The Spokesperson for April 1, 2021 (Apr 01, 2021)

Opening Activities

President Valerie Miller was on vacation for the April 1, 2021 meeting. President-Elect Jeff Furest stepped in and led our meeting. Ed Mastry was selected to give the Pledge. Karan let fellow Rotarians in “The Four-Way Test.” Sarah Lee did the invocation and wished good will and hope to all this Easter week. Our family-served lunch menu included green salad, dinner rolls, battered cod (in recognition of Good Friday), baked potato wedges and mixed vegetables. Dessert included an assortment of chocolate chip cookies.

PRESIDENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

President-Elect Jeff Furest recognized April Fool’s day in good fun by first announcing that the 100-year gala event was cancelled and the Mount Clemens Rotary club owed Nancy Lopez all the money from last year’s cancelled event. In reality, the gala event is definitely back in full gear and the Nancy Lopez experience is a major gala event that will be done as a raffle this year. Volunteers are needed for the Gala and sheets requesting volunteering for various event chairs were distributed to attendees. The crowd will be light in the coming few weeks due to Spring Break, so the gala volunteer kickoff meeting will be on Thursday 4/22 at 10:45 a.m. There are seven key areas where chairpersons and assistants are needed. Once we have the kickoff meeting, a time needs to be figured out for training. 5 p.m. on selected days will likely be the time.
Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, Hank Rodriguez from Forgotten Harvest could not present virtually on behalf of Forgotten Harvest. His presentation will be rescheduled. President-Elect Jeff Furest presented on the Nancy Lopez raffle and other gala events in lieu of the scheduled presenter.

GUESTS & VISITORS

Ed Mastry announced Hank Rodriguez as the speaker which we needed to reschedule for another meeting due to the virtual meeting’s audio-related technical difficulties. No other guests and visitors.

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

Kim Jarvis announced Rotarians with birthdays & anniversaries for the week.

Member birthdays included: Tom Davies.

Partner birthdays: None

Wedding Anniversaries: Bob & Cheryl Cannon – 33 years; Kris & Brian Howell – 5 years
Club Anniversaries: Kolby Miller – 14 years

FLOWERS

Louise Rallis passed out flowers for the meeting. Ken Steele to Julie Miller being missed at our meetings due to Covid; Bob Lee to Stephanie Mirabile for doing great job as secretary; Mary Bednar to Scott Chabot for working hard at Clinton Township; Scott Chabot to Mary Bednar for her efforts in coordinating last-minute accommodations at the Clinton Township Civic Center for recently deceased Police Chief Fred Posavetz’s funeral service; Glenn Burton to Eric Pierson to make sure he donates to the club this week since Eric is doing recognition; Jeff Furest to Steve Krankota for looking at all tech-related issues for meeting; Louise Rallis to Kim Jarvis for being a great team partner with McLaren Foundation; and Jeff Furest to Louise Rallis for doing awesome job on flowers for the meeting.

MUSIC

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

SUNSHINE

President-Elect Jeff noted that one of his office staff workers, Cindy, lost her mother over the past week.

GOODWILL

Bill Furest announced he is now a great-great grandfather!

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Kim Jarvis announced that starting the following week, she can help Rotarians in getting scheduled for Covid-19 vaccinations through the McLaren Foundation and the hospital. All interested Rotarians can contact her via email to get further information and directions on signing up.

RECOGNITION

Eric Pierson has the honor of doing recognition in the month of April. Glenn Burton was fined since he picked on Eric every meeting, even though he saw a past list where he was crossed off. Eric was fined $5. Bob Lee, Stephanie Mirabile and Jeff Furest were attendees fined $3 for traveling over the upcoming spring break. Scott Chabot was fined $5 for initially holding out on the traveling disclosure. Members sitting at a table with Covid-19 survivors were fined $1 with proceeds going to those survivors. Bill Furest was fined $5 as a new great-great grandfather.

Eric had a number of sports trivia questions for Opening Day. Steve Krankota, Karan Bates-Gasior, Louise Rallis, Ed Mastry, Paul Woodring and Ken Steele all correctly answered their trivia questions. Kim Jarvis, Mary Bednar and Stephanie Mirabile all had to pay $2 fines for their incorrect “guesses."

