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SPOKES VOL. LXVIII NO. 26  
 
February 22, 2022 
 
Steve Larson opened the meeting at 8 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
Pastor Jeffrey Dick gave the invocation today. Prayers for Dene Hadden’s healing, thankful for Dean and the service to Rotary, also for his own healing.
 
2 Guests Today!
Kathy Wagaman
Tom Peale
 
Dene Hadden had a medical event in FL. He suffered a TIA and spent 4 days in the hospital. He is now doing well but will need speech and occupational therapy.  Bill Roberts ran into him on the beach and he is Thankful for all of your thoughts and prayers. You may send him a card at his address below:
 
Dene Hadden
Oceanquest Condominium
4641 South Atlantic Avenue Unit 408
Ponce Inlet, Florida
32127
 
 
Announcements
 
As you may have heard, Dene Hadden had a medical event while down here in Florida. I contacted Dene’s wife Linda and she has summarized what happened as follows. “Dene had a TIA (mini stroke) on the 16th. He was in the hospital for 4 days and discharged on Saturday February 19th. Dene is doing well but will need some OT (occupational therapy) and some speech therapy. The doctors expect a full recovery. Thanking all for their concerns and prayers.”
We got a thank you letter from the South Haven Chamber of Commerce. The 28th Annual Ice Breaker was a huge success and we have our generous sponsors to thank for that. The streets were filled with merrymakers enjoying hot chili, viewing dazzling ice carvings, participating in family fun activities, and visiting with friends and neighbors. As intended, the event provided a needed revenue to boost our local economy during an otherwise challenging season. An event like this requires a great deal of work and financial investment and without your help the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce could not make this happen. We want you to know that we are extremely grateful for your support that helped make this event the success that it was. We hope you will join us again next year for ice breaker Festival, which will take place on February 3rd-5th.
Kathy Wagaman and Brandy Key
We Care Island Sit- The We Care island sit in downtown South Haven is February 26th . Rotary is supporting Seethe event during the 5-6pm time slot. See Mary Sue if you can make that event at that time. It consists of volunteers standing in the cold weather at the city’s traffic island on Phoenix Street and collecting money from motorists and pedestrians.
We’re looking for recommendations for Education and Service Award of the year, Citizen of the year, club hero and Rotarian of the year. Nomination forms re available on the front page of our website. These awards are presented at the transition dinner/event that is held at the end of June. The board decides on the citizen of the year and club hero, and acts on recommendations from the scholarship committee for Educator and Service Award of the year.
Kenya Project update. Photos from Website. Share from zoom?
Area agency on aging writing contest. Senior writing contest. Do you have a story to tell about how you are “Aging Your Way”. Enter for a chance to have your story published in the Herald Palladium Senior Expo publication. Contest opens March 1st. Theme: Age My Way word count 500. Deadline April 15th. Email or mail Subscriptions to juleelaurent@AreaAgencyon Aging.org,   2900 Lakeview Avenue, St. Joseph, Mi 49085  Attached flyer.
Blessings in a backpack March 3rd and 10th.

The Roots of Russian – American Discord

Thursday, March 31, 2022 by Jim Butterfield
Professor of Political Science and Global and International Studies at Western Michigan University

South Haven Campus of Lake Michigan College | 7 p.m.
 
Comedy Relief By Bob Copping! We know that Bob will never be Vegan!
 
 
Tom Ruesink- First Congregational Church Youth Group is Collecting Cans and Bottles for Warm Your Heart
 
 
50/50 and Fines
 
Paul drew the number this week
 
Mary Sue Lyon was the lucky winner, she won ½ the POT!  I believe she donated it back to the membership.
 Mark Odland won the consolation prize
 
Birthdays/ Anniversaries
 
Art Ayers daughter Talley will celebrate her 39th Birthday this week!
 Tom- Son Daniel will be 44 this week!
 
Larry Wittkop played a very sweet version of Happy Birthday…. Awwww
 
Happy Bucks
 
Ross happy that Mary Sue won this week!
 
Emily and Melinda Gruber are happy to be going skiing this weekend!
 
Deb Davidson announced the April 30th Educational Dinner at the Beaches Golf Club
 
Steve Larson -Hopes his son does not have to deploy to Poland even though he is on high alert right now.
 
Art was happy about the date 2-22-22
 
Don Hodgman introduced our speaker this week.
 
