President Bill Roberts called our meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.  Jeffrey Dick provided his usual meaningful invocation.

 

Our guest this morning included transfer in waiting Sondra Reno and our speakers Adam Verseput and Holly Boyd

Announcements:
Sandra Remo will become our new Editarian, this issue being the last written by former Editarian, Dene Hadden

Blessing in a Backpack information was sent to members by Rhonda Wendzel.  If you did not receive it and are interested in helping on occasional Friday afternoons, contact Rhonda directly

The Christmas Party planning is in full swing headed up by Rhonda. 
September 21st a Rotary visioning session at Peace Lutheran.  President Roberts will review the results and we will do some goal setting at our November 9th meeting.
October 11th is the We Care Golf Outing.  Contact Bob Straits, Dan Thompson or Mark Odland for information
Salvation Army Bell Ringing committee is Griffin Graham, Mike Livovich and Sandra Reno. 
We were encouraged to sign up for Amazon Smile, a program which donates a small amount of each purchase amount to the charity of your choice.  (Select South Haven Rotary in your Amazon account)
Discover New Horizons. Rotary International Convention will be in Houston Texas USA, June 4-8, 2022.
The South Haven Chamber of Commerce will hold its Annual Dinner and Business Excellence and Awards Celebration on Thursday, October 14th at Lake Arvesta Farms.  All Rotarians are invited, $15 each.

Humor
Bill Roberts was delighted to offer us the story of the Chinese Doctor and the Lawyer who lost his sense of taste, memory and sight.

50/50 and Fines

No, Sandra Reno was not the winner this week.  Mark Odland slowly discovered that he had the correct ticket but then found out it was the correct ticket but not the lucky ticket as he drew the 10.  Dana Hullinger had the $2 winner.

Note that birthday, anniversary and Happy Bucks notes may not be entirely accurate as we make the transition to a new Editarian and identifying members quickly take time to learn.  Please accept our apologies.

Pete Swanson is celebrating the anniversary of his son and daughter-in-law.

Art Ayers son had a birthday this week

Tom Renner’s daughter celebrated her 42nd birthday.

Melinda Gruber announced the birthdays of a son, daughter and a trip to Nashville for Mitchell’s fiancé’s bachelorette party.

Dana Hullinger’s daughter celebrated a birthday this week.

Larry Wittkop provided an unusual happy birthday tune for our enjoyment this morning.

In Happy Buck News:

Kaleigh Eddy reminded us that the Ram’s of South Haven are celebrating Homecoming again this week.

Tom Fleming let us know that each of the Value Market Shell stations had a “Giving Pump” that provides donations local schools for each gallon of gas you purchase at select pumps at each station.

Many members were happy with the results of football games this weekend (Not including late Sunday afternoon) as the Blue, the Green, the Brown and Gold and the Purple and Gold all won.

Jean Stein was pleased to host the bridal shower for her granddaughter.

 

Kaleigh Eddy introduced Adam Verseput, Athletic Director at South Haven High School and Holly Boyd, former president of the Ram Boosters.

 

Adam began the presentation and noted that he is the AD for both the High School and Middle school.  He has been a resident of South Haven for 22 years and was a teacher in the school system before becoming AD.  He and his wife have five children.

And is a member of SHARA
 

South Haven High School which formerly had about 850 students, now has about 524.  While still the largest high school in Van Buren County, they were the smallest in the Wolverine Conference and determined that a move to the BCS Conference provided a better playing situation for our student athletes.  About 250 students are involved in the athletic program and the 25 sports teams offered by the school – about 46% of the student body.

 

Adam talked about why we have interscholastic athletics at in school in a statement of the beliefs of the program.  He believes that athletics are a tool to assist the personal development of students.

That athletic support academics.

Athletics provide a personal connection to coaches and others that stay with students for many years.

They provide physical activity to young people that leads to a healthy lifestyle.  This was especially true during the pandemic and associated shutdowns this last year. Adam also talked about the opportunity for individuals and businesses to sponsor the athletic department. Adam also asked Sandra and I to acknowledge the many times that Rotary has supported the Rams via donations and work we have provided and wanted to apologize for not mentioning it during his presentation. Adam finished with a call for volunteers!  He is always looking for help, from ticket takers to scoreboard operators to announcers – even to bus drivers for athletic events.

 

Adam was asked to speak on the bond issue.  He mentioned that the athletics part of the bond included upgrading fields near the high school, locker room facilities at Ratcliffe Field, restroom facilities at Ben Suhr Field and track resurfacing (last done in about 2002 and recommended every 7 years).

 

Holly Boyd spoke about the role of the Boosters in providing support for the athletic department by providing supplemental funds to the athletic department budget and providing extras for various teams and programs to promote pride in each team.  They are not organized to get involved in running the athletic department or choosing personnel.

 

They raise funds mostly by running concession stands at events, which are staffed by volunteers, by donations and by additional fundraisers.

 

Like Adam, they are always looking for volunteers, so please contact Holly or Adam if you have a little time to devote to helping our kids.

 

Here are the emails to contact either of these two to inquire about helping.

 

Adam Verseput - averseput@shps.org

Holly Boyd - hbboyd@msn.com

In addition Kaleigh and Adam are going to put together a list of events that need workers and perhaps we can help in much the same way we do with some of our other events, as a club.

 

President Roberts thanked Adam and Holly for their interesting and informative program and presented her with our speakers’ thank you gift, a Shell gas card.

 

Bill adjourned the meeting with the Four Way Test at 8:00 AM

  • NEXT WEEK:   Barry Winkel has the program next week.

  •  
  • Editarian:  Dene Hadden