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The meeting was called to order at the Country Club of Lansing by President Lisa Smith. A thoughtful invocation asking for help in our work to improve the lives of others was given by Lee Kleibert. We sang “America” accompanied by John Dale Smith. We had several Rotarians with guests and a Visiting Rotarian or two. The floor microphone was adeptly handled by Dave Trumpie. Jessica Klinger reported that “the health of the club is good.”
Deb Mikula reported on behalf of the Lansing Rotary Centennial Celebration Committee. We raised nearly 100 children’s books for local children in need in October. (Deb will still accept any children’s books Rotarians want to bring in.) For February, Deb tells us the Centennial Committee’s goal for us is 100 food items for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Canned goods, dry goods, bring them in.
Our special music was two songs evocatively sung by Emily Sutton-Smith, a woman of many talents, who is busy in many activities including the current show at the Williamston Theater, “Too Much, Too Much, Too Many.” John Dale Smith expertly accompanied her on the grand piano.
Lansing Rotary’s own Joe Wald, Executive Director of the Greater Lansing Food Bank, and Chair of the Month, introduced our speaker. Joe began by explaining that the Food Bank Council of Michigan is the advocacy and coordinating office for the seven regional food banks in Michigan - for all 83 counties.
Dr. Phil Knight’s topic was “Beyond Hunger.” His passionate, humorous, sobering, and ultimately uplifting message was perfect for an audience of doers like Lansing Rotary. Starting with his time in East Africa building schools, medical, and health centers at Lake Victoria, Uganda, he shared the shocking results of a lack of food. He also told us about arriving at his brand new dock on Lake Victoria, after a 16 mile boat ride with a cow in the boat, only to find three crocodiles sunning themselves on their new “sun deck.” Getting the cow out of the boat “was even more difficult than getting it in.”
But Phil’s real job in Uganda and in some of those other 120 -plus countries where he’s lived and worked was to bring together and coordinate efforts from such disparate groups as the European Union, USAID, and many others. While it might not be surprising to hear that babies and children in the bush in East Africa are suffering from hunger and all the horrors that brings, Phil shared some sobering facts about Michigan’s food situation.
While Michigan is the second most diverse agricultural state in the U.S., 23% of people in Michigan are “food insecure.” A high percentage of food insecure households have children younger than18. When a person is hungry they aren’t only “not themselves” like the Snickers commercial says. “A hungry person can’t think about school, or work, or anything else, just their own and their child’s hunger.”
The Greater Lansing Food Bank website tells us that, “Many food bank clients are families with children needing food assistance for the first time. And 38% of the members of households served are children under 18 years old. 8% of food bank clients are age 65 and over. 46% of food bank clients report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel. And 34% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.” “Contrary to popular belief, not all those in need of assistance are unemployed. 36% of households include at least one employed adult. And most shocking of all, in mid-Michigan, 1 in 4 children will go to bed hungry tonight.” Phil reminded us that hunger has become a cultural norm with an acceptance that “there will always be hunger.” That can and must change for reasons as diverse as government budget expenditures and national security. Phil challenged us and Michigan to change that by ending hunger. Eliminating hunger is possible! We must do things differently with Programs like the Mobile Neighborhood Grocery with “the 32 items that people need” and “community food clubs” like in Grand Rapids on the bus line provide food and up-lifting, educational experiences that can change individual and family lives. (Access to healthy food is an issue.) Or the local food bank that partnered with McLaren Health to combine food distribution and mammograms that resulted in life-saving mammogram testing increasing 70%.
Edmund Burke said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Phil challenged us to do “a little” and to work with others to not just “alleviate” the scourge of hunger in our own cities and country-side in Michigan, but to eliminate hunger here once and for all.
President Lisa thanked Dr. Phil Knight for an inspirational presentation and gave him our Four Way Test coin and donation in his name to Bio-Sand Water projects. Our next meeting will be at the Lansing Center.
Submitted by Helen Pratt Mickens, Email: hpmickens@gmail.com
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As dean of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at MSU, one of the top colleges of communication, my goal for CAS is to realize the full potential of the synergy between communication, arts and sciences through the pillars of excellence, innovation and balance. I am still new to the job.
For our Centennial Celebration activity in the month of February, we're asking members to donate a few non-perishable foods for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Please bring your donations, which can even be a cash donation if that's easier, to a meeting in February and we'll get the donations passed along. Thanks!