This is a rain-or-shine event that is completely free to attend and participate. The Easter egg hunt on the Capitol Lawn will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Youth participants will be divided into groups.
Immediately after the Easter egg hunt, the community is invited to bring their baskets to 100-300 blocks of S. Washington Square to collect eggs and other goodies from local businesses until 1:00 p.m. No purchase is necessary. More information at this link: Downtown Egg-Stravaganza
We will have a new fiscal year coming upon us very soon. July 1, 2026, Susan Angel will become our President and Lolo Robison will be the Program Chair for the upcoming year. If you are interested in being a Chairperson for the month, please let Lolo know, her email is: lolorobison@gmail.com
If you accept a month to select speakers you are responsible for:
Recruit a speaker for the scheduled meeting. Forward speaker, name and topic to Cathy as soon as possible. One week in advance she will need a bio and photo to post on the website.
Recruit a Rotary member to provide the Reflection for the scheduled meeting day.
Determine whether or not you will recruit a Chairperson of the Day, who will introduce the speaker, who will perform under your supervision.
Your speaker will begin their talk aby 1:00 p.m. and should conclude their program no later than 1:30. Generally, a presentation of 20 minutes, leaving 5 to 10 minutes for questions is desired.
Max Hondorp, a junior at Lansing Catholic High School, is helping the community honor the U.S. flag through part of his Eagle Scout Project. Max built two flag collection boxes that will be placed at two locations in East Lansing from March 23-June 10, 2026:
East Lansing Fire Department (1700 Abbot Road)
St. Thomas Aquinas Church (955 Alton Road)
The collected flags will be respectfully retired during a flag burning ceremony on Flag Day, June 14, ensuring they receive the honor they deserve.
We have a service opportunity at the Greater Lansing Food Bank on Wednesday, May 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Tuesday, September 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. located at 5600 Food Ct., Bath Township. Please let Jason Brunette know if you can help: Jason.Brunette@martincommercial.com
A total of $40,000.00 was approved by the Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation Board for International Grants from the committee. Each week we will highlight one of the non-profits receiving our checks.
Peace Sisters
The project addresses the educational needs of underpriveleged girls in Togo, West Africa where poverty is pervasive, the literacy rate amoung adult women is low, and only half of school-aged girls receive a secondary school education. Peace Sisters pays for Togolese girls' schooling and provides them with educational supplies and other resources so that they have the support they need to stay in school and excel at the middle school, high school, and post-secondary education levels.
This grant fund will be used to provide books and other school supplies to approximately 485 girls at the middle school and high school level, to supplement the school fees program. Additionally, this grant will provide new uniforms sewn by local seamstresses for 100 secondary school students whose current educational attire has grown threadbare.
Peace Sisters targets girls ages 11-22 in Dapaong, Togo who are at risk of dropping out of school due to family pressures and limited finances. Local teachers and principals refer girls to us who can't pay school fees or are otherwise at risk of dropping out of school. In 2021, 52% of girls in our program had one or more deceased parents and 40% had parents with disabilities. These girls are under even greater pressure to be wage-earners and caretakers for their familes, making educational pursuits nearly impossible without our support. In the 2024-2025 school year, we paid school fees for approximately 550 girls enrolled in our program. We anticipate similar enrollment in 2025-2026.
To complement the school fees, Peace Sisters provide additional educational support in the form of books, pens, menstrual supplies, solar lamps, and uniforms. These supplies are not provided by the local school system, and many of the girls in our program cannot afford to purchase them. In lieu of textbooks, students manually copy their teachers' lessons from classroom blackboards.
The Peace Sisters were awarded a grant of $1,500.00 and Pam Miklavcic was the sponsor.
This year the Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation has allocated $82,567.00 for its Local Grants program. Grants up to $10,000 for local nonprofits that serve residents of Ingham, Eaton, and/or Clinton Counties. Funds may be requested to be used toward capital campaigns, general operating expenses, special projects/events, and ongoing program support.
Grants will be evaluated based on the impact the project will have on the Lansing area and must address one or more of the following:
serve residents of Ingham, Eaton and/or Clinton counties; impact underserved or disadvantaged populations, enhance cultural, recreational, or economic elements of the community; demonstrate a unique or emerging need that is unmet by another organization; and grants will be awarded for existing programs, new initiatives, or special projects.
President Chris Swope opened the meeting and announced it was the first day of spring! We recited the Four Way Test and a beautiful reflection was given by Nicole Baumer. During this period of Lent, which she and other Catholics celebrate, two pillars of the season are sacrifice for others and forgiveness…something we can all remember as we traverse the interesting times in our world.
Hari led Rotarians in God Bless America as our patriotic song.
LOTS of Rotarian children were introduced as guests today! Kait Kmetz, Eli Lantz and Sarah Cook. Additionally, we welcomed Jason Mellema (Supt. Ingham ISD), Audrey Rodriguez (LCC) and Antonia Drake.
Our Special Music were the Singers on the Grand. They started in Grand Ledge but have upcoming performances at Riverwalk, Grand Ledge Opera House and in Portland. Their show is titled, “Grand American Road Trip.” It includes 70 years of different music genres, 11 singers and an 8-piece band. Today they performed two songs: “One More for the Road” and “Route 66.”
Announcements
It was announced that Dick Van Dyke, when asked how to live to 100, said “Two things: Don’t get angry and don’t hold your anger.”
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities: Greater Lansing Food Bank May 27, 9-11 am, Volunteers are needed Apr. 4, from 10-1 pm for Downtown Lansing.
Local grants applications are due by April 20.
There’s a Spring Fling Intergenerational Event: March 31.
The foundation set aside $5,000 for the recent tornado relief in Michigan.
Nicole Baumer, chair of the day, introduced Samantha Harkins, President/CEO of Lansing:501. Samantha is the former Deputy Mayor for the City of Lansing and held many other public and private positions.
Samantha explained what Lansing 5:01 does:
What do we do:
Placemaking and cultural events
Curated networking opportunities – with intentional invitees
Direct employer engagement
Commitment to showing emerging and recruited talent that Lansing is a fantastic place to grow and thrive
Campaign to showcase Lansing to recruit professionals (especially young professionals) from other places.
Some of the highlights of her presentation included:
2/3 of young people are living in smaller places that are cool; Lansing fits that demographic
We have to stop being Midwest nice. We have to champion ourselves.
We have distinct advantages, strategic geography, higher education, state government, insurance, great neighborhoods, suburbs and cultures.
Lansing is the 5th best market in America for quality of life out of 200!
All of us have to be champions of this. Let’s put down the swords and promote our region.
Be on the “Rose-Colored Glasses” committee and evangelize about Lansing.
What is the metric for success: raising population 10% in 10 years, increase campaign participation (RedHead has helped with the design and marketing)
If you say something long enough it becomes true, so don’t let people diss Lansing.
President Chris announced the meeting next week is Happy Hour Thursday. The following week we don't meet because of Good Friday.
Project. Max built two flag collection boxes that will be placed at two locations in East Lansing from March 23-June 10, 2026:
We have a service opportunity at the Greater Lansing Food Bank on Wednesday, May 27th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and Tuesday, September 22nd from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. located at 5600 Food Ct., Bath Township. Please let Jason Brunette know if you can help: 
