12:30 CALL TO ORDER by President Sue Hansen
REFLECTION: Rebecca Bahar-Cook
Rebecca read a very moving prayer by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund. It is called Prayers for the Work Ahead for Our Children:
We pray and stand for children who need our voice.
We pray and stand for children blessed by parents who care and for children without a parent or anyone who cares at all.
We pray and stand for children filled with joy and hope and for children whose days and nights are joyless.
We pray and stand for children with hope and for children without hope whose spirits have been dimmed and dashed.
We pray and stand for children high on play and study and laughter and for children high on heroin, cocaine and ecstasy.
We pray and stand for children for whom we pray every day and for children who have no one to pray them along life’s way.
We pray and stand for children poised by circumstance to soar and conquer life’s challenges and for children bogged down by hunger and homelessness and violence and miseducation and struggling so hard to survive.
We pray and stand for children who love to read and for children who can’t read at all, for children who learn with excitement and for children told by adults they cannot achieve.
We pray and stand for children who we expect and help to do well and for children whom no one believes in or helps succeed.
We pray for parents, grandparents, teachers, preachers, political and community leaders that we will be a help and not a hindrance for children we call our own and for all the children God created who are part of our family too.
PATRIOTIC SONG: America by John Dale Smith
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND VISITING ROTARIANS:
Today’s guests included Bill McMillan of the East Lansing Rotary and Jann Nestell, board member of The Davies Project (introduced by Rich Howard). Rich noted that Jann has been very involved in the planning of Max’s 5K Race for The Davies Project this year—to be held on June 25th at 8am, at the Auditorium/Rock on MSU’s campus. That’s when Sue mentioned the ever popular .08 mile Mayfair Race, to be held in Haslett tomorrow at noon. Half of tomorrow’s proceeds will also be going to The Davies Project.
RECITATION OF 4-WAY TEST: Led by President Sue
Of the things we think, say or do—
1. Is it the truth?
2. Is it fair to all concerned?
3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
HEALTH OF THE CLUB:
The health of the club is good!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: There were none.
ROTARIANS DOING GREAT THINGS:
Ken Beachler is being recognized for his significant role in starting the Wharton Center. Carmen Turner and Ben Rathbun are being recognized by the Chamber of Commerce for their contributions to our community. Carmen is receiving the 2022 Community Service Award and the Rathbun Agency is receiving the 2022 Outstanding Small Business Award.
SPECIAL MUSIC: John Dale did something quite different today—and it was really fun! He played the following tunes, without identifying them, and the audience had to guess what TV show the song belonged to and, when appropriate, what was its title.
Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, “Won’t You be my Neighbor?”
Them from Mighty Mouse Cartoon, “Here I Come to Save the Day”
The Dick Van Dyke theme Everybody Loves Raymond Theme Song
WKRP in Cincinnati
Theme from Cheers, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”
Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Love is All Around”
TV Series Peter Gunn
Hawaii Five O Theme Song
The Rockford Files Theme Song
Murder, She Wrote Theme Song
Charlie’s Angels Theme Song
The Perry Mason Show Theme
The Jeffersons, “Moving on Up”
Song from M.A.S.H., “Suicide is Painless”
Theme Song from All in the Family, “Those Were the Days”
Dennis Fliehman and Kevin Schumacher were the most successful ‘guessers’!
INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER: Rebecca Bahar-Cook
Rebecca was appointed to the Children’s Trust Fund by our state’s governor several administrations ago. At one of the first events she attended, Suzanne Greenberg was receiving an award for her work in Saginaw. Rebecca was impressed by Suzanne from that day forward and describes her as one of those people who you just want to be around!
During her time in Saginaw, Suzanne took the Child Abuse Council of Saginaw from 2 to 22 employees and took it through two name changes, too. It was called the Children’s Trust Fund for many years and has now just been rebranded as the the Children’s Trust Michigan. Suzanne’s grit and passion is what has carried Children’s Trust Michigan so far.
