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As the clock struck 12:31 p.m. (President Jack must have been slacking today), this meeting of the Lansing Rotary Club was called to order. Jenn Dubey delivered the invocation followed by our patriotic song, America the Beautiful. (Sharing a table with one of our club’s voice impresarios, Mark Hooper, the music sounded pretty good.) Justin Sheehan traversed the room like a man on a hover board to make certain that visiting Rotarians and guests could be introduced. Today’s guests included a past District Governor from District 6380, and a special friend from our own club, our former Ingham County Medical Officer and Lansing Rotarian, General Dean Sienko and his lovely wife Mary, who were looking forward to cheering on their son, playing tennis for Army against MSU this weekend. Living in Atlanta, Dean works on a daily basis at the Carter Center, interacting with President Carter, now 92 years old and sharp as can be. Dean commented that it was good to be home, while it was nice for us to see an old friend. Our remembrance report was presented by Dick Ammons. Just as we thought the health of the club was good, we learned from Pat Hanes that Lisa Smith’s husband, Ed, has suffered a stroke and is in Sparrow’s ICU. It’s too soon for visitors, but cards can’t hurt. Our thoughts and prayers need to be with Lisa and Ed and their family.
On a lighter note, Diane Sanborn is leaving a week from Saturday for a Rotary trip to the Dominican Republic to visit one of our Children’s Safe Water projects. But don’t worry that this will be all work for Diane. It will also be her 70th birthday celebration, moving to an all-inclusive spa while on her trip. Happy Birthday Diane!!
President Jack once again reminded the club that our Rotary International President, John Germ, will be the Keynote Speaker at the upcoming “Rotary Peace Conference” March 31-April 1, 2017 at the University of Michigan Campus in Ann Arbor.
Missy Liljie then presented a very special special music (I think this is grammatically correct). Andrea Horn brought Hope Central to the Lansing Rotary Club on this Friday. Part of the ‘keeping art and music’ in the Lansing Schools, this talented group of young people brought the Jungle Book Selection to our club. This story of the Jungle Book allowed not only our guests to perform, but also encouraged Rotarians to demonstrate their abilities to follow instructions. OK – so some of us are definitely limited in these abilities – but at least we tried. (I can report that our table took on the character of Kah the snake. “Trust me” was our line, and by the end of the performance, we had it down.) As Rotarian Kurt Guter observed, John Dale now has a lot to live up to for future performances!! The special music portion of our meeting ended with song and dance from our guests and I thought I picked up a little Charleston, twist and more. As the young entertainers from Lutin School departed, it looked like our own Chris Holman was taking on a new role as sitter in residence. Surely this could have led to a very interesting discussion as Chris went home. Explain this one to Louise. Oh, but Chris was rescued. Guess you had to be there. 
Todd Gute, our Chair of the Day, then introduced our special guest, Dr. Robert Cropsey. Introducing our speaker as one who lives the Rotary 4- way test every day for the past 30 years, Dr. Cropsey is one whose contributions provide hope around the world. A UM grad, (ok – we won’t hold that against him), Dr. Cropsey served as a surgeon at the UM Medical Center before deciding to move his family to Togo in Africa in 1983.
Dr. Cropsey’s slide presentation, entitled Africa in Great Need, walked us through his formative years tending to his family’s farm near the Lansing areas as his father and brother served in the Michigan legislature. His farm animal experiences led to his initial interest in medicine. His missionary tendencies and interests filled in the balance which took Dr. Cropsey and his family to Africa to help many who had no chance of living without significant interventions. So with four sons and a wife who was a nurse, their first trip to Africa convinced them that they had found their calling. 13 grand children later, this has truly become a family affair…and a lot more. Citing key passages in the bible, in 1985, Dr. Cropsey and his team built the first significant hospital in southern Togo. With 150 employees, all trained on site, this is the second busiest hospital throughout the country. Dr. Cropsey shared the mantra of the team, “don’t believe in miracles…depend on them”. The many visiting physicians along with prayer allow miracles to happen every day.
And then, with all that they were able to accomplish and offer in the south, in 2002 Dr. Cropsey recognized the significant need in the north of the country. So what does an overachiever do in this situation? You guessed it. He figures out a way to build a second hospital in the north. The Hospital of Hope opened in Mango Togo in 2015, replacing what was commonly referred to as the Hospital of Death. Serviced by local employees as well as visiting physicians and missionaries, supplies from 15 Lansing area churches helped to create this second miracle of Togo. This amazing story just goes on and on. Dr. Cropsey is truly the angel of Togo. His stories left us in amazement of the need … and of his accomplishments. They now also include home visits. His Hope Patient Care Fund has been set up for anyone who would like to support this effort by going to hohmango.org/support-us. Dr. Cropsey can teach the world about the true meaning of the 4- way test.
After a few questions from Rotarians, President Jack thanked our guest. With a beautiful weekend forecast for the greater Lansing area, and some golf courses planning to open, all were wished a wonderful weekend. We meet once again next week at the Lansing Center.
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Eileen Fhaner started working at Auto-Owners Insurance in July 1977 as a billing clerk. Returned to college in the evenings, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1983. Progressed through accounting becoming an Assistant Vice President in 1993; Vice President in 1998; Senior Vice President in 2003; and Treasurer in 2005. Eileen will be retiring August 1, 2017 after 40 years of service. She has been married to her husband Jerry for 37 years and live on 11 acres near Potterville. They enjoy the outdoors, love Michigan and all its seasons and cars.