Rotary Club eBulletin, 6/20/17 (Jun 22, 2017)

Meeting Notes 6/20/17

Posted by James Bruckbauer

Homer Nye gave the invocation.
Music: Allison Beers led us in “Glory Days” to remember the past year under President Mike’s leadership.
Sid Van Slyke welcomed our guests.
Happy birthday to Tom Haase and Bonnie Alfonso!
Thanks for helping with Kids Free Fishing Day
President Mike reported that he and President-elect John Racine had a great time at Rotary International’s annual conference in Atlanta. They joined over 40,000 other Rotarians. He thanked the club for allowing them to represent Traverse City.
Steve Wade introduced our guest speaker.
Congratulations to our new Paul Harris Fellows: Ross Childs, Kelly Hall and David Ford

Don Breadon brought us a district flag from the club in Tulsa, OK.
Congrats to Andy Kempf on winning this week’s 50/50 and tickets to the Beach Bums game.

For those with mental illness, support is growing

Posted by James Bruckbauer

When Frances Alfs received sudden life-changing news—that her son was suffering from depression and mental illness—she was confused and wasn’t sure where to turn. It’s tough enough to go through a hospitalization process when you break a bone; it’s even more difficult when the cause and effect are unclear. Tests and doctors didn’t seem to help.

But when she found a NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, she found the support she needed. For individuals with a mental illness or a brain disorder, NAMI provides resources, care, compassion and, overall, made her family’s tough situation easier. NAMI’s goal is to Educate families and communities, Advocate for better policies that help mental illness patients, and Eradicate the stigma that exists with those experiencing mental illness.

Frances described the challenges that families face with an unexpected mental illness. Their life hopes, dreams and expectations change dramatically. There’s grief and accepting a new reality. And for her, had very little support. But NAMI is a place families can turn to not feel alone.

Founded in 1997 by two mothers in Madison Wisconsin who were frustrated about the lack of support they had for similar difficulties, NAMI soon became one of the largest grassroots support groups in the country. Today, there are 1100 chapters across the country.

Francis said that mental health needs in the Grand Traverse area are so great that the mental health agencies are overloaded. In fact, she felt so strongly about the program NAMI program that she’s helping to advance the NAMI chapter here in the Grand Traverse region.

In September, the NAMI Grand Traverse Chapter will offer a 12-week evidence-based program for family caregivers of individuals living with mental illness.

Thank you, Francis, for sharing your story with our group. CLICK HERE for NAMI's website

Rotarian Denny Lauterbach

CURRENT CAREER – Lucky owner of Floor Covering Brokers Carpet One.

EDUCATION – BS in Business Admin from the University of Illinois. It’s lonely for Wally Schroth and me, but we did hear one student of the week planning to be an Illini!

FAMILY- My incredible wife and fellow Rotarian, Jo; 3 beautiful daughters, Nicole, Sarah and Samantha; their awesome husbands; my hero step-daughter, Kelley; 7 fun grandchildren and my Little Brother of 10 years, Danny.

FAVORITE DESSERT – Hard to beat a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

FAVORITE ACTIVITY – Motorcycling wins, but we enjoy boating, snow skiing, hiking and camping. Just returned from a great 400-mile loop from Peoria, AZ to Lake Havasu City, Kingman and Prescott on the bike with Jo, who gets as excited as I when we begin a trip.

LAST BOOK READ – Love to say “War and Peace”, but my tastes are far simpler. “The Last Mile” is my latest easy-to-read David Baldachi.

FAVORITE MOVIE – Legends of the Fall. What a performance by Anthony Hopkins.

FAVORITE SONG – Well, I like what Miriam Pico sings……..

TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF NO ONE IN THE CLUB

LIKELY KNOWS – I was sort of responsible for shutting down Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport, backing up flights all over the world for a couple of hours. I ran the operations for a global elevator and escalator company. Our mechanic put the wrong shims in a bearing he replaced overnight, in that long escalator from the trains to baggage claim. The boiling oil generated an odor similar to natural gas, so they began to evacuate a 2-mile radius of the airport. It was a long crawl to the airport manager’s office.

LIFE ROLE MODEL – My Dad left school at 15 to support his family when his father died, and became a typesetter in the printing business. He started and ran his own print shop until an accident knocked him out of commission. In spite of tremendous setbacks, he never lost his fabulous sense of humor, his caring for others first, or his love for his family. He’ll always be number one.

MOST SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENT – Helping my girls achieve happiness. They’ve all chosen great paths in life, and are steering their children so well. What greater peace than knowing they’ll all be happy?

PROUDEST MOMENT - The weddings of my girls were the best. But, Danny ranks up there. When we were first matched, he told me he knew he’d be poor when he grew up. He was 7. He’s now a 3.8 high school junior and focused on a career in robotics. Amazing guy.

FUNNIEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU - Returning from a wonderful trip to Spain, we were routed through Stockholm to Franfurt, and I was in need of first aid creme. Desperately seeking relief, but unable to read the German labels at Frankfurt Airport, I found “Blend-a-Med” in a shop. Couldn’t read that label either, but thought that oughta do it! Google it. Rough flight to Chicago.

SECRET AMBITION – Would have loved to have gotten my pilot’s license. Did some barrel rolls and loops in a WWII fighter plane and loved it.

IF YOU COULD BE ANYONE IN THE WORLD FOR A DAY (present or historical), WHO WOULD THAT BE---AND WHY? I pick Jo’s daughter, Kelley. A car crash 15 years ago left her in a wheelchair and needing a lifetime of assisted living. Yet she is the most giving, understanding, fun and funny person I know. How does she do that? Maybe a day in her life would change all of ours.

MOST FAMOUS PERSON MET – I had the thrill of riding with Sparky Anderson in a shuttle bus to LAX. What a humble, bright, positive person.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO SHARE – Jo and I attended a Rotary meeting in AZ recently, and I was reminded how lucky we are to have the financial resource of Rotary Charities. They had a long discussion about contributing $1,000 to a local project because it was a major portion of the fund balance they’ve worked so hard to build. I know our club works hard on so many projects to raise funds and support our community, but sometimes you just have to say “Wow” to those oil/gas wells.