President Mack called the meeting to order and asked if any Rotarians had guests. A potential member was introduced by Marilyn. We said the Pledge of Allegiance and Homer Nye offered the words of gratitude from a former president of Harvard and Walt Whitman. He suggested that we talk with each other and not at each other. Homer also asked other Rotarians to step up and offer words of gratitude at our meetings. Email him or Kathy to volunteer.
Ramona Pleva shared the recap of the latest blood drive which garnered enough blood for 54 people. The next one will be Friday, October 29 at Kirkbride Hall again.
Allison Beers announced the Communications Committee is working hard to revamp our presence on social media. She hopes we will follow Rotary and also like all the posts. When Emily reached out to you to use your lovely faces to represent Rotary online. There is also a website refresh happening.
As Membership Committee head, Allison hopes that you’ll say hello to new people at the tables at our in-person meetings. Make them feel welcome and consider that we are all recruiters for the Rotary Club of TC. Everyone is welcome to bring new members in!
The 101st Birthday of The Rotary Club of Traverse City will be Saturday, December 11 at the Opera House. Black Tie optional. Formal invitations and information to follow. We will party hearty!
Rotary Fund Match time ends today at 5pm. The next one will be a December deadline. The Good Works is this Friday at 5pm.
The Tech Committee have been working on how we conduct a hybrid meeting once we are able to meet in person. They are figuring when and how we can meet in person and for lunch.
More info to follow about the time frame.
Dan Buren introduced the program: Food Rescue and Food Coalition are represented by Taylor Mand Mary Clulo. Mary thanked the Club for taking the time to learn about local issues. The food pantries work in six counties in northern Michigan. There are critical partners and collaborators in our work. Food Rescue began in 2008 and has distributed 15 million pounds of food in northwest Michigan and 7500 pounds every day. The Healthy Harvest program gleans fruit and vegetables at local farms and redistributes it to food pantries. The Food Security Summit, funded by Rotary Charities, helped people to learn about the region’s needs and resources. Many local leaders representing many different organizations. There were speakers
From all over the country to help provide opportunities for resources. Our region is well-resourced but could be better coordinated. Working collaboratively will make it all more effective. Addressing the stigma of needing help with food. They are expanding benefits and ways to help hungry people.
Taylor discussed how they were set up for the challenges of the pandemic by communicating and working with local food pantries. He says we are at another crossroads of change. The Food Security Summit and increasing access to healthy food were supported by Rotary Charities. 18,000 people in the five-county area live in poverty. Food Rescue picks up not only fresh food (but mostly fresh, healthy, nutritious food), but they also pick up sandwiches and drinks and processed food. They aim to be able to pick up more fresh fruits and veggies as their program grows. Questions were asked and answered.
Dan Buron thanked Taylor and Mary for their fine work and organization. President Mack adjourned the meeting.