President Eileen McNally welcomed 33 members and 11 guests, including our 2016 Scholarship Recipients and their parents. Her theme for this month was from an article "Taken for Granted". Eileen reminded all to NOT take your loved ones, friends, those in charge of our health and safety, etc. for granted. Lunch was then served by the church group.
Program:
Ryan Lippe from Ohio State Attorney General's Office /Consumer Protection Agency gave us great information concerning Senior Scams, crimes, fair business practices, etc. Seniors are often targeted as they are trusting, polite, have more assets, less likely to report problems, and are often more isolated. He also shared various tactics to look out for common scams, from "Grandchild" Scam, IRS Scam, Prize/Sweepstakes Scam, etc. You can go to the website for this and more information, and can sign up for email updates to receive the latest information on Consumer Fraud by going to: www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov. "Be a skeptic, not a victim!"
Treasurer's Report:
Treasurer Debby Shelly reports: Checking Account: $1,636.19 Savings: $1,144.36 CD: $4,750.18 Scholarship: $11,684.04 ($10,000 is in the Stauch fund)
*$109 was collected at April meeting for the Dog Pound/Animal Shelter.
*Today we collected $56 for St.Vincent-dePaul, and $100 for Scholarships! Great Job!
Secretary's Report:
Members are to look at the minutes after each meeting on our website. Any corrections/changes/additions, please contact Linda Leffel or Eileen McNally.
Community Affairs/Volunteering:
Bill Corbett from Habitat for Humanity addressed the group to personally thank us for the $1,000 donation to the Phoenix Fund. This money goes towards helping two families whose Habitat for Humanity Homes burned down. Eileen reminded us to please continue to volunteer, and remember to log our hours down, and again thanked us for being the TOP chapter in the state, logging over 28,000 volunteer hours!!! Again, congratulations!
Courtesy:
Eileen reminded everyone that Linda Leffel will be taking over the job of Courtesy, and Linda suggested that this be a part of the duties of secretary, stated in our by-laws.
Between Luncheon dates, also feel free to call or email Linda with any requests for sending a card to members who need us thinking of them for any reason.
Membership:
Membership Chair Mary Ellinger would like to ease out of this duty, and asked for anyone willing to take on this responsibility to please talk to her or Eileen. Someone could even be an assistant to her for now, and get to know what is expected with this position. Members were also encouraged to be sure to send in Luncheon Reservations, and on time, as many of our venues are shopping /preparing for our Wednesday lunch the weekend before. We want to be sure we have enough food for everyone, so we can’t have too many additions. And it has been said before, we have to pay for anyone making a reservation that does not attend.
Scholarship:
Mary Ellinger reviewed information about the Fran Alspach Award, given through the Licking County Foundation on a rotating basis of all LC High Schools, as well as our LCRTA’s. Stauch scholarships. Recipients in attendance then came up and introduced themselves. The Alspach Award winner is Leyna Varney from Northridge, attending Brigham Young University in the fall. Due to very outstanding entrants this year, 4- $1,000 scholarships were awarded: Ryne Byers, Lakewood HS, attending Ohio University; Jessie Hicks, Licking Heights HS, Miami University; Jayden Johnson, Watkins Memorial HS, Ohio University; and McKenna Smith, Granville HS, going to Furman University. We wish these students much success in their future endeavors!
New Business/Other Announcements of Importance:
Eileen asked everyone to look over our By-Laws to review/discuss areas where executive board felt changes/clarification should be made. Membership present seemed to have no opposition to the changes. Changes will also be shared with members through Eileen's update-emails.
Besides Membership Committee Chair, we also need someone for the "In Memoriam" December presentation, to honor any members who have passed away during the year. This position would only include the one-month presentation at our December meeting.
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, August 10th, 12 Noon, at St. John's United Church of Christ On National Drive, Newark. Our program will be Kellie Barone with STRS Updates. We will be collecting Personal Hygiene items again for the Food Pantry.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Leffel, LCRTA Secretary