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Karan Bates-Gasior called the meeting to order, standing in for President Larry Neal. Ryan Murphy led the Pledge of Allegiance. The group was accompanied by pianist Gary Felts in the singing of the national anthem. Sarah Lee gave a stirring invocation after which we broke for a tasty lunch of "Asian style" beef stroganoff, rice, steamed broccoli, salad, and delicious chocolate chip cookies. After lunch, Nancy Dedenbach led us in “The Four-Way Test.”
Karan started with a few presidential announcements:
- The District 6380 Conference will be on May 3 and 4 on the Detroit Riverfront and will include a cruise on the Detroit River. Ellen, Karan and Sarah will be attending and we are hoping that other Rotarians will be able to as well.
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- Next week's meeting will be held at the Pankow Center on Gratiot Avenue almost across from the ConCorde Inn. We will be served lunch at the Creuse Café.
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- Our April 25 meeting will feature Julie Koroly, Regional Director of Aquatics from the YMCA Metro Detroit. Now is the perfect time to start getting ready for our annual boat outing!
FUNDRAISER UPDATE
- Chuck Dib reported that almost 300 tickets have been sold for the fundraiser, and encouraged the group to continue selling (and buying) tickets for this guaranteed to be an awesome event.
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- Kelly Allen continues to collect donations for the two raffle baskets. She cautioned us not to bring any donated alcohol into the Pankow Center next week. She will collect them in the parking lot after the meeting.
Kelly transitioned from soliciting alcohol to introducing our visitor from Mars, Ron Dedenbach. Ron cheered us on as we sang a hearty welcome.
Jean Bodenstedt had birthdays, anniversaries, and flower duty today. There were no member birthdays, one partner birthday (Jeff, partner of Mary Bednar) and three club anniversaries – Bob Cannon, Dave Gerlach and Ray Glime.
Jean proceeded to sell the remaining flowers:
Ellen Lysik for Tina, Jean, and Julie Miller.
Nancy Dedenbach for her husband Ron for their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary (Ron won't be at next week's meeting).
Chuck Dib for Ellen, who has secured the attendance of Candace Miller at our fundraiser (way to go Ellen!)
Glenn Burton for Karan, for running the meeting.
Gary Felts for Julie Huttenlocher for finally returning from her well-deserved vacation.
Kris Howell led the music, selecting “America the Beautiful” (for which we all rose to our feet), and everyone's favorite “R-O-T-A-R-Y.”
There were no sunshine or goodwill reports this week.
Julie H. took responsibility for announcements and recognition, stepping in for Kris, who was thought to be stepping in for Sam.
Julie gave us a reminder about the President's Ball to be held at Camp Rotary on June 13.
RECOGNITION THEN COMMENCED
Nancy and Ron were recognized for wearing blue and gold (close to maize), even though they are staunch Michigan State fans.Referencing back to Nancy's mention of her upcoming 50th wedding anniversary, Nancy was fined 50 cents for every good year she and her dear husband have spent together. Nancy asked if change was available!
Valerie Miller was quizzed on the themes of the last five years of fundraisers. She got them all correct, so the rest of the people at her table were fined $1 each.
Karan was singled out for $2 because three different checks that Julie H. had given her were mishandled and had to be redone.
Ted DeVantier and Dave Meldrum were then asked to stand. Julie made four 
statements about the two almost inseparable gentlemen, only one of which was correct:
1. were in business together
2. are related
3. co-owned a garage used to store antique cars
4. co-owned a sailboat
Ken Steele and Ryan Murphy both guessed incorrectly and were fined $4. Sarah Lee answered correctly, #4.
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PROGRAM/SPEAKER
Today's speaker was Ellen Lysik.
Ellen introduced the club members to Bravo Programs of America, the nonprofit she founded in 2013. The main mission of Bravo is to assist young adults, age 18 through 24, who have "aged out" of the foster care system.
Bravo provides qualified students with scholarships as well as financial aid for books and supplies. Ellen showed pictures and spoke about some of the 39 students who have benefitted from the financial supported provided by Bravo.
She also spoke about one student who has been awarded a summer scholarship to attend an all-expenses paid two-week educational program at Morgan-Stanley in New York.
Also noted was the Bravo fundraiser being held on May 1 from 5:30 to 9 at the Rivercrest Banquet Facility in Rochester. All were encouraged to attend.
Ellen highlighted three Bravo programs that were introduced this year:
· Brokers for Bravo is a sustainability program where dividend stock is purchased with donated funds and the dividends are used toward students’ books and fees.
· Real Estate One Commission Donation Program, where Jill Alicea from Real Estate One will donate $500 for every closed real estate transaction she makes on behalf of a client who mentions Bravo Programs of America.
· Mentor Program that is focused on providing emotional support, social and professional networking opportunities, and educational workshops focused on important life and professional skills. Julie Miller is heading up the Mentor Program, and discussed the need to provide non-financial support due to the challenges faced by these young adults as they leave foster care.
Bravo Programs of America is one of this year's beneficiaries of this year's fundraiser.
We did have a 50/50 drawing at the end of the meeting. The prize was $12 (pretty low as people really showed up at the last minute). Unfortunately I didn't hear the name of the winner, as people were streaming out the door at the time of the drawing.
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