Maquitta Stokes is the Executive Director at Tiqvah Hands of Hope in Canton, Ohio. A lifetime resident of Canton, Maquitta is a proud graduate of Canton McKinley High School. Following her high school graduation, Ms. Stokes attended and graduated from several Ohio colleges and universities. These schools include Malone College, Notre Dame College of Ohio, and Cleveland State University. Maquitta holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, a K-12 license in Special Education, and a Masters of Education in Educational Leadership along with her Principal Certification.
Maquitta is a passionate and powerful career educator. Ms. Stokes currently serves as the Children’s Ministry Director at 3rd Street Community Church in Canton. Prior to becoming the Executive Director at Tiqvah, Maquitta worked for nearly 15 years as an educator and advocate at Canton City Schools. During her time there she filled roles that ranged from classroom assistant to special education teacher. In 2018, Maquitta was selected as the Canton City School District’s Teacher of the Year. Ms. Stokes was subsequently selected to be a member of the Stark County All-County Teaching Team.
Within her community, Maquitta has served as a parent representative for Stark County Community Action Agency, board member for the State Support Team Region 9, member of the National Education Association, the Ohio Education Association, and the Leila Green Alliance of Black School Educators. She has also served as a mentor, coach, and leader to many within her community.
For those of us who are joining our Friday meetings via Zoom, a new link has been created to use starting with this Friday's meeting. The old link will no longer be active so please save this new link for future reference. Thank you and we'll "see" you Friday!
The Rotary Club of Canton Board of Trustees approved the following programs for our weekly meetings for this month:
August 5th - Maquitta Stokes, Exec Director of Tiqvah hands of Hope
August 12th - Tom Tunison & Gary Kaschak, authors of "Go the Distance", the inspirational story of Tom Tunison, Thurman Munson, & a lifelong quest for baseball immortality.
August 19th - Donn Angus, Director of Planning for the City of Canton: "What's Next for Downtown Canton"
August 26th - Kristine Willhite, CEO of Siffrin Inc.
Please join us for these outstanding programs, and invite your friends and any prospective Rotarians to join us, as well!
August 22nd - Dine-to-Donate at Kozmo's Grille 5 to 9 PM. 20% of food purchases will be donated Kozmo's to the Canton Rotary/SARTA Bus shelter project, to provide weather protection to SARTA users (see separate article for more info)
September 5th - Canton Rotary Social Hour +, Great Court/Canton Museum of Art, 5:30 to ?; cash bar at Great Court, gallery visits encouraged; dinner at Desert Inn after (optional). (see separate article)
October 17th - Rotary Pints a & Pours for Polio Plus, 5 to 7 pm Kozmo's Grille. Celebrity "bartenders" will accept additional tips which will go to the District 6650 Polio Plus Fund. This will be a competition between the Canton and Massillon Clubs to kick of McKinley/Massillon Week! Most tips wins! All Rotarians in District invited to attend.
November 5th - A Night for Ukraine, St. Nicolas Orthodox Church, North Canton, 6 to 10 pm. Ukrainian food, music, and dancing, plus a live auction. special guest is Past RI President Barry Rassin. (see separate article for more info)
After members Dan and Suzette Matthews saw bus shelters adorned with the famous Rotary logo on a trip to Turks & Caicos, they brought the idea back to Sue Marzano, who, as one of 11 children, used SARTA's service extensively as a child. Having experienced waiting for a bus in the elements, including rain, sleet, and snow (and having to sometimes spend the day with wet socks), she got together with Rich and they hashed out a plan to see if we could partner with SARTA on some new shelters at their bus stops.
After considerable discussion and coordination, SARTA chose a site at 4th St. and Hartford Ave SE for the first new Rotary shelter, as it is one of the busiest stops in the city. Cost to build a new shelter is $8,000, and, thanks to the generosity of a couple of Rotarians (who wish to remain nameless), as well as a donation from our Rotary Club of Canton Charitable Fund, the new shelter is now scheduled to be built!
