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The Next Meeting:
When: Friday, August 4, 2017
Where: The Lansing Center, Second Floor
Speaker: District Governor Teresa Brandell
Topic: TBA
Chair of the Month: Diane Sanborn
Invocator: Clyde Carnegie
Greeters: Gabrielle Haskins
Editarian: Tim Adams
Remembrance: Melanie Dart
 
Biography for Angela Lett
Angela has spent the past 11 years honing her development skills at a variety of non-profits. Prior to joining Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers, she was the Director of Development & External Communications at The Food Project where she enjoyed veggie puns and learned how to cook every vegetable imaginable. Angela has also worked in development offices at the following organizations: The Boston Conservatory, University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Michigan State University, and the Women's Lunch Place.
 
In addition to working for non-profits, Angela has also had the opportunity to start a successful non-profit as one of the original members of Boston Opera Collaborative (BOC). During her time with BOC, Angela served on the Marketing and PR Committee and was a Board-Member-At-Large on the Executive Board. When not working, Angela can be found enjoying the rich performing arts scene in Boston, running with her crazy running friends, baking delicious cookies, and snuggling with her adopted cat, Sable.
New Members Proposed

The following proposed members have emailed an application to the office.  If anyone has a comment on these proposed members please forward it in writing within ten days to the Rotary office, before approval by the board of directors.  Thank you,

  •  Julie Durham, Dir. of Resource Development with Habitat for Humanity sponsored by Vickie Hamilton-Allen
  •  Casey Kandrow, Chief Operating Officer at McLaren Greater Lansing, Self Sponsored
Editarian Report for July 21st, 2017
President Brewster called the meeting to order at a slightly early 12:28. Kurt Guter was our invocator, sharing thoughts from Mother Theresa to go along with today’s theme of service. The invocation was followed by The Star Spangled Banner with accompaniment by John Dale Smith.
 
Lisa Smith facilitated the introduction of guests by making the rounds with the microphone. She managed to chart a path that ended at Teresa Kmetz’s table for the Remembrance Report. Theresa reported that Ron Seely's daughter just had a baby girl – his second granddaughter.
 
President Brewster let us all know that Paul Harris awards will be presented on August 4th, with District Governor Teresa Brandell in attendance. This year we have 4 first time Paul Harris Awards to present and an additional 15 repeat awards. You won’t want to miss this meeting to honor the awardees.
 
There was also a thank you to the Special Projects Committee who recruited several Rotarians to participate in this week’s Rock the Block event in Williamston. Participants were Jenn Dubey, Al Yambor, Mike Abel, Glenn and Trish Granger, Kurt Guter and Gabrielle and Byron Haskins.
 
John Dale introduced our special music for the day, vocalist Dan Ewart. He recounted how they first met in 2000 when Dan was a mediocre baritone in one of John Dale’s singing groups. Since then, he has earned both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and is currently working on a PhD. Three years ago, a chance meeting led to his first appearance at one of our meetings. John Dale admitted to going to bed the night before thinking that he really hoped Dan had improved since he had last heard him sing. His reaction to his performance the next day was that he ‘was blown away’. His delivery of today’s selections, If Ever I Would Leave You and The Impossible Dream, were certainly worthy of that statement!
 
President Brewster thanked Dan for his performance and introduced John Person, Chair of both the Month and the Day.
 
John set the stage for today’s program, an overview of how our Foundation has been spending money on International projects. He explained a bit about how the Foundation and the International Committee work. The process is beginning again, so see any member of the International Committee (Jenn Dubey is the chair) for more information.
 
Jenn Dubey was our first speaker and let us know that the committee had updates on many projects that have been funded over the last several years, complete with photos. She gave credit to Al Yambor for collecting the photos and making sure the presentation was well organized.
 
First up was a review of the Kenya Habitat for Humanity Home Build. Both Jenn and Vickie Hamilton- Allen were part of this project, along with 10 other people from our community. Vickie told us that the experience was life changing. The level of poverty was so much greater than she had imagined. There is a very high rate of AIDS in the area and many children are raised by grandparents because the generation between is missing. The woman who was their main contact in Kenya, who coincidentally was a victim of polio, is raising 4 grandchildren because their parents have died or are no longer present.
 
This was a very labor intensive project. Many of the building materials were handmade. The house they began building was replacing a 12x12 house with a deteriorating roof. This home had no furniture or windows. Although the house they started was very simple, it did have windows and doors that close. Since the expectation is that each member of the community will help care for the others, this house for one family will lift the entire community. Both Vickie and Jenn thanked the club for giving them the opportunity to participate in this project.
 
