Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

May 6, 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:  John Hurd

Invocation:  Jean Frentz

If Dr. Seuss were alive today, he’d write something like this..

The buildings were big and people would smile

And travel they would, mile by mile.

But sick they became, in numbers it grew

Businesses worried, communities too.

Things stopped for a bit, the world slowed its roll

The virus had certainly taken its toll.

But what they then saw from slowing things down

Is in fact they now had less reasons to frown.

Families now gathered, what game shall we play?

Pass me the blue crayon, give mommy the grey.

Dad’s home guys!  He’ll read us a book,

Then all of us together will learn to cook.

The lungs of the planet caught a small break

Less travel meant less pollution to make.

People did realize they’d all be okay, and

They don’t need so much to get through the day.

Maybe this virus that caused so much stress

Showed the whole world that more can mean less.

Calendar Winners:  Read by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners May 6, 2020

    
 
 
 
 
Prize
Cal#
Calendar Winner
City
Sold By
$50
1103
Carolyn J. Switzer
Petoskey
Petoskey
$50
3110
Judy Melseki
Greenfield
P. Sunrise
$50
2403
Janet Scott
Cedar Springs
Cedar Springs
$50
1407
Tom Bliznik
Petoskey
Petoskey
$50
1842
NO MI Sports Med Center
Petoskey
Petoskey
$50
2042
Mick Borst
Petoskey
P. Sunrise
$50
65
Catherine Calabrese
Alanson
Petoskey

Visiting Rotarians:  Thank you for joining us today:  Gary Voison, Cheboygan

Guests:  Angela Lasher

Life Events: 

Rotary Care List:  None this week 

Birthdays:

David Finley

Anniversaries: 

Susan Metzger – 5 Years

Bill Winslow – 16 years

Announcements:

Habitat for Humanity:  Stuart Fenton let us know that Habitat for Humanity is still taking donations for their match from Great Lakes Energy. The form to donate is on the Habitat website.

Paul Harris Match Program:  Dibby Smith let us know that the District is doing a match for Paul Harris. You donate $500 and they will match with 500 points giving you the ability to name a Paul Harris. You can go directly to the District website to take advantage of this.

Rotary Backgrounds for Zoom Meetings:  Nikki LaDeur let us know you can get Rotary backgrounds, also available on the District website and Rotary Club of Petoskey Facebook page.

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.

Program:

New Member Induction - Geno D'Angelo

Geno is originally from Indian River and moved to Petoskey in 2015. He is a realtor and the owner of the Geno D'Angelo Group at Coldwell Banker. Geno has one son, who attends St. Francis. Geno likes to cycle, read, and snowboard. Welcome, Geno!! We're glad to have you, and we look forward to getting to know you better in the days ahead.

Program 

We began with a presentation from Rotarian Chris Parker, the superintendent of Petoskey Public Schools. Chris talked about the school district's transition to remote learning, in light of COVID-19. The district has migrated files from its local servers to a cloud, procured new laptops for teachers and distributed over 450 laptops to students in need of a device. A majority of students are continuing their classes online. For those without internet access, the district mails those students paper packets of learning materials every 2 weeks. Chris shared some remote learning statistics:

Elementary students -- 86% online / 13% packets / 1% not participating

Middle school students -- 80% online / 10% packets / 10% not participating

High school students -- 64% online (3-6 classes) / 10% online (0-2 classes) 10% packets / 16% not participating

The district is doing a lot of preparation and planning to close out the current school year and prepare for the next one. For example, it will offer high school diploma pickup on May 31. It also needs to return student belongings / empty lockers, as well as retrieve school textbooks, laptops and equipment when this school year ends.

The district's food service operations have continued. 360 breakfast and lunch meals prepared every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and are distributed at 4 sites.

Next we heard from Rotarian Dr. David Finley, president of North Central Michigan College. Dr. Finley highlighted a number of actions NCMC has taken during the COVID-19 pandemic:

  • Refunded 7 weeks of room & board to students no longer on campus

  • Has continued to pay student employees through end of this semester, despite the campus closure

  • Has continued to operate its student food pantry, the Campus Cupboard

  • Launched a Student Emergency Fund -- raised over $27,000 from 70 donors, including many new supporters

  • Donated medical supplies from its Health Education Science Center to McLaren

  • Has been cooking meals for Comfort Keepers clients

  • 3D-printed face mask prototypes for McLaren

Dr. Finley noted NCMC will hold a virtual commencement this Friday May 8 at 7:30 PM. Watch it live on the college's Facebook page.

The college is still moving forward with its admin/classroom building renovation project. On March 30 it received final approval and funding from the state. Construction will begin next Monday.

Following the presentations, Rotarians had a very thoughtful Q&A with both speakers.

Next Week’s Program:  Lisa Peacock, Health Department

Parting Shots:  Song choice will not be listed today as it was a private joke run amuck between Howard Richards and Terry Newton. Howard won by playing it and it will be forever forgotten and not mentioned here.