Home Page | Rotary Club of South Haven

This season of giving was demonstrated at our December 4 meeting with the presentation of two grants in support of local initiatives. President Mark Odland is pictured presenting a $675 grant in support of the new "Reading to Succeed" program in South Haven's elementary schools to educator Heather Chalupa (pictured right) and a $500 grant toward the medical transportation program of Van Buren County Senior Services. South Haven Rotarians in the past year have donated $34,000 to local, national and international initiatives. For example, South Haven is the only club among the District's 63 member clubs to have 100% participation in the Polio Plus program of Rotary International. The next fund raising initiative will be Saturday, Dec. 22, when Rotarians will be ringing the bells for the Salavation Army for the 36th consecutive year.

Faithful Rotarian

South Haven Rotarian Donald (Don) Hixson passed away on Friday, Nov 9 at age 82. Don was a very active member of our Club. He joined in 2000, served as President in 2007-08 and was honored as the South Haven Rotarian of the Year in 2015. He was a Paul Harris Fellow. Don was the founder of our popular car show at the annual Fly-In Breakfast.

Death Notice from Filbrandt Family Funeral Home

Pet Friendly Rotarians

South Haven Rotary sponsored a free microchip clinic at the Al-Van Humane Society Adoption & Community Education Center. A $500 club grant helped Al-Van staff to provide microchips on a first come, first serve basis at no charge.

Mack Black from Al-Van and Rotarian Art Ayers are pictured with chip beneficiary Jesse.

The South Haven Rotary Club recognizes the benefits of providing identifiers for your pets, "South Haven Rotarians are pleased to be able to continue to support the good work of the Al-Van Humane Society and to be a partner in this project to microchip community pets,” said President Mark Odland. “Thanks to the generosity of Rotary club members and the community through our fund raising initiatives we will be able to provide grants totaling over $34,000 to 35 local, regional, national and international non-profit organizations during 2018."

To increase the chance pets can be reunited with their owners, if lost, the Al-Van Humane Society and the South Haven Rotary Club provided pet owners with a more permanent way to I.D. their pets. The joint effort is an initiative to get pets (1) microchipped and (2) enrolled in a national microchip registry.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide this opportunity for our community,” said Mack Black, Executive Director of Al-Van Humane Society. “We see first-hand how microchips can decrease the number of strays we see at our shelter – which is why we microchip every pet we adopt. The South Haven Rotary has allowed us to reach even more pets."

Supporting Education

Our Rotary spotlight on September 18th was the presentation of a check to the South Haven Public Schools Foundation. Dene Hadden presented a check for $4,000 designated for the foundation’s endowment fund. Since we have added this organization to our educational fundraising events we have donated $27,581. In addition, their endowment has grown another $6,229.00 through other contributions and investment income and they now have $33,820 in their endowment. Twice each year the foundation awards five grants of up to $500 to classroom teachers for new and innovative projects. One of those grants is a named Rotary Grant. Leaders of our educational fundraising efforts, Deb Davidson, Scott Mark and Rhonda Wendzel, joined Dene in presenting the check to Fundation representatives Barry Skuza and Fred Leavitt.