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Our clubs annual meeting at the Lansing Center was brought to order with the traditional ringing of the Rotary bell, by President Jack Davis. President Davis hoped everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving Holiday. The invocation was given by Dick Ammons and the club sang The Star Spangled Banner to the piano accompaniment of John Dale Smith.
Teresa Kmetz carried the working microphone for introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians. Pat Munshaw gave our remembrance report, noting the Duane Vernon was recently hospitalized with a serious blood infection (sepsis to the medical professionals in the room). Duane is now home and still recovering, we wish him the best in his recovery. The rest of club was reported in good health.
President Davis reminded everyone that our meeting next Friday has moved to Thursday evening for a Holiday Cheer celebration at the Crowne Plaza from 4 to 8 pm. Please RSVP Cathy, if you are able and planning to attend. Next, President Davis announced that upcoming meetings for the East Lansing Rotary Club are MSU President Lou Ann K. Simon on December 5th and Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein on December 19th.
Our special music was performed by D. J. Shafer accompanied by John Dale Smith with two jazz songs. First up was “A Foggy Day in London Town” and “The More I See You”.
President Davis battling fiercely with microphone, began our program the clubs annual meeting. Ed Castellani, who looked uncannily like President Davis gave an update on the incorporation of our club. Turns out when President Davis began to assume his role as our club President, he asked to review the corporate by-laws and incorporation documents, only to discover the club was not officially incorporated. It now will be, after getting the approval from Rotary International for required language and policies, we will now be formally incorporated. The incorporation and by-laws will be posted to the club website once finalized by the club’s board. As for the foundation, it has been incorporated from inception, no worries there.
Next up was the new member presentation from Todd Terwilligar, in order to get that much coveted blue badge. Todd is dedicated to self-improvement and lives his life by the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote “in my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him”. Todd is the Sales and Marketing Coordinator for Central Michigan University – Lansing Campus. Todd is married to Lindsay Terwilligar and when they first were married lived in Texas, which Todd noted is different than Michigan in at least one significant way - we have water.
Melissa Nay was called to the podium to give our club a report on our PR efforts. After thanking the efforts of the committee members, Melissa noted that the committee will provide regular press releases of our weekly meetings, to let our community know what we do for the community. We are active on social media, so likes us on Facebook and follow us on twitter - 800 others already do.
Suzy Carter gave us an update as club Secretary. We currently have 220 members with 29% females, 70% male members and 1% “unknown”????? Suzy shared numerous statistics regarding our club’s make up, which can be viewed at our club’s website for those interested. Our attendance is one area which our club could do better (I admit – guilty to this), which is at 44% making us 51st out of 56 clubs in our district (they do keep score). President Davis took credit for the attendance achievement since taking the reins, but we should still try to improve our attendance in the next year and years to come. We are the biggest club in Michigan followed closely by Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor. We surpassed Kalamazoo when they performed a member recount presumably initiated by Jill Stein and found less actual members than they were tracking.
Melody Warzecha gave her new and unique presentation known as the new member/club Treasurer report. Melody finally found the inspiration to give her new member presentation due to something on her nose, which turned out to be a pre-cancerous spot that the doctor immediately treated and used this as a wakeup call to get things done in life. Melody is from Davison, Michigan and is the youngest of three siblings by 11 years aka an oops baby or as my mother used to remark about my brother who is 11 years younger than me that he should have been named - Chardonnay. Melody attended that school down south for her bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting and received her MBA from CMU. Melody’s pride and joy is her five year old son. Melody’s degree in finance and accounting is helpful in her role as our club’s Treasurer. Melody reported that draft audited financial statements are prepared for the recent fiscal year end with $164k in unrestricted funds and $130k in revenue and a few more expenditures which produced a small deficit for the year end. The final financial statements will be posted to Clubrunner.
Mark Hooper rose to give us an update on our centennial activities. He thanked all those who gave their time and effort to carry out our events and the compilation of the centennial book and oral histories, specifically singling out Pat Hanes and Julie Pingston for all they have done to make our centennial celebration a success. The Impression 5 water room is available for inspection and prototypes are in the works for the exhibits, once done there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at a date to be determined.
Last but not least, Past President, Lisa Smith nominated our President Elect, Dennis Fliehman and Glenn Granger, Bob Hoffman and Todd Gute to become members of our board of directors. After intense discussion (really none) they were all elected unanimously to their new posts. Congratulations and good luck with your new positions.
With that our meeting was adjourned by President Davis, who had finally had the microphone tamed and softly whimpering, until our Holiday Cheer gathering on Thursday, December 8th at the Crowne Plaza
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