Sue and Rich are now working on raising funds for the second bus shelter, with a "Dine-to-Donate" event being held on Monday August 22, 2022 at Kozmo's Grille in Massillon from 5 to 8 PM. During that time, 20% of your food purchases will be donated to the Canton Rotary Bus Shelter Project. Just print the flyer above, or take a screenshot, and show it to your server at Kozmo's when you're there.
The flyer above also shows some other ways to donate if you wish to. Please reach out to Sue or Rich if you have any questions or comments.
Social committee chairs, Sue Marzano and Becky Clark, have announced a new Canton Rotary social event, a soiree at the Canton Museum of Art for First Friday September 2, 2022!
PLEASE RSVP TO SUE SO SHE CAN MAKE DINNER RESERVATIONS AT DESERT INN! ammarzano@aep.com or cell at 330-312-0486.
The plan is to meet in the Great Court at 5:30 for socialization and camaraderie (cash bar available, but no drinks in the galleries), then those that wish, can visit the exhibits in the museum galleries. Dinner to follow at Desert Inn for those interested.
- Unseen, The Process and Art of Printmaking
- Continued Continuing, Paintings by Amy Casey
- Lessons and Landscapes, Legacy of Gerry Bernhardt
- Illusions: Seeing is Deceiving, art from the CMA Private Collection
- Shadows, the Art of Marcus Schafer
(Here's a link to the Canton Museum of Art's website, if you'd like more info on the exhibits: http://www.cantonart.org/
Did you hear that there has been a new case of polio reported recently in New York State for the first time in almost a decade. And, polio is trying to spread once again in some countries overseas. It is extremely critical NOW that we continue our efforts to wipe out polio!
Our own District Governor, Michelle Charles, is asking each club in our district to contribute $1,000 or more to Polio Plus this year.
One of the ways the Canton Rotary Club will address this...........PINTS & POURS FOR POLIO! Michelle and her husband, JC, will be serving as CELEBRITY BARTENDERS at Kozmo's Grille on Monday October 17th from 6 to 9 PM. Any tips they receive for their, ahem, service, will go toward Polio Plus. It's very likely that there will be other 'celebrities' as well, including our current club president, yours truly.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! That day is the kickoff for Rivalry Week between the Canton McKinley Bulldogs and Massillon Washington Tigers, so we've decided to make this a COMPETITION! Which club will raise the most money that night, Canton or Massillon?
So mark your calendars! Come and join your fellow Canton Rotarians to not only support your club, but to help Rotary wipe out polio!
District Governor Michelle Charles has set a goal for District 6650 to raise $100,000 for the Rotary International Disaster Relief Fund, specifically to benefit the Ukraine.
Therefore, we are all invited to "A Night for Ukraine", a special event on Saturday November 5th at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 5305 Massillon Rd, North Canton starting at 6 PM. Cost is $60 per person and includes an authentic Ukrainian ethnic menu, performances from local Ukrainian musicians and dancers, and a special appearance from Past RI President Barry Rassin.
At our weekly meeting last Friday July 29th, President Rick welcomed 30 Rotarians and guests (including prospective new member Emily Callan, and Larry Horton, District Governor of District 5495 in Northern Arizona).
Our DISTINGUISHED speaker was our own Michelle Charles, current District Governor for our District 6650, who detailed some of her themes and goals for the district this year, as well as some of the same for Rotary International. Some of Michelle's highlights are: raising $100,000 for the Ukraine; raising $1,000 per club for Polio Plus; having 100% participation of all district clubs in the Rotary Foundation; emphasize building a higher percentage of female Rotarians in the district; encouraging membership growth, as well as increasing membership diversity in our clubs.
Secretary Paula announced our programs for August (see separate article), as well as community events coming up this past week. She also accepted Happy Bucks:
Happy Bucks:
Paul Hervey Lynn Hamilton Mark Clendenin Dave Roberts Bob Pattison Rick Taylor Bob Mathews
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