President Dennis Fliehman called this meeting of the Rotary Club of Lansing to order at 12:26 pm (at least that’s what it said on my phone). The invocation was given by Dick Ammons, and as always, his words were timely and inspiring. Talking to us about the importance of ‘time’, he reminded us that this is a plentiful resource that we need to cherish. The club then sang God Bless America as our patriotic song. Guests and visitors were introduced and thanks to Lisa Smith for stepping in at the last second, the travelling mic did its job. Diane Sanborn pronounced the health of the club to be excellent, matching this beautiful (if a bit breezy) fall day.

 

Neil Slagle gave his new member presentation, and although he told us the presentation would inform us of his classification, not sure I could figure it out. He called this his ‘new member reveal’ and we learned that he came from a military family and called himself a ‘trouble shooter’ and ‘problem solver’. He tried to share ‘Neil’s Rules’ but our newest member got the hook, leaving us all to wonder. So much to share and so little time. Welcome to our newest member Neil.

 

Rich Howard presented the September birthdays, letting us know that these were the ‘beautiful people’, although we really couldn’t tell who at the table was a true celebrant. But for our friend Irv Nichols, it looked like Dave O’Leary and crew were really looking for that extra piece of birthday cake. Rich’s question to the birthday gang was to identify the positive and negative aspects of Chris Holman’s personality. Naturally, the responses turned into a love fest for our friend Chris. After hearing comments about the twinkle in Chris’s eyes, I thought it best to move on. To conclude, Rich shared that the September birthdays contributed more than $900, but that only 50% of our birthday friends sent in their contributions. Come on! We are all counting on you to do the right thing and get those checks to Cathy!

 

President Dennis then reminded the club that the International Grant Process is now open and the deadline to submit applications is November 2. Cathy has the application outline. The final announcement was that there will be a new member orientation on Friday, October 5 at 10:30am before the regular meeting. This meeting will be at the Country Club of Lansing. Dave O’Leary just about begged President Dennis to allow him to once again give a discourse to the club on the topic of golf. After last week’s story of as he stated it, ‘Young Grettenberger’s’ double eagle accomplishment, he had to share that our own Irv Nichols just shot his age (94) at a recent round. What a wonderful accomplishment, at least we thought until Dave asked about the back 9 holes. Congrats to Irv, and thanks to Dave for keeping this club the best- informed Rotary Club… And happy birthday to Irv.

 

John Dale Smith introduced Travis Williams to present our special music. Performing in a number of recent Riverwalk musical presentations including Jekyll and Hyde, Grease, Spamalot and Catch Me if You Can, Travis shared his wonderful voice via two songs for the club, Impossible Dream and Out There. How fortunate we are to have the talent, week after week, at our club.

 

President Dennis welcomed Diane Sanborn once again, this time as the Chair of the Day, to introduce our featured speaker, Tana Fedewa, Program Director of the MSU Sexual Assault Program, who as Diane stated, would give such a relevant talk to the club.

 

Tana began her talk by providing the background of the program, which has been around for 40 years. This was one of the first such programs on any college campus in the US. For the first 35 years, the program had a staff of 1-4 people, but since 2014, has grown to meet the needs, now featuring 17 staff members. Offering a wide range of support and services, the intent is not to lead to prosecution or prevention, but rather to provide for the needs of the victim. The team does work with the Title 9 program on campus and with the police, who perform the investigations. The Sexual Assault Program includes a wonderful resource library for survivors and much more. Focusing on self-care for survivors, the program also can provide additional resources including limited financial support and emergency transportation besides the counselling. All services are free and confidential. Tana shared comments about the amazing group of trained volunteers, offering support in 30 different languages. Offering an emergency crisis hotline 365 days a year, support can be offered via phone or text. Since the end of August, a live crisis chat line has also been offered. The program serves more than 600 survivors of sexual assault each year, with the current year already providing support to 750 individuals. The focus of the program is on the needs of survivors and the healing process, providing a safe haven on campus for those in need. Tana concluded her remarks by calling this the new face of sexual assault programs. Responding to questions from members of the Club, she focused on the range of people the program serves, and shared that suicidal thoughts are a major issue to be dealt with. Sexual assault never goes away for the victims. So concluded another timely and important presentation to our club. Tana was thanked for sharing this information. As President Dennis gave her the Rotary coin as a token of our appreciation and informed her of the donation Rotary will make to our Bio Sand Filter program in the Dominican Republic in lieu of a speaker’s gift, the meeting was adjourned.

 

We meet next week at Eagle Eye Golf Club on Chandler Road for the Downtown Coaches Club meeting. This meeting will begin at 11:40am, with the buffet lunch beginning at 11:00am. Please let Cathy know if you plan to attend so she can provide a count.

 

Joe Wald's email is:  jwald71@gmail.com