leaders from FHS. Many thanks to the school and Randy Oppenheimer for helping to organize these visits throughout the year. And special thanks to Club members who provided transportation for our students to and from the school this year – they were: Patti Partch, Fred Valerius, Brian Begley, Dick Dooley, Doug Betz AND Randy Oppenheimer. Thank you all!

Featured Presentation

Our featured presentation was given by Julie Dichtl, Vice President of Development at Big Brother/Sisters of Butler County.

Julie started her talk by surprising all of us with the following facts: Not only was the Big Brothers/Sisters organization originally founded in Cincinnati in 1903 – our state of Ohio has an impressive 40 chapters – more than any other state in the country! As most of you know, Big Brothers/Big Sisters matches children ages 6 through 18 with adult mentors in professionally supported one-to-one relationships. The purpose is to develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting impact on the lives of young people.

Research shows that the following impacts result from this mentoring:

46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
27% less likely to begin using alcohol
52% less likely to skip school
37% less likely to skip a class
more confident of their performance in schoolwork
one-third less likely to hit someone
getting along better with their families

There are two primary programs set up for volunteers – one is “community based” and the other is “site based.” Community based programs match Bigs a Littles to meet in their communities to share fun activities. Site based Programs are set up where meetings take place at schools. At this time 25 schools in Butler County are involved and many more are on a waiting list.

For any Rotarians interested in volunteering for this terrific Program, the time commitment is minor – only 4 hours per month. For more information, please contact Kara Love, their recruitment specialist, at 867-1227 ext. 16 - or e-mail her at Kara.Love@bbbs.org. You can also obtain more information on the program at their website - www.bbbsbutlercounty.com.

Club Business

Rotary Foundation – Later this week, I will send everyone details on the “Rotary Foundation Challenge” I am issuing for this month. We will be doing something similar to what Fred did at this time last year. More to follow.

Sterling Uhler Citizenship Award Nominations – We discovered last week that the nomination form I sent to all of you and which was on our website was incomplete (second page was missing). Attached is a complete form. We’d like to have all nominations in to John Brunner by June 6^th if possible. Thank you.

Sterling Award Nomination Form

Ethical Business Award Luncheon – This is our last major event before the Changing of the Guard Dinner. It will be held at Receptions on Friday, June 20^th. Please make plans to attend. Jim Mullaney and his committee have been working hard for most of this year to identify ethical businesses in our area worthy of this award. Let’s all support their efforts.

Changing of the Guard Dinner – You will soon receive invitations from Mark Koeninger for the last event of our current Rotary year. It will take place at the Fairfield Community Arts Center on Friday, June 27 at 6:15 p.m. Please make sure you let Mark know if you are attending as we will need a count.

Club Meeting, Friday, June 6

At this week’s Club meeting, Tony Huff, Instructor at “Project Search” and Mike Parry, Butler Tech Vice President for Educational Options will talk to us about employing students with developmental disabilities. Jim Mullaney is scheduled to lead us in prayer and pledge. I hope to see you there!

Yours in Rotary as Rotary Shares,

Chris

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