Mark Daniel Maloney, of the Rotary Club of Decatur, Alabama, USA, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2019-20. He will be declared the president-nominee on 1 October if no challenging candidates have been suggested..png)
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Crime Victim Right’s Advocate, Becky Roller, from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Morgan Torres were on hand to tell members that their job is to assist victims through the prosecutor’s office by attending court hearings with victims and even provide areas for them to stay while in a courthouse and insure that their rights are met. "We want to be part of the healing process", Becky said.
Their office is 100% grant funded through the State of Michigan. Victims, she said, have the right to restitution and submit the orders to the restitution department in a timely manner. They also have a right to compensation. If victims are physically injured in an incident and required care by a hospital or physician, a form can be filled out requesting payment for those expenses so there won’t be late fees. The victim still needs to reimburse the office for those charges.
Every year there is a Crime Victim’s Awareness Week usually every April to honor victims and those who serve them. Awards to law enforcement officers are presented at a regular Board of Commissioners’ meeting. An art contest was even set up for local high schools students. The office also sponsors the Annual Hot Dog Fest that provides clothing and hygiene items for victims of sexual violence.
Becky said that she is currently working on “A Courthouse Guide for Children” which victims of abuse can take home and work on the activities in it. Becky concluded by saying that she had been trained in Mass Causality Assistance and even was involved in the incident this past summer in Las Vegas.
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Mark Murray kicked things off by mentioning that Hospice of Lenawee’s Candlelight Event will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on December 15th in tribute to loved ones and friends who have passed. It will start at either 5:30pm or 6pm.
Our own Luke Barnett update members about the unique and very impactful Rotary Woodworking Warriors program sponsored by our club in conjunction with the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute. Luke showed members a video he had produced and edited himself showing various vets who have benefited from the program..JPG)
participants of the program.
Al Brittain, retired local businessman, community leader and bank CEO and board member of Hidden Lake Gardens gave a brief history of Harry Fee and his gift of the property to what was then Michigan State College and the organization’s current association with Michigan State University, introduced today’s speaker – Paul Pfeifer, director of Hidden Lake Gardens.
Canopy Walk will provide persons of any ability to have a complete forest emersion experience. It will include a 500 foot long “walk” through the tree canopy some 65 feet above the ground via the wheelchair friendly boardwalk and suspension bridge canopy walk; a 100 foot tall “climb” up the tree tower via stairs and ADA compliant elevator – the only one of its kind; a direct connection with nature to escape the stresses of everyday life and to improve general health and well-being naturally.
AG Marilyn Kremer introduced DG John along with his wife, Sandy, and gave members a brief bio: became a member of the Detroit AM club in 2004; was club president in 2010 and 2011 and held other officer and committee posts. He was previously a member of the Rotary club in Novi. At the district level he has served on various committees among them an Assistant Governor for Area 1. He has traveled oversees extensively to participate in international programs for RI. John is a major donor to the RI Foundation and a recipient of the COG (Council of Governors) Award. He is a retired financial officer from the court system and the Detroit Public Library. He is a CPA and holds an MBA from the University of Detroit. He serves on a number of boards in the Detroit area. He was a city councilman for the City of Novi. John enjoys golfing, traveling and spending time with grandchildren with his wife Sandy.
Thanks to everyone who participated today as several committee chairs met with their respective committees and discussed their specific responsibilities as well as other programs we should be involved in. Committees that met were: Community Service, Membership and International.
District 6400’s Assistant Governor graced us with her presence today to induct the newest member of the Adrian Noon Rotary Club – Matt Swartzlander. Matt is s former member of our club and the Executive Director of the Adrian Area Chamber of Commerce. Former past president and club member, Dennis Swartzlander, is Matt's uncle. We promised not to hold that against him!!
Fallon Bull, the Program Director of the Hope center said that the organization was formed 42 years ago to meet the needs of adults with developmental disabilities. One hundred different members are served each week to participate in their structured programming, she said. Those served, if they choose not to participate in a program can “hang out on the computer or talk a walk, or travel to various non-profits to do odd jobs there.” Fallon said. Hope has a garden that produces vegetables that are donated to local pantries and soup kitchens. Jerry said he especially likes to play pool and has helped pack snacks that members share in throughout the day.
This was Nelson’s very first meeting as the new president of the Adrian Noon Rotary Club! Congrats, Nelson. It’s going to be a great year! He took this opportunity to thanks Immediate Past President, Kathye, for a tremendously successful year and everything she, the board and fellow members were able to accomplish. Nelson gave a rundown of each of the 13 standing committees His summary and the programs each committee will be responsible for is as follows:
PDG Sue Goldsen officially introduced our speaker today, Steve Ahles, who is past president of the Southgate Rotary Club and will be District 6400’s Membership Chair in 2019-20. The committee exists, Steve said, to “help strengthen Rotary”.
Maher Mualla from the Adrian Morning Club was on hand at our meeting today and bought with him Deangelo from the local Habitat for Humanity (Community Outreach Director) along with Isaiah and Bushra representing AmeriCorps who had been assisting Habitat with home restorations in the area. Bushra, who is from the Detroit area, and Isaiah who lives in Baltimore, shared their experiences with us while they have been working in Adrian. Most recently, they said, they had been working on property in Adrian on Church Street in conjunction with the local Habitat for Humanity.
