Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

December 16, 2020

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey via Zoom on the world wide web. Liz Ahrens, President officiated the meeting. If you did not get the chance to attend, you can watch it from this:  Recording

Pledge/Anthem:  Howard Richards Played “My Country Tis of Thee”

4-Way Test:  David Finley

Invocation:  Stuart Fenton

T’was the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

The Reindeer and Santa appeared, without a peep

And left oodles of presents, When all were asleep

There was Frosty, and Rudolph, and the grinch too,

And Charlie Brown and Snoopy, and Linus, and Poo.

Of course, the real story is about miracles, immaculate conception,

The Son of God, a whole new Religion… Profound.  A celebration. 

But long before Christianity,

A small group of Jewish warriors defeated a much larger Syrian army

Cleansing the land for free worship, making the temple once again holy

And a tiny drop of oil lasted 8 days

Until more could be found from 100s of miles away.

So, Jews still celebrate these miracles, to this very day.

We light the menorah each night

To signify the miracle of the light. 

So, whatever you celebrate, be it green, blue or red, or Kwanza or Festivus,

May it be bright; and happy, and healthy for all of us

Stuart Fenton

December, 2020

Calendar Winners:  Read off by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners December 16, 2020
    
    
Prize
Cal#
Calendar Winner
City
Sold By
$50
1024   
Mac McCarthy
Harbor Springs
Petoskey
$50
2996  
Bernard Schmitz
Chesaning
Chesaning
$50
  1750    
John A. Still
Petoskey
Petoskey
$50
1311  
Tilda Frey
Gettysburg, PA
Petoskey
$50
1724  
Mariah Ginop
Petoskey
Petoskey
$50
2726 
Amy Klungle
Harbor Springs
Grayling
$50
 1723   
Dylan Blair
Indian River
Petoskey
Visiting Rotarians:  Rebecca Lamper, George Trowbridge, John Helge, Coleman Schindler, Nicole VanNess, Edward Schindler, Valerie Gerhart, Dave Wynne, Al Bonney, Wayne Koppa, Brian Robertson, Jon Catlin, Alex Arends, James White, Mike McGovern

Guests:  Tammy Frampus, BSN, RN

Life Events:

Rotary Care List:

Neil Bidwell is back home recovering from surgery. CT scan and appointment with the neurosurgeon on Wednesday.....won’t be at Rotary. Continue to feel a bit better each day. The Drs. are pleased with progress.....but quick to point out it will be a long recovery.

Birthdays: 

Herb Carlson

Anniversaries: 

Judy Zorn – 3 Years

Christian Smith – 6 Years

Singing/Song:  Howard Richards led us in singing Happy Birthday and Smile

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Salvation Army bell ringing this Fri. 12/18 We filled all but one volunteer slot. Thank you for once again stepping up to support this worthy organization!!

Wreaths Across America this Sat. 12/19:  Swing by Greenwood Cemetery anytime between 10:30am - 3:30pm to lay wreaths on veterans' graves.

Rotary Secret Santa gift exchange:  Thanks to the 22+ people who signed up! This was a tremendous amount of fun and we hope to make it an annual event and the next one will be in person. It was really a blast in exchanging gifts and trying to guess who our Secret Santa’s were.

Calendar sales: We're in the home stretch!!  As you sell your calendars, you may drop off your calendar money to three locations: (1) Mail it to our club at PO Box 61, Petoskey, MI 49770. (2) Drop it off at Harbor/Brenn office, across the street from Culver's. There is a mail slot in the front door to slide your money through. (3) Drop it off at Karen Ragland's home. Please contact her first!

Toys for Tots:  This annual toy drive is still happening! If you'd like to donate a toy for a child in need, please drop it off at the Perry Hotel. Or you can make a cash donation if you prefer -- simply write a check out to Toys for Tots and mail it to Dave Thomas's home address. Please contact Dave Thomas with any questions.

Crooked Tree Arts Council:  This year's CTAC School of Ballet Nutcracker online this year! Streaming Dec 19 - Jan 30 :):  Link

Intro by Dianne Litzenburger:  Tammy Frampus, nurse liaison with the McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation, visited our Rotary meeting to highlight a new volunteer opportunity. In a nutshell, this is to help provide blue plastic hospital isolation gowns to hospital staff, which protect them when they go into isolation rooms. The gowns are manufactured locally by Petoskey Plastics. They arrive as rolls, with perforations. They need to be torn off the roll and folded. McLaren is asking Noon Rotarians to please volunteer on Mondays at the Hospital Foundation (which is a totally separate building from the hospital itself.) Small groups of 3-4 people are needed for two-hour shifts. Each person will be placed at a "gown station" to tear and fold gowns. Before entering the Hospital Foundation, everyone will be screened for COVID symptoms and issued a hospital mask. This is a volunteer opportunity for adults only, particularly adults who are comfortable with physical movement. Please contact Tami Frampus at 231-487-7128 if you are interested in signing up for a time slot with names of the people in your group or if you have any questions.

PROGRAM  Today we were joined by Mike McGovern, chair of Rotary International's PolioPlus Committee, who 'zoomed' with us all the way from Maine.

Mike gave a great presentation on the current status of polio in the world, as well as RI's efforts to combat it. His presentation included tons of valuable data, far too much than can be shared in this bulletin. 

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary has reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

Visit RI's website to see a complete timeline of our efforts:  Link

Next Week’s Program:  Holiday Musical Review!

Parting Shots:  Howard Richards closed with: Bob Rivers 1987 “The Restroom Door Said “Gentlemen”

The restroom door said gentleman so I just walked inside,
I took two steps and realized I've been taken for a ride.
I heard high voices, turned and found the place was occupied,
By two nuns, three old ladies and a nurse.
What could be worse?
Than two nuns, three old ladies and a nurse.

The restroom door said gentleman it must have been a gag,
As soon as I walked in there I ran into some old hag.
She sprayed me with a can of mase and smacked me with her bag,
I could tell, this just wouldn't be my day.
What can I say?
It just wasn't turning out to be my day.

The restroom door said gentleman and I would like to find,
The crummy little CREEP who had the nerve to switch the signs.
'Cause I got two black eyes and one high heel up my behind,
Now I can't, sit with comfort and joy.
Boy oh boy.
Now I'll never sit with comfort and joy.