President Jack Davis opened the Rotary Club of Lansing’s Friday March 17th, 2017 weekly meeting at 12:30pm, our host site the Country Club of Lansing on Moores River Drive. Following our patriotic song, Invocator Craig Stiles blessed our delicious chicken, potato and green beans meal and meeting before Dave Trumpie helped with the introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians. Irv Nichols gave our Club’s remembrance report and expressed his concerns for those Club members with health issues, in particular Lisa Smith’s husband, Ed, recovering from a recent stroke and Jack Bates who had been recovering from recent falls. Returning to the mic President Jack awarded new Club member Ronald Horowitz with his red badge, Tobi Lyon Moore being his Club sponsor. Continuing, President Jack announced that Rotary District 6360 is looking for Rotary Hero nominations from our Club, whomever is chosen to be honored on May 12th, 2017 in Battle Creek. Please see Club Administrator, Cathy Andrews if you would like to see a particular Club member nominated. In addition, President Jack made the Club aware that grant applications for the Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation are open, a link to the associated site available in our weekly Rotogram and accessible on that site below “Foundation-Apply for a Grant.” The deadline is Friday, March 31st, 2017. And with that, President Jack turned the floor over to long-standing Club member and icon, David O’Leary for a bit of personal Irish family history…and a toast with the green beer which he donated and placed at each member’s table-setting, capping off our Club’s tribute to Irish-Americans for a belated St. Patrick’s Day 2017 celebration of sorts. David expressed how proud he is of his family’s century-plus old paint company, home and Rotary Club, and of his Irish roots, and the power of social and business networks. He closed with an Irish blessing for hope and to the future, “May the Road Rise to Meet You….” Michael Clark then addressed our Club in impromptu-like fashion with a bit of his Irish family roots, his family history dating back to their first-generation Irish immigration and the coal mines, personal family hardship, sacrifice and grand-parent lineage from youth and work in the mines to the eventual rise in stature and power in achieving great heights in our national legislative branch. Of note, approximately 33.3 million Americans report Irish ancestry, this editarian reporter being one of them with a quarter Irish and a quarter Scottish on my mother’s side of the family. What is an Irish celebration without a little Irish music, right? Well, Ken Beachler made sure that we had that covered, and introduced our Music of the Day performer, Bill Henson. Bill, accompanied by John Dale Smith on piano, sang the Irish out of a couple traditional Irish tunes, with our Club singing along with him on a rousing version of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.” And with that, Chair of the Day, John Grettenberger Jr., who, in graciously standing in for our ill Chair of the Month, Michelle Reynaert, introduced today’s speaker of the day, Teri Battaglieri of Delta Dental. Teri, who says she has “a bit of the Irish” in her herself (original family name, “O’Battaglieri”….really, Teri?) is Delta Dental’s Director of Communications, Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy. And her topic for the day, “Delta Dental – Building Brighter Futures One Smile at a Time.” Ms. Battaglieri described Delta Dental as a community-oriented corporation offering dental insurance to employee groups and individuals across Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. It is through the interests and resources of the Delta Dental Foundation that this Okemos-based corporation’s many and varied programs and contributions exist in order to promote oral health as strategically spear-headed through its Brighter Futures initiatives of advocacy, philanthropy and education. Some of Delta Dental’s programs include Blessings in a Backpack, the Legislative Tote Bag Program, Brush!, and the Drool to School program, to name just a few. A recent Delta Dental donation of $2million to the University of Michigan helped to create a new Oral Health Care Center. In addition, Delta Dental offers community grants throughout its operating area. Ms. Battaglieri, an ex-schoolteacher, sees education as critical to helping children as well as other age-groups achieve better oral health. She draws a direct correlation between bad teeth and success and happiness in life, or a lack thereof. Teaching children to brush their teeth for at least 2 minutes a day, 2 times a day and then also reading for 20 minutes per day helps them achieve healthy bodies and minds (or 2 x 2 + 20), she concluded. After answering several Rotarian questions concerning Delta Dental, Teri was presented with a Rotary Four-Way Test coin by President Jack. As well, the Club honored Delta Dental by donating $1,000 in its name toward our Bio-Sand Filter project, through which we Rotarians help to provide pure water to under-developed countries. A reminder that our Club’s meeting next week will be a special one, that which is to be held jointly with the Lansing Regional Sister Cities. The meeting will start a little earlier than usual, with our guest speaker of the day to be Daniel Lohrmann on the timely subject of cybersecurity. And with that, President Jack adjourned this week’s meeting at 1:30pm. Postscript – It is at this writing that I’ve just become aware of long-time Club member Jack Bates’ recent passing. This brings me great sadness for Jack and I got to know each other right after my 5-minute personal talk to the Club almost eight (8) years ago…we connected on a subject of common interest, Korea – a place where I served in the military and then met my future wife, and a place that meant much to Jack and where he also served his country. Jack and I tried to get together with our wives to discuss Korea and to get to know each other a bit better, but were never able to bring that meeting to fruition. Godspeed Jack.... Our scheduled Editarian did not attend last Friday. Curt Sonnenberg is not on the committee this year and really stepped up so a report could be included in this Rotogram. If you enjoyed this report, please "thank" Curt! His email is: attorney@sonnenberglaw.com |