You may have heard me talk about the health of the club on Friday and in this context health of the club means overall health of our membership. I’d like to ask that each and every Club member put their thinking caps on and think of someone you think already lives by the 4 way test and might enjoy joining us for lunch and possibly being a member. Maybe you’re too shy to ask them to come, I’m not and neither is Chris Holman! The membership committee is committed to maintaining the robustness of our club through new members that live by the 4 way test and reflect the people of our community so please, forward a name or several names to Kevin Schumacher schumacher@glassenrhead.com or Chris Swope (chris.swope@lansingmi.gov) and we’ll assign a Rotarian to reach out to prospective invitees.

Rotarians, the Annual Holiday Appeal is upon us! The money donated will help fund the 99th Annual Holiday Gift for the special needs children of Gardner Elementary. While the anticipated donation is $100/each, no donation is too large or too small. It is hoped that the club will have 100% participation! Donations may be made by check, credit card or online. Make your donation today and help make the children’s holiday a happy one!  CLICK HERE  

 

The following member has recently elected to resign from our Club:

President Courtney called today’s meeting to order at LCC’s Michigan Room with a full house attending this Veteran’s Day meeting.

 

Rotarians recited the 4-Way Test and Craig Stiles provided the meeting’s reflection which focused on faith and family under the backdrop of a photo of Craig’s lovely family of 11 children. John Dale Smith was back in the house to lead our National Anthem.

 

John Dale gave a preview of the upcoming Children’s Holiday Party on December 9 in the LCC Commons Room which will feature the DeWitt Choir and, of course, Santa!

 

John Dale invited Mark Hooper to lead today’s Special Music in honor of our Rotarians who served in the armed services. We sang the songs of the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy while recognizing Rotarians who served in each branch as the songs were sung.

 

We were able to welcome a number of guests including Hari Kern’s friends Lynn and Randy Scott with MSU (Randy has just retired from, among other things, managing 350,000 volumes of the world’s largest comic book collection at the MSU Library); Travis Stoliker’s guest Dan Wyont with the Edward Lowe Foundation; and, Bob Hoffman’s guests Jennifer, Mike and Chris Pearson.

 

President Courtney updated that the Health of the Club is good!

 

Kevin Schmacher gave a membership update for the Club which now has 168 members. We are looking to continue to grow and you can help. Simply invite someone you know that lives the 4-Way Test to join you for a Rotary lunch to help spread the membership message for our Club.

 

Teresa Kmetz introduced Michele Strasz of the Capital Area College Access Network who provided an update on the grant funding received from the Rotary Club Foundation. Michele explained the grant helped with revisioning of project “Launch Pad” to inspire and encourage high school students and adults toward any post-secondary education. The Launch Pad includes the 1) College Fair platform featuring 17 Michigan colleges and universities with 750 students registered to access the information; 2) expanding the reach into the community with pop up events and targeted outreach; and, 3) creating a college-going culture with mentor training to create student ambassadors for college.

 

Thanks to Dan Alyward for serving as Chair of the Month and Chair of the Day! Dan introduced us to John Wemlinger a retired US Army Colonel with 27 years of service and a veteran of the Vietnam War. Dan is the author of 5 books in which he writes about America’s veterans and the issues confronting them. John is the past-President of the Battle Creek Rotary Club and now lives in Onekama, Michigan.

 

John spoke on his book “The Cut” which is a historical fiction novel that John was asked to write to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Onekama, Michigan. This book has been recognized as a “Michigan Notable Book” for 2022. The book tells the story of struggling farmers who are being taken advantage of by Big Lumber in 1870-71.

 

John detailed the story of the 27-farmers and veterans who dug through the forest to create a new channel that would stop their lands from being affected by flooding each time the mill run by the lumbering company operated to control the water from Portage Lake. At the time (1871), big lumber created more millionaires per capita in Manistee than anywhere in the United States. The farmers took matters into their own hands and, by digging the ditch, they opened the area to new business and tourism from Chicago for the Portage Lake area.

 

There were a number of questions for John about becoming an author and his writing process. To find out more about John and his books, you can visit John's site.

 

Thanks to John and a donation will be made in his name to our foundation to do good works in the community!

 

President Courtney reminded the International Committee of the meeting following our Club meeting. She also announced our networking social on Thursday, November 17 from 4-30-6:00 pm at Lansing Brewing Co. and we will meet again at LCC on December 2 with the Thanksgiving Holiday. See you then!

 

Julie Pingston's email is:  jpingston@lansing.org