Rainwater Harvest Project in Uganda – For this project we partnered with another Rotary Club in Michigan that did not have funds, but did have members who wanted to help. The community in Uganda had just recently completed a school, but still had a need for water at the school for sanitation, cooking, etc. There was no source of water by the school. Our grant of $1600 made it possible to build a small rain water collector and piping to deliver it where needed. In addition to meeting basic needs, the kids are now able to participate in water related science projects and even have the opportunity for water play.
 
Jenn turned the speaking duties over to Kurt Guter who began by filling us in on the Wum High School Water project in Cameroon. This was actually Peter Achuonjei's project to capture spring water at the source and run pipes to get clean water to the school, 1.5 miles away. Once this was completed, Kurt saw a video and was able to determine the flow rate of the water. Last year, we funded a project to build a storage container that captures the water that flows overnight and stores it for use during the day. With the storage container completed, there is sufficient water to supply all of the needs of the high school with some to spare. Additional pipelines were run and water is now delivered to a portion of the town as well.
 
Computer Lab Technology for Education in Nyaka, South Africa. The original project in Nyaka was started by Jackson Kaguri and was to build the school. Kurt noted that he has been very impressed by the efforts of our Rotarians from outside the US. They are very invested in projects that benefit their homelands. Our $3000 grant helped to provide solar panels and computers – one for each grade school class. Panels were constructed by high school students from Colorado. Since no internet connection is readily available, local hard drives house information for students to access. Kurt and his wife have been sponsoring students in Nyaka for years. They visited there last Thanksgiving and were able to meet the students they have been sponsoring. Their students, who they have sponsored since elementary school, are now in secondary school, which is a boarding school. They are prepared for college, but also learn vocational skills. The Guters were so impressed by what they saw that they are now sponsoring two more students.
 
Next up was Umakanth who told us about several projects, include a grant for science centers in 2015. This grant provided for students to design and build science projects. The original core group is now involved in training additional students.
 
Al Yambor filled us in on another round of grants, beginning with New Showers and Bathrooms at Canica Orphanage, Guatemala – This orphanage is in an area where many children are abandoned by parents because they cannot afford to raise them. Prior to our grant, there were only 2 showers and 2 bathrooms. Our grant of $2373 provided 8 new showers and 8 new bathrooms. This project was facilitated by Little Children of Guatemala, the non-profit agency that runs the orphanage.
 
New Preschool at Teen Challenge Women’s Home, Cambodia – This home is in an area where 2/3 of population under 35. Economic prospects are very limited as the country recovers from the genocide that took place there. Women in this home are struggling with addiction. This is the only home in the country that allows the women to bring their children. The women are taught skills so they can get jobs or apply for a micro loan to start their own business. The preschool provides care and education for the children, allowing the mothers to focus on their recovery and education.
 
16 bicycles for school children’s transportation in Nzwongwe, Zambia – Nzwongwe is a village just east of Angel Falls. The nearest high school is 6 miles away with the only way to get there was to walk. Consequently, very few children continued to high school. Our grant of $2500 provided bicycles for the students to ride to the school, making it possible for 16 students to continue their education more easily.
 
In 2013, we made a grant to this same school of $3500 to purchase 80 desks for the new high school in Nswongwe. There is a plaque on each one that reads “Lancing, Michigan Rotary Club”. Close!
 
Al also provided details of grant funding. All grants are funded by Foundation. Foundation Board member determine the total grant pool. The International Committee solicits grant proposals, evaluates them and determines how much to award to each selected recipient. Priority is given to projects that focus on health care, education, and clean water. Successful applicants must be able to show significant impact, be requesting less than $5000, and should be sponsored by a 501(c)3 organization. Each project also requires a budget and local oversight. Projects can be submitted by any member. Grant applications are reviewed in November. Projects are reviewed in January.
 
For 2016-17, the committee granted a total of $20,000. In 2017-18, there will be $25,000 available.
 
Kelly Rossman-McKinley thanked the committee for showing us how the money has been spent and the impact that has been made throughout the world over the course of several years.
 
Lisa Smith commented that there is a certification related to the grant process. We need to have two people certified every year to be able to access all of the resources available.
 
President Brewster thanked all of the speakers, presented them with their own Rotary coin, and announced that Angela Lett will be our speaker next week, right back at the Lansing Center.
Speakers
Aug 04, 2017
Paul Harris Awards at the Lansing Center
Aug 11, 2017
at the Country Club of Lansing
Aug 18, 2017
at the Lansing Center
Aug 25, 2017
Michigan Independent Source of News & Info @ Lansing Center
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Rotary Club of Lansing
P. O. Box 13156
Lansing, MI   48901-3156
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