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Social Hour
The Met
Mar 26, 2019
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
 
Social Hour
The Met
Apr 23, 2019
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
 
Speakers
Mar 11, 2019
Equestrian Therapy Program
Mar 18, 2019
World Water Day
Mar 25, 2019
Boy Scouts of America
Apr 01, 2019
Allen County Board of Elections
Apr 08, 2019
Armstrong Air & Space Museum
Apr 15, 2019
Revive Civility Ohio
Apr 22, 2019
Apr 29, 2019
Allen County Educational Service Center
May 06, 2019
Geneaology
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Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
Stories
Amphitheater
The Lima Rotary Club is ready to move forward with the Rotary Community Stage and Park.
The Lima Rotary Club has acquired all the land it needs to move forward with the construction of the Lima Rotary Community Stage and Park in downtown Lima. The property the club now owns extends from Spring Street to Elm Street and is bounded by Union Street on the east and the backs of the Main Street buildings on the west. Demolition of the buildings currently on the property will take place this spring and summer and grass will be planted on the property while fundraising efforts are underway.
 
The amphitheater and park’s projected cost of $2.2 million will be funded in a variety of ways: we encourage all members to contribute to the project, the club is applying to the state of Ohio for grants, a GoFundMe page has been established, and a number of local businesses have committed funds. One of those is Husky Lima Refinery which presented the club with a $20,000 check at Monday's meeting. Amy Nusbaum, Senior Manager for Communications, Lima Refinery, said Husky is proud to support the project. “The refinery has been part of the fabric of this community for more than 130 years, and from our founding, we’ve embraced big ideas. The amphitheater and community green space will certainly change the landscape of downtown and add to the renewed vitality our city’s core is experiencing,” Nusbaum said. “This project has a ripple effect that includes retaining and attracting top-level employees to our city by sustaining and improving the quality of life here. We support that effort.”
 
The Lima Rotary Club has been meeting with members of the local arts community and other organizations like the Lima Family YMCA to make sure the amphitheater and park meet their needs. Committee members have also visited other amphitheaters in the region to get ideas for the design and potential uses for the facility.
 
The 800 seat amphitheater will feature a sloped AstroTurf lawn with a wind/rain canopy over the audience area. South of the amphitheater there will be a large park for community use with plenty of space for the YMCA and other organizations to hold classes and events. The existing Sonntag building on Union Street will potentially be renovated for use as restrooms and storage. 
 
Lima Rotary Club Past President Tracie Sanchez is excited to have so much community input. “We, as the Rotary Club, are excited to be a part of the revitalization of downtown Lima. There are already so many people who have helped to support this project to get it off the ground.  We cannot thank these people enough for believing in this project and knowing that this truly will be a Lima Community Stage and Park that everyone can use and be proud of.”

 
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The Scoop - March 4, 2019
Lima Rotarians learn all they ever wanted to know about those pesky Canadian geese.
The breeding population of Canadian geese in Ohio exceeds 150,000, according to Allen County Wildlife Officer Craig Barr. He told us that Canadian geese are building their nests and laying their eggs right now and that makes them aggressive. He recommends avoiding the geese, and never feeding them. The average clutch size is 2-9 eggs, and most goslings will be hatched by May 15. Young geese are flightless until 8 - 9 weeks, and the family groups normally remain intact into autumn. A pair of geese can, in 5 to 7 years, easily become 50 to 100 birds. For those who have geese in their backyard ponds, it comes as no surprise that a goose can produce 1.5 pounds of poop every day. This excrement contains a wide variety of pathogens and should not be touched with bare hands. Barr says there are several ways to discourage geese from your property including allowing taller vegetation around ponds and barriers to keep the geese out, herding dogs, pyrotechnics and chemical repellents. There are also lethal ways to control geese which require permits from the state. Barr recommends a combination of methods as the most effective way to control the geese. Anyone with questions is welcome to contact Barr at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife Office in Findlay.
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The Scoop - February 25, 2019
The Lima Rotary Club was proud to once again host the annual Arts Advocacy Luncheon.
Lima's arts community joined the Lima Rotary Club to honor west central Ohio's arts advocates, creators and philanthropists. Patricia Meeks, band director at Shawnee Local Schools for inspiring a passion for music in her students for more than 30 years. Superior Credit Union received the philanthropist award for its financial contributions to many local arts organizations. Our own Elizabeth Brown-Ellis received the advocacy award, not just for her work with the Lima Symphony Orchestra, but for promoting the arts in general. “The arts are so vibrant in Lima, and I think sometimes we don’t acknowledge that. I think for us to take a minute to sit back and celebrate Lima, in general, but also celebrate the hard work that people are doing here and the things that make this community a little more livable and makes it more personal and individual, it’s just really important.”
Congratulations everyone!
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Movies in the Park
We have two great films planned for Movies in the Park this summer!
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Alabama Tornado
Here's how to help those affected by the deadly tornado in Alabama.
It is no surprise that so many compassionate District 6600 Rotarians have already reached out to me wondering how they can help the Rotarians and communities devastated by the tornadoes yesterday in Alabama. My counterpart, District Governor Samuel Adams of District 6880, has provided me information that I wanted to share with you. Please read and share the following link that is located in the News section of our website.
https://rotarydistrict6600.org/rotary-response-to-lee-county-al-tornadoes/

