Posted by Dene Hadden on Jul 30, 2019
SPOKES VOL. LXVI NO. 4                                                                               July 30, 2019
 
 
We were greeted by Tom Noverr and Art Bolt this morning..
 
President Odland opened the meeting with the “My Country ‘tis of Thee” and Art Ayers provided the invocation.
 
Guests:
 
Our Guests this morning included our Assistant Governor Dyann Chenault, prospective members Vince Druggan and Kaleigh Eddy, our speaker Chris Bradford, his mother and wife of member Jim Bradford Julie Bradford and Don Kitchin’s wife Elaine.
 
Getting to Know You:
 
We had to postpone Chris Wellington’s session this week as she had a work related meeting but Mark asked Assistant Governor Chenault to speak.  She lauded us on our work and especially our membership initiatives and urged us to keep up the good work.
 
Announcements:
  • Pancake Breakfast Information:  Our next breakfast will be August 11th at the airport.  This is our biggest fundraiser and we need all hands on deck.  A signup sheet was passed around.  Set up will occur on Friday. Key positions include coffee maker and utensil washer. There will also be an auction at the breakfast.
  • 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 have received a grant from the District 6360 Foundation for $2500 for a fire detection system for the Scott Club building.  Rosalie Plechaty thanked us for our contribution to their club and it’s building.
  • Tom Noverr thanked everyone for our support of Make A Wish and announced that they raised 2.4 million dollars this past weekend in the ride he participated in.
Songs
 
Bob Boerma led us this week and we, along with several local hound dogs began with the rather slow paced 1928 tune “Together” made famous in a 1961 recording by Connie Francis.We picked up the pace with another song written in 1928, “When you’re Smiling” recorded by Seger Ellis (1928), Louis Armstrong (1929), and Ted Wallace & His Campus Boys (1930).We finished with a Christmas themed song (Christmas is only 6 months away), “Rotary, My Rotary” sung to the tune of “O’ Tannenbaum”.
 
50/50
    Don Hodgman made the long trek to the six cards to see if he had struck it rich.He hadn’t.Larry Lewis did, however, holding the $2 ticket.
     
    Fines:
    • Dan Thompson is celebrating a huge bucketful of birthdays this week, most importantly, that of his lovely wife Missy.   Dan also asked us for thoughts and prayers for his niece, South Haven Police Chief Natalie Thompson who has an operation this morning.
    • Steve Larsen is celebrating the 16th birthday of his son Lars this week.
    • Tony Martorano was reminded that his lovely wife Pat celebrated her birthday last week.
    • Larry Wittkop announced the birthday of granddaughter Emma this week.
    • All birthdays were celebrated Ludington style.
     
    Jim Bradford introduced his son Chris as our speaker this morning.  Chris is the CEO of the African Leadership Academy.
     
    The African Leadership Academy is a school based in Johannesburg, South Africa that is dedicated to finding the top young people in Africa and providing them with the practice and opportunity that will allow them to make an impact on their continent.
     
    Chris first talked about how Rotary has affected Africa in many positive ways and provided the example of how the polio eradication work actually helped limit and stop the spread of Ebola in Nigeria.
     
    The African Leadership Academy believes that more than any other place on earth, Africa provides the best place for an individual to make a huge impact on society.  They are looking for 16 year olds with potential that they can help become strong, ethical leaders for the future of the continent.  They do that by providing schooling, free of charge, that gives these students practice and opportunity to become the leaders African needs.
     
    Many students from the ALA attend university and grad school in the US, including large contingencies at Notre Dame and Michigan State.
     
    Chris provided examples of their students who have become successful business owners, scientists and have founded schools in Africa.
     
    Corruption is a problem but part of what the school does is provide mentors to their students to help them navigate the system without getting trapped in the circle of corruption.
     
    To date, they have educated more than 1200 students.  They accept 130 per year and have a strong recruiting and selection process, accepting students from all over Africa.
     
    A key focus in their selection process is to determine if a student has determined what a need in their community might be and what they did about it.
     
    Chris’ partner has recorded a TED Talk that has more than a million views.
     
    President Odland thanked Chris for his very interesting presentation and presented him two of our speaker’s pens!
     
    We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
     
    Next week’s program: There will be a spotlight from our delegate to the World Affairs Seminar, AJ Sigler followed by a club assembly.
     
    Greeters:  Rosalie Plechaty and Bob Brickman
     
    Editarian:  Dene Hadden