SPOKES VOL. LXVI NO. 6 August 20, 2019
We were greeted by Ted Weber and Nick Tuit
President Odland opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and Art Ayers provided the invocation.
Guests:
Our Guests this morning included our World Affairs Seminar delegate AJ Stigler and the CFO of Vibracoustic Janette Kendricks.
Getting to Know You:
Ross Woodhams was our getting to know you volunteer this week. Ross grew up in Vickburg, Michigan and was induced into attending the University of Michigan by their marching band.
In 1972 Ross’ dad purchased the Ford Dealership in South Haven and moved his family here. Ross spent time working at the dealership during his school years and finally ended up working there full time.
Ross’ love of music after his years in the U of M band led him to participate in many musical groups in the area including the Grand Rapids Symphonic Orchestra with his wife Deb who is a French Horn player. A few years ago he went to the local high school band director (our own Bob Boerma) and he began a long stretch of working with the Purple Pride and its drum line that stretches into today and hopefully beyond. He and his wife have been married for 39 years and have raised two sons.
His grandfather was a barnstormer and the family still owns and flies one of his planes. The Woodhams have a long association with the South Haven Regional Airport.
World Affairs Seminar
AJ Stigler, our delegate to the World Affairs Seminar in June gave a brief report on his experience. He really enjoyed the opportunity to meet other kids from all over the world and discuss world problems with them. The topic this year was “Social Media”. They had the opportunity to work in groups on projects, to listen to keynote and other speakers and have time to enjoy each other’s company. He thanked us for sending him and would go back again.
Announcements:
- Pancake Breakfast Information: Bob Straits reported that we served 1,916 breakfasts at our last breakfast, a new record and brining out total for thr summer to just under 3,000 breakfasts. We made $17,000 plus another thousand in the raffle conducted by Scott Mark and collected $132 in donations gathered by Jerry Gruber. Don Hodgman took the time to generously thank everyone involved in the dinner including the 30 or so who showed up for set up, donations of water by Tom Fleming, Blueberry compote by Rhonda, blueberries by DeGrandchamps, trash truck by Barry Winkel, getting supplies by Art and Tony, Tom Renner’s publicity, signs by Bob Stickland and others, parking by Steve Larsen and crew, coffee by Jeremy Burleson, the help by all of the spouses and the South Haven Public Schools Foundation board for cleanup. He apologizes if he left anyone out but also wanted to thank all of the members who came out and worked hard making this event a success.
- No Meeting August 13.
- Vince Duggan’s membership application has been accepted by the Board and he will be inducted in August, barring any problems.
- We are still missing a couple of September programs. See Mark if you need a program.
Songs
We were running short on time this morning so postponed our songfest.
50/50
Barry Winkel had what he hoped was the lucky ticket but could not find the 4 or the 2.Tom Noverr had the $2 winner.
Fines:
- Bob Stickland and his lovely wife celebrate their sixty-second anniversary this week.
- Richard Swanson’s grandson has a birthday this wee.
- Deb Davidson’s son and grandson have birthdays this week.
- Larry Lewis grandson has a birthday this week.
- Tom Fleming reminded everyone that B1G begins next Tuesday for gas discounts if you have a Fuel Rewards card.
Larry Lewis introduced the CFO of Vibracoustic NA, Janette Kendricks, to our group.
Janette began her presentation with a short video. That explained what Vibracoustic does. They build car and truck parts that are associated with providing a smooth ride in many motor vehicles. The have parts that are associated with the chassis and parts that work with the drive train. Those parts are under constant evaluation and improvement in research done right here in South Haven. The have plants worldwide and the North American headquarters are at the plant an Alylworth Street here in town. They do both R & D and manufacturing here.
Their parts are comprised of natural rubber and steel and are found on many cars and trucks, especially SUV’s. They have about 17% of the market share and one of their biggest customers is Ford.
They have 168 employees in South Haven, including summer interns, up from about 110 in the midst of the Great Recession in 2009. The plant here, in addition to R & D, does a lot of prototyping products for customers.
The business was started in South Haven in 1955 and began a series of mergers in 1989 that eventually led to its acquisition by the company that owns Vibracoustic in Germany.
They use one million pounds of rubber a month, most of the North American use is in an Illinois manufacturing facility. They have to keep a close eye on the price of steel and rubber, especially during trade conflicts.
President Odland thanked Janette for her very interesting presentation about a business that we knew about but not much about what they actually did.
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
Next week’s program: Bob Brickman will introduce Mick Middaugh and Nick Culp who will give us an update on Palisades.
Greeters: Kevin Schooley and Barry Winkel
Editarian: Dene Hadden