President John Racine opened the meeting with God Bless America. #allpresidentsshouldbethisclassy
Nikki Sobkowski offered up the invocation. #amennikki
Cindy Ruzak helped us embrace our inner Christopher Columbus for Columbus Day with two songs. #cindyrockscolumbusalternatereality #howdoesonefollowthat
Mark Eckhoff introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. #whenindoubtdojazzhands
Autumn Soltysiak introduced Jordynn Crossley as our Student of the Week. Jordynn represents the Allied Health program at TBAISD and is actively involved in many extracurricular activities. Jordynn has her sights set on becoming a pediatrician. “Dr. Jordynn”..... It has a nice ring to it! #drjordynncrossley
Time to break out that ugly Christmas sweater! (I know, you were hoping to not see that sweater again!) Susan Kraus is already planning for the holidays and asked us to mark Dec. 5 on our calendars for our annual Holiday Party at the Traverse City Yacht Club. If one party is good, two are better!! Susan is also planning another Rotary event for early November.
Al Bonney and his wife Joan will be taking part in National Immunization Day and are asking for donations to help provide bed nets to keep the mosquitos out of the bedroom in countries with high malaria rates. Seriously, people, them mosquitoes are annoying. For $5 you can help a friend out! For $50 you can help a bunch of friends out!
Get your bike shorts out because Al Bonney is teaming up with Vern Gauthier for another indoor polio bike ride Nov. 13 - 18. Come down to Fit For You, Vern will lend to a stationary bike to ride to raise awareness and money to End Polio Now. There will be a group spinning class on Saturday, Nov. 18 for anyone who wants to join the fun. Heck, you can just show up and sit on the bike if you don’t want to actually exercise (however, we cannot be responsible for the jeers you will get from your peers.) #albonneywillbewearingbikeshorts #showupandrideforpolio #vernatfitforyouisawesome
Paul LaPorte asked for some“podium time” (oh geez……. ) Well, it turns out that our BenWhiting, one of the 25 Most Interesting, Intriguing, Fascinating People in TC (according to the Northern Express) had a little “incident” recently. As we all know, Ben is a world-class, uber talented Magician, Entertainer, Motivational Speaker with the voice of God and Rotary Girl Dancer. Any magician who has mastered the “slight of hand” wizardry skills knows their hands are to be protected at all times! Well, Ben was lovingly cooking his amazing wife dinner one evening and accidentally burned one of his magic hands. That would have been fine, but Ben felt compelled to announce to the world (via all social media outlets known to man) of his little snafu. Nothing goes unnoticed with this group (people, remember this before posting!) and Paul felt it appropriate to bestow on Ben the highly-not-so-coveted Smart Pills - cleverly presented in a “magic” Crown Royal bag. #putthisonthecoverofthenorthernexpress #dontletpaulcatchyoudoingdumbstuff
A whopping $44 in the 50/50 went to Mike Meindertsma. #pastpresidenttakesthepot
Becky Ewing #gogreen, introduced our speaker today. Mr. Andrew Muir, Ph.D. is the Science Director for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The role of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is to create an innovative project that enhances fish passage and connectivity from the Boardman River to Lake Michigan while removing invasive species. This one-of-a-kind project has experts from around the world contributing and watching how this project progresses.
For the locals in the room, we know that the Boardman River project began with the first of three dams having been removed. The second dam is being worked on as we speak and the third dam at Union Street will be the third and final dam removed. This project aligns with the Boardman River restoration timeline with pressure from the community to remove the dams and the address the crumbling structures that exist. The dams serve as a barrier for sea lampreys. The sea lamprey is infiltrating Lake Michigan and act as predator fish and can consume up to 40 lbs of fish during its lifetime. #sealampreysarenaughtyfish #wedontwanttheminourlakes
Currently, no solution exists for multi-species sorting. Studying the behaviors of the fish will help design a system based on those behaviors. These yet-to-be-developed solutions will require an integration of multiple techniques and technologies, an adaptive infrastructure that can be modified to achieve passage while allowing flexibility in the width and entry channels. #wecanfindasolution
The goal of having to sort fish will borrow concepts from the system used for recycling. Fish will be sorted based on physical properties. The conceptual design is taking shape and will include a nature like channel, a fish sorting channel, dual gates that can act as a fish barrier when closed, a science facility and a boardwalk water trail access.
