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President John Pence called the Friday, May 29th, 2015 meeting of the Rotary Club of Lansing to order at 12:30pm. Our meeting place at the downtown Lansing Center, Exhibit Hall C, was tastefully laid out with the buffet near the entrance and the leadership stage facing west. Our meal consisted of tossed salad, green and waxed beans, and a choice of mashed potatoes and fried chicken or pasta with beef tips burgundy. Cookies and the Rotary Club’s May birthday babies’ cake with coffee finished off the meal.
Sue Mills gave the invocation, followed by John Dale Smith and the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. Guests and visiting Rotarians were introduced with the help of Lisa Smith, while Terry Terry rounded off the meeting’s introductory stage with word that all was OK with our Club and with no remembrances to report.
At the point of wrapping up our annual Paul Harris (PH) donations drive, Foundation Chair Donna Gardner reported that PH contributions were up from 2014, which saw $10,000 given from 75 donors, to this year when thus far we’ve seen $20,450 honoring Rotary’s founding father and coming from almost half the Club membership. The average PH donation is currently $193. The current number of PH Fellows in our Club is 41. Remember – ‘Every Rotarian, Every Year.’
Kudos go to Stephanie Collier, a Financial Planner with Northwestern Mutual, who received her Red Badge from John Pence who continued in his role as Chair-of-the-Month in Joan Bauer’s absence. Stephanie is sponsored by Matthew Anderson.
Unfortunately, our special music of the day, a hallmark of our Lansing Club, was cancelled at the last minute. Without a doubt it will be doubly special at our next week’s meeting.
As the last meeting of May 2015, our Club reserved this time to honor our Club’s May birthday babies (yours truly being one of them) with a song. Another year older and wiser. May baby herself, Melanie Dart, announced that we raised $1,375 in this honor and with a donation rate of 58%. Melanie proclaimed the May birthday question to be answered was, “If you had access to a time machine, where and when would you go?” Some well-crafted answers: Dennis Fliehman would like to join our Founding Fathers discussion of the impending U.S. Constitution during the summer of 1787; Mark Hooper would like to meet the Founding Members of the Rotary Club of Lansing; John Stevenson would travel to Asia to experience the building of the Great Wall of China; and Melanie, while she thought Dennis’ trip to 1787 would be pretty neat, would use her time ticket to travel to the time of the Book of Acts and the beginning of Pentecost. Thank you, Melanie, and we wish your father, Rollin, well knowing that you had to leave the meeting early to be with him.
The Program for this week’s meeting was a very, very special one – a brief and tightly-scripted presentation of our Club’s Centennial Celebration with Chair-of-the-Day, Mark Hooper leading and leading off (OK, Mark, you did speak a little longer than anticipated, but in fairness you did have a lot to cover as Centennial Chair). It was great to get a sense of the progress of our Centennial Celebration thus far. Special times call for special measures, and our Club is going the extra mile to make this Celebration one-of-a-kind.
Mark began by restating our Club’s 1923 Resolution encompassing the Rotary principle of ‘Service Above Self’ and the personal and thoughtful unifying statement in support of Club service to others and the fore-thought of a grand 100-year Celebration when the time comes. Mark expanded on the ‘Service’, the difference between the philosophy and thought thereof and actual service in its application. And of the forming of our Club’s Foundation and our Club’s founding fathers’ stated goals of helping members to ‘achieve success and happiness in business and in life’.
Mark thanked all members contributing to the Centennial Celebration and Project, those members giving on behalf of their current living families and those giving in the memory of family members and others past. To date our Club members have donated $31,500 to our Centennial Celebration and Project, adding to the total fund of $254,490 and bringing the grand total to $285,990…just shy of our Club goal of $290,000. The donations come from 84.6% of our Club membership to date, with time yet to give - until the end of this Friday meeting day - for those still wanting to chip in.
Continuing, Mark extended a heart-felt thanks to our 2013 Club President, Jeff Crippen, who had the foresight to get things rolling early on in anticipation of our Centennial Celebration.
With a lot of ground left to cover, given the depth and planning of our Centennial Celebration and Project, Mark pushed on with the first of several introductions of the Centennial sub-committee Chairs in introducing Pat Hanes, Club History Chair. Pat gave us a sense of the importance of understanding our history in knowing who we are and in celebrating our Club’s 100-year birthday. He asked member Wayne Williams of Williams AutoWorld to stand and be recognized as the long-standing member that he is, and most notably as being a Past President of our Club and of the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce.
