LCRTA President Fred Ciminello welcomed everyone to the June meeting, and especially our guests presenting the program today, and our scholarship recipient and her parents. Everyone was then served lunch by the CUMC volunteers. About 53 were in attendance.
Program: Following lunch Fred introduced Alice and Richard Hoover, who presented a very interesting program of the Civil War era…focusing on the issue of slave trade and conditions and the Underground Railroad, as they portrayed the real-life abolitionist family, Rev. Rankin and family. Out of their 13 children and 6 more adopted, 5 sons and a grandson of the Rankin family fought in the Civil War—and the Rankins would help many, many slaves get to freedom into Ohio for about 45 years. We thank the Hoovers for sharing this interesting story!
Business Meeting:
Following the program, first on the agenda was Fred calling up Joan Rittenhouse and Mary Ellinger to introduce our 2012 Scholarship recipient. This year’s honor goes to a well-deserving student, Gabrielle Palombaro from Licking Heights High School. Gabrielle spoke to our group, and her eloquence, maturity, and passion to become an educator made it very evident why we chose her for this year’s award. Gabrielle receives our $800 scholarship, and will be attending The Ohio State University in fall. She is already a very accomplished young woman during her high school career.
Fred introduced our District Representative Pat Bateman who had a few words to say. This is the “Year of the Volunteer”, and she had buttons stating this phrase for anyone wanting to purchase one for $1. We were reminded to continue volunteering where we can (and remember to log in any hours on our volunteer sheets).
Pat also addressed the Education Bill, still “up in the air”, taking too much time; it has passed the Senate, but is presently in the House, and it doesn’t seem there will be any resolution before the Nov. election. We all need to be looking very carefully at what is finally passed; we want to keep defined benefits.
Meeting Reports, Announcements & Notes from the Executive meeting:
Minutes:
Members are reminded to see full minutes on the LCRTA website, and send any corrections to Eileen or Linda.
Treasurer’s Report
In Sharon’s absence, Fred read overview of the treasurer’s report to date as of end of May:
Checking Account: $1,525 Savings Account: $3,331
Scholarship Account: $2,113 CD Account: $1,655 Totals: $8,624 (approx.)
Membership: Nothing to report.
Public Relations/Communication:
Look for any updates communicated by Eileen by e-mail and on our website.
Elizabeth Troyer shared to please be sure to add the name of anyone in need to our “Care & Concern” notebook.
Scholarship: (See above) Please be sure to add your donations to the scholarship basket.
Other Announcements:
*Thanks to Karen Wolford for our Table Favors, candy, etc. in honor of Flag Day.
*FOOD PANTRY: Thanks to everyone’s continued support for monthly food pantry donations.
Today there are 3 large boxes or so of “Helper” type meals collected. Such a great idea for us.
*“Grand-Pals”…Mary Ellinger shared this program offered at Cherry Valley Elem. Volunteers offer to write a few letters throughout the school year to a selected CV 4th grader, then a “cookies & punch gathering” takes place in the spring. This is a project of 4th Gr. Teacher Sally McKlusky. You can contact her at the school if you wish to participate.
*Other Executive Officers’ Meeting notes:
The nominating committee will begin working now in June for a slate of officers for voting on in October. Vice Pres. Janet Simross and other officers will be working on planning our programs for next year. The executive board also discussed and feels that we should not be asking members for donations to supplement speakers. Funds for this should be taken from our treasury—we should have a flexible budget that would allow for this minimal cost for only one or two speakers/programs each year.
*Upcoming Happenings of interest were shared:
“Cranberry Bog Day” is this Sat. 6/16 at Buckeye Lake; $5 for a guided tour of the bog.
“History Hop” presented by the Licking County Historical Alliance is also this Sat. 6/16; a $5 wristband get you admitted to 14 area Licking County museums.
“Friday Flicks”, classic movies at the Midland will be presented at 2 & 7 PM on selected Fridays, and are FREE for Senior Citizens!
*A trivia fact was shared: There are about 130 retired teachers in Ohio age 100 or over!
Meeting Adjourned at 2 PM.
Next meeting: August 8th, Stacey’s Homestyle Buffet, Heath; Program: United Way
Respectfully submitted,
Linda A. Leffel