PeopleClips

Tiffin Rotary President Charlene Thomas opened the Sept. 9 meeting at the Chandelier Event Center. Rev. Phil Moerdyk offered the invocation. Guests today included Samara Ahmed, Nancy Weaver and Susan Wilkinson, who was a prospective member. Joe Weaver was our lone Visiting Rotarian. Attendance today was 21. The Basket Fund raised $33. Dave Weininger won the Weekly Drawing and Char Pope won the Free Lunch. Celebrating birthdays this week were Beth Schweitzer (today), Leanne Smith, Rachal Tate and Janet Shutt. Charlene Thomas reported that we have raised over $42,000 towards the Centennial Clock with 25 members participating. Keith Hodkinson reported that he attended the Zone meeting in Columbus last week. 500 Rotarians from Zones 30 and 31 attended. Char Pope reported that the Rotary Ribs Rock & Rum event has raised $5900 from sponsors, with more to come. Nikki Distel reported that United Way will sponsor a Celebrity Bartender event on October 18th at the Seneca County Fairgrounds. She is looking for teams and asked if Rotary might be interested in a Rotary Guys vs. Rotary Gals competition. Teams can be 4-6 pe1880ople with 30-minute shifts. The idea is to see who can sell the most drinks. Fellow Rotarian Matthew Ross was our speaker today. Matt is the Executive Director of the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library. He noted that our library was first founded in 1880 in the Market Housen of Town Hall. They began their operation with 1600 books provided by the Canton, OH YMCA. They received a grant from the Carnegie Foundation and built the library on Jefferson Street and Perry Street. They remained in that location from 1912 to 1975 when they moved to their new building on the corner of Jefferson and Perry Streets. They then built the annex in 1988 and remodeled in 2017. Currently, they have 74,000 physical items, along with 27 public computers and free internet. Their staff put on 9,940 programs with 8,879 attendees. They also recorded 10,400 cardholders. Our library provides a wide variety of programming for adults and youth alike, including book groups, craft events, community reads, tech programs and even 3-D printing. They have a $2M budget and employ 30+ people. For more info, go to www.tiffinsenecalibrary.org. Attica Woman's Literary Guild The Attica Woman's Literary Guild met on September 9 with 12 members present. We gathered at the Attica Community Church and traveled to visit Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield. We self-toured the beautiful grounds which opened in 1953. It is a vibrant historic destination and public garden that was once the home of industrialist Charles Kelly King. Kingwood spans 47 acres of wonderful floral displays, woodland trails, a display greenhouse, a duck pond, and the Kingwood Hall mansion. The hall, the historic centerpiece of the estate, was built in 1926 and guests are invited to admire the beautifully preserved rooms offering a glimpse into the elegance of a bygone era. After enjoying the many features of the garden, we proceeded to lunch at the Olive Garden where we conducted our meeting. President Paula Karr called the meeting to order and all members joined in reading the Collect. She read a poem "September" by Helen Hunt Jackson. Jackson was a contemporary of Emily Dickinson but far less well-known. She was a poet, novelist, and activist who campaigned on behalf of Native Americans. The minutes of the May meeting were read and the treasurer's report was presented. Both were approved as read. Pennies for the library were collected and roll call was naming your favorite flower. President Paula read the Advertiser Tribune article in which she was interviewed for the 125th Anniversary of the Attica Guild. It was a nice tribute to our Guild. Historian Cheryl Ulmer stated that she will present her 2024-2025 report at the January, 2026 meeting. We will meet on October 14, 2025 at the Attica Community Church as 11:45 a.m. and travel to Pickwick Place, Bucyrus OH. The meeting was adjourned.