Rotary Informer December 17, 2025

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER 
December 17, 2025
104 Years of Service Above Self 

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey. President Andrea Coronado officiated this week’s meeting. 

If you did not get the chance to attend, you can read about it in this newsletter.

Pledge/Anthem:  Howard Richards led us in the My Country tis of Thee

4-Way Test:  Dave Thomas

Invocation:  Chris Hammond 

"You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: A rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights."  Maya Angelou

Calendar Winners:  Read off by Megan Dewindt

Calendar Winners December 17, 2025

Visiting Rotarians:  Patricia Wimmer, Rochester, MN

Guests:  Too many to mention as we had the Madrigals performing. 

Life Events:  Terry & Betsy Newton are in the land of the Minnepootians and we wish you a happy holiday season and a blessed New Year! The minutes are late because it’s all Andrea’s fault. Please berate her profusely the next time you see her! 

Birthdays: 

Herb Carlson

Karen Ragland

Walt Byers

Mike Snyder

Anniversaries:  

Christian Smith – 11 Years

Howard Richards – 15 Years

Steve Brown – 41 Years

Singing/Song:  Howard Richards led us in Happy Birthday and Smile. We had the Madrigals performing today. We aren’t worthy! How ya gonna compete with the likes of them!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

New email address for Andrea Coronado:  Andrea recently started a new job at Women's Resource Center of Northern Michigan, and has a new email address. It is acoronado@wrcnm.org

Spaghetti Dinner:  It's that time of year again! The Spaghetti Dinner Committee will start meeting in January. If you'd like to help organize, contact Andrea Cornado, Drew Smith, or Karen Ragland.

Toys for Tots:  Dave Thomas thanked our Club for Toys for Tots donations. Also, a big shout out to Samantha Fee who took an entire box of toys to Dave’s.

Save the Date – Upcoming Rotary Events

Member Spotlight – None 

PROGRAM:  Madrigals! This is a very popular program. The guest cost is $25.00. Jim Wibby will invoice members and will include guests costs if applicable. We also gave $500 to the Madrigals at the end of their musical special program today. 

Next Week’s Program:  No Meetings for two weeks!

Rambling From Our Beloved/Bedeviled President:

I’d like to take a quick moment to recognize several Rotarians who have recently joined me in the Paul Harris Pool, committing to give $250 a year for four years to The Rotary Foundation. When they reach $1,000, their points will be matched by the club, allowing them to award a second Paul Harris Fellow to someone important to them — a meaningful way to honor others while supporting Rotary’s global impact.

Please join me in thanking and recognizing:

Joe Blachy, John Regan, Georgia Abbott, Anastasia Brown, Sharon Schappacher, Drew Smith, Terry Newton and Mike Snyder. This group stepped up, and their commitment makes a real difference.

I also want to offer special thanks to Mike Snyder and Foundation Chair Joe Blachy for leading this effort behind the scenes, and to Dibby Smith, former Foundation Chair who faithfully managed the program and kept us running smoothly for many years.

And if you’re thinking, “That sounds doable,” — you can still join us. We’d love to have you be part of this group. Thank you all for your generosity and for living Rotary’s commitment to service above self. 

Shop Small – check out the local businesses owned by fellow Rotarians. Concert tickets, gift memberships, gift cards, dining certificates, local stores – there are so many ways to support each other right now. Speaking of supporting one another – that’s what we do! And the holidays can be tough for so many. If you need anything during this holiday season over the next few weeks – please reach out to me and each other for help and support. 

A Quick Announcement! And a bit of a shocker. After many successful years, we’ll be suspending the Rotary calendar sale in 2027 and replacing it with something new and exciting: a raffle with a grand prize of groceries for a year. That’s $100 a week, every week, for an entire year. There will be additional prizes and incentives as well, and we’ll be sharing more details as this develops. 

We want to extend a huge thank-you to Karen Ragland, who led the calendar program for many years, along with the dedicated committee members who worked behind the scenes all year long to make that program a success.

And thank you to the brave committee who rolled up their sleeves, crunched the numbers, and brought forward this new opportunity. We’re excited about where this is headed—and we can’t wait to share more soon.