Correction-- In last week's edition of the Rotogram, an article said,"Bob Netro (Charlie Brown's catering and club member) served as Kitchen chairman" for our first Pancake Day.
However, the Canton Rotary office received an email from our friend and Pancake Day facilitator, Mark Netro, son of Bob Netro, who stated "My dad came to work with me at Charlie Brown's Catering and Restaurant on Jan. 1, 1980, when I purchased the business. Dad was never a Rotarian or Chairman of the Kitchen for Rotary."
Our sincere apologies to Mark Netro for the error in this story.
Scott Chovan has been the District Sales Manager for Mid’s Spaghetti Sauce since 1999. He is a graduate of Massillon Washington High School and received his Marketing and Sales Degree in 1984 from the University of Akron.
Scott’s hobbies include playing drums and guitar, trail biking, swimming and reading. He attends First Friends Church in Canton.
In June of this year, Scott and his wife, Lisa, will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. The couple has five daughters: Leyna, 25; Alyssa, 23; Ingrid, 21; Jamie, 18; and Ariana, 15. They reside in North Canton.
At the regular Rotary meeting held on April 2, 2015, Past President Jack Barkan announced a fundraising event to support the Philomatheon Society of the Blind.
On Wednesday, April 8, 2015, from 11 AM to 10 PM, through the generosity of Canton Rotarian Ernie Schott, a portion of all sales at Taggart's Ice Cream Parlor, located at 1401 Fulton Road in Canton, will be donated to the Philomatheon Society.
Jack also informed the members that Davies Drugs (owned by Canton Rotarian Steve Fettman) has pledged to match the total amount raised on this date.
Please come to Taggart's on Wednesday, April 8th to support a very worthy cause and enjoy some excellent food and ice cream!
On Friday, April 17, 2015, we will be continuing the Canton Rotary tradition of 'JA-Done-In-A-Day' by teaching ‘JA Our Community’ at McGregor Elementary School. This program teaches 2nd graders about business and jobs in our community, working for a wage, taxes and how they pay for government services and workers, and how money moves through a community.
The kids LOVE this program!
Time commitment is 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM. We would love to have 10 volunteers from Canton Rotary so that we have two-person teams in each classroom.
As of this date, we have NO volunteers! Please help if you can!
Please contact Rick Taylor at 330-575-2870 or rtaylor@jaonline.org or Maureen Pittman at 330-933-1278 or mpittman@jaonline.org for more information or to volunteer.
Celebrating 100 Years of Service – Remembrances of Dennis S. Fulmer, President 1997-1998
Our club’s membership stood at a strong 319 in 1997-98 so no special efforts were needed to encourage new membership. Our average weekly attendance was about 80%, or about 255 member attendees per week at the downtown Hilton Hotel. Attendance requirements were enforced and recognition was given to those with perfect attendance.
Several memorable programs that year included Richard Hokenson, Kenneth Blackwell, Mayor Richard Watkins, Timken executive Robert Leibensperger and several other local business executives.
Notable service projects included Joe Guenther, Marti Stockdale, Bill Clarke and Dave Schoen purchasing a used school bus and filling it with school supplies to donate to an orphanage in Managua, Nicaragua. Member Craig Young completely refurbished the bus and had it repainted, all at his own expense.
Jody Levitt chaired the Neighborhood Action Program known as the NAP House. Barb Dreussi operated this project which helped many families in Canton’s near NW neighborhood.
Our club paid for half the cost of a new Habitat for Humanity house using funds remaining from the “Guns Off The Street” Program, with the other half being raised by the Canton Police Department and the F.B.I. This effort was chaired by Gary Zink. We also built a playground near Heritage Christian School, a project chaired by Jill Hutsel.
In addition we completed the Entrance Arch at what became the First Ladies Library Park. This project started during President Joe Halter Jr.’s term.
Pancake Day raised $20,341; Canton Rotary Charitable Fund raised $16,435; Silent Auction at Pancake Day $4,864, and Holiday Card Sales netted $3,544.
At District Conference competition our club won the Robert Manchester Award for “Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates of Greater Canton (JOGS)", as well as the District Governor’s Citation for Outstanding Performance on the Club Activity Report.
I was honored to attend the RI Convention in Glasgow, Scotland. This was my first trip to Europe and my first RI Convention. I enjoyed meeting Rotarians from around the globe who were enthusiastically committed to improving the world through their Rotary service.
