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Next Meeting:
When:Friday, November 16, 2018
Where:Lansing Center, Second Floor
Time: Noon
Who:Amber Paxton, Director, Office of Financial Empowerment
Topic:"Municipal Financial Empowerment"
Chair of the Day:Justin Sheehan
Invocator: Joe Garcia
Chair of the Month:Justin Sheehan
Greeter:Tim Daman
Editarian:Brian Taylor
Biography for Amber Paxton
Soon after Amber completed a degree in Business Management at the University of Michigan, she realized that her true calling was in using her accounting and finance knowledge to help others. To that end, she worked for several years leading the Junior Achievement office serving Genesee, Lapeer and Shiawassee Counties, bringing basic financial education to over 300 K-12 classrooms per year. Amber also spent several years in the fund development field at Kettering University, formerly GMI, in order to develop the skill of sustaining beneficial programs in addition to managing them. Amber was later called to lead the Asset Independence Coalition, overseeing free income tax preparation sites.
 
In 2013, Amber was hired to lead the City of Lansing’s newly established Office of Financial Empowerment, and to oversee Michigan’s first Financial Empowerment Center. In its first five years, the Lansing Financial Empowerment Center has delivered FREE one-on-one financial counseling to over 4,100 clients, who reduced their cumulative debt by more than $7.8 million and increased their cumulative savings by over $650,000. In 2016 and 2017, Amber was the elected co-chair of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Coalition, which brings together pioneering municipal governments from across the country that have begun to use their power and positions to advance innovative financial empowerment initiatives.
 
The City of Lansing Office of Financial Empowerment Center now offers four programs: the Financial Empowerment Center, Lansing SAVE (a children’s savings account for post-secondary education), Offender Success (wrap-around programming for reentry citizens) and Bank On (safe, affordable banking products and services for the unbanked and under-banked).  In January 2018, the office became part of the new Department of Neighborhoods & Citizen Engagement.
New Member Proposed

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

  • Stanley Samuel, Director of Construction with Wolverine Dev. Corp., sponsored by John Grettenberger, Jr.
Editarian Report for November 9, 2018
If it’s Friday and you’re at the Lansing Center, this must be Rotary! Just as John Dale Smith was finishing up his last song, President Fliehman hit his mark and pulled an Anita Ward “Ring my Bell” moment. Michell Reynaert graced us with thanks for the bread and the hands that brought it to our table invocation. She lauded all of the volunteers who serve un-noticed but appreciated by those in need. When it comes to patriotic songs, there’s nothing better than standing next to Ken Beachler and Heidi McNaughton for the “God Shed His Grace on thee” part. Sends chills down my spine every time.
 
Steve Slocum? Steve Slocum? President Fliehman called in vain for someone to ferry the mic for the introduction of guests. Must be Slocum’s day Off (Buehler?). We had about 4 or 5 guests taking advantage of free taco and all you can eat cookie buffet. Try the oatmeal raisin ones, they’re absolutely delish. Susan Angel brought a recording studio with her to grab the Rotary equivalent to Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame. In our case, tell us what Rotary means to you in 15 seconds or less. 15 Seconds was agreed upon because of our collective average attention span. There was a line out the door of Rotarians stepping up the plate. I’m hoping there’ll be a day 2 down the road so more can share their epigrammatic comments (President Fliehman suggested “pithy” comments, but I think he meant to epigrammatic).
 
With another Veteran’s Day upon us, special music was performed by our very own Rotary choir. We sang the Army Goes Rolling Along, The marines’ Hymn, The United States Air Force Song and Anchors Aweigh. I wouldn’t characterize our singing as “rousing” but those who served were honored to the best of our ability. My dad was a Guadalcanal Marine and there’s only 2-3in the club old enough and Marine enough to have possibly served with my dad and to those gentlemen, I tip my hat.
 
The focus of this month’s speakers was “community” and we were once again favored with one of our own as speaker of the day. Joe Garcia, Executive Director of Cristo Rey took us on a tour of what Cristo Rey is and what it isn’t. Amongst its programs are (1) food access (2) community kitchen (3) personal needs (4) family health center (5) prescription assistance (6) counseling services. Cristo Rey is a safety net organization. Despite its name, it provides its services to all, not just Christians and not just Hispanics. It is a North Side of Lansing community resource that has no prerequisites for receiving services. If you need, they’re here to help. Garcia cited a number of personal stories of how individuals have made a difference in the lives around him. The focus at Cristo Rey is providing that opportunity for those in need to find a path. Seeing someone who was once homeless and troubled come to you ten years later, having a job, independence and dignity sounds like it would be reward enough. Reward enough if you’re inclined to work for non-profit wages, perhaps! For the rest of you, please, go out and earn a decent living and when you think about making a difference, mete out your largesse to organizations that have the ability and passion to make a difference. Garcia indicated he’s been touched by Rotary and Cristo Rey for their dedication to their core principals. He answered a number of questions about budgeting, funding, immigration. Tours of Cristo Rey are also offered and I would suggest some day maybe we hold a meeting their and have a post meeting tour. President Fliehman thanked Joe for speaking, gave him the traditional Rotary coin and we called it a day.
 
Kevin Schumacher's email is:  Schumacher@glassenrhead.com
Speakers
Nov 30, 2018
SERVE Lansing @ the Lansing Center
Dec 07, 2018
at the Lansing Center
Dec 14, 2018
Dec 21, 2018
View entire list
Rotary Club of Lansing
P. O. Box 13156
Lansing, MI   48901-3156
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