When:	Friday, August 5th, 2016
Where:	The Lansing Center, Second Floor
Speaker:	District Governor, William "Bill" Smith
What:	Yearly District Governor Visit
Chair of the Month	Jeff Dettloff
Invocator:	Clyde Carnegie
Greeters:	Gary Baxter & McKenna Long
Editarian:	Linda Lynch

Bill's interest in Rotary was sparked by his first mentor, his grandfather, who would take him out of school to attend a noon meeting at the Climax Rotary Club.  His Uncle Ray was also a mentor at the Climax club where he joined in 2006.  he is a past president of the club and supports its many activities.  He served in the role of Assistant Governor for the Rotary Clubs in Area 7 of District 6360 for several years.

 

He grew up in the Climax area and maintains close ties to the area. He graduated from Climax-Scotts schools and Michigan State University with a BS in mechanical engineering. 

 

Bill was employed by General Motors, Hydreco, Stryker, and Flowserve.  He retired from Flowserve in 2005.

 

Married to Donna in 1964, they have three children and seven grandchildren who all live in the local area.  Bill and Donna enjoy visiting with family, taking family vacations and keeping active in the Climax Methodist Church.  He is a Kids Hope mentor at the Climax-Scotts school, and an active member in the church.  In the past, he was on the school board and a 4-H leader.  Hobbies, when there is time, include fishing and pistol target shooting.

The American soprano and music pedagogue, Melanie Helton, earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Indiana University, and a Master's in Music with honors from the University of Houston.

 

Melanie Helton has been hailed by The New York Times for her "dark soprano that warms the ear." She made her international debut as Marietta/Marie in Korngold's Die Tote Stadt at the Brisbane (Australia) Biennial. Her successes include Lucrezia Borgia at the Caramoor International Music Festival, Aida with Opera Carolina, as well as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Caramoor, Opera Carolina, and Lake George Opera Festival. Other engagements included Alice Ford opposite the Falstaff of Sherrill Milnes at the New York City Opera, Maddalena in Andréa Chénier, Elsa in Lohengrin, Foreign Princess in Rusalka, and Leonora in Il Trovatore for Seattle Opera, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni for New York City Opera, and the title role in Norma for Teatro de Colon, Bogotà. In addition, she has sung leading roles with the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Washington Opera, and San Francisco Opera Center. In 2006 she appeared to rave reviews as the Fairy Godmother in Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon with Caramoor.

 

Melanie is the Associate Professor of Voice (soprano) and director of opera and theatre at the MSU College of Music.  Her students have been accepted to graduate programs at Indiana University, New England Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, University of Michigan, and Rice University.

 

Michael Clark - PHF+1	Charles Mickens - PHF+1	Duane Vernon - PHF+1
Jack Davis - PHF	Helen P. Mickens - PHF+3	Melody Warzecha - PHF
Barbara Lezotte - PHF	E. Paul Rathbun - PHF+2	Wayne Williams - PHF+3
David E.S. Marvin - PHF+4	Dean Sienko - PHF+1

NAME	MEETINGS	YEARS
Suzy Carter	1196	23
Mark Hooper	468	9
Tobi Lyon-Moore	104	2
Diane Sanborn	104	2
Lisa Smith	520	10
Curt Sonnenberg	364	7
John Stephenson	104	2
Duane Vernon	2808	54

Michael G. Harrison	Aug 04
Ronald Flinn	Aug 06
Jeff Crippen	Aug 09
Patrick Hanes	Aug 11
Brian Philson	Aug 12
John Gilkey	Aug 13
Charles Drayton	Aug 18
Mark Alley	Aug 20
Rick Anthony	Aug 22
Dan McKean	Aug 23
John Dale Smith	Aug 24
Andrew Brogan	Aug 26
James Hallan	Aug 26
Lars Egede-Nissen	Aug 29

           Sign up now for the 16th annual Lansing Rotary Foundation Golf Outing!

All proceeds will benefit Child & Family Charities.

 

 

Not a golfer? Plan to join us for a light breakfast starting at 8:30AM

following play at around 3PM.  Our outing beneficiary

will make brief remarks, and attendance will be taken; reserve your non-golfer spot by emailing Cathy.

 

To register as a golfer, team, or sponsor, visit https://lansingrotary.wordpress.com/upcoming-events/ or talk with Al Yambor & McKenna Long

Remember, this is a member-guest format event; no more than two Lansing Rotarians per team, please.

Sign-up sheets are also available at the fellowship table. 

 

To donate an item for the golfer gift bag or sign up to volunteer, please contact Erica Bills.

President Davis called the meeting to order at the Lansing Center.  The invocation was presented by Dan McKean which was followed by the singing of God Bless America.

 

In a rare occurrence, there were no guests or visiting Rotarians today so Dave Trumpie's job was easy with the microphone.

 

Since President Davis provided an update last week that the Republican Convention was held, this week he gave an update that the Democratic Convention was held. Keeps Rotary “right down the middle” politically.

 

Teresa Kmetz provided the Remembrance Report that the health of the Club is good. Teresa reported that Matthew Anderson was back after being with his 2-week old baby. Teresa also updated that Dennis Fliehman’s son welcomed a baby girl this week. Please send some prayers their way as she was born a mirco-preemie weighing in at 1 pound 8 ounces.

 

This month’s birthday chair Dan Aylward shared his question about Rotarian’s favorite birthday as a child and as an adult. The July birthday group is at 66% in contributions with more still coming in. Happy Birthday!

 

John Dale Smith introduced today’s special music from the group Solace. Dakota Peterson has played the drums in some local shows and today we were treated to her band made up of fellow MSU jazz program students. The group will be playing at Jazz Fest next weekend (August 5-6) in Old Town. They played some toe tapping jazz music for our enjoyment.

 

President Davis recognized Jessica Starks for the “brilliant work” she has done as the Club’s Treasurer. She is stepping away from the position and we appreciate all her efforts on behalf of Rotary. Thanks Jessica!!

 

Our Chair of the Day and Month, Curt Sonnenberg, introduced us to Justin Sheehan, Executive Director of the Lansing Promise. Curt described Justin’s impressive background with a small Detroit based legal services program that grew to a statewide resource both to the legal and nonprofit communities, leveraging millions of dollars in pro bono assistance across the state of Michigan. Sheehan is the father of three and husband to an “exceptional woman”.

 

Justin started with the Lansing Promise in December which is a Place Based Scholarship program that removes financial barriers for young people.

 

There are 600 promise scholars (458 at LCC and 142 at MSU). Olivet College will add 9 scholars as a new participant to the program. A total of $859,000 in scholarships have been awarded since 2012 and will cross $1 million this year. The program offers the benefit of a locally grown workforce that will contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty. The program started as building H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Excel) and in 2009 the Lansing Promise Zone Authority was created and in 2012 the 501(c)3 Lansing Promise Foundation was established.

 

For students to be eligible, they need to have attended a Lansing School District school from grades 9-12, graduate, be accepted by the college/university, apply and then succeed.

 

Justin thanked Lansing Rotarians for their support through initial grants as well as the leadership of Rotarians within the Lansing Promise.

 

President Davis thanked Justin for his informative presentation and also recognized Kellie Dean for his tireless work with the Lansing Promise. Justin was presented with the Rotary 4-Way Test token and President Davis let him know a donation to the BioSand Filter project will be made in his name to provide clean water to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 

 

Our next meeting will be at the Lansing Center with Rotary's District Governor Bill Smith and presentation of the Paul Harris awards.  See you then!

Julie Pingston's email is:  jpingston@lansing.org