Rotary Informer

Petoskey Rotary Noon Club NEWSLETTER
May 14, 2025
103 Years of Service Above Self

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Petoskey. President Christian Smith officiated the 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 God Bless America

4-Way Test:  Liz McKenney

Invocation:  Tim Dykstra

“A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can’t we be like that wise old bird?”  
Anonymous

Calendar Winners:  Read off by Ian Straley

Calendar Winners May 14, 2025

Visiting Rotarians:  None

Guests:  Paula Musilek, Susan Carr, Sarah Cunningham

Life Events:  

Birthdays:  

Jean Frentz

Christian Smith

Anniversaries:  

Sarah Ulrich – 7 Years

Singing/Song:  Howard Richards led us in Happy Birthday and Smile.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Christian Smith:  $12,500 grant to NCMC to support fast track programs and Healthcare Scholarships. Dr. Finley: for Christian’s mom - we all love Christian "you done good."

Fireworks Volunteers: Reg Smith announced that the Fireworks needs volunteers. To do so click on the following link to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E48AAAD23ABFFCE9-56838377-2025#/

Reg also discussed how they are involved in the Festival of Races this year and a sign-up genius will be sent out for this event as well. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E45ADA62FA5F85-2022#/

Julie Joles: Camp Daggett cleanup. Rotary fixed up the Rotary Sailing Pavilion, adding slate stone that is kinder on bare feet. Pictures are on the Facebook page.

Karen Ragland:  2026 Rotary Calendars are coming! Each member is responsible for selling 10 calendars at $25 each, or may opt out with a $200 contribution. We will be reducing the weekly winners to three instead of five to make this program successful.

Rotary Social Event:  May 21st at Sharon Schappacher’s house; 1070 Grand Ridge, Petoskey. Call if lost: 231-838-7677,
June 26 Jane Millar’s House will be another event.

Last Call for Global Scholarships:  Do you know a graduate level student planning to attend or presently attending a university in another country August 1, 2025 – 2036 who might be interested in this Rotary opportunity? Global Scholarships fund graduate-level coursework or research for one to four academic years @$30,000 annually. If you know someone who may be interested in becoming a District 6290 Global Scholar, please have them contact Dr. Rachel Reed-Sytsma, rachel@greatlakescfa.org for more information.

Member Spotlight Mike Snyder
Born in Ohio, grandparents born in Germany, played lots of sports - football and track - influenced my love for sports and my business philosophy. Went to Bowling Green and got a degree in education. Taught school for a year in eastern Indiana. Realized it wasn't what I thought it was going to be. summer of 1969 I came home and told my dad I didn't want to teach anymore. He was a Chevy Oldsmobile dealer. Dad and a friend were going to build a computerized carwash across the street. The dealership is a 5-generation business now. Copied a business plan from a town 16 miles away and did well. Years later the carwash down the road was failing so we purchased it for cheap. Purchased another carwash in Finley Ohio that was also poorly managed for a good price. Much later a competitor came to town in Defiance. He only lasted a couple years and then we purchased that one too. We ended up with 5 carwashes and 2-coin operated spray washes. 2002 wife retired from 35 years of teaching. Moved up north and managed things remotely. In 2013 2 employees bought me out of the carwashes. Two things I'm very proud of is being a founder and volunteer for the county im-provement group and was an officer of the library board. I have been a Rotarian for 50 years in Ohio and Michigan, running fundraisers etc. When I moved north, I was less involved until Bill Collins got me more involved. "Rotary is my window to the community"

PROGRAM:  Vocational Team, Bill Collins and Sharon Schappacher
Sharon and Bill presenting on SCORE. SCORE is funded by the federal government and partner with Small Business Development Centers. Everyone is a volunteer except for the people in Washington. We are more general and we refer people to SBDC for more specific needs. Started in 1964 and have helped 17 million people. Free advice and mentoring. No cost business training. Lots of free online resources and business tools. People from every stage of planning can reach out to us.

The quality of mentoring is incredibly high. We have experts on our team. BJ Shawn, Herb Carlson, Bill Hicklen etc. A prisoner reached out to us asking for us to come and mentor prisoners about how to open a small business when they are released. Lee Chatfield helped us reach the top-level prison executives to get approval and some funding for gas. We ran 6 programs of about an hour each and the inmates loved it, especially Herb. We put together a graduation ceremony for the 30-35 inmates who attended all 6. The certificates were added to their file so they had it upon release. We also went down to Jackson where they teach trades to the inmates. We handed that program off to the Grand Rapids chapter.

Next Week’s Program Teacher of the Year