Phather Phil’s Prayer

Heavenly Father it seems at times that life can’t get any better and conversely at other times life can’t get worse. Regardless of where we are at, it is a time to pray. More often than not when things are going well we forget to give thanks, but are Jonnie on the spot to cry out to You for relief. Example: the season of cold is on the way out and we are looking forward to the sunshine, but it won’t take us long before we’re complaining about the heat. Help us to at least slow down about our complaining and put all that saved effort on our giving thanks. Amen!

Today’s Guests – WELCOME!

Guest	Guest Of
Sue Armstrong	Ohio District
Allayna Backowski	Amy Barker
Tom Kendo	Ohio District
Libby Nicholson	Speaker
Linda Russell	Donna Huss
Abby Tullis	Amy Barker
David Young	D Ralp Young
Tom Young	Mike Bevis

All Photos from the Meeting are Here

COVID-19 is affecting CNO meetings and events

The lunch meetings for 3/17/2020 and 3/24/2020 have been cancelled. Below are dates for meetings and events that may not happen. Please check the website and with committee chairs to be sure meetings are being held before you head for the meeting.

The Build-A-Bear event for Childhood Health and Wellness on 4/2/2020 has been cancelled.

The CNO 2.0 event on 3/19/2020 has been cancelled.

The NOW (New Optimist Welcome) Event on 3/26/2020 has been cancelled.

Committee Meetings

3/18/2020, 6 PM, Golf Committee at Buckeye Home Health Care on Paragon Rd. Future 2020 meetings will be 4/15, 5/13, 6/17, and 7/8.

4/9/2020, 6:30 PM Childhood Health and Wellness at Panera – downtown Centerville. Future 2020 meetings will be 5/14, 6/11, 7/9, 8/13, 9/10. All are welcome to attend.

Community Events

3/26/2020, 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, “New Optimist Wanted” (NOW) event will be held at Yankee Trace. Committee chairs will present what they do for new and prospective new members. If you are a committee chair, please let Donna Huss know if you can work a station for your committee. Please invite people you meet to come and find out more about our wonderful club.

4/4/2020, 9 AM, Egg Stuffing for the Easter Egg hunt at St. Leonard. Several volunteers are needed to help with this. It takes about an hour.

4/11/2020, 10 AM Easter Egg Hunt at St. Leonard. Volunteers are needed to spread the eggs out before the children aged 2-9 go and find the 7000 eggs.

Social Events

4/24/2020, Hunchback of Notre Dame play at CHS followed by dinner at Old Scratch pizza. Times will be provided later.

5/2/2020, Kentucky Derby Party at Remodeling Designs.

Mike Bevis is now a member of the Great Ohio District Hall of Fame

Two previous Governors from the Great Ohio District, Tom Kendo and Sue Armstrong, were at today’s lunch meeting to announce that Mike Bevis has been selected to be a member of the Great Ohio District Hall of Fame. Some criteria for being selected for the hall of fame include: contribute at least 10 years of service to the Ohio District, must have held the office of Lt Governor, will have attained Distinguished status as either President, Lt. Governor or Governor. This person shall have demonstrated the personal demeanor that is in keeping with the philosophy and goals of Optimist International and the Great Ohio District.

Thank you, Mike, for all you do and have done!

Mike’s service and achievements include

Chaired the CNO Tom Frazier Tee Off for Youth Golf Outing for the last 15 years, growing it to one of the most prestigious golf outings in the Dayton area.
CNO President 2009-2010
CNO member since 1/31/2002
Builder of Excellence Award for assistance in forming multiple clubs
Achieved Level 10 for PGA
Has brought in over 70 new club members; he usually has at least one guest each week
CNO Optimist of the Year for 2006-2007
CNO Christian D. Larson award for 2013
Co-captain of a Christmas tree lot team for 18 years
His flag team delivers over 150 flags in Yankee Trace
His flag team delivers 75 flags for the Greene Optimist Club
Co-Chairs the Marketing/Publicity committee
Co-Chairs the Americana Festival Booth
Lt Governor for Ohio 3 years from 2011-2014

WOW Award for Patrick Arehart

CNO President Greg Griffin presented a “Why Optimism Works” WOW award to Patrick Arehart. The certificate said, “Presented in recognition of your efforts in Bringing Out the Best in Kids, Yourself, and the Community and for iMagining the Power of YOU – Thank you!” Patrick has been writing the CNOtes since January 2018. He built the https://oflags.org app that helps with flag deliveries. He is a member of the technology committee and participates in many community events.

