Posted by Dene Hadden on Sep 03, 2019
SPOKES VOL. LXVI NO. 8                                                                               September 3, 2019
 
 
We were greeted by Ross Woodhams and Larry Wittkop
 
President Odland opened the meeting with “God Bless America” and Art Ayers provided the invocation.
 
Guests:
 
Our Guests this morning included LaRae Odland and Fred Leavitt and Barry Skuza from the SHPS Foundation.
 
Getting to Know You:
 
Don Dobbins
 
Don and his wife Joan live on the south side of town near DeGrandchamps.  Don is a graduate of St. Augustine High School and WMU.  He worked for the Upjohn Company and its survivors as a chemical engineer, including the set up of high level chemical manufacturing processes.  He and his wife remodeled a 100 year old farm house over 20 years before moving to their current home.  His many hobbies include amateur radio, woodworking, photography and even some beekeeping in the past.
 
New Member Induction
 
President Odland invited Vince Druggan and his sponsor Rhonda Wendzel to the podium where he proceeded to induct Vince into our membership.  Vince, a registered nurse, is the grandson of long time member Don Hixson and intends to carry out the legacy of his family and Rotary.  Welcome Vince!  We are pleased to have you as a member of the Rotary Club of South Haven.
 
Announcements:
  • Blessings in a Backpack will be starting soon.  More info to follow.
  • Haven Harvest is scheduled for Saturday October 19.  Volunteers needed.
  • November 21st is our Chamber ABO at the Moose Lodge with the Moose.
  • December 10th is our Holiday Party at the Yacht Club
  • December 21st is the Open Door Dinner at the Methodist Church
  • December 21st is our day to do the Salvation Army Bell Ringing
  • Dan Thompson has Rotary District Raffle Tickets for sale.  $25 each.  We get a huge return from this program and it is well worth your purchase, plus the opportunity to increase your own fortune if you win!
Songs
 
Bob Boerma was our song leader as had the opportunity to lead us in two songs that will disappear from our song sheets in the future.The first, “My Wild Irish Rose”, an early 1900 song that ends with what might be interpreted as slightly off color.We followed that with the rather slow tempo “On the Banks of the Wabash”, appreciated by our Hoosier members.We finished with a great rendition of “R-O-T-A-R-Y” with a slightly Mickey Mouse theme.
 
50/50
 
Larry Wittkop had the lucky ticket but then his luck ran out as he was unable to find the 2 or the 4.Paul Hemmeter was the $2 winner.
 
Fines:
  • Art Ayers celebrated the birthday of his son.
  • Jim Bradford also had a son’s birthday this week.
  • Bob and Cindy McAlear are celebrating 51 years of married bliss this week
  • Dene Hadden’s oldest daughter has a birthday Thursday.
  • Rosalie Plechaty is looking forward to going to Washington D.C. to lobby for the American Cancer Society.
  • Tom Noverr reminded all retired school folks that today was the first day of school.
  • Don Hodgman noted that Al Ruppert donated $100 to our club in lieu of attending our pancake breakfast.
  • Tony Martorano, in memory of Glen Pietenpol, offered a cheer of the Bears in their game against Glen’s Packers this weekend.
  • Larry Wittkop was the first to congratulate the Spartans and wish them luck when they face the Blue later this fall.
  • Mark Odland thanked his wife LaRae for her help with breakfast this morning.
  • Jerry Gruber regaled us with a Bob Copping joke.
  • Tom Fleming reminded everyone that B1G begins today for gas discounts if you have a Fuel Rewards card.
Dene Hadden introduced Fred Leavitt and Barry Skuza to talk about the SHPS Foundation and the work they do.
 
Fred passed out sheets that indicated all of the grants that the Foundation has given to teachers and school activities since 2013.  The total is well over $30,000.
 
Also included was a list of all of the corporate or club donations to the Foundation since 2013.  In most of those cases, the donations were associated with specific $500 grants, often to projects related to their businesses.  Our club, which has made donations since 2014, has made donations to the Foundation’s endowment fund which totals over $36,000 and will grow even larger when we distribute the earnings from last spring’s Education Fundraiser.
 
Fred noted that the focus of our grants this fall has been a Literacy Grant that focuses on getting books in classrooms.  The Foundation is hoping to find sponsors to add to their initial $2500 grant to this project.  Fred answered several questions about the grant and suggested that an article in Sunday’s Herald Palladium is an excellent source for information.  In addition, SHPS Superintendent Kevin Schooley will be our speaker next week and can provide even more information about this program.
 
President Odland introduced Dan Thompson and Richard Swanson who presented a “Lesson’s Learned” session about our pancake breakfast.
 
Dan and Richard used poster sheets to list the things that went right for our breakfasts and things that could be improved.
 
They will type up the results and distribute them to the membership in a week or two.
 
It was clear that many things went right and the leadership by Don Hodgman has been outstanding, along with the help that members continue to contribute to the breakfasts.
 
The positive energy around the Fly-In breakfast was one of several highlights they will record.
 
On the “Needs” side, many steps to help handicapped patrons were suggested as was a way to recycle more.  These items and others will be included in their written report.
 
Perhaps the biggest topic of conversation centered around getting people to learn jobs and making sure everyone has an idea what needs to be done and including more organizations to help besides the Queen group and the SHPS Foundation
 
 
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
 
Next week’s program: Kevin Schooley will present an update on the SHPS School System.
 
Greeters:  Nick Tuit and Larry Lewis
 
Editarian:  Dene Hadden