SPOKES VOL. LXIV NO. 2 July 11, 2017
Welcome to our LXIV year as the Rotary Club of South Haven!
We were cheerfully greeted by Deb Davidson and Paul Hemmeter this morning.
President Tom Renner opened his first official meeting as our fearless leader with “America the Beautiful” and Art Ayers provided the invocation.
Guests:
We had just one guest this morning, Mark who joined us as a guest of Don Kitchin.
Music:
Jim Davis got to be our song leader today and entered the task with some trepidation; given the song selection he was assigned. It turned out pretty good, however as the 1899 hit “You Tell Me Your Dream, I’ll Tell You Mine” came out sounding pretty good! We followed that with the classic “Bill Bailey” and finished with “Rotary, My Rotary”.
Spotlight:
Dorothy Lockwood presented information about Rotary Apparel. We can get t-shirts for $12 and Polo’s for $25. She sent around a sign up sheet and we can expect the shirts in 8 to 10 days.
Announcements:
- Don’t forget the Club Runner App for your phones, it’s a great resource!
- We received a nice thank you from Rosalie Plecharty for her selection well deserved selection as our Citizen of the year.
- Larry Lewis reminded us all of the car show at the Blueberry Fly-In and breakfast. He will need some help distributing flyers.
- Don Hodgman reported that we served about 720 paid breakfasts and took in $5,656.00. That should result in a profit of about $4,000. We also had a new health inspector this year, but a little early warning and outstanding preparation by Don and his committee lead to us passing with flying colors!
- Art Ayres thanked everyone who helped with the parade on the 4th, which appeared to go off without a hitch!
- President Renner also announced that we had secured a matching district grant of $2500 for the HASH project of a fire detection system for Hartman School.
- A reminder of the Superintendent’s Town Hall event on Thursday, July 13th at 7:00 at the Wellness Center presented by Bob Herrera.
50/50
For the second meeting in a row, Ted Weber had the lucky ticket and, after letting the pot grow last time, drew the four and drained the pot this week, leaving only $2 for Bob McAlear.
Fines:
- Larry Lewis celebrated a birthday this week.
- Glenn Pietenpol’s lovely wife Mary also celebrated a birthday this week. In related news, Glenn indicated that she is progressing very well in her recovery.
- Don Hixson’s family had many birthdays this week, including his own, son Dwight’s, DIL Julie and grandson Vince.
- Tom and Donna Rummel celebrated their 20th anniversary this week.
- Larry Wittkop and the lovely Barb celebrated either their 52nd or 53rd anniversary this week.
- Dene Hadden thanked the club for his selection of Rotarian of the Year, noting that there are many members who do much for the club and he his humbled to be honored by such a quality organization.
- Bob Sticklin thanked Ted Weber and Ron Seiler for providing the flags alone the parade route. It provides a tremendous sight for paraders and parade watchers to see all of the flags waving along the parade.
Our Program was a Club Assembly led by President Renner
We began with a review of the July 2nd Pancake Breakfast (see above) which went very well.Don Hodgman reminded us that we will all need to be on board for the Blueberry Festival breakfast.
President Tom spent some time reviewing the results of a survey he took this spring about our club and where we are going.
The survey was very positive, affirming what we do.Our meeting format was deemed good.There was interest in a wider variety of programs, including field trips.
There were comments about increasing our visibility, and Tom mentioned that he had set up a display at the riverfront concert las t week and got many positive comments.
There was interest in continuing community service project and looking to work projects in cooperation with Kiwanis or other service organizations.
There was concern about a more democratic process for decision making.It was noted that Board minutes are distributed to all club members, and in many cases, plans are presented to the club prior to Board action.
We are looking for a major project to donate to that would enhance our community and provide visibility to our club.
Some time was spent on growing our membership with a focus on age, gender and racial diversity.Perhaps scholarships for a few moths might be possible.Face to face recruiting is still the best method of recruiting members.
Bob McAlear presented information on our website and the ClubRunner app available for phones and tablets.He is willing to help members get signed in and get the app.We also have a FaceBook page members can view or “like”.
President Renner closed his first meeting by thanking all for their input and leading us in the Four Way Test.
Next week’s program: Bob Brickman: Lory’s Place
Next week’s Greeters: Art Ayers and Bob Boerma
Special thanks to Tom Renner for doing a special edition of Spokes after our Change of Officer’s Dinner.
Editarian: Dene Hadden