Rebecca Bahar-Cook is the CEO of Capitol Fundraising Associates, brings extensive experience in fundraising and nonprofit management. She creates fundraising strategies, plans events, leads capital campaigns, designs solicitation materials, and trains others in donor development.  Her work spans board development and volunteer recruitment, ensuring nonproftis succeed in their missions.

The following members have recently elected to resign from our club.

The Annual Meeting of the membership of the Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation will be held during the regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Lansing at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27th, 2025.  Business to come before the membership will include a report on the Foundation's activities during the past year, as well as the election of members to the Foundation's Board of Directors.  The Nominating Committee report of the foundation will be presented to recommend the following individuals to the membership as nominees for the Foundation's Board of Directors, to serve for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2025:

 

If you have any questions regarding the meeting agenda, please contact Foundation President, Pam Miklavcic:  pam@thedaviesproject.org 

Hope and Crosby? Sam and Dave? Hall and Oates? Sonny and Cher? Thelma and Louise? They got nothing on Lansing Rotary. Amateur duos all of them. For more than a quarter century, the highlight of our weekly Rotary meeting has been special music. Our club was incredibly fortunate to have the late great Ken Beachler and pianist extraordinaire John Dale Smith providing weekly concerts featuring local, national and international talent. I periodically sent them cards saying “but for the special music I would have quit the club years ago .” Out of a sense of obligation but not admiration, Ken would send me an occasional “nice report” Keven. Ken was tough!

 

And it wasn’t just the talent they brought in from their current production, or a visiting musician. Ken and John Dale were (is for JDS) creative spirits in their own right permeating our meetings with a welcoming ambiance whether it was at the Lansing Center, the Lansing Country Club or more recently LCC. When you walk into a meeting and there’s a piano playing in the corner, it simply warms up the room and sets one at ease. The weekly live performances included soul, gospel, country, opera, jazz, classical, scenes from a play or dramatic readings. The variety and quality of talent (including their own) that Ken and John shared with the club was simply sublime. Last December, feeling a bit homesick, I asked John Dale for a little Dave Brubeck and without hesitating, he performed a hauntingly slow and chalk full of emo energy “There’s No Place Like Home”. We’ll certainly miss the weekly special music concerts but we acknowledge and convey our most sincere and deeply felt gratitude for the gift we have received from Ken and John Dale. Terry Terry, Ben Rathbun, Hari Kern and no doubt others will do their best to fill the ginormous special music shoes of Ken Beachler and John Dale Smith.

President-Elect Chris Swope started today’s meeting with the 4-Way Test.

 

Corey Grant gave the reflection: A poem by Ralph Waldo Emmerson. “What is success?”

 

God Bless America was played by John Dale Smith.

 

We welcomed visiting Rotarians.

The health of the club is good.

 

A hearty congratulations was given to Jerry Granger…who recently got married!

 

John Dale Smith announced that after 25 years of leading special music, he is retiring from the position.  John Dale introduced today’s special music by Travis Williams. He announced he will be singing with the Detroit Opera, and will be moving to southeast Michigan. Travis wowed us all with two tunes: “It all fades away” and “Right on King Jesus.”

 

The Diversity Committee will meet right after this meeting. The PR Committee will meet June 20.

 

Alex Hernandez was the chair of the day and the month, and he introduced Rich Howard, associate state director for Outreach of AARP Michigan. Rich has been married to his wife Peg for 35 years, they have three grown children, he’s a grad of MSU & LCC and has a master’s in counseling. He has also served in the Lansing nonprofit community for many years. Rich invited panelists from AARP Michigan’s board, including Tim Booth and Lorri Rishar. 

 

We learned anyone can join AARP at 18! Priorities discussed included resources for caregiving, volunteer engagement and senior fraud. There are $77 billion in senior scams annually.

 

The meeting concluded with President-Elect Swope ringing the bell.

 

Email for Michelle Lantz:  michelle@glfoodbank.org