‘Hats were off’ at the introduction of the first of several of the Centennial sub-committees, the History Committee and those working as authors on one of the decades or chapters for the Centennial publication in the works. Those members are: Forward – Mark Hooper; Music – Ken Beachler; Foundation – Julie Pingston; Christmas for Kids – Jim Phillips; Women in Rotary – Helen Mickens; 1920s – John Grettenberger, Jr.; 1930s – Melanie Dart; 1940s – Frank Tegge; 1950s – Tim Daman; 1960s – Maureen Hirten; 1970s – Ed Crouse & Jack Bates: 1980s – Curtis Sonnenberg; 1990s – Kurt Guter; 2000s – Mark Hooper; and, 2010s – Jeff Crippen.
Pat involved Club members in an intriguing game of ‘Do You Know Who This Is?’, utilizing photo images on the overhead screen. Some of our astute members correctly identified Mystery Man#1 as Edward G. Hacker (current Club member Tom Hacker’s grand-father), born in 1893 and President of our Club in 1937-1938. Ed and the City Fish Market were synonymous, and Ed’s love of magic shows was well-known.
Mystery Man#2 was born in 1862 and was the Founder of the Lansing State Savings Bank, a Charter Member of the Rotary Club of Lansing and our Club President in 1923-1924…if you guessed J. Edward Roe you’d be correct.
The Centennial Project Committee Report was next on the agenda, and with that Pat introduced Sue Hansen, Project Chair. Sue pointed out that there are two sub-committees responsible for the Centennial Project, the actual Project Committee and the Fund-Raising Committee. Members of the Project Committee are, in no particular order: Mark Hooper; Sue Hansen; Sue Mills; Dave Marvin; Duane Vernon; Matthew Anderson; Jessica Klinger; and Manny Garcia. In addition, Sue reached out to thank Jeff Dettloff for his invaluable help with Project Committee responsibilities. Moving on to introductions of the members of the Project Fund-Raising Committee, those members are, again in no particular order: Mark Hooper; Sue Hansen; Irv Nichols; Jenn Dubey; Glenn Granger; Dave O’Leary; Matthew Anderson; Sue Mills; Kurt Guter; Govindarajan “Uma” Umakanthan; Jessica Klinger; Dave Marvin; Michelle Lantz; and, Courtney Millbrook.
Our Club’s selection of Impression 5 Science Center in downtown Lansing as the benefactor of Club Centennial Project funds was the culmination and pinnacle of a series of decisions in a long process that involved the consideration of several very worthy local area project proposals. Club member and Impression 5 Executive Director, Erik Larson, took the stage next and thanked our Club for choosing the local Science Center as recipient of this great honor. Erik stated that at $477,000 this is the largest design & build project to date for Impression 5, and with this being such a major undertaking given the advanced water features to be implemented in Impression 5 Water Room Project. Given that $200,000 remains to be raised, Erik proclaimed that he has his work cut out for him but is very confident that this goal will be met.
Erik continued explaining that he is currently dealing with the “fine details of space” in this monumental project, and always considering and putting to the forefront the Rotary Story of Drinking Water, a major focus of the Lansing Rotary Club and Clubs worldwide. The Water Room is slated to open in May of 2017. With an increase of roughly 20,000 visitors entering the doors of Impression 5 recently, Erik hinted at the timeliness of the addition of the Water Room.
Well, what is a birthday party without a celebration, right? And so, up next was Julie Pingston, Chair of the Centennial Celebration Committee with a report on the progress and timeline of the festivities to come. Julie started with an introduction of her committee, the members of which in alphabetical order are: Julie Pingston, Chair; Ken Beachler; Jenn Dubey; Teresa Kmetz; Debbie Mikula; Tobi Lyon Moore; Melissa Nay; Irv Nichols; Diane Sanborn; Berl Schwartz; and, John Dale Smith.
Julie emphasized that our Centennial Celebration is a group effort and that all have been and are being approached for input into the actual celebration to come. Celebration events to come in 2015 include: July 2015, Rotary Reflections (Why I Joined Rotary?); August 2015, a preview of Rotary Reflections; September 2015, a Rotary Club of Lansing Run/Walk event including a 5K, a Relay, a Half-Marathon, and a Marathon; October 2015, hands’on events, to include a Food Drive and a Book Drive; November 2015, a Rotary presence at Silver Bells with Irv Nichols leading that effort; and, December 2015, our Club’s Annual Christmas Party involving North School.