#fishingsortingwillbeanart #excitingstuffahead
And that pretty much concludes our recap of today’s meeting. Join us next week for another episode of The Rotary Club of Traverse City at the Great Wolf Lodge. #rotarydoesgood #proudtobearotarian #welovechangingtheworld
In 1999, Rotary Charities donated $2.5 million to the Community Foundation to establish the Rotary Endowment. The Endowment connects the shared work of Rotary Charities and the Community Foundation of promoting philanthropy to enrich the quality of life in our region. Today, the Rotary Endowment provides an opportunity for individual Rotarians and local Rotary Clubs to have their philanthropic support matched by the Community Foundation.
The partnership between the Community Foundation and Rotary Charities is reflective of the quality of philanthropic intent and integrity that makes this a wonderful place to live, work, and give.
Match forms need to be signed by you and the non-profit and turned in the byDecember 1st deadline.
In response to the recent hurricanes, the Club Board decided to match, up to a total Club contribution of $5,000, charitable contributions which our Club members have already made in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma or Maria, or which are made prior to October 26, 2017. The Club’s portion of those matching contributions will be made to funds set up by Rotary International which is specifically tailored to assist in the relief of those hurricanes. You may click on this link to donated directly
You may also provide payment (payable to Rotary Camps & Services) to Kathy Bussell, or request a specific amount be contributed and charged to your Rotary Club account. Otherwise, if you have made your contribution directly to some other charitable organization, let Kathy know the date and amount so the Club can then match that amount.
Here by popular demand, NorthSky is proud to host Principles & Techniques, a world class course from Indiana University’s Fund Raising School. Principles and Techniques gives you the foundation and inspiration to lead your nonprofit to its financial goals. In an intensive 4-day program, you will receive a framework for operating a successful total development program. If you are from Antrim, Benzie, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse or Leelanau County and are interested in applying for a scholarship, please email egray@rotarycharities.org to learn more, before October 16. This internationally recognized course will run November 6-9 at the NMC University Center. Full registration and tuition details available here: http://www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org/learning-opportunities/
WEHOP (formerly HHOP) is going to Honduras again in 2018. The travel dates will be between February 16, 2018, and February 26, 2018. Details are still being worked out but most of the trip will be spent installing bio-sand water filters and building latrines in the mountains surrounding Comayagua. We will also work with the Merendon Rotary Club in San Pedro Sula.
This trip is open to Rotarians, Rotaractors, and Interact Junior and Senior High school students. The estimated cost will be around $2000 for the week and includes air, lodging, and meals. If you are interested in going on this intergenerational, life-changing work trip, please contact Gail Ringelberg at gailring@netscape.net
Rotary's NorthSky Nonprofit Network, is pleased to announce its fall 2017 professional development series. To learn more and register, visit: http://www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org/learning-opportunities/ -Check out the list of course instructors; you'll notice some of your fellow Rotarians! Please share this line-up throughout your personal network, and encourage your colleagues to sign up!
The temperature is dropping, soon the snow will be falling. A sweater, a hat, gloves and boots and you are ready to go out and face the elements. Can you imagine having to do that in your sneakers, with an old sweatshirt and a windbreaker and nothing more? Too many people in our community are just making it financially and are unable to afford the winter clothing that is needed to go to work, go to school, the grocery store and more. If you have gently used winter clothing: coats, hats, gloves, mittens or boots that you would be willing to share with our neighbors in need, we would gladly distribute them. Each year we have families in search of these items. Frequently they are working, just not making enough to handle rent, food, utilities, medical bills AND winter gear. Please consider helping out your neighbors when you are replacing your winter gear by donating those gently used, clean items to The Father Fred Foundation.
Each year the volunteers in our Clothing and Household Goods area hear comments from our guests as to how grateful they are to be able to get a warm coat or perhaps a pair of boots at The Foundation. So many in our community are working jobs that pay at or near minimum wage and with housing and transportation cost a bit higher in our area, affording expensive clothing items is challenging at best. Whatever you can do to help lighten the load for those in need, is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for all that you do in our community. It is thanks to donors just like you that we can all make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.
God bless you,
Deb Haase
Executive Director - The Father Fred Foundation
We will be collecting at our Club meetings on November 14th, 21st & 28th.
