It was a lovely September day full of sunshine and warmth and the members appreciated it. Thursday’s meeting was called to order by President Valerie Miller at 12:18 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Louise Rallis. Mark Zuccaro directed the club in reciting “The Four-Way Test.” Sarah Lee gave us a prayer.
A delicious lunch was served consisting of fish cakes, fries, buttered rolls. Cookies were also served.
PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Valerie Miller came back from a trip to Jackson Hole. Unfortunately Valerie’s sister Connie has passed away at 71. Please give prayers for Valerie and her family.
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- Rotary T-shirts were distributed. They were very nice, thanks to Nancy Dedenbach.
GUESTS AND VISITORS
Jeff Furest introduced a big crowd of visitors. Our guest speaker was Jennifer Keuten. She brought along associates Kim Borja, Kim Jarvis, and Caitlin Dombrowski. Ron Dedenbach was a guest of Nancy Dedenbach. The club sang WE ARE GLAD TO SEE YOU HERE AT ROTARY.
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES
Ryan Murphy announced Scott Chabot had his wedding anniversary. Bill Patterson and Karan Bates-Gasior had club anniversaries of 13 years and five years respectively. They all received flowers.
Ed Mastry bought three flowers for Nancy Dedenbach, Ken Steele, and Ryan Murphy. Bill Patterson bought a flower for Valerie Miller. Jeff Furest bought a flower for his grandson expected next March.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMENDATION
President Valerie took time to recognize the extraordinary effort of Jeff Furest to raise funds for charity beneficiaries. Due to COVID-19 the club couldn’t do the traditional party so it was harder to raise the funds for our nine beneficiaries. Yet Jeff came through at a time when other clubs were lacking. Thank you Jeff.
Valerie gave us a speech about how inspired she was by the great guys who were in Rotary when she first joined. Men like Dick Pierson, Bill Lee, Neil Dempsey, Don Green, Al Zuccaro and Chuck O’Grady. Valerie then thanked Eric Pierson for the fine outing last week at Gowanie Golf Club.
SUNSHINE AND GOODWILL
Marc Zuccaro revealed that he was going through old Rotary stuff he had in his attic. He found $390 in a pocket of a rotary apron. Which was probably there for many years. The money was turned over to the treasurer at the meeting.-
- Eric Pierson announces next year’s golf outing is September 16, 2021.
RECOGNITION
Eric fined Ed Mastry for bringing his own drink to last week’s outing. The fact he brought wine instead of beer raised the fine to $4.
Nancy Dedenbach was fined $4 for getting the prize for longest drive when someone else earned it.
Ryan Murphy was fined for getting closest to the pin. Since he actually earned his prize, the fine was only $2.
Nancy Dedenbach was fined an additional dollar because she posted pictures of club members but left out Eric Pierson.
Bill Patterson was fined $2 for going out west.
Jeff Furest was fined $30 for an expected grandson in March.
Mark Zuccaro was fined $2 for a very last minute addition to the golf group last week.
SPEAKER LECTURE
President Valerie praised our club for plugging along in spite of COVID-19. Now September is usually the month backpacks are delivered to children being protected in Turning Point. However this year gifts are being given for distribution to foster children. Our speaker is from Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, who oversees foster children programs. She brought with her people who assist in various ways.
Doug Norris read off the list of the academic and professional credentials of our visitors, as well as personal information.
Caitlin Dombrowski of Samaritas stated they are always looking for more foster parents. Candidates go thru a rigorous vetting procedure and it turns out that abuse cases are very rare.
Referrals to foster care are often a result of observation from teachers and medical staff. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic referrals are down by almost half. Kids are usually placed 12-15 months in foster care and sometimes adopted by the foster parents. It’s preferable of course to return the children to their families. Often the families need counseling, therapy and education before their deemed fit to have their children back. The Mount Clemens Rotary Club presented a collection of gifts for our speakers to take to the foster children and donated a $600 check.
50/50Bob Cannon won $38 in the 50/50 drawing.
Meeting was adjourned at 1:18 p.m.
