At our weekly meeting on December 2, 2016, President Elect Amanda Tietze filled in for a travelling President Craig Young.  President Elect Amanda welcomed our members and guests to the meeting. Amanda then asked everyone to keep Rotarian Ward Scott in their thoughts and prayers. Ward is recovering at Canton Christian Home, Room #258, from health issues in which he has lost over 70 lbs.
 
Amanda then asked those Rotarians with a December birthday to stand and be recognized.
 
Rotarian Justin Candea the gave the Invocation.
 
Secretary Suzette Matthews welcomed the following guests to the meeting:  speaker Bob Gessner and his wife Nancy Gessner, Joyce Carr and Pat Fuller (guests of Bob Carr); Ted Miller and John McGrath (guest of Lynn Hamilton); Mark Shaffer (new member introduced); Dave Dicola (guest of PP Denny Fulmer); Dusty Szarell Hughes (guest of Tony Pierce); and Ryan Fulmer (guest of Nick Perini).
 
The "Happy Bucks" news was then provided by the following:
 
  • Mark Clendenin - happy to celebrate the big OSU win over Michigan last Saturday;
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  • Paul Feaser - happy to celebrate his grandson's amazing 3rd place finish (out of 36,000 teenagers!) at PGA Jr golf tour;
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  • PP Rick Taylor - pleased to honor his Massillon friends at the meeting. He also provided a donation guaranteeing the Browns would't lose on Sunday (they had a bye week!);
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  • Bob Gessner (speaker) - was happy to thank the club for the warm welcome to the meeting;
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  • PP Denny Fulmer - happy to recognize Grace Werren (Rotarians Curt and Stephanie Werren's daughter) for being Repository Student of the Month and for her accomplishments;
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  • Dave Beule - wanted to encourage all to see great photo in the Repository of Canton Brewing and to invite all to come to First Friday and try the newly launched Holiday Brew;
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  • Frank Fleischer - to let everyone know that the symphonic tribute to rock & roll, "Rocktopia", that his son conducted, was being re0aired on PBS on Saturday night
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  • Adrian Allison - to celebrate "A Christmas Carol" now on stage at the Players Guild and to recognize his daughter's role in the performance;
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  • Suzette Matthews - would like to ask everyone to keep Jan Baker in their thoughts and prayers;
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  • Robert K. Matthews - wanted to thank everyone for their grass roots marketing efforts and hard work to make the Health & Wellness Fair a success.
Rotarian Theresa Blocher then presented the PolioPlus Rotofact.
 
PP Dan Matthews then took to the podium to introduce the newest member to the Rotary Club of Canton, Mark Shaffer (see story above).
 
President Elect Amanda then had the "Tip Jars" sent around the room to collect 'tips' for the exceptional service from the staff at Mr. Mike's Catering/Meyer's Lake Ballroom provided to us throughout the year. The "Tip Jar" will once again be available on Friday, December 9th.
 
Amanda then reminded everyone of the upcoming Rotary office "OPEN HOUSE" scheduled for Thursday, December 8, 2016 from 4 pm - 7 pm. (see above story for address and further details on this event).
 
Amanda then provided members an update on the Charitable Fund Drive.  To date, $4,995.00 has been raised.
 
PP Denny Fulmer then introduced the speaker Robert Gessner, MCTV Stark County's Fiber Future speaking on "Private Industry or Government Owned".
 
Amanda concluded the meeting by reminding everyone of next week's speakers -- Mike Novelli and Christy Brechtel from Autlcare speaking on the "Driving Change in Healthcare Delivery System".
 
The following Rotarians turned in a makeup during Friday's meeting:  Phil Lattavo (4-Massillon, 1-Canton South, 3-Tuscon, AZ); Bill Maddox (Jackson); Ernie Schott (East Canton).