Rotary Informer

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

January 27, 2021

1921 – 2021         100 Years of Service Above Self

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey via Zoom on the world wide web. Ashley Whitney, 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 “America the Beautiful”

4-Way Test:  Jane Millar

Calendar Winners:  Read off by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners January 27, 2021

Visiting Rotarians:  None

Guests:  Janice Smith, Teri Donaldson, Annie Olds, Speaker

Life Events:

Rotary Care List:

Matt Breed gave an update regarding his son who was just brought home from the hospital. He is living with his parents and doing well after his injury.

Birthdays: 

Dr. John Scholten

Anniversaries: 

Bill Hicklen – 18 Years

Bob Waldvogel – 21 Years

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kiwanis vs. Rotary Baseball Game:  When Bob Metzger recently gave his awesome presentation about our club founders, he mentioned how they once had a baseball game against the Kiwanis Club in 1925. Ashley Whitney would like to have a re-match sometime this summer! If anyone is interested in planning this event, please contact Ashley Whitney. She has already talked with Kiwanis and they are interested.

Rotary Park Fund:  The Rotary Park Fund Committee recently met. They have decided to donate approximately $167,000 from the Rotary Park Fund to our club's centennial service project (Winter Sports Park upgrades). That amount is in addition to $60,000 that our club's past presidents have been saving over time for centennial celebrations. Long way of saying that, without having started any fundraising efforts, our club is already contributing a whopping $227,000 to Winter Sports Park upgrades -- incredible!! This initial contribution will help fund a pavilion over the hockey rink, turning it into a year-round, multi-purpose venue for the community.

Special Consideration on Park Fund:  PLEASE READ!

Here is an update on the status of the Rotary Parks Fund:

·         Original Corpus:  $533,875.50

·         December 31, 2020 Balance:  $743,020.32

·         Difference is a gain of:  $209,144.82

·         80% of the difference which has been committed to the Winter Sports Park Project:  $167,315.85

The question for all club members is should the club commit an additional $40,000 of Rotary Park funds to the Winter Sports Project in the form of a challenge grant for other community members/funds/clubs for this project. This would make our total donation to this project from the Rotary Parks Fund $207,315.85. 

Our bylaws require 66% (2/3) of club members to vote YES to the proposal in order to award the additional $40,000 to The Winter Sports Park Project.

We will make this same announcement next week, February 3^rd, at our regular meeting and open electronic voting the following Wednesday, February 10^th for your consideration.

100 Acts of Service:  In honor of our club's 100th anniversary, every member is challenged to perform *at least one* act of service this year that goes above-and-beyond what you might normally do through our club. Your act of service doesn't have to be big or complex or expensive (though it can be if you want!) It just needs to embody and celebrate our motto: Service Above Self. Our club's goal is to complete 100 acts of service by the end of 2021. To help us keep track of this goal, please fill out this brief survey each time you complete an act of service. Thank you!

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

Note from Laurie Fenton:  Stuart Fenton's wife, Laurie, is a nurse and has been helping with COVID-19 patients. She was blown away when Stu told her that our club has been helping to fold the plastic gowns they wear. She said it is so helpful to have them folded. Thank you to all Rotarians who have assisted with this effort!!

Speaker March 10, 2021:  Jane Millar let us know that our presenter for our club meeting will be the past RI Director John Smarge about HANWASH.

Calendar update:  Final update -- We are done!! Thank you to everyone for selling your calendars and promptly turning in payment. We netted just over $17,000 for our club and just over $10,000 for Petoskey Rotary Club Charities, Inc. (PRCCI). The calendar committee is now starting to work on 2022. If you have feedback on calendar design, sales, etc. please contact Karen Ragland.

Paul Harris Fellowship:  Dibby Smith; it's now 2021 so we can start a new pool. As a reminder, participating in the pool means that for five years, you pledge to donate $50 per quarter to the Rotary Foundation. After five years have gone by, your donations total $1,000, for which you are then awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship. Terry Newton sent out the form to fill out and return to Dibby Smith. If you need a new one please get a hold of Terry.

Program  

We were joined by Annie Olds, Regional Director at the Small Business Development Center. Annie and her staff serve 10 counties in northwest lower Michigan. They serve new ventures, existing businesses, growing businesses and emerging tech businesses.

They measure success by the number of new business starts, jobs created, capital raised, increased revenue.

Services for new ventures: steps to launch, secondary research, assistance with funding process, loan packaging, business plan review, financial projections, tools/resources/consulting.

Services for existing businesses: assess needs, benchmark financials, information-based planning, assistance with funding resources, loan packaging, buying/selling, pitch preparedness, marketing & sales planning, website review/SEO, export strategies, strategic planning

Please visit SBDCmichigan.org to learn more about their work.

If you know of any business that you think might benefit from SBDC's services, have them contact Sam Augusta, intake consultant -- sbdc@networksnorthwest.org

Next Week’s Program:  Tom Teske—East Jordan - VP of North America

Parting Shots:  Howard Richards closed with 1954 John Lewis “Django.” No lyrics to this song so we were treated to Howard’s piano playing minus his vocals.