St Leonard Center Blanket Project

Donna Huss stated that the St Leonard Optimists had a winter project to make blankets for the children at CARE House. They made 24 fleece blankets and presented them to today’s speaker, Libby Nicholson, from CARE House. CARE House offers a blanket as a comfort item for each child as they leave.

CARE House – Libby Nicholson

Donna Huss introduced Libby Nicholson, MSSW, LISW-S, the director of CARE House located next to Dayton Children’s hospital at 410 Valley St, Dayton OH 45404.

From the CARE House website:

A children’s advocacy center (CAC) is a child-centered, facility-based program in which representatives from many disciplines — law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy — work together, conducting forensic interviews and making team decisions about the investigation, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases. A core belief in children’s advocacy centers is that the combined wisdom and professional knowledge of professionals of different disciplines will result in a more complete understanding of case issues and the most effective, child- and family-focused system response.

This is a copy of the slide deck Libby presented to us.

CARE House and other like it exists because the standard system is not user-friendly to clients. Before CARE House, children would be subjected to duplicate efforts by service providers and they are further traumatized by fragmented responses which increases the likelihood of cases falling through the cracks. Investigations before this program involved as many as 22 people asking the kids similar questions. By bringing all the services and providers under one roof, they are able to reduce the number of contacts down to three people.

This program was first established in Huntsville, Alabama by District Attorney Bud Cramer. He wanted to keep children from experiencing further trauma and to strengthen cases through improved coordination and communication. The goal is to improve the chances of holding offenders accountable.

CARE House began serving children in 1999. They have served over 10,000 children and they are accredited by the National Children’s Alliance. Founding partners include the Dayton Police Department, Montgomery County JFS-CSD, Dayton Children’s Hospital, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

The CARE House building is very pleasant, well lit, and has toys for kids.

The team consists of Caseworkers, Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, Victim Advocates, Mental Health Therapists, Medical Providers, Social Workers and Advocacy Center Staff. The interviewers are trained for forensic interviews. They are neutral and fact-finding. All interviews are recorded to capture the verbal and non-verbal cues.

After the interviews, a meeting is held with the caregiver to inform them of the investigative steps planned and establishes an appropriate safety plan for the child. As many as 40% of the children that come to CARE House are at risk of harming themselves. The mental health screening is a very important part of the process.

The team has weekly case reviews where they review and develop action plans and exchange information. They also educate each other with what they have learned.

Reports of suspected abuse cannot be made directly to CARE House. The appropriate entities to contact are Child Protective Services or Law Enforcement. Those entities will contact CARE House which will coordinate services and they are also available for consultation. CARE House sees about 1000 children per year.

Types of cases seen at CARE House include: Sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, minor victims of human trafficking, witnesses to violence.

Enough time has passed that there is now empirical research that shows that Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) provide significantly better results. Victims are twice as likely to receive medical exams. They are three times more likely to be referred for mental health services. Caregivers are more satisfied with the investigations. CAC saves 36% on investigations.

Benefits of a CAC include

Reduced child trauma
Significantly more coordinated investigations
More informed decisions
Support for non-offending caregivers
Reduced risk of re-victimization
Increased accountability for offenders
Finds gaps in the system

Thank You Notes sent to CNO

You can read recent thank you notes here.

CNO Donations 2013 through September 2019

Click this link to see a summary of the donations our club has made.

Over 50 years, we have donated close to $2,000,000 to our youth community. In the past 6 years, we have donated nearly $700,000.

Birthdays

Member	Birthday
JC Jones	March 10
Morgan Schiffhauer	March 12
Gareth Dickey	March 14
Vida McDowell	March 15
Brian Nolan	March 16
Bob Foster	March 16

Membership Anniversaries

Member	Month	Day	Joined	# Years
Bob Glavin	March	12	3/12/1993	27
Shane Wilken	March	14	3/14/2003	17
Steve Kohls	March	14	3/14/2003	17

New Member Readings and Inductions

Name	Sponsor	1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction
Margie Jones	Mike Bevis	3rd Reading
Anne Miller	Evelyn Griffin	2nd Reading
Maureen Ruff	Debe Dockins	2nd Reading

Sergeants at Arms

Member	Infraction
Greg Griffin	Flawed painting job in the foyer at Yankee Trace
Chris McAlpine	Jay McAlpine forgot where he saved his seat at lunch today and blamed his kid for messing with his mind as he grew up
Patrick Arehart	Almost forgetting the photo opportunity after receiving his WOW award today

Happy Bucks!

Member	Reason
Tom Kendo	Congratulations Mike Bevis for being added to the Ohio District Hall of Fame
Sue Armstrong	Congratulations Mike Bevis for being added to the Ohio District Hall of Fame

Libby Nicholson – Care House