The Spokesperson for April 22, 2021 (Apr 22, 2021)

WELCOME TO ROTARY!

Opening Activities

President Valerie Miller led our April 22 meeting that started at 12:15 p.m. Glenn Burton was selected to give the Pledge. Nancy Dedenbach, led fellow Rotarians in “The Four-Way Test.” She also informed Rotarians that Ben Franklin led a similar 5-Way Test in his business development groups. Sarah Lee did the invocation and noted that our organization remains to keep the “spirit of service alive” despite our current challenges. Our family-served lunch menu included Caesar salad, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes with cheese, chicken breast with marinara sauce, and green beans. Rotarians and guests were served cookies for dessert.

Presidential Announcements

President Valerie Miller announced that our Rotary Club has the opportunity to apply for service grants through the Macomb and District Rotary organizations. The Board is looking at various projects that meet the grant criteria. The Macomb Grant is due by mid-May and the District Grant is due in June.
The Italian-American Cultural Society has been our club’s venue of choice for several years. The amount of meeting space, food and service remain the best when compared to other options in the area. Due to current costs for the food and service, the IACS has raised the lunch cost from $13 to $15 per attendee. This increase will be discussed with the Board and they will determine if adjustment to member fees need to made to cover this increase for the lunch cost.
Unfortunately, several deaths/injuries to family members of our Rotary club occurred in the past week. Jessica Johnson lost her grandfather; Scott Chabot’s father passed away on April 11; and Joe Casasanta’s brother had a serious head injury where the final outcome is not yet known.

Guests & Visitors

Steve Krankota announced guests and visitors. Phil Gilchrist (Anton Art Center) and Diane Bates (Advancing Macomb) were guests of the club as the meeting’s speakers. Kenny Spear was a guest invited by Jeff Furest. Mr. Spear is executive and founder of Positive You, which has worked to create multiple platforms and programs to shift our negative culture and combat worsening of mental illnesses, especially in our youth.

Birthdays & Anniversaries

Kim Jarvis announced Rotarians with birthdays & anniversaries for the week.
Member birthdays included: None.
Partner birthdays: Dennis Miller, wife of Valerie Miller.
Wedding Anniversaries: Amanda & Kyle Oparka – 8 years; Jeff & Angela Furest – 3 years
Club Anniversaries: Julie Kay Miller – 3 years; Ken Steele – 3 years

Flowers

Louise Rallis passed out flowers for the meeting. Larry Neal to Tom Davies for an interesting read of his book of cocktails and spirits; Steve Krankota to Nancy Dedenbach now that she will be at the YMCA and the pool will be more entertaining with her presence; Jeff Furest to Kenny Spear as his guest; Ed Mastry to Nancy Dedenbach for her long-awaited attendance; Valerie Miller to Jeff Furest for chairing and conducting his first fundraising meeting for the 100-year gala event.

Music
No music at this time due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Sunshine
None

Goodwill
None

Member Announcements

Karan Bates-Gasior announced that invitational flyers for the Presidential Party were all mailed out and Rotarians should have received them. This will be at Sun Sport Marine on Thursday, May 13, starting at 5 p.m. This will be an open-air venue. Meeting attendees will be able to go on boats on display with proper footwear.

President-Elect Jeff Furest noted the gala event planning is full steam ahead. He noted that all volunteers and chairs need to be on time for the Thursday meetings that start at 10:45 a.m. There is a lot to plan and all the time is needed to get all of the needed pieces together for this event to be successful. There is discussion on a number of very enticing live auction items (dining and travel) and those will be finalized in the coming weeks.

Recognition

Glenn Burton substituted for the absent Eric Pierson for the meeting. Jeff Furest was fined $2 for his wedding anniversary being confused for his club anniversary this week. Don Norris was fined $2 for missing the question about the day being Earth Day. All members with affiliation with University of Michigan were fined $2 for their women’s victory as national gymnastic champions. Returning snow birds, Nancy Dedenbach and Mary Ann Hosey were both fined a $1.

Five envelopes were passed out to each table for fines ranging $1 to $5. All questions had to do with Rotary history where all tables did not have correct answers to the questions.

Questions/answers were:

Five Avenues for Rotary (Club, Vocational, Community, International and New Generations). $3 fine
Location of First International Club (Winnepeg) and Year (1910). $4 fine
Year when Rotary International name was adopted (1922). $2 fine
When was first female member inducted into Rotary International (1987) & first female Rotary President (Jennifer Jones). $5 fine
When and where was phrase, “He who profits most, serves the best.” (1950, Detroit). $1 fine.

Speakers/Program

Phil Gilchrist, Executive Director from the Anton Art Center, and Diane Banks of Advancing Macomb were the speakers for the meeting. Their presentation included the status, plans and fundraising efforts related to the new Mount Clemens Play Fountain Park. This new play fountain will be a feature added to Shadyside Park. This project included grant funding from a number of organizations, including the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation Play Everywhere Grant, Kaboom! and from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

The proposed play fountain will be 1,400 square feet in size and the construction cost is estimated at $230,000. A total of $190,000 in funds were made available from grants and donations. The fundraising team is working diligently on raising the full $40,000 to fully fund the project construction. Getting the full match is important since the MEDC matches dollar for dollar. Right now, they have approximately $37,500. The play fountain is planned to be constructed and painted in summer and fall of 2021 with a spring 2022 opening.

The Shadyside Park location was chosen for the play fountain for a number of reasons:

Largest park in Mount Clemens (12 acres)
Currently underutilized space that can be filled
Surrounded by single and multiple-family residential housing
Accessible from public transportation

Renderings of this park feature were presented to the audience members. The fundraising team is calling on local artisans as well for mural paintings for the surface of the play fountain. Art themes will focus on community input and ideas. The mural work is being solicited through the Anton Art Center. The overall theme for this park will be water, since the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair play a large role in Mount Clemens’ identity.

President Valerie Miller really likes the project, but inquired about long-term maintenance and care for the play fountain. She noted that some of the previously installed features at the kayak launch at MacArthur needed repair/replacement. Since the Mount Clemens Rotary participated in funding for that park, she inquired how this park feature will remain sustainable. Ms. Banks noted that they are working with the City of Mount Clemens on those concerns and will bring that back to her contacts at the city.

This is an important asset to the city and the biggest takeaway to the presenters from this presentation was informing the city of the considerations for long-term viability and maintenance. Overall the project was well-received by the Rotary attendees.

~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>

Larry Neal was this week’s 50/50 raffle winner of $32.

~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

CALENDAR of EVENTS

* *

* * *

* * *

April 29
Larry Neal, Library Director - Let’s Build a Library

Clinton-Macomb Public Library Director,

design, construction and opening plans for the

new North Branch at 54100 Broughton Road, Macomb

* * *

May 6
Jack Johns - Project Manager

Macomb County Dept. of Planning & Economic Development

* * *

May 13

PRESIDENTIAL BALL

Party of the Century target sales date

Party of the Century Target date flier and website completion

* * *

May 20

Rocky Pinheiro

WAVE Project Welcoming All Valuing Everyone

* * *

June 10

Brian Manninen

Pierson Scholarship

* * *

June 17

Lea Wojaechowski & Alejandra Correa

Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Party of the Century advertising deadline July 19

Party of the Century program completion July 20
Party of the Century volunteers secured July 5
Party of the Century volunteer training night August 11

* * *

AUGUST 14

THE PARTY of the CENTURY

* * *

SEPTEMBER 16

Dick Pierson Memorial Golf Outing

*****