We caravanned Westward today and met at the Lansing Community College West Campus. Despite the wintery chill in the air (spring is less than 55 days away), it was a very well attended meeting. President Fliehman interrupted no fewer than 50 private conversations to get our meeting started. Pat Munshaw took the podium for the invocation. To summarize: sic transit gloria mundi. We sang an Italian song, “Acapella” lead by Ken Beachler. We had so many guests that it took quite some time for the mic to move from East to West. Sue Mills reported on the health of the club, something about Ron Seelye, but I couldn’t hear so pay attention next week and watch for more news. Probably wouldn’t hurt to send him a card. The Rotary Cheer event happened on Wednesday and was a success with 70 people in attendance. Rich Schaberg announced the January birthdays. This month’s question was “what will Lansing Rotary look like in 2050?” Aside from the ever-popular Dave O’Leary age jokes, the best answer came from Rich himself with “Hilary’s granddaughter will be President of the United States and her Vice President will be Donald’s grandson and they will have won on a campaign slogan of “Service Above Self.” Let’s hope Rich’s unlikely prediction comes true. Special music today was Mike Bass (like the fish), who sang and played two songs on the guitar. Hands was his first song and the second was You do You, a song about his transition from 4th generation scrapmaster to full time face melting acoustic guitar player and singing songwriting fool. His repertoire tests the limits of Ken Beachler’s musical knowledge. With a safetynet made from metal scraps at the Fiedland Industries scrap yard, Mike’s entertainment chops did not disappoint. He also told us of the future of ScrapFest and the opportunity to have local sculptures on display at your places of business. For more information, check him out at www.facebook.com/mikebassmusic. Today’s speaker was fellow Rotarian Scott Keith and his topic was the 100 year anniversary and a tongue in cheek history of the Capital Area United Way. A woman, a priest, 2 ministers and a Rabbi meet in a ..., sounds like the beginning of a joke but it is actually the meeting that started United Way in 1887. Lansing’s origins started in 1919 when Miss Sara Brown, Dr. E.W. Bishop, Ray Potter and J.M. Preston met to address community needs. Basic needs that were as prevalent then as they are today: housing, utilities, food and health. Their 1919 goal was to raise $150,000 ($2.2 million in today’s dollars). To say they were aggressive and shameless would be an understatement by today’s standards. We were treated to an early commercial video that would have a tough time surviving today’s political correctness standards. Dialing 2-1-1, connects you with community resources (120,000 calls yearly with 24/7 coverage to help direct those in need of housing, food, health resources). One of their programs is ALICE (asset limited income constrained employees, aka, the working poor). Many in our community are one pay check or one car repair away from needing to be on government assistance. The VITA program helps with doing tax returns to secure tax refunds. The United Way in its second century will be a collaborator and convener with the goal of less duplication and more accurately hitting the marks to help those in need. They’re planning a 10/19/2019 Gala Event to mark the occasion of their first one hundred years. Questions were asked and answered and then we all bundled up and trundled on into the frigid parking lot. Have a great week! |