Here is the script of Bill's presentation: My name is Bill Morrison with the Plymouth Rotary Club and I am here today to share with you my observances of, and involvement in, entertainment involving the Adrian Rotary Club at District Conferences. The Adrian Club events I will show today are all more than 30 years old, and it’s possible you more senior men may have participated in them. I say men because Rotary hadn’t yet realized the value ladies could bring to the clubs. I joined the Plymouth Rotary club in 1979 when Adrian and Plymouth had only one club each and we were in District 640 which didn’t become district 6400 until 12 years later. Both the clubs had around 125 members and were among the more active and respected clubs in the district. My first District Conference was Governor Frank Sladen’s conference, held in Kalamazoo in 1980. It was so much fun that Barb and I attended 25 more. In my short time in Rotary I had heard a lot about what a great club Adrian was and about your famous bi-annual variety show, which I never had the pleasure of attending. I pictured Adrian, like Plymouth, as a very distinguished group of service oriented men and I was elated to find out that the conference was going to present one of the skits from your show that year.
their part of the show because two of the key players couldn’t make it. 
Cindy Kojima, retired in 2017 from the LISD after 34 years in education there, spoke to the club today and brought with her, Hachi, Masahiro’s pet to talk about Therapy Dogs. Hachi is a 7-year old Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Hachi is an official Theray Dog licensed through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs headquartered in Cheyene, Wyoming. To qualify, Hachi had to pass three tests in a medical care facility.
Dawn Harkey, owner of this business since 1986, gave members a number of great trips the next time they travel. She highly suggested that anyone who travels abroad should purchase health insurance since, unknown to many of us, our health provider cannot insure us when we need medical attention. Dawn said that she has experience with a company called TravelGuard should people be traveling overseas.
Kathye, Nate, Nelson and Yours Truly [resented the program today and took the training program used to orient new members and narrowed it down to about 25% of the typical presentation and shared the information with members today.
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General Manager of the newly remodeled Chaloner & Company and Chaloner’s Cigar House, Laura Wanke gave members a wonderful update on the new facility and what it means for Adrian. “Chaloner’s was the oldest and longest operating retail store in Michigan run by the Chaloner family until about the mid 70’s”, she said. Dave Pilmore and Scott Westfall purchased the business in 2015 from Dwayne and Carol Flint to essentially “revitalize downtown Adrian”.
It was great to see Past District Governor, Rick Caron, today and to hear his update on the project that has been near and dear to his heart - Legacy project in Tanzania through the Windsor 1918 Rotary Club. In Tanzania, Rick said, was a project to build a Learning Center to which our club donated $500 and Rick thanked us for. Tanzania is located on the east coast of Africa and the home, Rick was adamant about – the home of Mt. Kilimanjaro, not Kenya!
Rick went on to share the many success stories of students who have been able to attend the Center like Nima who was pregnant and then became a nurse thanks to the Learning Center; Oscar whose job was on the farm but who loved to learn and would sneak into the school and sit under desks because he couldn’t afford the fees and later passed an exam to qualify him to enter a secondary school! From there he entered medical school.
Pi took to the podium first to tell us three projects the center is working on. One was the Empty Bowls Project which will benefit the Daily Bread. Pi displayed a number of bowls prior to our meeting and some members purchased them. All bowls were made at the Art Center, she said, and are dishwasher and microwave safe and were made without any lead.
Melissa Tsuji is a member of the Career Counseling Department at Siena Heights and Jerry Roessler is retired and a veteran member of the Blissfield Rotary Club. They are both board members of the American Farm Museum & Education Center on hand to bring members up to date on the progress made to raise funds for and to create a farm campus in Blissfield. The property is located west of the McDonald’s restaurant in Blissfield off Jefferson Street. It was the former Home Canning Company site.
Mark Murray introduced Troy who has been in law enforcement for over 30 years. During his career he has done “some IT stuff” as well, he said. He and his wife, Sandy, have lived in Tecumseh for 23 years. Troy commented on the work being done at the Sheriff’s office on Maple Avenue and said he still attends weekly construction meetings. There will be an official open house once the work is completed sometime in September, he said.
What are the latest scams? How do the criminals exploit technology to fool us? BBB President Dick Eppstein has witnessed tremendous changes in the way criminals exploit technology to their advantage. He was here today to educate us as consumers so we can avoid being cheated, and BBB’s effort to expose and destroy the crooks who prey on innocent victims every day.
Patrick has helped business leaders and organizations across the country tell their stories. He is the founder and former head of a national marketing firm while having worked with Monster Energy, PBS, Capitol Records, AT&T and a full roster of top artists and other brands.
As you may already know, every incoming president of the Adrian Noon Rotary Club is required to attend this 3-day intensive and informative training event. This year it will again be held in Kalamazoo and our President-Elect, Nelson Douglass, will be in attendance from March 14th to the 16th at the Radisson Plaza Hotel at Kalamazoo Center.