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President Smith called the meeting to order at 12:29. The invocation, with a Naval theme from World War II, was given by Missy Lilje and was followed by a Rotary rendition of My Country 'Tis of Thee.
Dave Trumpie ran the microphone around the room for the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. In spite of the fact that many were missing for Spring break, there were several visitors in attendance. In fact, one table had only three Rotarians with a total of 6 guests!
Diane Sanborn gave the remembrance report, informing us that the health of the club is good.
Donna Gardner then took the podium to kick off this year's Paul Harris campaign. She reminded us that this is an annual campaign and that 20 of us earned their first Paul Harris Fellow last year. In addition to those, there were 28 Rotarians that earned an additional Fellow. She noted that not only is this year our club's 100th anniversary, it is also the Foundation’s 100th anniversary. Letters regarding this campaign are going in the mail today and will include information about the additional gift needed to earn a Paul Harris Fellow. New members were told that it is not expected that they contribute the entire amount in a single year, although that is certainly possible! Donna also shared a video from the Rotary Foundation that explained how the Foundation began with only $26.50. To date, the Foundation has spent over $3 billion to improve the lives of people around the world.
Sue Mills drew our attention to the proof list on our tables for our Centennial Celebration. Those who contributed and want to be recognized need to make sure that their information is correct on the list. Anyone who initially requested that their contribution remain anonymous can be listed by contacting Sue in the next week or so.
Carey McLamara from Capital Area United Way spoke to us in connection with our effort to accumulate 100 hours of service during April. Several opportunities to volunteer are available on April 15th and 16th through CAUW. Details on all of these opportunities are available at micauwvolunteercenter.org. There is a special link on bottom right for the Lansing Rotary sign up.
President Smith also let everyone know that there will be a new member orientation session on Wednesday, April 27th from 3:30 - 5:30. Tobi Lyon-Moore will be conducting this session at the Michigan Chamber Office. If you are a new member, or sponsoring a new member, you are welcome to attend this session. We were also reminded one last time that the District Conference is April 23rd in Kalamazoo. Our Rotary Hero, Ken Beachler, will be honored at the dinner which is at 6pm at the Kalamazoo Radisson Plaza Hotel. Registration ends April 11th.
Camron Gnass introduced a short film that is part of the Capital City Film Festival which kicked off on Wednesday night. This year, the festival runs for five days, instead of only four, and the turnout so far has been fantastic. The film showed us how screen printed posters are created as we watched an artist who always creates to music.
President Smith presented a club flag to Rebecca Bahar-Cook's aunt who was visiting from the Rotary Club of Istanbul, a club that is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. She then turned the podium over to Debbie Mikula, our chair of the day.
Debbie began by explaining that connecting with Pat Lindemann had been on her To Do list for quite some time. Then one day she encountered three women who wanted to tell her about the Art in the Wild program that Pat is currently involved in. It was later that same day that Debbie was finally able to check this item off of her To Do List. After running through Pat's list of accomplishments, she turned the podium over to him.
Pat began with an overview of the Montgomery Drain Project. A key part of this is a goal to redefine how we view art and water. Managing water and watersheds is about managing people, so education is critical. Water is a very valuable resource and we have very little of it actually available to us. In spite of that, we have not taken very good care of it. Most of the world's fresh water is not available because it is deep ground water or locked up in glaciers.
The project is going to try to clean most of the storm water that is in the area of the Montgomery drain. Buildings in this area will have modifications to their sites to improve handling of storm water. The area encompasses Ranney Park, Frandor and the old Red Cedar Golf Course. Currently all storm water in this area goes almost immediately to the river, along with whatever pollution is carried along with it.
The banks of the river from Harrison Rd to Kalamazoo will be rebuilt and it is expected that this will become a prime area for fish. Currently this area has the most polluted discharge are on the Red Cedar River. This area also experiences flooding during storms due to the large area of impervious surface. Over 80 different contaminants have been identified in this discharge.
Parking lots in this area will be rebuilt to incorporate rain gardens and other features to deal with the runoff and eliminate harmful contaminants. Since there is 19 feet of fall from Red Lobster to the river, there will be a series of waterfalls that will add oxygen to the water, and eventually to the river. A series of ponds will hold some of the water, allowing interaction with it before it enters the river. There will be moving water throughout the watershed.
Since education is a critical piece of the solution, there needs to be something that will attract people who have not yet been educated about pollution to the area. This will be done by placing different types of art throughout the watershed. Each piece of art will have signage that tells about the art, the artist, and information about water treatment.
The mission of Art in the Wild is to enhance environmental restoration through the integration of art and human imagination. The goal is to fund, select, place and maintain in perpetuity art in areas of environmental renewal. Discussions have been held with building owners to have murals painted on the sides of the buildings, creating an outdoor art gallery in the back alleys. Much of the art is still in the idea phase, including the possibility of a number of sculptures, both on land and in the water.
President Smith thanked Mr. Lindemann and explained that in lieu of a speaker's gift, we will make a donation to a clean water project in his name. She also presented him with a Rotary pocket piece with the 4 way test inscribed.
Next week’s meeting will be at the Lansing Center with Kathy and Carlton Valentine, parents of Denzel Valentine as our speakers.
President Smith then adjourned the meeting for another week.
Linda Lynch's email is: linda@kitechnologygroup.com
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Carlton is a husband, dad, and former basketball player/coach and trainer: played high school hoop for Coach Morgan Wooten at well-known DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, MD, was recruited by Coach Tom Izzo to play for Coach Jud Heathcote at MSU from 1984-1988, then continued to play professionally for the Illinois Express and as well as overseas in Sweden. Today, Carlton has chosen to mesh a coaching career as the Head Boys Basketball Coach at Lansing Sexton High School, where he took his team to the Michigan High School State Finals 3 years in a row; 2010, 2011, 2012, and won the Class B Championship in 2011 and 2012. 
teams and endeavors of her family!
