Bob Burkman’s Prayer
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for bringing us through another July. Summer is one of Your greatest creations. We appreciate the sunshine, the flowers and trees and the singing of the birds, but the humidity…..not so much. As we welcome August, we thank You for family outings and picnics. May the hot dogs be hot, the ice cream stay frozen and may the mosquitoes find another place to be.
Bless the members of the Centerville Noon Optimist Club. Renew our optimism, strengthen our friendships and guide us as we seek to bring out the best in our youth, our community and one another. May our words encourage, our actions inspire and our laughter remind us that joy is one of Your greatest gifts.
In Your holy name we pray.
Amen.
Get to Know Gary Smiga
President Sarah Umbreit interviewed Gary Smiga for this week’s “Get to Know a Member.”
- Growing up, Gary wanted to be a teacher, and after four years at Miami University, he achieved that goal, teaching right here in Centerville.
- What he likes most about the Tuesday noon meetings is the camaraderie and the food.
- Asked whether he prefers to take direction or give direction, Gary said it depends on the person, so he likes to do a little of both and assess the situation first. He added that he assesses especially carefully when the other person is his wife.
Gary Smiga joined CNO on December 1, 1985, sponsored by Will Cale.
Happy Birthday Sandy Stevens
July 28 was Sandy Stevens’ birthday, and Sandy made a genuine effort to enjoy it quietly from a table in the middle of the room. It took three calls of her name to get her to the front, where Bob Duffy led the club in our traditionally awful rendition of “Happy Birthday.” She was repaid later in the meeting when the silent auction raffle numbers were drawn and her ticket came up, so she went home with a prize as well. Happy birthday, Sandy.
Announcements
Directory Headshots
Julie Walling Noeth will take free professional headshots for the new member directory at next Tuesday’s meeting on August 4, 2026, in the lobby from 11:00 AM until the meeting and again after until 1:30 PM. The photos are yours to keep and use however you like.
Putt-Putt and Pizza Club Social
Sarah Umbreit announced, on behalf of Connie Risch, that the next club social will be Putt-Putt and Pizza on Sunday, August 23, 2026, at 4:00 PM at Magic Castle just off Wilmington Pike. The cost is $8 per person, and you must pay online when you sign up. Food follows around 6:00 PM at a spot still to be decided, and members who cannot make the putt-putt are welcome to join for pizza. Please sign up using the Member Calendar.
TOP Soccer Kickoff
Sarah Umbreit announced that the TOP Soccer kickoff, where players register and meet their teams, will be held on Sunday, August 16, 2026, from 3:00 to 4:00 PM at Oak Grove Park.
TOP Soccer is the club’s soccer program for children with special needs. It runs twice a week for an hour from mid-August to mid-October, on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, and volunteers help either as assistant coaches or as on-field buddies paired with a player. No soccer experience is required.
National Night Out and Summer Night Lights
Andy Higgins shared two August events. Several separate National Night Out events are held around the area on Tuesday, August 4, and the club will be at the Centerville one at Stubbs Park from 5:00 to 8:30 PM. Washington Township holds its own that evening, described below. That Saturday, August 8, is Summer Night Lights at Centerville High School, a volleyball clinic the club supported with a $2,000 donation to the girls’ volleyball team. Admission is $5, and the event is a fundraiser for the kids. At both events the club will set up a booth to talk about CNO and preview the Capable Kids mental health event launching in September.
Dime-a-Day
Art Hung encouraged every member who is not already taking part to sign up for Dime-a-Day, both to celebrate President Sarah Umbreit’s year and to welcome incoming President Greg Wasmund this fall. You can enroll or give through the Optimist International Foundation.
Avenue of Flags Assembly Parties
Tom Novak announced two Avenue of Flags assembly parties to build 200 more flags, on Wednesday, July 29, and Wednesday, August 5, 2026, from 10:00 AM until 11:30 AM. Half the crew runs drills and the other half rolls, labels, and organizes the flags, so both kinds of help are needed. Please contact Tom if you can lend a hand.
Silent Auction Raffle
Debe Dockins reported that the raffle for the silent auction baskets left over from the Tom Frazier Tee Off for Youth Golf Outing was a success. Several baskets are still left, so over the next few weeks you can try to win one in a raffle at the weekly lunch meetings. Tickets are $1 each or eight for $5.
