Rotary Informer

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

June 3, 2020

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey via the world wide web! Ashley Whitney, acting as President officiated the meeting. If you did not get the chance to attend, you can watch it from this:  Recording

Howard Richards led us in America the Beautiful

4-Way Test:  Elaine Keiser

Invocation:  Jeff Wynder

May your week be filled with good thoughts, kind people and happy moments.

Author Unknown

Calendar Winners:  Read by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners June 3, 2020

Visiting Rotarians:  Thank you for joining us today:  Gary Voison, Cheboygan; Jill Durnen, Saline

Guests:  None

Life Events: 

Rotary Care List:  None this week 

Birthdays:

Tom Erhart

John Emley

Roy Longworth

Anniversaries:

Jane Millar – 22 Years

Mike Snyder – 48 Years

Announcements:

Club Survey:  Kassia Perpich reported that 2/3 of the surveys, over 80 were returned, are comfortable going back to in person meetings while still doing online as well.

There is a board seat open. If you are interested please contact Liz Ahrens.

Calendar sales for 2021:  Number of wholesale clubs is down to 6. We will be adjusting prizes given out from 7 to 5 weekly. Our total number sold will be down. 

Mitchell Graphics will be printing them this year and will be based on Rotary themes.

Petoskey Rotary Club Charities, Inc.:  Dianne Litzenburger, President of the Petoskey Rotary Club Charities, Inc. (PRCCI), announced that PRCCI awarded 13 grants totaling $49,631.61 to the following area organizations:

Charlevoix Circle of Arts, $1,700 to improve accessibility to its building.

Crooked Tree Arts Center, $5,000 to offer scholarships to ballet classes.

Emmanuel Episcopal Church Youth Pantries, $5,000 to operate area school-based food pantries.

Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, $1,075 to update its telephone system. Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, $5,000 to implement Project Food Corps at Alanson Public Schools.

Little Traverse Civic Theatre, $1,099.61 to clean out and organize their storage barn.

McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation, $4,777 to purchase CPR manikins. Northern Michigan Equine Therapy, $4,480 to provide scholarships to young people battling mental illness undertaking equine therapy.

Northwest Michigan Habitat for Humanity, $5,000 for the Home Ready Program housing construction costs;

Raven Hill Discovery Center, $5,000 for the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street Program.

Salvation Army, $5,000 for after school program.

Tip of Mitt Watershed Council, $2,500 for water quality testing equipment and program management education for Petoskey area students.

Village of Alanson, $4,000 for installation of a play structure at Civic Park. 

Dianne reminded club members that these grants - and others awarded by our club and PRCCI - are made possible by every member of our club selling calendars. She thanked all club members for their efforts to sell our raffle calendars. 

PROGRAM:  

Today we were supposed to hear from Bill & Carol's (a convenience store in Petoskey), which has been generously preparing and delivering free lunches to local students during the COVID-19 crisis. (For many students, their only meals of the day come from school-served breakfasts and lunches. Students being stuck at home has reminded us of the food insecurity that many face in the absence of going to school.)

Unfortunately, owner Bill had a last-minute store emergency. One of the store's freezers broke and he had to tend to that instead. Hopefully Bill can join us another time! He said the store has been deeply touched by residents donating toward their lunch prep costs.

In Bill's absence, members used the program time to generally check-in with each other as well as to explore what future Rotary meetings will be like. Many are advocating for a combination of in-person and virtual participation, provided the two experiences can mesh well. The board will be discussing this at their monthly meeting next Tuesday.

Next Week's Program:  Ron Marshall Climate Change

Parting Shots:  Squirrel Nut Zippers “La Grippe”

There's a flu bug getting passed around
Spreading like fire through this town
There's a virus holing up inside us
Each one that I know is coming down
There's an Asian influenza
Infecting us all by the scores
And it's turning into pneumonia
We must go out once more
There's a fool moon howling at the night
And each bark is much worse than each bite
So we must go out and dance around

Yes we must go tonight
So the doctors came on the evening train
With their flasks and their caskets and vials
Mass psychosis was their diagnosis (yes)
So we all cashed our checks and went wild
There's a fool moon howling at the night

And each bark is much worse than each bite
So we must go out and dance around
Yes we must go tonight
La Grippe!, Salsa!