Spokes, May 2, 2017

Posted by Dene Hadden
 
 
SPOKES VOL. LXIII NO. 42                                                                                May 2, 2017
 
 
61% of our members read Spokes last week.
 
We were greeted by Larry Wittkop this morning.
 
We opened the meeting with the acapella version of “America the Beautiful” and Art Ayers’ invocation.
 
Guests:
We welcomed guest Larry Heining and Emily Stap
 
Music:
Since Jerry was trying to catch slippery fish this week, Paul Hix stepped in to get Dottie going.  Jim Davis was our song leader again as Bob Boerma continues to provide musical instruments to elementary students through-out southwestern Michigan.  We Began with another of our Al Jolsen songs, “Me and My Shadow” and probably sang it much better that the Rip Taylor and Christopher Knight in that last episode of the “Brady Bunch Variety Hour”.  Next up in our melody of companion songs today was another 1927 classic, “Side by Side”.  We finished up with a nice sounding rendition of “Sing Rotarians”.
 
Spotlight:
Emily Stap, Collections Manager at the Michigan Maritime Museum, was here to receive a donation for the museum for help in restoring the lifeguard station.
 
Announcements:
  • Thanks to the crew who put together the dinner on Saturday evening.  Another successful Rotary event!
  • It is time to nominate folks for our Community Service Award and Rotarian of the Year.  Nomination forms can be found on our website.
  • Don’t forget the District Conference on May 12th and May 13th.  Our Club Hero, Tom Renner, will be honored on the 12th and Marty Graber will receive his national award on the 13th and we are hoping for a nice turnout of local Rotarians..  Both events are in Battle Creek.
  • We continue taking up a collection to help pay for Marty’s trip from Kenya to accept his award.  If you are writing a check, please make it out to: Grand Rapids Lions-District 11-C1 and, on the memo line, write c/o Kenya Project.  It may be possible to donate frequent flyer miles to Marty.  Check with your air carrier.
  • Don’t forget the Club Runner App for your phones, it’s a great resource!
  • Blessings in a Backpack has asked us for more help so we are scheduled for May 12th at 1:45 at Lincoln School.
  • Our Salvation Army Bell Ringing efforts gathered $1500, up from $1100 last year.  Nice Job!
  • Our Induction dinner will be the last week in June and Steve Larsen will organize a golf tournament.
  • On May 4th there will be a reception for the new President of LMC at the South Haven Campus.  That event will be followed by the next speaker in the Speaker’s Series at 6:45.
  • Dick Averill is recovering from some medical issues.  It was good seeing him at the dinner on Saturday.
  • The downtown merchants are holding a “Spring Into Giving” this Saturday.  A portion of all sales will go to charity.  Shop Local!
50/50
Paul Hemmeter had the lucky ticket this morning and his luck continued as he drew the “2” and took home half a pot.  Mark Odland was the winner of $2!
 
Fines:
  • Jim Davis celebrated his son’s 60th birthday this week.
  • Bill Roberts celebrated the 45th anniversary of his wedding to the lovely Jan and celebrated a sixty-something birthday himself.
  • Tom Ruesink remembered that this week was the birthday of the mother of his children!
  • Tom also announced that he was informed of a grill sale at Cabela’s and purchased three new grills for our breakfasts.
  • Mark Odland thanked Rhonda for donating her basket of baked goods Saturday night.
  • Bob Herrera got the rookie treatment this week, paying for having his picture in the paper and for taking his badge home – although it is likely that no one told him that doing that is a finable offense.
  • Larry Wittkop noted that WMU’s Corey Davis was drafted 5th in the NFL Draft last week.
  • Dene Hadden thanked the team that ran the fundraising dinner last week for all of their hard work and thanked Scott Mark for securing a $10,000 donation from Albermarle Corporation - $5,000 for each organization.
  • Steve Larsen indicated that he and Larry Heining, each chairs of their respective planning commissions, will be working to create a cooperative line of communication between the city and township planning commissions.
  • Tom Ruesink reminded everyone that the annual McFadden “Dust-Off” car show is this week.
 
Our speaker today was member Jim France
 
Jim was nervous today as he waited for the outcome of the Library millage vote today.The good news is that he didn’t need to worry as the millage passed overwhelmingly, indicating that our community values our library and the programs it supports.
 
Jim talked about those programs this morning.
 
The most un-library thing that they do is the seed lending library.They provide seed packets of natural, non-GMO seeds for people to pick up and plant in their gardens.The hope is that those folks will return seeds from those plants to the library in the fall.
 
The library will continue its popular summer reading program this summer, in June and July.
 
They are also working in cooperation with other libraries to sponsor a presentation by author Wade Rouse/Viola Shipman at the Van Buren Conference Center on October 10th.
 
South Haven will be in the path of a partial solar eclipse this summer.The library has 1,000 glasses that will allow folks to view the eclipse safely.They also plan a series of events in conjunction with the eclipse.
 
The library will also be hosting a series of programs on WWI as we recognize the 100th anniversary of our entry into that conflict.There will be movies, documentaries, discussion groups and hopefully a graveside walking discussion about the “Great War”.Perhaps a set of similar programs might be designed about the Civil War to help people understand why it was fought.
 
There are also a number of teen programs – “Fandom Events” planned for this fall.
 
President Ayers thanked Jim for his presentation and presented him with one of our Rotary pens.
 
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
 
Next week’s program: We Will meet at the Wellness Center and then adjourn to Spencer Manufacturing to watch them build a new fire truck for SHAES.
 
Next week’s Greeters:  Bob Copping and a substitute.
 
Editarian:  Dene Hadden