Suzanne has recently moved to Lansing with her husband. She has two grown children, Samantha and Ben, who are 28 and 33.
SPEAKER: Suzanne Greenberg, Executive Director of Children’s Trust Michigan 
TOPIC: “The Transformation of Prevention in Michigan”
Mission of Children’s Trust Michigan: Provides financial support, education and resources to our network of partners throughout MI that work to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families.
Tagline: Together, we protect Michigan’s children.
—Debbie Stabenow, Dick Posthumous, William Milliken, and Curtis Hertel Sr. worked together to start this organization that addresses child abuse and neglect.
—The governor appoints the fifteen members of the board.
—It is really critical to have sustainable funding to keep kids safe.
—Work like this can only be done in partnership with others.
—For Suzanne, this work is extremely personal. She was sexually abused by her grandfather from age 2 to 18. Meanwhile, she was physically abused by her father. Trusting men was very hard for her until she met her husband.
—All kids deserve to be kept as safe as her own children were.
—When you see pinwheels decorating yards in April, this is in support of child abuse and neglect prevention.
—The governor appoints the board members for 400 different organizations in the state. The time to apply, if there is an area that interests you, is in August.
—In Arkansas, a community resource center focused on giving families the tools they need to better care for their children enabled a 54% reduction in child abuse in that community!! This is what we want to see. Imagine neighborhood centers like that in every community—places to turn for help with diapers, feeding issues, formula, and even middle of the night problems when parents are feeling stretched thin.
—When working with families, it is really important to build on the good the families are doing, and their strengths. It is never productive to just look at the negatives.
—The Michigan Children’s trust now has programs in every county in the state of Michigan. programs now in every county of the state.
—Every child needs a trusted adult, wherever that adult might be found!
—Most abuse occurs between the ages of zero and one.
—Suzanne spoke about her third grade teacher who made her talk to the whole class, sharing what she had been whispering in the back of the classroom with friends. The teacher told her she was really good at speaking to groups. This was the first compliment a young Suzanne had ever received, and it changed her entire view of herself.
—CTM receives federal funding, state funding, income from investments, and through fundraisers. It had a $1.1 million fundraiser in 2022, its largest amount ever.
—One of the most rewarding programs supported by CTM supports fatherhood initiatives. Teen parents are another place where intervention yields very positive outcomes.
—Be sure to follow CTM on Facebook and Twitter. they can be reached by phone at 517-241-0042.
—How an adult reacts to news from a child that they have been abused is extremely important. The adult must remain calm and supportive, doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the child—although that doesn’t necessarily mean removing the child from the home. The type of support offered through CTM can help keep children at home rather than removing them.
—During COVID, the number of reported child abuse and neglect cases dropped by 50% because teachers and counselors could not have their eyes and ears on the children. Schools did their best to provide home visits with families, meeting them on their porches.
—It’s important to remember that adults are getting better at talking about abuse with children and keeping them protected through safety sessions in the classroom.
QUESTIONS:
One of the comments following the presentation focused on the shooting at Oxford High School, where one of our Rotarians had a granddaughter that day. Her best friend was killed and he wanted to know how such tragedies could be prevented in the future.
Suzanne responded that we all remember those ‘scary’ kids from our school days. Things are no different now and help must be made available to these kids. This is why Elizabeth Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, has created a division devoted exclusively to mental health.
It’s important to remember that ‘when your gut tells you something’s wrong, you’ve got to listen to it.'
In lieu of a speaker’s gift, we will be making donation in honor of our speaker to a local organization through our Lansing Rotary Foundation which has, over the history of the club, given in excess of $2 million to local organizations and projects.
NEXT WEEK: We will meet next Friday, June 17th, on the second floor of the Lansing Center. It will be the Foundation’s Annual Meeting.
Stay well, Everyone!!
Pam Miklavcic's email is: pam@thedaviesproject.org