In 1997-98 the world economies were doing well and it was a relatively peaceful time. The technology bubble was raging on Wall Street and Tom Vignos would always ask me the price of AOL shares.
Joe Halter asked me to serve as his vice president and my year as president went very quickly because so many members were willing to help me serve our Rotary club. Jan Baker was the President’s Administrator that year and did an outstanding job for me and our club. Our offices were in the Bliss Tower.
Dennis Saunier sponsored me into Rotary and I joined initially to meet other business people in the area. Since then I have sponsored Laura Jo Hawk and Nick Perini. I have been greatly influenced by very many Canton Rotarians.
I have seen several notable changes in Rotary since becoming a member. The downtown population of business owners and professionals has shrunk which has hurt our membership potential. Our members are less actively involved in committees than before. The Rotary Scouts project has very little active involvement from Canton Rotarians now.
I especially enjoy my expanded circle of friends and contacts formed through Rotary. I believe it is important to remember that Rotary initiates and implements lots of very unique and effective service projects due to the wide range of talents that our members possess.
In 100 years I think caring members in our community will still want to be members of Rotary. This was a great year for me and I am very grateful I had the opportunity to serve as President of “The Finest Rotary Club in the World.”
During the past several months, the Rotogram has been highlighting the Rotary Club of Canton's Past Presidents' thoughts and experiences during their year as president.
We would like to ask you to share your favorite stories or memories of the Rotary Club, or any story about our Club's involvement in an activity or project that has meant something to you.
Please submit your story or comments for publication to the Canton Rotary office via email at info@cantonrotary.org. Thank you!
At our weekly meeting on April 2, 2015, President Elect Paul White took over running the meeting for President Tom Clevenger, who was transporting our Youth Exchange Student to the Cleveland Airport.
Paul began the meeting by recognizing the members who were celebrating April birthdays. Paul then proceeded to bring the members up to date on the "100 Year Anniversary Celebration" preparations. If you have not already done so, please contact the Rotary office ASAP with your RSVP for the this event on April 11th!
Club Secretary Amanda Tietze then recognized two special guests in attendance. Carol Jones and Tom Hutchens from the Children's Dyslexia Center Valley of Canton were then presented with a check in the amount of $5,000.00 for the benefit of children suffering from dyslexia.
Past President Dan Matthews continued his "game of knowledge" of the The Rotary Club of Canton. He kept his "knowledge" questions to this week's Rotogram and, more precisely, to the recollections of Past President Jason McCoy. His contestants consisted of a beautiful woman (whom Dan claimed he had never met before!), Suzette Matthews, John DeWees (Club phototgrapher who enjoyed taking selfies of himself while playing the game of knowledge!), and Bruce Schorsten (who may have been the most accurate "guesser" of the three!). Each contestant received a gift certificate compliments of Ernie Schott owner of Taggart's Ice Cream Parlor. Thank you once again Ernie!
Past President Jack Barkan took to the podium to let the members know about the fundraiser at Taggarts Ice Cream Parlor on Wednesday, April 8th from 11 AM - 10 PM, which will benefit the Philomatheon Society of the Blind. (See Story).
Amanda Tietze then welcomed the following guest to our meeting: Cameron Bowen; Lilli Bowen; Willie Shoemaker; Carol Jones; Tom Hutchens; Jerry Johnson; Sherri Bianchi; Phyllis White; and Debbie Poland.
The "Happy Bucks" news was then provided by the following Rotarians: Suzette Matthews was happy that her friends were attending the Rotary meeting and that they are pet lovers!; Bruce Hale donated $5.00 to the Happy Bucks for the Coffee Fundraiser, stating that it is the "World's Best Coffee"; Craig Young also donated $5.00 to the Happy Bucks on behalf of our speaker, whose sister's friends' band was playing in Greentown last weekend; Bruce Shorsten, announced he had had his shoulder replaced eight days ago; and Lilli Bowen, who was happy to be at the meeting, but (as any youngster would be) was glad she was now done talking!
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Volunteers are needed!!
Celebrating 100 Years of Service – Remembrances of Dennis S. Fulmer, President 1997-1998
During the past several months, the Rotogram has been highlighting the Rotary Club of Canton's Past Presidents' thoughts and experiences during their year as president. 
At our weekly meeting on April 2, 2015, President Elect Paul White took over running the meeting for President Tom Clevenger, who was transporting our Youth Exchange Student to the Cleveland Airport.