Heart of Centerville Magazine
Sarah Umbreit shared that the club is well represented in the current Heart of Centerville magazine. The Avenue of Flags ad celebrating 250 years appears in the “Helping Hands in Centerville” section, noting that the program now displays more than 4,000 flags, and new member Augustina DeLeon is featured as well.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office in Washington Township
Debe Dockins introduced the afternoon’s speakers and shared that Sarah Swan, Communications Director for Washington Township, reached out to invite officers from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to visit the club. Deputy Chris Kidwell has 19 years of service with the Sheriff’s Office, and this September will mark his first full year as the Community Oriented Policing Deputy for Washington Township. Kathy DeBos is the Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team Co-Responder for Washington Township, a social services professional with more than 30 years in behavioral health who comes to the Sheriff’s Office from Eastway Behavioral Healthcare. Deputy Kyle Chmiel, who partners with Kathy on her follow-up visits, joined them at the front of the room. Members will remember him as one of this year’s John P. Kalaman Respect for Law Award recipients.
The Crisis Intervention Team Co-Responder Program
Kathy DeBos explained that the Sheriff’s Office launched the program in July 2020, after recognizing the growing need for a specialized response to people in a mental health crisis, situations that call for de-escalation or an assessment for treatment rather than a trip to jail. The team is two behavioral health professionals employed by Eastway and contracted to the Sheriff’s Office. Kathy covers Washington Township, her partner works out of Harrison Township, and together they also cover Jefferson Township. Referrals come from other agencies, neighbors, family members, and places such as the RecPlex, but the majority come from the deputies.
The primary goal is to connect people to the right resources while reducing unnecessary arrests. The team regularly works with people experiencing mental illness or substance abuse, developmental disabilities including autism, dementia, domestic violence, and juveniles in crisis. On arrival they assess immediate needs, which may mean assessing suicide risk, identifying medical concerns, or finding out whether the person is safe in their housing. A large part of the job is de-escalation. Sometimes people simply need someone to slow things down, listen without judgment, and help them feel heard.
Follow-Up and the Numbers
The work does not stop when the crisis ends, and Kathy has stayed in contact with some people for years. She described one Washington Township resident the team grew so close to that she is now in a nursing home telling the staff the Sheriff’s Office is going to come break her out. The staff thought it was her dementia talking until the deputies showed up. “She became our family,” Kathy said. “Our job isn’t about solving every problem. Our job is to meet the people where they are.”
Since she started the position, Kathy has had 2,085 contacts with residents and their families in Washington Township, and she has seen more than 300 people so far this year through June. Roughly 31 percent of Crisis Intervention Team calls involve seniors and about 16 percent involve youth, a reminder that behavioral health crises reach people at every stage of life.
Crisis Intervention Training for Deputies
The program works as well as it does because of the partnership with the deputies, and because Sheriff Rob Streck believes strongly in it. Every deputy completes a 40-hour crisis intervention course. Deputy Kyle Chmiel described the exercise that stayed with him most: participants wear headphones playing voices in their ears while someone across the table asks them to complete simple tasks. He said it gives an officer a real sense of what someone in a mental health crisis is going through, so that when he recognizes those symptoms in the field, he approaches the situation very differently. He added that having a co-responder along has reduced the threat deputies face, because people who once would not open the door now invite him in.
Kathy closed with the message she most wanted the club to hear. Mental illness does not discriminate, and most of us either know someone or have lost someone who struggled with it. “We build relationships, we connect people with hope, we reduce the stigma of mental health, and every day we strive to make sure that the right response is available at the right time,” she said.
Community Oriented Policing
Deputy Chris Kidwell then described his role. The Sheriff’s Office, as his slides put it, “is committed to the philosophy of Community Oriented Policing,” holding that the traditional role of the officer must expand to that of problem solver. Much of that work is giving people someone they can call. Rather than calling dispatch, residents and business owners call him directly, and he pointed to a recent internal theft at a local business that ended in an approved felony filing.
His largest training program is Run, Hide, Fight, held on site at businesses and community centers to help people prepare for an active threat. He created a Realtor Safety presentation after a local real estate firm asked for training, and has since given it to apartment complexes across the township. The Fraud and Scams presentation, developed with the county’s Information Technology Director and Media Director, drew more than 100 people to the Township Building, including several recent victims of fraud.
Crime Prevention and Community Events
Deputy Kidwell conducts on-site security assessments for businesses, houses of worship, and residences, which the Township recently moved to offering quarterly assessments. Neighborhood watches, business watches, and the Walker Watch program reduce crime through awareness, and he noted that FBI data supports the idea that people out walking, especially with animals, greatly reduces crime because there are eyes everywhere. Many of these programs went dormant during COVID and he is working to reintroduce them. The office also runs traffic blitzes based on resident complaints.
Community events are where the Sheriff’s Office and the Centerville Noon Optimist Club share the most common ground, because so much of the work involves youth and their families. Events include Laser Tag With The Badge, Cops N’ Bobbers, Hop With A Cop, Dine with a Deputy, and National Night Out. Washington Township’s National Night Out is Tuesday, August 4, 2026, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at 5471 Far Hills Avenue, separate from the Centerville event at Stubbs Park where the club will have a booth. Neighborhood cookouts are a favorite, with residents providing the food and the Sheriff’s Office bringing the grills, and through Serving for Santa the township raised $1,000 in its first year and provided Christmas for 18 children.
