 |
SPOKES VOL. LXVII NO. 48
http://www.southhavenrotary.
President Thompson began our virtual meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor Jeffrey Dick provided our invocation this morning with thanks for our leadership team this year and blessings for our incoming leaders.
Our guest this morning included our surprise speaker Scott Reinert.
Announcements:
Jane Copping, who passed away last weekend and will be dearly missed, will be remembered with a visitation and service at Peace Lutheran Church on June 30 at 2:00 PM. Rotarians are invited to the yacht club for a gathering following the funeral.
Our new officer induction ceremony will take place on July 6th at 7:00 at Stanley Johnson Park. It will be an informal gathering with light refreshments. Bring chairs.. Bring your fine money due over the past year. No mention was made of paying out the 50/50 winnings from the past year or so. (A quick review of Spokes will result in both fines owed and 50/50 winners.
NO ZOOM MEETING NEXT WEEK.
There was a nice article in the paper about our donation to Bronson Health Care – South Haven.
We have received notice that our grants for our scholarships and Lory’s Place have been approved for next year.
Thursday’s social hour will be held at Stanley Johnston Park beginning at 10:00. Bring your own chair and beverage.
We have raised more than $5,000 to honor Bob Stickland and plans for a memorial statue are underway. (District paid tribute to Bob at their annual meeting last week.)
We will be working with the Kiwanis Club to put on a Pancake Breakfast during Blueberry Festival on August 14 and 15. A sign-up list will be available next Tuesday evening.
Congratulations to Tom Rummel who was honored by District as our Club Hero. Richly deserved Tom.
50/50 and Fines
Scott Reinert drew Melinda Graham’s and Rhonda Wendzel’s numbers for prizes.
Fines were charged to:
Bob Brickman was pleased to note that our club had the most people at the virtual district conference last week.
Tom Ruesink’s son Todd turns 54 this week. He has been visiting his folks for the first time in a year and a half from heat ravaged Seattle.
Larry Wittkop this week pulled off another coup, getting who I believe was Tiny Tim to perform our birthday song.
Our speaker this morning was introduced by Jerry Gruber. Scott Reinert, retired director of the Convention and Tourist Bureau, is currently on the Board of the South Haven Area Recreation Authority and spoke to us about the SHARA property on 14th Avenue.
The 40 acre parcel on 14th Ave. was purchased a few years ago after plans to develop recreation fields on property in Casco Township fell through. The intention was to build fields and recreational facilities to relieve the pressure on overcrowded and overused school facilities.
Turning the property into the needed fields is a very expensive proposition and SHARA has not been able to land grants – until this year – to accomplish that. Recently SHARA received a grant that will allow them to construct some soccer/football and pee wee baseball fields on the property but the grant, for about $300,000, along with $345,000 held in the bank by SHARA and hopefully few thousand in community support will allow those facilities to be built beginning in 2022. The total build of the entire park is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $6 Million dollars. It will likely take millages passed by the municipalities that are part of SHARA – currently the City of South Haven, South Haven Township and South Haven Public Schools before the project can be undertaken. In addition, conversations are being held with officials in Casco and Geneva Townships about joining SHARA. Should plans move forward to build the needed diamonds and other recreational areas, the nice thing about a Disc Golf course is that it can easily be redesigned and moved around to fit between, around or next to other facilities if necessary, without causing problems.
In the meantime, community members have developed and executed a plan to build a Disc Golf course on the property. This group has arranged for the clearing of land, the building of a drive and parking lot and securing the equipment for building the course. Porta-Johns will be positioned at the course. Bike racks have been purchased for the park which lies next to the Van Buren Trail. According to the disc golf groups, disc golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States and there are more than 5,000 courses in the country.
Once completed, the SHARA course will have tee boxes, baskets and the course has been designed to be playable but challenging. It will be open from dawn to dusk and is expected to open in July or early August.
Scott made sure to mention that several people have made significant donations of money, labor or sponsorships to help establish the course, including Grant Spencer, Rock and Road Cycle and other individuals and organizations. SHARA is still looking for donations, grants or sponsorships. He said that several tee box or basket sponsorships are available. We will provide him with a grant application for a possible Rotary grant.
President Thompson thanked Scott for his interesting and educational update and will present him with our speaker’s gift of a gift certificate to Taste.
President Thompson adjourned the meeting with the Four Way Test at 7:50 AM
NEXT WEEK: Officer Induction gathering at Stanley Johnston Park at 7:00 PM
Editarian: Dene Hadden