Scheduled for 2016 and leading up to and including our Club’s actual birthday are the following planned activities: January 2016, more previews of Rotary Reflections; February 2016, Hands’on events and connections to the community; March 2016, the taking of formal photographs of our Club and its members; April 2016, 100-plus Hours of Service month; May 2016, Promotions, News and Awareness of our Club’s Centennial birthday highlighted with the ground-breaking of the Water Room Project at Impression 5 Science Center; and, finally, Party-Time as we turn ‘100’ at the Lansing Center on the evening of June 17th,2016 with promises of some very special music (I can’t wait!).
And finally, to wrap up our action-packed Centennial Plans Revealed meeting today, we were treated to the insights of a long-time Rotarian, Irv Nichols, and a newer Rotarian, Jessica Klinger, in that order.
Irv has such a rich history, speaking personally and of that related to the Rotary Club of Lansing, that it is difficult to cover all that he mentioned here. But I’ll do my best to cover at least some of his background and highlights of his life in Rotary. Irv joined our Club in 1958 at almost 34 years of age, and became Club President in 1972-1973 when the attendance policy was 60% meeting attendance (or you got a call to kindly shape up). At that time Lansing was a sleepy little town where Knapps and Frandor Mall and Kositchek’s were landmarks, and there was no Lansing Community College and no Cooley Law School. New Rotarian Irv and his wife, Christy, had two young sons at 2 and 4 years of age at the time, and Irv was Executive Director of the Michigan Tuberculosis Association. Irv travelled all over the state for his work, to all 83 counties and the 22 hospitals that were situated within them. Reflecting on the times, Irv described our Rotary Club as ‘all white and all male’ back then. He mentioned a few of his contemporaries that came to mind when thinking of the Club at that time, including: Attorney Dick Foster of Foster Swift founding lineage, Club President in 1954-1955 and whose son Attorney Dick Foster, Jr. is a member of our Club; Ted Simon who managed the MSU Physical Plant and whose daughter, Lou Anna Simon, is the current MSU President and as well as a Lansing Rotarian; Jack Draper, who sold MSU sports-related products at the time and still, and a current Lansing Rotarian; and, Clarence “Biggie” Munn, famed former MSU hockey coach and for whom the MSU Ice Arena is named. Thank you, Irv, outstanding…your proclaimed belief in the Rotary Four-Way Test is evident in the way you live and the importance you place on your friends and contemporaries and on this Club that you helped to shape and that helped to shape who you are today.
To gain perspective on who we are as Lansing Rotarians, we then heard from newer member Jessica Klinger. Jessica became a member of our Club in September of 2013, having grown up outside the Lansing metro area, and serves an integral role in the Association of Big Brothers Big Sisters – Michigan Capitol Region. She ‘loves’ our Club’s Friday meetings (I do too, Jessica…) and also loves the concept of giving and the value in understanding how much greater it is to give than to receive – a concept true to Rotary principles that she has also taken home to teach to her two young daughters. And, as you can see from above, Jessica is giving of her time by serving on our Centennial Project Committee. Thank you for being a Lansing Rotarian and for sharing a bit about yourself and your perspective on being a Rotarian, Jessica.
This is a very long Editarian Report, yes, but it provides a good look into what it takes to become 100 years old in Lansing Rotarian years...a lot of work! Please know that I’ve whittled down 12 pages of notes to something like four pages of Report, and unfortunately I’m not quite done yet, hang in there…and thanks for your having read this far!
In closing, President John credited and thanked the Club’s Board of Directors for their leadership, Centennial Chair Mark Hooper for his diligence and leadership, and, again, Past President Jeff Crippen (and others…sorry if I’ve overlooked any other names mentioned) for his foresight. Above all else, President John emphasized that in as much as the financial support of the Club’s members and others is important, it is really the interaction between individuals and committees that holds the real value and allows our Club to continue to grow and to achieve greatness in giving. President John then symbolically presented Centennial Chair Mark with our Club donation, in lieu of a speaker’s gift, to be invested in the Bio-Sand Filter project that provides developing nations and communities with pure water for daily use.
The closing bell rang and we were adjourned at 01:23pm and out the door. Please note that we meet at the Lansing Center again next week for New Member Presentations, a Club favorite.
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Congratulations and thanks to Lansing Rotarians for your response to the Centennial Celebration Fundraising effort. While the Lansing Rotary Centennial Water project was the focal point of our efforts, support of the other Centennial Celebration activities was a target. By the end of Friday’s meeting, Lansing Rotarian’s had responded with commitments of $254,590, and gifts by or in memory of former Lansing Rotarians totaled another $31,500, for a grand total of $286,090. Our commitment to Impression Five Science Center will be fulfilled, along with most of the expected costs of the historical book, the Celebration event and activities, and oral history project -- thank you Rotarians.