Rotarians,

 

Well, Rotary year 2016-2017 is drawing to a close. It has been quite a year for the Rotary Club of Canton, and I want to give a short recap of the year before I get into thank you's and maybe get a bit teary!

 

I had a set of goals for this Rotary year, some we achieved, some we made progress on. I had a goal of increasing membership by 10 Rotarians, and we actually ended the year down one member at 155. We added 18 new Rotarians this year, bust lost 19 through attrition and death. We lost many good Rotarians this year, and I ask you to please take a moment to remember these folks:  PP Rick Sherer, Raymond V. Pelanda, PP Ken Weber, PP E. Jason McCoy, Ward Scott, PP Don Coen and, just recently, Pat Gannon.  It is sad losing so many good Rotarians, but it is encouraging that we have 18 new Rotarians this year. I ask that we all share a Friday lunch with a new Rotarian and make sure they feel welcome and appreciated. They are the core that will keep our club strong.

 

It is also exciting to welcome two new babies of Canton Rotarians this year: Roman Candea, son of Justin and Hannah Candea; and Lilianna Pierce, daughter of Tony and Amanda Pierce; and at least one more new baby next year thanks to Raquel Raderchak. Interestingly, both Roman and Lilianna were born in the same room at Akron City Hospital!

 

I encourage all of you to share Rotary with someone. Invite them to a meeting and mentor them in what Rotary is. I challenged each member when I became President to introduce one new member every 3 years to Rotary. Canton Rotary can be a very powerful and influential force in our community, but only if we share Rotary with others and keep our Club growing and vibrant. This responsibility falls to each and every one of us.

 

We enjoyed many great speakers over the course of the year. We have had both Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who have now both announced as candidates for Governor, along with Senator Scott Oelslager and Mayor Tom Bernabei. We have had business leaders like Bob Gessner of Massillon Cable, and Bill Bryan of Timken Steel. We have had great non-profit and community speakers from Habitat ECO, Youth Correctional Services, Malone University, College of Wooster, McKinley High, and Mental Health and Addiction speakers. It is a daunting task to come up with over 40 quality and pertinent speakers each year, and I am very pleased with the level of speakers we have presented to the Club this year.

 

As my last act, before being kicked to the curb, I wish to thank from my heart all those who have made this a great year for me.

 

Thank you to Greg Triner and Mr. Mike's Catering and staff for the wonderful facility, food, and service. We will miss being here.

 

Thank you to Tom Schervish for the support in our last office which we outgrew.

 

Thank you to my support at work, Rita Burchess, Bruce Hale and Justin Candea. 

 

Thank you to all the Committee Chairs who help keep our Club operating - from big things like Oktoberfest to more mundane things like greeters and invocators.

 

Thank you to the Board of Directors who have helped guide us through many difficult decisions over the past year and who provided thoughtful input and ideas.

 

Thank you to PDG/PP Bob Pattison for establishing and running the Presidential Advisory Committee, to PP Dan Matthews on his innovative approach on membership and support of our Club.

 

Thank you to my Executive Committee team - Amanda Tietze, Michelle Mullaly, Tom Clevenger, Suzette Matthews. The Executive Committee has had a lot to accomplish this year, with moving offices, moving venues, and updating Bylaws, plus all the other tasks that are part of leading a Club of this size. 

 

Thank you to Lauri Coy and Barb Schrade - without Lauri and Barb this journey as President would have been 100 times more difficult - actually it would have been impossible! I cannot thank them enough for all the support and guidance!

 

Thank you to my daughter, Hannah, and her husband, Justin, and especially my wife, Kim, - your support and understanding over the past year has enabled me to give this job my best.

 

I truly thank the Rotary Club oof Canton for allowing me the honor to serve as President of the "Finest Rotary Club in the World". I appreciate your faith and trust in me. I will always cherish this past year, and I look forward to the next several years under the leadership of Amanda, then Michelle, then Mark. We have a great team to continue this journey, and I pledge my support to them.

 

Thank you all very much!

During the June 30, 2017, meeting PDG/PP David Ewing and President Craig Young presented Paul Harris Fellows to Canton Rotarians Justin Candea and Michelle Mullaly.  PDG/PP David Ewing had the following to say about each individual:

 

"Justin was born and raised in Canton, Ohio. He is married to an absolutely amazing wife, Hannah, and they have a recently born son, Roman. Justin graduated from Perry High School and is finishing his Bachelor's degree in Business at Walsh University.

 

Justin works at Young Truck Sales as a heavy-duty truck salesperson, and is on the management track program there. Previously, he worked as a field representative for Chesapeake Energy and Kenyon Energy, securing drilling leases with individuals and companies, mostly in Carroll and Portage County.

 

Justin has worked on several Habitat for Humanity builds and is looking forward to being involved in many more Canton Rotary efforts to continue to improve Canton.

 

Justin enjoys working out, playing golf, hanging out with family, friends, and fellow Rotarians."

 

 

 

"Michelle has been President and CEO of the Canton Symphony since May, 2011. Under her leadership, the Canton Symphony completed a $5.4 million capital campaign to build the Zimmerman Symphony Center. This facility, which was completed in 2014, is the home of the administrative offices of the Canton Symphony Orchestra.

 

During her tenure, the symphony has commissioned and co-commissioned six new works for orchestra. They have collaborated with such world-renowned artists as Andre Watts, Sylvia McNair, Menahem Pressler, Wu Man, Joshua Roman, and Bela Fleck, and have partnered with other organizations including the Canton Palace Theatre, the Canton Museum of Art, the Massillon Museum, Stark Parks, McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps, the Professional Football Hall of Fame, the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and the Dancing Wheels Company and School. Michelle has created innovative programming including collaborations with local artists such as The Speedbumps and Matt Corey. Her outside-of-the-box programming ideas have drawn new audiences to concerts and have helped the organization receive national attention. 

