Rotarian Doug Bishop introduced Meagan Raftery Belden who was properly acknowledged with the customary Rotary Standing Ovation! Meagan is a Traverse City Senior High School graduate and a University of Michigan alum, Meagan studied law at Case Western Reserve University. Meagan’s law practice at Bishop & Heintz emphasizes business law, family law, probate and estate planning and health law. Welcome to the club, Meagan! We look forward to serving above self with you!!
Lee Olewinski provided the invocation – reminding us of the blessings of something as simple as a good night’s sleep.
Mike Meinderstma introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.
Autumn Soltysiak provided a warm welcome to the Rotary Students of the Month, Olivia Bishop and Noah Springer, both students at Traverse City West Senior High School.
Olivia Bishop – well, she’s impressive – a sixteen year old high school senior, she will be studying at the University of Michigan this spring, pursuing education in advertising and design.
And Noah Springer – also impressive – an eighteen year old high school senior, he will be studying Bio Medical Engineering at the University of Michigan.
We rocked a little Bob Dylan, singing ‘Blowin in the Wind’, which was accompanied by Rotarian guitarist extraordinaire Greg Smith; and many of us didn’t even need the words displayed on screen for this better-known tune!
Rotarians think big – we have big dreams to make the world a better place; and those big dreams have more local issues in mind; and other times, our dreams drift further – to world issues.
Claire Eblovi joined us and had us thinking globally. As an Executive Director with Project C.U.R.E., she shared with us their wonderful, important work. Project C.U.R.E. has been recognized by Forbes as a highly-efficient charitable organization. With 17,000 volunteers around the world and 25 employees, and 1% administrative overhead, there’s no question they’re efficient.
Claire spoke a lot about going from ordinary to extraordinary – and that’s exactly what they’ve done. Project C.U.R.E. receives donated medical supplies – from poles holding I.V. substances in the hospital room to birthing tables – they receive, store, package and ship medical supplies to over 130 countries from their 400,000 ft2 of warehouse space. Their efficiency isn’t simply about budgetary numbers – they make sure the equipment goes where it’s needed and intended by conducting on-site needs assessments before they send a container of this much-needed medical equipment that we may never think twice about having available here in the states.
Rotary has supported Project C.U.R.E. – monetary gifts that have been provided by Rotary have an extraordinary impact – including a 20:1 leverage ratio – that’s right: for every $1,000 donated by Rotary, $20,000 has been realized in other donations!
Join the Rotary Charities staff for a special grant training on Tuesday, October 13th at noon at the TC Country Club. If you have ever wanted to sit on a grant investigation team, this is your chance! We are just getting started with fall grant reviews, so this short course will give you everything you need to get started. Meet great nonprofit leaders, learn about their organizations and see how the grantmaking process works! Please RSVP to Stacey Foster at Rotary Charities: sfoster@rotarycharities.org
law at Case Western Reserve University. Meagan’s law practice at Bishop & Heintz emphasizes business law, family law, probate and estate planning and health law. Welcome to the club, Meagan! We look forward to serving above self with you!! 
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