It was the Peaceful Transition of Power Meeting for the Rotary Club of Traverse City– June 19, 2018 – as told by Ramona Pleva
President John Racine rang the Rotary bell for the final time as the curtain closed on his fabulous year as our Club President. God Bless America and the Pledge of Allegiance followed.
Lee Olewinski led our invocation.
Bob Stow honored President John with a fine parody rendition of Jimmy Dean’s Big Bad John. He was also joined by a group hand selected of Rotarians for bestowing the Big Bad John honors.
Chris Degood introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.
Announcements:
Uh…. There was only one!! Al Bonney made it public that the 2019 Rotary Show will be his last show as the Music Director. That being said if you are interested in taking on that role, please let Al know. It doesn’t take much time or work, you just need to have the patience of a saint, be able to herd cats and have excellent coping skills in high-pressure situations. If you have musical experience, hey that’s a plus!!
President John gave a few shout-outs to some outstanding Rotarians. Bruce Finlayson chairs our Life Leadership Weekend program for the club. He quietly serves and does an amazing job working with the students! Also, John commended Ralph Mittlelberger and Tom Haase for all their work with the Committee for the Handicapped.
The 50/50 pot of $86 went to Mike Buday!
President John was brief in his thank you comments to the club. You rocked it, President John!
Past club presidents and district governors Ross Childs and Al Bonney did their best “Smothers Brothers routine” (OK, not really!) for the transition of power from President John to President Awesome Allison and with the outgoing Board of Directors to the new. Outgoing Board Members include: Past President Mike Meindertsma, Mark Eckhoff, Mark Newhouse and Tom Haase. Current Board Members include: Vern Gauthier, Steven Wade and Dave Ford. Incoming Board Members include: President Elect Homer Nye, Katy McCain, Sakura Rafferty and Ramona Pleva. Al Olsen serves as our treasurer and Bob Stow as the club secretary.
As has become a tradition in our club, past presidents line up (ideally in chronological order of their year of service – that proved a bit more difficult this time around as no one can remember the actual year they were president) and provide words of wisdom and support for our new president!
Ross Childs swore in the new board of directors and our new President Awesome Allison. At this point in the meeting, the most coveted pin in our club is presented to our most recent Past President John Racine.
And then it became President Awesome’s show…………
President Awesome unveiled some of her initiatives for the 2018-19 year starting with three new committees! And what are those committees you ask? Let me tell you! It all starts with FUN! (As was evidenced by the Moomer’s we had at the meeting!! SCORE!) Yup, we have ourselves a Fun Committee chaired by Fun Girl Jamie Keillor.
But wait! There’s more. A Sergeant in Arms will be in effect at each meeting. And who’s heading that up!? Sid Lammers – like was there even another choice?!
So the last committee is really gonna knock your socks off and make every committee chair’s life a bit easier! We have a Communications Committee which will serve as our in-house marketing for the club! And we have the perfect Rotarian for that: Brendon Koshoshek. He knows all that kind of communication stuff and will make us look fabulous to the outside world!
New Rotarian Linda Racine will be collecting a plethora of club documents and placing them on a Google drive for easy access. Brilliant, right!?
President Awesome Allison shared with us a question she was asked when she was going through her President’s training. “When did you become a Rotarian?” (Hint: it’s not when she joined the club, it’s a deeper question than that!) Well long story short, it was a heartwarming (even tear-jerking) incident between hosting a Rotary Exchange Student and providing holiday cheer to a family in need.
President Allison is implementing a no cell phone policy during our meetings. Put it away and socialize with the peeps at your table!!
Also, we all have a to-do list for the coming year:
- Join a committee
- Go to an event
- Engage others (Don’t be shy! I just go around and hug people – works like a charm!)
Next week our meeting is at the Traverse City Golf and Country Club and the following week, July 3 – clear your schedule and meet us at the Beer Tent at the National Cherry Festival.
