Students representing Avon, Avon Lake and Brookside High Schools challenged themselves in the North Coast Rotary 4-Way Test Speech Contest, now in its tenth year. Dr. Cathy Pugh, Rotarian and speech contest judge said, “The students were an impressive group, poised and prepared and they chose interesting and timely topics.”
Dylan Roof, Avon HS earned 1st place recognition and will proceed to the Rotary District Speech contest. Camryn Evans, also from Avon HS earned 2nd place. Both Avon Lake HS student Seamus Sinclair and Brookside HS student Sabrina Bibb tied for 3rd place. Read more here: Rotary Four-Way Speech Contest
“With the biggest crowd in 4 years, Avon High school was proud to support North Coast Rotary’s annual pizza bake off!” commented Avon Superintendent Ben Hodge. Close to 400 guests enjoyed sampling pizza and voting for their favorites. Many guests continued on to the Fusion concert sure of a seat in the new expanded capacity Performing Arts Center.
White Box Pizza won the People’s Choice Award and the Best Crust Award; Master Pizza won Best Pepperoni; Marco’s Pizza won Best Specialty and Domino’s Pizza won the Judge’s Choice Award. Rotary thanks these pizzerias for their participation.
Joe Matuscak, Rotary club and foundation president and Doug Maurer who coordinated the event thank the many guests who attended, the Rotarian and Interact Club volunteers, Avon High School staff, the Fusion Concert performers, Midway Trophies and our club and foundation sponsors (see Placemat Recognition).
North Coast Rotary donated $100 towards the Avon Unified Sports organization. Remaining proceeds will be used for youth and community initiatives.
Donna Kelly Sprinkle, Rotarian and Manager of the Avon Library gave Rotarians a hands-on, comprehensive tour last week of the newly opened library. Everyone was very impressed! See it for yourself at 37485 Harvest Drive, Avon, OH 44011.
“I’ve been in Avon Lake for over 30 years and didn’t realize what a gem we have in our city” said one Rotarian after informative presentations from Chief of Utility Operations Greg Yuronich and Facilities and Asset Manager Bobby Kimevski.
Rotarians learned about daily operations and from real experiences what must be done to overcome unexpected events (remember “Frazil Ice”). In years past, ALRW was awarded the best quality water in Ohio~our ALRW supplied tap water is better than bottled water!
A big thank you to Greg Yuronich and Bobby Kimevski and Board member Dave Rickey who facilitated this tour. Avon Lake Regional Water supplies 200,000+ customers in seven counties, and you can learn more at: https://avonlakewater.org/
Mayor Zilka and Community Development Director Ted Esborn presented an update on the demolition, remediation and restoration of the Avon Lake Power Plant and its site. They explained their proactive efforts to work with ALERG (Avon Lake Environmental Redevelopment Group) towards economic and community improvements in Avon Lake. (Updates available at: https://www.avonlake.org/economic-development/power-plant-updates)
Rotarians and Marilyn Zeidner, Executive Director for Music on a Mission, took the opportunity to discuss Avon Lake Make Music Day plans for June 21st. This year most of the performances will be at Avon Lake High School, the Old Fire House and Veterans’ Park. Recognizing that the event is growing, Mayor Zilka committed to continue support of this initiative. See excerpts from last year’s performances here: https://www.avonlake.org/digital-media/videos?action=show&video=MTcxNw==
“Walking into the meeting this week felt like home..” said Donna Kelly Sprinkle as President Joe Matuscak re-inducted Donna into North Coast Rotary membership.
Donna, who took a break from Rotary while she managed the expansion of the Avon library looks forward to once again being a part of the great projects that Rotary is working on in the community.
Continuing her father’s legacy as a rotarian Donna chooses to wear her father’s rotary pin. North Coast Rotary welcomes Donna who is so active in and informed about the Avon community.
Club members look forward to touring the Avon library on February 7th.
Rotarians and the North Coast Rotary Foundation supported various community and youth initiatives in November and December 2022.
Financial support included $250 in cash donations to the Sheffield Lake/Sheffield Village Holiday Baskets program, the $250 purchase of 50 cans of Parmesan Cheese for the Avon Lake/Avon CRS Spaghetti Dinner baskets, $100 in gift cards for the Avon and French Creek Foundation tree lighting festival raffle and $70 in gift cards for the Camp Imagine 14th Anniversary Benefit Celebration. Rotarians also volunteered at the Holiday Basket food and toy sorting, and as drivers and soup-servers for the Empty Bowls by the Lake event at the Avon Lake High School.
Youth projects include recognition of Students of the Month from Avon, Avon Lake and Sheffield/Sheffield Lake Schools. Recognition includes a presentation at our monthly rotary meeting, certificate of achievement, gift card to a local pizzeria and passes to Main Event. Upcoming youth projects are the 4-Way Test Speech contest for high school students, and the 4-Way Test Essay contest for 7th and 8th graders.
Serving Soup at Empty Bowls by the LakeGift Cards for Camp ImagineGift Cards for Avon Tree Lighting RaffleToys for the Holiday Baskets
Use the link above to support the North Coast Rotary FUNdraiser football squares for the Michigan vs. OSU game.
THE NUMBERS FOR THE FOOTBALL SQUARES WILL BE SELECTED WHEN THE GRID IS FILLED.
How it works:
Once all the squares have been selected, we will randomly pick numbers from 0-9 for each team, and assign that number to a particular row or column. These numbers represent the last number in the score of each team. In other words, if the score is OSU 17 – Michigan 14, then the winning square is the one with an OSU number of 7, and a Michigan number of 4.
Since this is a Fund Raiser, 50% of the proceeds will go to North Coast Rotary Foundation and the other 50% will be distributed among the participants with the winning square(s) each quarter.
How to Pay:
Payment can be made by the following:
Venmo to: Larry-calabrese-2
Check: Mail to North Coast Rotary Foundation, PO Box 212, Avon Lake, Ohio 44012
Cash at Rotary meetings.
Winnings Breakdown for Squares
End of 1st Quarter: 10%
End of 2nd Quarter: 10%
End of 3rd Quarter: 10%
End of Game: 20%
Payout to Rotary: 50%
North Coast Rotary Foundation uses the funds received to support youth and community initiatives. These include scholarships, essay contest and speech contest prizes, youth leadership programs, library storybook trail projects, donations to Community Resource Services families in need and more. Contributions to North Coast Rotary Foundation are exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code (tax id number 27-1750247).
Last week, twenty-two fleece blankets were delivered to Lorain County Children’s Services (LCCS) to be given to foster children. LCCS has almost 150 foster children in their care. Each child will receive a blanket as they are placed with a foster family. LCCS expects the need for more blankets in January. They thanked the North Coast Rotarians, past president Doug Maurer who coordinated the project and the French Creek Family Y Caps & Laps group who helped knot the blankets.
Cindy Kushner and Ken Mather were inducted into the North Coast Rotary club last week by Club President Joe Matuscak. Both are already actively involved in the community, and they look forward to doing more!
Cindy, the Director of School & Community Partnerships at Lorain County Community College, “loves the connection with Rotary in the community and the world” and also acknowledged the importance of her ten years of military service.
“Faith and family” are very important to Ken who has been friends with Joe Matuscak for over thirty years. Ken is serving as the Director of Business Development of Paul Davis Cleveland, a commercial restoration and emergency service provider.
Our Rotary Club will be stronger for their membership!
North Coast Rotary Club and Foundation 