SPEAKER/PROGRAM

The Board adopted new website with Hunch Free with club membership approval. Hunch Free will help to redesign the website. The cost for redesigning the website is $5,350 with a large amount of time to be donated to help in this work. Commercially, this website redesign would cost up to $30,000. The Board will be looking to generate revenue to keep it running at no cost to club by having local businesses advertise on the website.

Hunch Free owner, Jimmy Gwizdala, is interested to join the Mount Clemens Rotary and has been to previous meetings and has presented the website to our Rotary club. As this website takes off, the Board sees benefits of reaching out to the District and other clubs to upgrade websites.

Jeff Furest discussed his experience in PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar) meetings. As Rotary turns 100-years old, membership and fundraising are major component of a vibrant, well-functioning Rotary Club. This club continues to have solid financial base and has further opportunities to raise more funds to pursue the goals of Rotary, which are developing membership, developing and implementing service projects and outreach. Hunch Free will be working hard to hit all those points when developing the new website.

The gala event will still a 100-year celebration. There is still a silver lining even though the Frankie Andreu and Whiskey Trip are not available this year. Matson Money is committing $10,000 and their commitment is helping to cover costs for the Nancy Lopez golfing experience.

Our Rotary club needs volunteers to rewrite content for the fundraiser. Updated content is needed for ads and ticket sales and be made available by May 27. 130 people have registered for gala tickets and only four people have requested refunds. Maximum capacity at this time is 225, but with entire venue being available the night of the gala increases our capacity to about 300.

In total $274,000 came from contributions and concessions for the 2020 event. All major donors and participants remain committed for the new gala event on Saturday, August 14, 2021. With more cash on hand, the event is more affordable. VIP tables were originally $3,600 and now will be $3,000.

Priorities for this year’s event will be ticket sales and ads. Volunteers will need to be trained for the event on registration, live auction and exiting. A total of 6-8 volunteers will be needed to coordinate the event. Steve Krankota has these volunteers lined up to help.

Printing by Johnson, photography by Elite Photo and live band ($4,000) are all set and arranged. For the event night program, the club will need people with professional writing experience. All items will be in color print. The gala committee is accepting current and past content for the program book. Jeff Furest has a good amount of information since 2005.

Other big raffle prizes will be a small trip (4 days/3 nights at city of choice), medium trip (5 days/4 nights at a destination TBD) and large trip (10 days in Hawaii for 2 people, but can accommodate 4). 1-2 teaser prizes will also be provided. These trips can be booked up to Sept. 2020 and used up to Sept. 2023.

Jeff Furest concluded the meeting on the Nancy Lopez golf experience being marketed as a raffle ticket. Need to reach goal of selling 300-350 raffle tickets for the Nancy Lopez experience. Marketing is needed with online golf venues, golf courses and other golf-related sources to help in the sale of these raffle tickets. This is a 5-day/4-night stay at a resort hotel which includes, full golf swing analysis, a new custom-fit driver and wedge, a full round of golf at PGA West with Nancy Lopez and dinner at Piper’s Landing. A videographer will also be present to capture the entire day’s experience.

Paul Woodring was this week’s the 50/50 raffle winner

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CALENDAR of EVENTS

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April 8
Brandon Jonas, Economic Development Director

Party of the Century first committee meeting 10:45 a.m.

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April 15
Gregg Shipman, Mount Clemens Fire Chief

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April 22
Diane Banks / Phil Gilchrist

Project at Shadyside Park in Mount Clemens

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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

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May 6
Jack Johns - Project Manager

Macomb County Dept. of Planning & Economic Development

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May 13

PRESIDENTIAL BALL

Party of the Century target sales date

Party of the Century Target date flier and website completion

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May 20

Rocky Pinheiro

WAVE Project Welcoming All Valuing Everyone

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June 10

Brian Manninen

Pierson Scholarship

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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

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AUGUST 14

THE PARTY of the CENTURY

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SEPTEMBER 16

Dick Pierson Memorial Golf Outing

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