SPOKES VOL.LXXV NO.35 March 20, 2018
Greeting us this morning were Jerry Gruber and Jim Davis.
President Renner called the meeting to order at 7am, and we began with the “Pledge of Allegiance”. Art Ayers followed with our invocation.
Guests:
*Heather Oestrike, Marian Hixson, and Jim Marcoux.
Songs:
*Jim Davis led us through our selections today: “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now”, “In the Good Old Summertime”, and “Sing a Song to Rotary”(Maine Stein Song).
Announcements:
*President Renner announced that this year’s Club Hero is Art Ayers. This particular “scribe” won’t go into detail, other than to say it was certainly an honor to have been nominated, an honor to have been chosen, and an honor to be part of Rotary. We have an overabundance of “heroes”!
*An Application for Membership has been received from Scott Smith, and the Board will take action on his membership at the April meeting. Jerry Portman is Scott’s sponsor.
*Scott Mark announced that silent auction items are needed for our spring fundraiser. Please contact Scott if you either have items, or are willing to contact merchants concerning donations.
*A reminder that, on March 28th, our Rotarian Snowbirds will be gathering again in Florida.
*Don Hixson asked me to announce that he recently had spoken to Dick Averill, who reported that Carol is recovering well from her recent heart attack. They plan to be back in South Haven this weekend, for those who would like to visit.
50/50
*Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Stuart Comiskey, chose today’s speaker, “honest and reliable” Heather Oestrike, as the one to draw our first winning ticket. Mark Odland had the winner but proceeded to draw the #7 card; thus, no big winner today. Rhonda Wendzel had the next winning ticket, so Rhonda garnered the $2 prize.
Fines:
*Birthdays and Anniversaries reported today:
-Jean Stein celebrated her oldest daughter’s birthday.
-Jeff Melvin will be celebrating a “slew” of birthdays…I can only HOPE that I got them all and got them correct: his daughter-in-law’s birthday is on the 23rd; his youngest daughter’s is on the 25th; his wife’s is on the 27th, and Jeff’s is on the 29th. If needed, corrections will appear in next week’s SPOKES.
-Art Ayers will be celebrating son Garrett’s birthday on the 21st.
-Larry Wittkop’s grandson, Nate, will be celebrating his 16th birthday.
*Dollar Basket
-Rhonda Wendzel paid for her picture being in the paper, and she also put her $2 winnings back in the basket.
-In the next few weeks, Mark Odland and family will be traveling to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and they’ll also be attending The Masters, in Augusta, Georgia.
-Steve Larsen wished everyone a “Happy Vernal Equinox”.
-Dan Liehr celebrated the arrival of spring.
-Tom Renner wanted to salute the CMU Women’s Basketball Team for advancing to the Sweet 16; also the Hope College Hockey Team, which became the first D3 National Champions in the school’s history!
-Richard Swanson provided a hearty “Go Purdue”.
-Jim Marcoux said “Come on, summer”.
-Jeff Melvin was to leave today for 17 days in Florida.
-Ted Weber celebrated Michigan’s entry into the Sweet 16.
-Larry Wittkop contributed for Nate’s birthday, and also wants song program #7 officially “retired”.
- Paul Hix will not be with us next week. Apparently, he thinks Florence, Italy is preferable to the conference room at the Wellness Center.
-Tom Rummel celebrated the South Haven High School Robotics Team, as they made it into the semi-final round at their latest competition at Gull Lake. The team also was the recipient of the Entrepreneurial Award.
-Jerry Gruber was happy to put in a “Go Blue” dollar on behalf of Bob Stickland, while also wondering if wife Ann would actually be his “Tootsee Wootsee”.
Don Hixson, Program Chair, introduced our guest speaker, Heather Oestrike, from Bronson South Haven Foundation.
Highlights:
*The Bronson Service Area consists of four hospitals: Bronson Methodist in Kalamazoo, Bronson Lakeview in Paw Paw, Bronson Battle Creek, and Bronson South Haven.
*Bronson has the only children’s hospital in SW Michigan.
There are only six children’s hospitals in the state of Michigan.
*The Bronson Health Foundation was founded in 1983 and serves the entire system. Its purpose is to be the fundraising “arm”.
*Fundraising involves a community appeal, major gift fundraising, an employee appeal, a children’s hospital 5k walk/run, and the Bronson South Haven Golf Outing, this year to be on June 8th.
*The Foundation is supported by more than thirty funds and endowments.
*It distributes more than $2 million annually within the Bronson system.
*The Foundation has contributed in South Haven to such things as the Blue Star Highway Trail, Wellness Center scholarships, Reverse Osmosis Machine, the Surgical Department, new wheelchairs, nuclear imaging for cardiology, harmonicas for COPD patients, and SNAP Health Education (food preparation classes).
*New projects are primarily brought forward by the staff and clinicians. Among those projects are things that emphasize making the hospital much more child-friendly, offering tools for distraction and, generally, helping the kids feel more comfortable.
*A Safe Kids program is being implemented here, since it was identified as an area of need.
*Plan to hire a full-time Safe Kids coordinator, who would work with a committee of community safety leaders.
*It will be modeled after Safe Kids in Kalamazoo County, which has its focus on the following areas of safety: bicycle and wheels, burn prevention, child passenger safety, home safety, pedestrian safety, poison prevention, water safety, sports safety, and infant sleep safety.
*Safe Kids events will be publicized through website and Facebook pages, the print news media, and radio, TV, and billboards.
*Hoping to see reductions of children admitted to the hospitals, as well as the number of child deaths.
*The Foundation is looking to connect with individuals, companies, and other organizations. “It’s really about partnership with the community.”
Heather took a few questions, was thanked by President Renner and those in attendance, and presented one of our Rotary pens by Don Hixson.
Next Week:
Our greeters are scheduled to be Don Kitchin and Bob Copping.
Our program on March 27th will welcome Bob and Sandy Duke, educational administrators and musicians, who will speak of their service to many organizations and communities through their music…Bring your best voices!
Art Ayers is the Program Chair.
We adjourned with the Four-Way Test.
Art Ayers, stand-in Editarian