Rotary Club of Struthers

On August 24, the Struthers Rotary and Struthers Rotary Community Corps hosted a picnic at Mauthe Park for the Struthers Fire Department and Struthers Police Department. The picnic was in appreciation of the jobs they do every day in the community. The Rotary and Community Corp also each donated $500 to the Police Dept to help fund the new K-9 dog they will be getting. The Rotary also donated $500 to the Fire Dept. We would also like to thank Aqua Ohio for their donation towards the meal.

Four Struthers High School graduates (former Interact members) who have spent time in international service were invited to relate their experiences to the Struthers Rotary Club by Rotarian Tom Baringer. At the August 9th meeting Shelly Stenglein, Elin Renstrom, Katelyn Ardale and Kalea Hall recounted their times as volunteers with various groups in foreign lands. Shelly Stenglein, now a 3rd grade teacher in the Struthers City Schools, travelled to El Salvadore to assist the Kings Castle Ministries ...in their efforts to provide religious education, medical and dental treatment and life skill training. There she saw first hand the living conditions experienced by many of the 3rd world countries and the efforts they need to expend simply to survive. Elin Renstrom joined the Peace Corps after her graduation from Youngstown State University. She served in the South Pacific as part of an education program teaching English as a Second Language and providing teachers training. She then returned home and joined Americorps to provide similar types of assistance in disadvantaged areas of the US. Katelyn Ardale is currently attending the University of Akron. She had volunteered with Meeting God in Missions, serving villages in the Dominican Republic known only by their number. Kalea Hall has used her degree in Journalism to write for the Youngstown Vindicator. Part of her personal education was a trip to Peru where she taught English. There she quickly learned to work with others as her co-volunteers found the need for mutual support in a foreign land where none were familiar with the lifestyle, living conditions or inherent dangers. Their travels exposed each of the young ladies to the realities of poverty around the world and the lack of attention paid by foreign governments to infrastructure and common public services. They attained an appreciation for the lifestyle enjoyed by the United States and learned the need for all of us to assist the less fortunate in the world to achieve a better society.