Slide Deck
Most of the deck is covered above, but you can view the presentation slides here.
Thank You
Thank you, Kathy DeBos, Deputy Chris Kidwell, and Deputy Kyle Chmiel, for showing us how crisis intervention and community oriented policing keep Washington Township safe, and thank you for your service.
New Member Readings and Inductions
- Joellen Ulliman, First Reading, sponsored by Christy Gariety
- John Walter, Second Reading, sponsored by Larry Lynde
- Jon Hazelton, Second Reading, sponsored by Bob Duffy
- David Giffin, Induction, sponsored by Erin Giffin
Happy Bucks
- Art Hung gave a happy buck because his daughter performed with the community band last week. The performance was terrific and it drew a huge turnout.
- Debby Moore gave a happy buck because her granddaughter joined her for lunch and her son is in town visiting.
- Carol Smerz gave a happy buck for all the volunteers who served food to 200 children at Chevy Chase.
- Andy Higgins gave a happy buck because his daughter is home for a couple of weeks doing her clinical rotations, including one at SICSA.
- Bob Collins gave a happy buck for his new great-granddaughter, who is about a month old.
- Myron Rheaume gave a happy buck for the work the Sheriff’s Office presented today.
- Myron Rheaume gave a happy buck because his granddaughter Kyla graduated last week from Kettering College with a Bachelor of Science in Sonography and is being recruited by Cincinnati Children’s, Dayton Children’s, Kettering Health, and Premier Health.
- Myron Rheaume gave a happy buck for 39 years with this wonderful organization helping children in the community.
Sergeants-at-Arms Fines: Jeff Busch and Mike Thonnerieux
Jeff Busch and Mike Thonnerieux served their last meeting as Sergeants-at-Arms, and they made the most of it.
- Sarah Umbreit was fined for not allowing enough time for Sergeants-at-Arms, which let four weeks to go by without any fines.
- Sarah Umbreit was asked whether she could measure up, and was presented with a set of Mickey Mouse measuring spoons.
- Gary Anderson was fined $2 for putting his name badge in the very first slot, the spot Gail Aiken considers hers.
- Gary Anderson was fined on an overdue charge from the meeting at Benham’s Grove a few weeks ago, where he interrupted the introduction of guests to give Jay McAlpine a hard time about his shirt. The Sergeants never got to collect that day, because his diatribe used up the time they had for fines.
- Gary Smiga was fined for asking the sergeants to reserve three tables for guests of honor last week, then brought his own signs to reserve the tables, which the Sergeants ruled was not very optimistic of him.
- Scott Langer and Bob Duffy were fined for sitting at one of the reserved tables.
- Don Kelley was fined for clapping and cheering when he heard it was the Sergeants’ last day.
- Tom Novak was fined for announcing that half the flag assembly crew has drills and half has hands, without explaining how anyone runs a drill with no hands.
- Charlie Goodwin, Gary Anderson, Bob Myers, Debe Dockins, Tim Clemmer, and Bob Duffy were among the members fined for wearing obnoxious Hawaiian shirts, which escalated into a dance-off.
Bob Duffy was fined again. There was no clear winner of the dance-off, but there was one dance that clearly deserved a fine, and it was his.
Welcome Guests
| Guest | Guest Of |
| Beth Giffin | Erin Giffin |
| Chris Kidwell | Speaker |
| David Giffin | Inducted Today |
| Hobie Horn | Tony Miltenberger |
| Joellen Ulliman | In Readings |
| John Walter | Larry Lynde |
| Jon Hazelton | In Readings |
| Kathy DeBos | Speaker |
| Kyle Chmiel | Speaker |
| Leila Giffin | Erin Giffin |
| Mark Murdock | Byron Wade |
| Penelope Brinkerhoff | Debby Moore |
Club Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Joined | Years |
| Donna Robinson | July 28, 1997 | 29 |
| Christina Clemmer | July 30, 2023 | 3 |
| Alice Onady | July 30, 2023 | 3 |
| Julie Woodruff | July 30, 2023 | 3 |
| Myron Rheaume | August 1, 1987 | 39 |
Birthdays
| Sandy Stevens | July 28 |
| Dan Beck | July 29 |
| John Powell | July 30 |
| Steve Linder | July 30 |
| Todd Muckerheide | July 30 |
| Jeff Mogg | July 31 |
| Melissa Deeter | August 3 |
Thank You Notes Received this Week
CLICK HERE to see the Thank You Notes received this week
Links to PowerPoint and Pictures
CLICK HERE to see the PowerPoint Slide Deck from this week’s meeting