Thank you in advance for your generosity,

District Governor Maris Brenner
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MESA Mortgage Burning
The MESA warehouse has been paid off and a big mortgage burning celebration is planned for June 15.
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MESA Bike Tour
Mark your calendar for the 15th annual MESA Bike Tour!
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World Toilet Day
Jack Sim wants to talk to you about toilets.
By age 40, Jack Sim was a successful entrepreneur running 16 businesses. He had enough money to retire, so he started searching for a neglected cause to which he could devote his time and effort. Realizing that people don’t want to talk about toilets, he set about making the humble commode into a media darling, founding the World Toilet Organization in 2001 and holding a special day every year to draw attention to sanitation. This year, the United Nations voted to make World Toilet Day, 19 November, an official UN observance.
Sim credits Rotary with helping him break the taboo around the subject. In October, his organization inducted Ron Denham, chair emeritus of the Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group, into its hall of fame. The honor recognizes the work Rotary and the action group have done to change behavior and improve sanitation.
“It is good to see Rotary being recognized for the impact we are having on people in the developing world,” Denham said. “But this award is a wake-up call as much as a recognition. No progress has been made toward the [UN’s] Millennium Development Goal of increasing access to safe sanitation. We as Rotary members must shift our focus from water to water and sanitation.”
We sat down with Sim, also known as Mr. Toilet, at the action group’s World Water Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in June.
The Rotarian: You use humor to break through the toilet taboo. How did you come up with that approach?
Jack Sim: Once you make people laugh, they will listen to you. I saw another person who did it very well: Mr. Condom from Thailand. He promoted the condom by making people laugh, so I did the same with toilets.
Everybody has their personal toilet horror stories, whether about their travels or about their children. You just have to let the conversation flow naturally, and everybody will talk about toilets. In fact, once they feel it’s a legitimate topic, they can’t stop.
What can Rotary members do to get people talking about sanitation?
Sim: More than 100 years ago, one of the first Rotary projects was to build a public toilet. Every Rotary member should know this story. When members do water and sanitation projects, at least 85 percent of them focus on water. But you cannot have clean water if people are still defecating into the river. You cannot improve quality of life for the poor if people are still getting sick because of lack of proper sanitation. Women cannot be safe if they are subjected to rape or molestation because they have to go to the toilet in the bush. You cannot achieve education for girls if they have no place to change their sanitary napkin, so they drop out of school for a week every month to avoid embarrassment, and eventually cannot catch up and drop out altogether.
You and others talk about approaching sanitation from the angle of behavior change and getting people to want to use toilets. What should Rotary be doing differently to promote sanitation?
Sim: The way to do it is to make toilets sexy, to make toilets a status symbol just like a cell phone. Even schoolchildren in the slums have cell phones, yet they have no toilets. The best way to know that a person wants a toilet is when he buys it.
A market-based solution is the most sustainable model. Instead of putting toilets in the ground and hoping people use them, if you invest this money in training people to set up a factory to produce toilets and train local ladies to sell toilets on commission, then you create jobs, you create entrepreneurship, and you deliver proper sanitation. Even after your investment is used up, the business continues to grow.
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ROTI
Read the latest from ROTI - Rotarians on the Internet.
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Take Action
Take action to provide water and sanitation.
By Rotary Service and Engagement
 
According to the United Nations, 2.1 billion people around the world still lack access to safely managed drinking water services and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. Unsafe hygiene practices are widespread, effecting people’s health. More than 340,000 children under five die annually from diarrheal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water – that is almost 1000 children per day.
Access to an improved drinking water source is most impactful when there is also access to improved sanitation and commitment to good hygiene practices. Beyond the immediate advantages of people being hydrated and healthier, access to water, sanitation and hygiene has broader socio-economic impacts, particularly for women and girls. *
Through water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotary’s people of action mobilize resources, form partnerships, and invest in infrastructure and training that yield long-term change. Below are some recent examples of Rotarians in action:
  • The Rotaract Club of Melbourne City in Australia organizes an annual Clean Up the Yarra event for Rotaractors, Rotarians, and community volunteers. This event coincides with Clean Up Australia Day, a nation-wide initiative to inspire and empower communities to clean up and conserve the environment. 45 passionate People of Action stepped forward to clean a portion of the Yarra River. Volunteers were organized into three teams to tackle separate areas of the shoreline and surrounding green space.
  • Many students attend the Bang Klam Pottery Learning Center in Thailand, but only have access to one very old restroom which sometimes doesn’t have a water supply. The Rotary Club of Hatyai East, in partnership with their local Rotary Community Corps, supported the center by building three restrooms and a water tank. The funds from the project came from selling community pottery products.
  • The Rotary Clubs of Rabindra Sarobar and Sahanagar in India organized a full-day awareness campaign to promote healthy sanitation and hygiene practices in slums of South Kolkata. The awareness sessions were attended by 1000 people from the community.
  • The Arusha region in Oldonyo Sambu, Tanzania has a population of 3,256 and is the region most affected by fluorosis in Tanzania. The fluorine content of the drinking water in Oldonyo Sambu is about 12 times more than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended level. This leads to skeletal fluorosis, a very debilitating bone condition. In conjunction with the Nasio Trust, the Rotary Club of Abingdon in England implemented a project where three water tanks, guttering and all pipework were strategically installed at various locations within the Arusha region, enabling families to share the supply of safe water.
During March, Rotary’s Water and Sanitation Month, take action to provide clean water and sanitation in your communities. Add your club’s water and sanitation project to Rotary Ideas to find support or post your completed projects on Rotary Showcase. Join the conversation in the Water and Sanitation discussion group.
 
 
 
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