ROTARY CLUB OF HOWLAND

September 14, 2020 (Howland, Ohio) — In late March of 2020, when COVID 19 cases surged in Ohio, Governor DeWine began a progressive series of orders that closed all but essential business and government services, the Rotary Club of Howland was faced with a series of extraordinary challenges. The small service club, comprised of approximately twenty volunteers, was faced with operational challenges including the lock-down of its weekly meeting location, Shepard of the Valley nursing home on North River Road, and government-ordered suspension of all in-person meetings and public gatherings. Additionally, the club faced adversity in meeting its mission of community service as it was facing cancellation of its primary fundraiser, the 43st Annual Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser planned for March and its Fly to Flag program that places more than 350 flags in local residences and businesses; and its support of the Howland meal delivery route for Trumbull County Mobile meals. Under the leadership of Club Presidents Steve Turner (2019-20) and Ken MacPherson (2020-21), the club was faced with many decisions and related to the challenges presented by the global pandemic. MacPherson recounts the Club’s response to the pandemic-related adversity, “The response by our club’s members to serve the community in the face of these new challenges shows a resilience that cuts to the core of who we are as a team. Our members have found creative ways to stay connected and continue to serve. Past-president Steve and I are proud of what our members have done during 2020 and continue to do to put service above self in the age of COVID.”

 

 

 

 

As the dark clouds of COVID moved into Ohio in March and April, Howland Rotarians were undeterred in their efforts to provide “Service Above Self” as their motto demands. But they had to creatively reframe the problem of how to deliver service in a new era of public gather restrictions, required social distancing and Rotary volunteers serving high-risk, elderly community members. The club members re-imagined how to deliver services during the spring and summer. Their creativity has resulted in several new approaches to community service for the Howland community.

 

While Ohio’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to more than 25% in the Spring and lines formed outside local food banks, the club decided to provide donations to local food banks and food security programs. Donations included $550 sent to Trumbull County Mobile Meals and $550 each for the Bolindale Foodbank and the Howland Community Church Foodbank. They continued their focus on feeding the most vulnerable by increasing their role in delivery of the critical nutrition for Howland residents served by the Trumbull County Mobile Meals program. As the program shifted to limited contact with elderly customers via weekly delivery of meals, up to 28 meals per household, Rotarian volunteers took on the additional effort required to make the route each Monday for more than 12 weeks, using COVID protocol, including masks and no contact delivery, to distribute the large quantities of frozen meals to Howland’s elderly residents in need.

 

Another challenge faced as a result of COVID was the club’s traditional support of graduating seniors. The club typically provides one graduating senior, selected by the Howland Community Foundation, with a $500 scholarship. This year the club increased that amount to $2,000 and presented the scholarship to Howland High School graduating senior Raymond Murray. The club typically supports graduation seniors via the annual Howland High School Tri-Alpha Scholar recognition luncheon. When this event was cancelled, along with so many other traditions for graduating seniors, Howland Rotarians once again identified an area where they have an impact. The club decided to ensure that every senior got the message that they are important and the community is proud of their accomplishments. To achieve this, the club contracted for the placement of a 30-foot billboard at the Market Street approach to entering Howland Township with daily traffic more than 14,000 vehicles. The billboard read “The Howland Rotary Club congratulates the Howland High School 2020 Graduates for a job well done!” 2019-20 Howland Rotary Club president Stephen Turner said of the decision to place the billboard, “The billboard was designed to recognize and show love for the seniors during an unusual year where they lost out on many traditional graduation activities typically enjoyed by senior classes. Since it was founded in the 1970’s, the Howland Rotary Club has always partnered with the Howland Schools in many ways including the former Interact service club, the Tri-Alpha recognition and as a founding scholarship provider in the Howland Community Scholarships program. The public expression through the billboard was in lieu of in-person support our club members have shown students in the past.”

 

 

 

On March 19th during his regular afternoon press conference, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine asked all Ohioans to display their Ohio and American flags as a sign of unity with each other and defiance against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve been attacked by this virus. We have to pull together,” DeWine said. “Fly that flag every single day.” The Rotary Club of Howland felt the same sentiment as club members turned their focus to decorating Howland homes and businesses with American flags during April and May, prior to Memorial Day. The club’s “Fly the Flag” program is not only a critical fundraiser for the club, as patrons pay $30 for the service, but it is a major show of patriotism and solidarity for the community. Program organizers Bob Sincich and Ken Able are reported that the club placed more than 350 flags that will fly across Howland until after Veterans Day in November. The club capped off its patriotic efforts in Spring 2020 with a $400 donation to a local Eagle scout project to place a flag retirement drop-box at Howland American Legion Post 700. The box will soon be available for area residents to drop off worn flags for dignified disposal.

 

 

 

 

Beginning in March, the Rotary Club of Howland began virtual meetings via the Google Meet app in lieu of in-person meetings. Showing discipline in its routine, the club has consistently conducted a weekly meeting online that includes the pledge of allegiance, a invocation prayer, happy dollars of gratitude from every Rotarian in attendance and a variety of speakers including a beekeeper from Cortland, Ohio, a communications professional from Cleveland and a state official from Columbus, Ohio. To add to fun of being a Rotarian, the club converted multiple social gatherings that had been planned prior to COVID, into virtual happy hours that included online Jeopardy and Pictionary games for attendees. In addition, to the regular meetings, the club has conducted monthly board of director meetings to convene the voting members and conduct official business. These meetings have provided a sense of normalcy and connection among the clubs members, some of whom are elderly and strictly following virus-related stay-at-home guidance.