PeopleClips

Tiffin Rotary President Beth Schweitzer called the meeting to order at 12:10. Phil Moerdyk gave the invocation. Beth informed the club that a Slate of Officers for next year would soon be presented for a vote, possibly as early as next week. Beth also reminded Rotarians about the upcoming One Rotary Summit on February 7. This meeting will take place online and does require registration through DACdb. There were 25 Rotarians present, and 2 guests, Isabelle Lewis and Charlene Thomas. Anne Lange DeVine and Ed Lewis spoke about this year's Rotary Auction. Current thinking is that it will be a "non-auction" auction. The club will reach out to members and the business community to ask them to donate. Instead of a normal auction, we will be looking for 1-3 big ticket items to raffle. The goal is to raise $300 per Rotarian, or total of $20,000. To do this, Anne and Ed need raffle item ideas from Rotarians. They hope to have raffle completed by the end of June. Ed also mentioned it's really important to get behind the golf outing this year in order to help our fundraising efforts. Keith Hodkinson presented the district report. Keith received a thank you from Anne Gase for the $5000 district grant. Anne reported that there were 522 kids enrolled in the Imagination Library at this point. Keith also mentioned the One Rotary Summit. The meeting will look at three facets of Rotary's success: our foundation, public image and membership. This summit, which will only last a few hours, is for everyone, not just those in leadership positions. Keith highly encourages anyone who is able to attend. This week, there was no Foundation report. Janet Shutt presented the Birthday Report. There was one birthday this week, Tom Zirm. While Keith Hodkinson's birthday was last week, he was also recognized at this meeting. Our Speaker was Dave Spridgeon, proprietor of The Renaissance, who discussed the History of Bourbon. Tiffin Historic Trust President Nevin Martin hosted the Tiffin Historic Trust February board meeting via Zoom. Treasurer Mike Pinkston noted that membership renewals are coming in and that the organization also received some year-end donations. Members were sent an email providing information for renewing online or by mail. Robb Mack reported that the Architectural Board of Review has received applications for signage changes. He expects the board will begin receiving requests for approval of façade improvements related to the façade enhancement grants.Board members are updating their committee assignments and will be seeking general members interested in serving on the committees. Looking toward National Preservation Month in May, Mary Lewis suggested submitting preservation related articles to the newspaper covering such topics as the history of the Tiffin Historic Trust, the development of Tiffin's historic districts and the National Register of Historic Places. She also proposed holding a "Beauty Pageant" for downtown buildings!The board members learned that the water heater in the adjacent rental property developed a leak that was not discovered for some time due to the late receipt of the water bill. The Trust will replace the water heater and will contact Aqua Ohio about the bill. The board discussed some possible options for the Tiffin City Schools current administration building in the former Cunningham house. Future plans call for moving the TCS administration offices to an accessible building.Several board members attended a webinar on "New Solutions for House Museums: Five Lessons Learned" presented by Donna Ann Harris and hosted by Heritage Ohio.The next virtual meeting of the board is 6:30 p.m., Monday, March 1. Kiwanis Club of Tiffin The Kiwanis Club of Tiffin met virtually on February 4 with 28 in attendance. Club vice president Tom Schweitzer introduced Dave Spridgeon as the speaker. Dave owns The Renaissance of Tiffin and The Pink Lady. He spoke about the history of bourbon. Dave said that while all bourbon is whiskey, not all whiskey is bourbon. Whiskey is s spirit distilled from fermented grain mash including wheat, rye, barley and corn and then aged in wooden barrels. Whiskey is made all over the world but bourbon is produced only in the United States and is made from 51% corn. Bourbon also needs to be stored in new charred-oak barrels. Whiskey needs to be in oak but not new or charred. Bourbon also needs to be distilled to no more than 160 proof or less and entered into the barrel at 125. It also has to be 80% alcohol by volume. Bourbon is the only federally regulated spirit. Dave said that the closure of The Renaissance due to the governor's orders for a time during COVID-19 was difficult but purchase and operation of The Pink Lady food truck and limo party bus helped keep the bar alive. Business with the food truck exploded as it served 100-150 people each time it went out. Since re-opening and most recently being able to stay open until 11 p.m. has seen business increase. The meeting opened with "I Can Only Imagine" and Andy Wiedemann led the group in The Pledge of Allegiance. John Millar provided the prayer and Melissa Mullins served as the greeter. Becky Bohn celebrated her club anniversary. Rich Traunero, Clark Hutson, John Millar, Mark Zeno and club president Michelle Tuite celebrated or will be celebrating birthdays over the next week. Members of the club remembered Bev Kline who recently passed away. Bev was one of the first female members of the Kiwanis Club of Tiffin. Red Envelope campaign envelopes began arriving in the mail. Melissa Mullins reminded members that monetary donations are being collected for Birthday Bags for foster kids in Seneca County. Donations can be mailed to or be dropped off at Kiwanis Manor. Information will be sent out about the upcoming Easter candy sale fundraiser. Eric Willman is working on getting information out for interclubs. Beth McFarlan-Hutson reported that to date three have registered for the upcoming Ohio Circle K convention.