Martha Peak Helman will represent Zones 28/32 on the Rotary International Board of Directors beginning July 1, 2026. Currently, Marty is a Rotary Foundation Trustee, with a term that runs until June 30, 2026. She has chaired the Fund Development Committee, the Area of Focus Major Gifts Initiative and the Large-Scale Programmatic Partners workgroup; under her leadership the Trustees have reviewed and are updating our donor recognition activities. Marty served as International Training Leader at the 2018 and 2019 International Assemblies and as Training Leader Support at the virtual 2021 Assembly. She spoke in plenary at the International Assembly in 2024 and presented in breakouts at the Atlanta, Toronto and Hamburg International Conventions as well as at the virtual 2021 Convention. She was Trainer for Zones 28/32 in 2020 and 2021.
Marty served on The Rotary Foundation’s Peace-Major Gifts Initiative and its predecessor committees for six years, culminating in the chairmanship in 2020-21 and again in 2025-26. Marty served as president of the Otto and Fran Walter Foundation, a small humanitarian non- profit that inked the gift for the naming rights to fund a new Rotary Peace Center in the Middle East/North Africa region. Consequently, she served on the site selection committees for the Peace Center just opened at Bachesehir University in Istanbul, as well as the new Asia center that is scheduled to open in 2027 in Pune, India.
Back in District 7780, Marty and her late husband Frank joined the Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club in 2003; she was club president in 2006-07, and in 2012-13 she served as District Governor. That year, Annual Giving in the District rose 25 percent, and it increased another 33 percent while she was District Foundation Chair (2015-18). In 2016, Marty wrote and implemented the first online Grants Management Seminar in the Rotary world to be made available via RI’s Learning Center.
Marty is an Arch Klumph Society member, a member of the Paul Harris and Polio Plus societies, and she and Frank were charter members of the Legacy Society of the Rotary Foundation.
President Guskiewicz will be a speaker for our club on Friday, August 28, 2026. Please, if you are planning on bringing guests give advance notice
to Cathy (cathy@lansingrotary.com) at least a week prior. The Michigan Room is limited in the seating and we will need to change our menu amount. Thank you so much for your help.
We have a service opportunity at the Greater Lansing Food Bank on 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
The MSU Broad Art Museum has invited us to an evening of art, networking, and civic conversation. This will be our "Social Gathering" for September, inviting other Rotary Clubs to join us as well.
Thursday, September 24, 4:30 - 7:00 pm
Broad Art Museum @ Michigan State University
547 E. Circle Drive, East Lansing, MI (Paid parking available in MSU Ramp 6 or street/ramp parking in downtown East Lansing)
The evening includes a reception, networking, and an opportunity to explore the MSU Broad Art Museum, including the exhibit:
It was a lovely day to gather together in Rotary Park and Rotarians came prepared in sunglasses, shorts and sun hats.
Thanks to Sue Mills and Hari Kern our table learned about Virginia Redfern who was a prominent staff writer and society editor for the Lansing State Journal from the 1960s into the early 1980s and how everyone learned the news of the town. Turns out she featured Hari in a column.
We also were glad to see Chris Swope still smiling with the election right around the corner. And, Rebecca Bahar Cook received a warm welcome as she arrived walking so well and smiling so big following her hip replacement surgery.
A big thanks to Cathy for all the extra arrangements to prepare for the outdoor gathering and lunch.
Our next meeting will be on Friday, August 7 at LCC featuring a presentation from Martha Peak Helman, a Director of Rotary International (2026-28) and from the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. See you there!
Martha Peak Helman will represent Zones 28/32 on the Rotary International Board of Directors beginning July 1, 2026. Currently, Marty is a Rotary Foundation Trustee, with a term that runs until June 30, 2026. She has chaired the Fund Development Committee, the Area of Focus Major Gifts Initiative and the Large-Scale Programmatic Partners workgroup; under her leadership the Trustees have reviewed and are updating our donor recognition activities. Marty served as International Training Leader at the 2018 and 2019 International Assemblies and as Training Leader Support at the virtual 2021 Assembly. She spoke in plenary at the International Assembly in 2024 and presented in breakouts at the Atlanta, Toronto and Hamburg International Conventions as well as at the virtual 2021 Convention. She was Trainer for Zones 28/32 in 2020 and 2021.
We have a service opportunity at the Greater Lansing Food Bank on 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: 
A big thanks to Cathy for all the extra arrangements to prepare for the outdoor gathering and lunch.
