At the Club today, with President Fliehman at the podium. The weather today was another reminder of why we stay in Michigan. Simply a glorious day. Bob Hoffman did the invocation, “envision the perfect day...be in the now.” On September 14, 1814, Francis Scott Key penned “Defence of Fort M’Henry”, later known as The Star Spangled Banner. In honor of that anniversary, we sang America the Beautiful. Barb Whitney handled the mic for introduction of guests. 2 out of 3 guests were prospective members.

 

Diane Sanborn announced that as far as she knew, the health of the club is good. I’m happy to report that Paul Linnell has returned home after an extended 17 day cruise on the SS Sparrow. Apparently he made some offhand comment while dining at the Captain’s table and they put him in isolation for 8 days. Although he enjoyed visits from friends at the island havens of Mary Freebed and Herbert Herman, Paul said it was the worst cruise ever and he’s glad to be home. Postcards that you bought on your last vacation but never mailed with “wish you were here” comments are of course always welcome.

 

A Rotary Red Badge was presented to Paul Traynor. Al Yambor announced that the international Committee is opening up the check book for worthwhile humanitarian projects. Put your thinking caps on and find a way to make a difference in the world! By partnering up with local Rotary Clubs and non-profits around the globe our Club has made a difference. (See pic of people in Guatemala smiling as a result of our efforts!)

 

Club leadership noted the absence of people picking on Dave O’Leary and the deleterious effect it has had on Club morale. O’Leary was given the microphone to remind us all of why picking on him is important for Club morale. With his 5 minutes of fame, O’Leary chose to speak, not about the importance of civility, not about the 4 way test, not about the total enlightenment that the Dali Lama told Dave would be his one day. No, of prime importance to O’Leary was John Grettenberger, Jr.’s double eagle on a par 5 hole. Go figure.

 

Special music today was new member Brian Taylor singing two songs from Beauty and the Beast. Accompanied by John Dale Smith, Brian filled the room with show stopping tunes from the Disney musical. All’s well that ends with me was a song Brian says reminds him of Dave O’Leary (a guy that’s so good looking and full of himself that you just can’t help the fact that you can’t stand him!). The second song sung was on a more depressing note, “If I can’t Love Her, Let the World be Done with Me.” We should bring that one back for Valentine’s day.

 

Our speaker of the day was Joel Hoepfner, who works with Community Mental Health for Clinton, Eaton and Ingham Counties. They are on a Stand Up 2 Stigma campaign (www.ceicmh.org/stand-up-2-stigma) to help raise awareness of how people with various mental illnesses and substance use disorders frequently won’t get treatment because of the stigma attached to their condition. CMH offers Mental Health First Aid Training to train the public about the initial help that can be given to a person showing symptoms of mental illness or who is in crisis. CMH’s website also has a link to a FREE Online Behavioral Health Screening. The link is about three quarters of the way down on their website at http://www.ceicmh.org/) . There’s way more on their website than I can recount here, so follow the link and learn what you can do to Stand Up 2 Stigma (at the end of his presentation, Joel asked us to physically stand up to signify we were willing to stand up to stigma). Joel fielded numerous questions reminiscent of the Brit’s Prime Minister’s Question Time and handled them all well. President Fliehman thanked Joel, gave him the traditional gift of free water for someone else to drink and sent us all on our way.