Rotary Informer

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey via the world wide web! Liz Ahrens, our President, officiated the meeting.

Howard Richards led us in “Crazy As A Loon” by John Prine who we lost last night to COVID-19

Invocation:  Stuart Fenton

Singing/Song:  We sang Happy Birthday to our birthday celebrants

Calendar Winners:  Read by Bob Metzger

Calendar Winners April 8, 2020

Visiting Rotarians:  Thank you for joining us today: Patricia Wimmer, Rochester MN; Jeff Neill, Petoskey Sunrise Rotary; Kim Baker, Petoskey Sunrise Rotary

Life Events: 

Rotary Care List: 

Ron Broquet - recuperating 

Bill Graham - recuperating at home. He is feeling pretty good. Will return to Mayo Clinic for follow-up April 10^th

Birthdays:  

Tim Dykstra, Stuart Fenton, Nick White, Ben Slocum

Anniversaries:

Anora O’Connor - 1 Year

Doug Buck - 3 Years

John Hurd - 6 Years

Jay Neff - 15 Years  

Announcements:

Jane Millar:  Jane let us know that they are working on having online mediation soon. She also let us know about the following tips in using Zoom:

•          Add a meeting password

•          Screen sharing set to “host only”

•          Disable file transfer

•          Disable “join before host”

•          Disable “allow removed participants to rejoin”

•          Enable waiting room

Roadside Cleanup:  Tim Kaufmann stated that the Spring roadside cleanup has been cancelled. Stay tune for word on the Fall cleanup.

STRIVE Update:  Georgia Abbott stated that STRIVE is done as well. The group is still believing that they will go ahead with awarding of scholarships.

Teacher of the Year:  Is going to be rescheduled in the future.

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:  Kim Baker from Manna Food Project

For the time being, Manna has suspended its food donations and food rescue program--which accounts for 25% of the food it usually distributes.

With donated and rescued food on hold, Manna is now purchasing more food to meet the demand from its clients. Manna's usual vendors have been short on inventory though, so Manna has reached out to new suppliers. A new partnership was formed with Burnette Foods of East Jordan / Elk Rapids. They sold Manna some food at cost, which is great! Rotary's recent cash donation supported this purchase.

Manna continues to see an increase in the number of clients it serves in its drive-thru pantry. This week they served twice as many people as last week. Part of this was due to Brother Dan's Food Pantry needing to close.

Manna has also continued with its Food 4 Kids backpack program, and generally feels it has been able to keep up with the increased food demand so far.

Last weekend Manna was contacted by some Harbor Springs residents concerned about food service/hospitality workers affected by the pandemic. Thanks to their generosity, Manna will be offering a mobile food pantry starting next week! It will be stationed at Boyne Highlands next Wednesday. The intent is to serve food service / hospitality workers, however no one in need of food will be turned away.

Parting Shots:  Howard Richards played “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers who also passed away this week from heart disease.

Next Week’s Program:  Rebecca Otto United Way Relief Efforts