Rotary Informer

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER

March 23, 2022

1921 – 2021          100 Years of Service Above Self

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey via Zoom on the world wide web and in-person from here on out if God willing and the creek don’t rise. President Ashley Whitney officiated the meeting. If you did not get the chance to attend, you can watch it from this:  Recording

Pledge/Anthem:  We recited the Pledge of Allegiance

4-Way Test:  Matt Breed

Invocation:  Dave Thomas

Calendar Winners:  Read off by Kassia Perpich

Calendar Winners March 23, 2022

Visiting Rotarians:  None

Guests:  Amber Pettit, Prospective Member

Life Events:  Please keep John Scholten and his family in your thoughts and prayers as his father passed away the weekend of the 12^th-13^th

Ashley's book recommendation:  This week Ashley recommends – Atomic Habits by James Clear “tiny changes, remarkable results.” This is a great book for anyone who has struggled to develop new habits. 

Bill Hicklen also gave us an update on his 25-year-old granddaughter, Hailey, who is a professional lacrosse player and coach. Hailey and her lacrosse peers have been working for the last few years to get lacrosse eligible for the Olympics. They are getting close!! Hailey is one of 12 lacrosse players, chosen from over 100, to demonstrate the sport's Olympic potential at an upcoming gathering. Bill is extremely proud!!

Birthdays: 

Dave Thomas

Matt Breed

Anniversaries:  

Eric Leister – 1 Year

Singing/Song:  We sang Happy Birthday but, we didn’t sing any other songs because Howard was absent as was the rest of our musical ensemble.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Rotary Park Fund Now Accepting Grant Applications:  This year we have $88,394 to grant from the Rotary Park Fund. The deadline for nonprofits to apply is March 31. We hope to have volunteers on subcommittees to help vet the applications that come in. Contact Ashley Whitney if interested. We want to vet and approve applications by the May board meeting.

Roadside Cleanup Chair Needed:  Thank you to Tim Kaufmann for his many years of organizing our club's semi-annual roadside cleanups. Due to recent health challenges, Tim needs to step down from this role. Our club is looking for a new chairperson to take over this activity! Please contact Christian Smith if you are interested.

Winter Sports Park Project:  Kendall Klingelsmith is looking to expand upon Rotary's recent fundraising effort (for the roof over the hockey rink) to include additional upgrades to complement the roof. For example, new hockey boards and concrete surrounding the rink. He's going to form a fundraising committee to discuss strategy. Please contact Kendall if you're interested in helping with this.

Spaghetti Dinner:  Save the Date! Our annual spaghetti dinner will take place on Thursday, May 12 from 3:00 - 7:00 PM at the Grand Unity Event Center in Petoskey.

By March 31, please complete this brief survey to indicate whether you will pick up your Spaghetti Dinner tickets in person, or if you want to donate your tickets instead. If we don't hear from you by March 31, we will assume you want your tickets donated.

Ukraine Relief Efforts:  Board contribution of $500 to the disaster relief fund through the Rotary Foundation to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. I would encourage other Rotarians who want to contribute to a strong, reputable organization to support efforts in Ukraine to consider their own donation – link in the bulletin. All donations do count towards Paul Harris recognition as well. Please click the following link for the Disaster Response Fund: Link

Upcoming Rotary happy hour:  Save the date! On Wednesday, April 13 we'll gather from 6:00 - 9:00 PM at the Barrel Back Restaurant in Walloon Lake. Our very own Rotarian Jeff Wynder will be performing music that night alongside fellow musician Pete Kehoe. Word on the street is that Jeff might be part of the second set, so arriving fashionably late would probably be okay. Link

Jump for Polio:   Grand Haven, Michigan June 25, 2022 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. All District 6290 Rotarians plus family and friends are welcome to come to Grand Haven on June 25 to skydive to raise money to fight polio worldwide.

Our very own Betsy Newton has volunteered to jump as skydiving has been on Betsy's 'bucket list' for a long time. Please support her with a donation! If you also wish to join her in jumping, as we can have two jumpers per club in District 6290, please see our club president. We are seeking to procure donations of at least $1,000 per jumper.

PROGRAM 

Today our very own Rotarian, Andrea Coronado, gave a presentation on GO Grants, which is a special mini-grant program offered by the Connecting Women in Business group of the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The 'GO' in GO Grants stands for 'girls outreach.' Girls in grades 5-10 in the Char-Em ISD (including homeschool) may apply for up to $500 to support an idea they have for trying something new -- perhaps they want to take a class / learn a new skill, do a special community or service project, enroll in a summer camp or other new experience, etc.

More than $75,000 has been granted to 200 local girls since 2010. The deadline for girls to apply is April 8. The application is available on the Petoskey Chamber website (click here.)

If you like the sound of this program, donations are always welcome! Please join us for a GO Grants fundraiser luncheon on Wednesday, April 27 at Sage at Odawa Casino. We are also collecting silent auction items for this event -- donation forms are at the Petoskey Chamber.

Next Week’s Program:  Heidi Shearer – Summer GAP program