Rotary Informer

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

May 13, 2020

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

Pledge/Anthem:  America the Beautiful led by Howard Richards

4-Way Test:  Christian Smith

Invocation:  Tim Dykstra

In his book, The Second Mountain, David Brooks shares some ideas that might help us as we strive to live our daily lives according to the Rotary motto: Service Above Self.

“When people make generosity part of their daily routine, they refashion who they are.  The interesting thing about your personality, your essence, is that it is not more or less permanent like your leg bone.  Your essence is changeable, like your mind.  Every action you take, every thought you have changes you, even if just a little, making you a little more elevated or a little more degraded.  If you do a series of good deeds, the habit of other centeredness becomes gradually engraved into your life.  It becomes easier to do good deeds down the line.”

Calendar Winners:  Read by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners May 13, 2020

Visiting Rotarians:  Thank you for joining us today:  Patricia Wimmer, Rochester, MN

Guests:  Angela Lasher and Andrea Coronado potential members, Natalie Kasiborski and Lisa Peacock, Speakers

Life Events: 

Rotary Care List:  None this week 

Birthdays:

Christian Smith

Jean Frentz

Anniversaries:

Inger Olson – 1 Year

Sarah Ulrich – 2 Years

Greg Somers – 7 Years

Doug Caldwell – 14 Years

Jim Linderman – 33 Years

Announcements:

President’s Announcements & Other Items:    

Liz Ahrens announced there will be a; Raise your glass to our District Governor Dave Thomas on Thursday, May 14 at 6:00 pm! Click the Zoom Link Here:  Zoom invite Here!  Password: 010255

We are still planning for our in-person meetings. We are working with Perry staff to figure out when, maximum size of our meetings, social distancing, etc. Stay tuned! 

Jane Millar has a document 4 phase process for opening courts, and it applies to other businesses. If you would like a copy contact Jane.

Alzheimer’s Foundation:  Melissa Thompson let us know that there are 3 online classes about ALS, dementia this weekend. Also, the walk is still scheduled for August 19. Rotary has a team. 

Rotary International:  Chris Etienne let us know that RI raised $500,000 from a telethon and have put out $5,000,000 to various clubs to help support areas struggling with the virus.

Member Check-In: 

To all members who could not make it we encourage you to do so next week and we also encourage all of you to continue to be safe so that we can see you in good health when we can next meet together at a regular Rotary meeting in the not too distant future. Liz will be working to contact club members who we have not seen for some time.

Program:

Lisa Peacock and Natalie Kasiborski, Health Department of Northwest Michigan

Lisa and Natalie gave a brief presentation on the status of COVID-19 in northwest Michigan. The Health Department is seeing some encouraging signs. For example, yesterday there were no new cases reported in northwest Michigan. And the rate of growth of new cases has slowed by 25% in the last week. Lisa believes our region has "flattened the curve" in that our healthcare systems are not overloaded.

However, COVID-19 is still present here. We're likely to see new cases emerge as people travel to northwest Michigan. Ultimately the Health Department would like to see a 'positivity rate' (the percentage of people who test positive for something) below 3%. Northwest Michigan has recently achieved this rate for COVID-19. Let's hope it stays that way!!

Natalie mentioned the Health Department is staffing a public health information line. Call 1-800-386-5959 and leave a voicemail with your COVID-19 related questions. Someone will call you back to answer them.

Following remarks from Lisa and Natalie, there was a great Q&A as usual!

Next Week’s Program:  District Conference 6290 May 2020 Version Virtual! Jane Millar and District Conference committee

Parting Shots:  Howard Richards played John Prine’s, “It’s a Big Old Goofy World.”