Kathy Wagaman -Ex Director of the South Haven Chamber of Commerce
 
Things about Kathy
  • Grew up on the lakes of Battle Creek
  • Came to SH as a kid
  • Been in SH since 2000
  • Loves to Sail
  • Has held a U.S. Coast Guard license since 1991
  • Captained an 80 Ft. Paddlewheel
  • Became Chamber Director in 2011
 
Kathy’s Presentation:
 
I am going to step back to March of 2020, a time most of us would like to forget. 
 
The Chamber staff, of 3 had just completed our 27th annual Icebreaker – with record number of 27 chili locations, and huge crowds…of course, not one speck of snow either.  Someone aptly described our cardboard sled race as more of a cardboard car show.
 
Membership numbers had reached a record 421 businesses.
 
Community Expo was weeks underway and a robust schedule of events and programming was on the calendar.
 
Suddenly, all that we knew changed.  Schools closed, businesses were shuttered, and it instantly became apparent that the Chamber was now needed more than ever in our history.  
 
Our Community Liaison had to leave to be home with 2 young boys, and our Assistant Director requested she be able to work from home, and soon after, resigned to take a position in Saugatuck to be close to home. 
 
I went into emergency mode – having to learn to do things I had relied on staff to do – from changing the digital exterior sign to managing the website and social media.  We all learned the word PIVOT, and UNPRECEDENTED – words I still try to avoid to this day, and of course became very familiar with PPE, PPP, UIA, EIDL, SMLA, OSHA, and a whole lot more acronyms.  Let us not forget ZOOM and Google Meets.
 
Throughout 2020, the Chamber provided instant details to our membership on PPP loans, grant funding, constantly changing Executive Orders from the Governor’s office (Over 220 of them), Unemployment updates, vaccine and mask mandates, testing sites, Forgiveness of PPP Loans, and health department updates. 
 
We were able to provide over 130 free webinars on subjects such as these to all businesses, regardless of membership status.  Our goal was simply to help businesses survive the pandemic.  If a business leader had a question we could not answer, we had a direct communication to a reliable and capable legal team at the Michigan Chamber, who provided answers within hours. 
 
Our office never closed, the phones were always answered, and e-mails returned quickly.  An amazingly large volume of calls were from travelers wishing to come to SH and needed info on hotels, restaurant take-out, and to know if the beaches were open. 
 
We actually added 22 new members throughout that challenging year!!!  Sadly, we lost 29 members in that year. 
 
Looking ahead, we are so pleased that the Chamber was able to hold the 28th annual Icebreaker Festival a few weeks ago.  This event is so critical to our community because it brings important revenue to our region at a time that is otherwise challenging.  This event is important to our operating budget, but we celebrate the fact that it provides critical funding to 11 Non-Profit organizations during the event.  It fills lodging establishments, makes cash registers ring in retail business.
 
The SH Chamber was recently honored by the Michigan Association of Chamber Professionals with a plaque for “playing an extraordinary role in keeping businesses informed about changes in government regulations, safety protocol, and funding relief sources.  Despite facing changes to their own business models and losing event revenue and dues investments, the South Haven Area Chamber of Commerce stayed committed to serving businesses in their community and finding innovative ways to deliver programming”.  Signed by Bob Thomas, Chief Operating Officer of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.  I’d love to show you the award, but it was destroyed in the CRASH.
 
  On November 20th, just after midnight, a drunk driver blasted into my office, driving thru a brick wall/cement block wall/ and sending a substantial wood beam flying – lodging it into the ceiling.  I cannot tell you what an inconvenience this has been – how hard to get organized –  how incredibly shocking this was.  Thru it all, we can be so grateful for a great insurance agent, who showed up at 7am to check on things and actually took a shovel and cleared a path for the electrician to get thru.  It has been 3 months now and we are hoping that repairs can be done now.  THE OFFICE NEVER CLOSED!!! 
 
We are pleased to have added 7 new members so far in 2022. 
 
  • We are committed to providing relevant education and awareness to businesses on Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. 
  • We are working hard to foster entrepreneurship opportunities for minority and women.
  • We will be conducting special events to introduce Middle School students to the unique job opportunities right here in South Haven.
  • Our ABO networking events have resumed and our recent event last week hosted by YDC brought out 93 guests on a snowy cold night.
 
 
N95 Masks can be gotten through the Chamber
Kathy passed out SH Maps and Membership Directories
 
Kathy thanked the Rotary for their support
Mentioned our Awesome Ice Sculpture
 
Steve Larson Thanked Kathy for her presentation and she will be given a $25.00 gift card from Fleming Brothers Oil and Convience Mart. Next week, March 1, 2022,  will be an in person meeting sponsored by Tom Remmel.  The speaker is Kim Wise from the SH High School Robotics Team.  The meeting was adjourned with the 4 way test.