When:	Friday, August 19th, 2016
Where:	The Lansing Center, Second Floor
Speaker:	Sandra Pearson, CEO and President
Topic:	"Habitat for Humanity:  A Global Mission"
Chair of the Day:	Jeff Dettloff
Invocator:	Helen Mickens
Greeters:	Gary Baxter & McKenna Long
Chair of the Month:	Jeff Dettloff
Editarian:	Kevin Schumacher

Sandra Pearson is the President and Chief Executive Officer for Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, a state support and shared service organization which provides technical assistance, consulting, advocacy, and resources to a statewide network of 65 affiliates and over 50 ReStores.

 

A graduate of Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, Sandy began her career in housing with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) ---- the state’s Housing Finance Agency. While at MSHDA, she began working with local, state, and federal resources as a Community Development Specialist developing nonprofit housing development finance tools, and home ownership programs and products that could serve the lowest income populations. Sandy is the co-author of MSHDA’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Homeownership program, which gained national recognition due to its unique emphasis on creating partnerships and long-term home ownership strategies for successful home ownership.

 

In the eight years she has been with Habitat for Humanity of Michigan, she has provided leadership housing advocacy and HFHI national policy having served on HFHI’s U.S. Council and the Finance and Resource Development council. Sandy has been instrumental in Michigan in implementing the strategic priorities of the Board of Directors, including energy efficient building, a shift into home repair and home rehabilitation, neighborhood revitalization, as well as the launch of three unique initiatives: the Michigan Regional Distribution Center, the Habitat for Humanity Michigan Fund ---- a licensed loan origination and servicing company, and the formation and implementation of the ReBuild Michigan Campaign. Habitat for Humanity of Michigan is the one and only Habitat for Humanity that is a charter member of NeighborWorks of America ---- a national network of housing excellence.

 

Sandy and her husband Rob have been married for 22 years and have three daughters who represent 5th generation Portland St. Patrick School and Church, and 3rd generation MSU Spartans.

           Sign up now for the 16th annual Lansing Rotary Foundation Golf Outing!

All proceeds will benefit Child & Family Charities.

 

 

Not a golfer? Plan to join us for a light breakfast starting at 8:30AM

following play at around 3PM.  Our outing beneficiary

will make brief remarks, and attendance will be taken; reserve your non-golfer spot by emailing Cathy.

 

To register as a golfer, team, or sponsor, visit https://lansingrotary.wordpress.com/upcoming-events/ or talk with Al Yambor & McKenna Long

Remember, this is a member-guest format event; no more than two Lansing Rotarians per team, please.

Sign-up sheets are also available at the fellowship table. 

 

To donate an item for the golfer gift bag or sign up to volunteer, please contact Erica Bills.

President Jack called the meeting to order and the thoughtful invocation was given by Jeff Detloff. We sang “My Country Tis of Thee.” Lisa Smith wielded the microphone for the introduction of several guests and one visiting Rotarian. (We were pleased to hear that a number of the guests were considering becoming members of Lansing Rotary.) Sue Mills gave the Remembrance report and told us that Virginia Allen’s husband, Bruce, is back in the hospital with a blood infection. A card to Virginia would be nice.

 

New Member Red Badges were given to Eric Schneiderwind, attorney with Varnum LLC, sponsored by Paula Cunningham, and Justin Sheehan, Executive Director of the Lansing Promise, sponsored by Teresa Kmetz.

 

 Alan Hellstrom made an announcement about Loftus Day, a special day unique to Lansing Rotary. This year’s Loftus Day will be Friday, September 9th. We will meet for an early meeting and presentation then head to our appointed cemeteries to pay our respects and honor deceased members of the Club. Loftus Day began in 1928 when Frank Loftus brought flowers from his garden to place on graves to remember departed Rotarians. Lansing Rotarians should order flowers (directions for doing that will be sent by Club Administrator, Cathy) or bring flowers from their gardens on September 9th. At that meeting we will honor Ned Legg, and Peter Hasbrook. Next week we will honor Curt Liechty.  Today’s remembrance, given by Alan Hellstrom, was of recently deceased member Charlie Smith, owner of Smith Floral and Greenhouse. He was a unique, generous, funny, and friendly member of Lansing Rotary. Charlie was huge contributor to our community in many ways. He worked with people in their happiest moments (weddings) and their saddest (funerals for a loved one.) Charlie was always ready with a quip He was a loving husband and father. He is missed. President Jack encouraged members to make a good Rotary effort to participate on Loftus Day, September 9th. He said there have been comments about changing Loftus Day, a day which has been a Lansing Rotary tradition for 88 years.

 

Special Music was performed by Meg Eldred, accompanied by John Dale Smith. Meg, the talented Director of Choirs at Dewitt High School, sang a song from the musical Grease, which will be presented at Lansing’s Riverwalk Theatre in September, and a second song from Once Upon a Mattress. (There won’t be Special Music for the next two weeks because of Loftus Day programming and time constraints.)

 

Chair of the Day, McKenna Long, first reminded everyone to sign up for the Lansing Rotary Golf Outing, September 16th. The proceeds of the golf outing will go to Child and Family Services. Then McKenna reminded us that today’s students are tomorrow’s employees. Which is where our speaker comes in. Matthew Anderson is Chief Branding Officer for Engaged Education who talked about “Making Education Engaging.”

 

LifeTech as part of Engaged Education is one of Michigan’s cyber-schools. Students are given a laptop and once a week they meet together and have experiences like they could never have imagined before Engaged Education helped them recognize their true interests. Engaged partners with entities like Bob Hoffman’s Wharton Center, Kirk Riley at ITEC and others where students explore areas where they think they have an interest.

 

Matthew told us that while 80% of students graduate, that leaves a fifth of students behind. “You have to look at the students’ learning styles to find what approach works for them, to get them engaged.” This applies to employees as well as students. Students have 800 curricular choices to choose from. At one time 80% of the students at LifeTech Academy were homeless. Most of their students have already left their public schools, whether in Lansing or Adrian. So Life Tech isn’t competing with those public schools. Some LifeTech students even go back to their original schools. The assistance in helping them recognize what’s important to them changes their lives.

 

Engaged Education is getting ready to announce a program with the MSU Broad School of Business. They will continue to take their message of engaging people by meeting students and others where they are, based on each person’s own interests. President Jack thanked Rotarian Matthew Anderson and gave him one of the now famous “Rotary coins” with the four-way test and let him know that a donation is being made in his name to projects to provide clean water to people in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  The meeting was adjourned promptly at 1:30 p.m.

Helen Micken's email is: hpmickens@gmail.com