 

Michelle holds a BA degree in Music History and Theory from Hiram College. She serves on Malone University's President's Advisory Council, the Leadership Stark County Alumni Board, and the boards of The Friends of the Summit (91.3 FM) and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. She is currently President Elect for the Rotary Club of Canton and will become President in 2018. In Rotary, she has chaired the Summer Backpack Food Project, the Rotary Raffle, and Oktoberfest. She is a graduate of the 27th Class of Leadership Stark County and is a member of Woman's Impact, Inc.  In 2012, YStark, a division of the Canton Chamber of Commerce, honored her as one of the top Twenty Under 40 leaders in Stark County. She lives in Bath Township with her husband, Mike, and has four children: Arielle, Benjamin, Nathan and Ryan, plus a golden retriever named Henry."

At the June 30, 2017, regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Canton, President Craig Young reviewed the proposed updates to the Bylaws of the Rotary Club of Canton. A Motion was made by Past President Dan Matthews and seconded by Rotarian Jim Blake to adopt the proposed updates. The membership voted unanimously to accept the updated proposed changes.

 

The updated changes to the Bylaws can be viewed by following this LINK.

The "Year End Review" for the 2016-2017 Rotary year is available by following this LINK. You may also view this document by going to the Canton Rotary web page at CantonRotary.org.

On Friday, August 18, 2017, the Rotary Club of Canton will host its annual golf outing at The Sanctuary Golf Club located at 2017 Applegrove Street N.W., North Canton.  Each year the outing brings more than 75 golfers together from many local Rotary Clubs to participate in friendly competition, leaving only one Rotary Club with bragging rights for the next year.  This is a great day to bring guests or prospective members to see what Rotary is all about and meet some of the great people that are involved with Rotary.

 

As in the past, the golf outing will take the place of our regularly scheduled Friday meeting.  This means all Canton Rotarians are welcome to come for lunch, even if they are not planning to golf.  The cost for your lunch will be $15.00. Lunch will be served at noon with a shot gun start at 1:00 pm.

 

After lunch, those golfing will join their foursomes and participate in a scramble-format golf tournament.  Prizes will be awarded to the top finishers in the scramble and for the longest drive, closest to the hole, and longest putt.

 

There will also be a putting contest, with the winner taking a BMW home for the weekend, courtesy of Cain BMW.

 

Please follow this LINK for a printable copy of the golf outing sign-up flyer.

Hole sponsorships are available for this year's golf outing on August 18, 2017, at a cost of $75.00. You can promote your organization with a sign near the tee box at the course.

 

Contact Chairman Nick Perini at (330) 454-6555 or email at nperini@beesefulmer.com.  You may also contact Lauri/Barb at the Rotary office (330) 452-2882.

If you have a gift item that you would like to donate for the annual golf outing on August 18, 2017, please contact Chairman Nick Perini at (330) 454-6555 or email nperini@beesefulmer.com. For your convenience you may bring your donated gift item(s) to a Friday meeting.

 

 

The tradition continues! The Rotary Club of Canton will once again host their annual "Oktoberfest" in downtown Canton on Thursday, September 21, 2017 from 4 - 9 pm. Plan on joining us for this event. 

 

Stay tuned for more details.

In a "Thank You" note dated June 20, 2017, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine wrote the following:

 

"Craig -- Thanks for inviting me to Rotary. What a great group of people!  If I can ever be of help to you don't hesitate to call"

The following has made a contribution to the Rotary Club of Canton's Endowment Fund in memory of  PP Donald C. Coen:

 

  - Janet C. Gremer

At our weekly meeting on June 30, 2017, President Craig Young welcomed the 56 members and 19 guests to the meeting.

 

PP Rick Huetter gave the invocation.

 

Secretary Suzette Matthews welcomed the following guests to the meeting: Matt, Victoria and Christian Tietze, Pat Tietze, Sheila Vess and Jerry Vess (guests of Amanda Tietze); Kim Young, Rita Burchett and Hannah Candea (guests of Craig Young); Annetta and Daniel Rojek (guests of Mark Rojek); Ryan, Nate and Mike Mullaly (guest of Michelle Mullaly); James T. Boggs, Penni Ewing and Barb Ewing-Cockroft (guests of Dave Ewing); Rich Dever (guest of Dan Matthews); Amanda and baby Lilianna Pierce (guests of Tony Pierce).

 

The "Happy Bucks" news was then provided by the following Rotarians:

The following announcements were made from the podium:

President Craig then thanked his retiring Trustees for their years of service: Suzette Matthews, Ryan Parkinson, Nick Perini and Dean Wallace.

 

PP Rick Taylor was the installing officer for the incoming 2017-2018 Board of Directors and Trustees and installed new President Amanda Tietze, President Elect Michelle Mullaly, Vice President Mark Rojek, Treasurer Tom Clevenger, Secretary Suzette Matthews, Sergeant-at-arms Robert K. Matthews. New Trustees installed were Mark Clendenin and Jeff Scott. (*New Trustees not in attendance and who will be installed at a later date are Frank Fleischer, Bill Liber and Dave Truax).

 

Brief remarks were then given by outgoing President Craig Young.

 

New President Amanda Tietze then presented the Club's gift to Past President Craig Young and thanked him for his service to the Club.

 

The following Rotarians turned in a makeup during Friday's meeting: PP Curt Werren (2 -Canton South); Bill Maddox (North Canton); Tom Sinclair (North Canton); Lynn Hamilton (Plain).