Meeting Recap

TJ Gigliotti gave the invocation, including a tribute to George Schindler, and led the pledge.

Students

The Mustang Express visited us.  The show choirs are in the middle of a busy season, with several recent concerts, and upcoming competitions, veterans program, and appearance at the Cavs game on November 7th.

New Member Induction

At Fridays meeting we inducted Bill Wingler as our newest member of the club.  Bill is the principal at the High School, and was sponsored by his daughter Sarah Wingler.

New Member Bio

Strongsville Police Chief Tom O’Deens has served the city for over 30 years, working his way up from patrol officer to detective, sergeant, lieutenant, and now chief. He shared that one of the things he’s come to appreciate most since becoming chief is how well the entire city works together — council, departments, and community — all moving in the same direction to make Strongsville a great place to live.

Tom grew up in Cleveland Heights, graduated from Benedictine High School, and attended Kent State University. He and his wife Lisa have been married for about 34 years and have four grown children—two sons and two daughters. Both sons attended Ohio University and served in the military, with deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. One son is married and has given Tom and Lisa two granddaughters. One daughter lives in England with her boyfriend, a semi-professional soccer player she met at Penn State who once played for the Akron Zips.

When he’s not working, Tom enjoys spending time outdoors hunting and fishing. He joked that if he hadn’t gone into law enforcement, he might have become a forester, though he realized early on it might not have been a lucrative career.

Speaker

John Litten, President and CEO of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity

John shared his journey through nearly 25 years in Cleveland’s nonprofit sector, including leadership roles at the West Side Catholic Center and Catholic Charities, before taking what he calls his “dream job” leading Habitat.

He explained that while many people recognize Habitat for Humanity, fewer realize that families do not receive free homes. Each home is sold at its appraised market value through a 0% interest mortgage, and every homeowner contributes 200–300 hours of “sweat equity” toward construction, workshops, or volunteer service.

Since its founding, Greater Cleveland Habitat has served nearly 400 families and over 1,000 children across Cuyahoga and Lorain Counties. The organization now focuses on revitalizing historically redlined neighborhoods—areas where residents were once denied mortgages—to help break cycles of poverty and create generational wealth through homeownership. Their work has measurably reduced crime and raised property values in the Buckeye and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods, even leading Huntington Bank to reopen a local branch as the area’s economy improved.

Habitat’s current “400 Home Initiative” includes new construction, home rehabs, critical home repairs, and community cleanups. The group also operates three ReStores (West 110th Street, Randall Road, and Amherst) where donated and new home-improvement goods are sold to fund Habitat’s mission.

Fun fact: Habitat’s success rate rivals commercial lenders, with 95% of partner families remaining in their homes, thanks to preparation, mentoring, and ongoing support.