Gerry Burg started off and brought members up to speed on a “program we started ten years ago – Lenawee Lifelong Learning”. It is an organization that consists of a volunteer board of directors. The Adrian Noon club, he said, gave them $1.000 to start it back in 2012. Gerry thanked the club for its support over the years. Since that time a partnership was also created with the Lenawee Community Foundation and they now carry all of the organization’s liability insurance and also its fiduciary. Gerry is, by the way their Treasurer and mentioned the late Bob Freliegh’s name who, he said, was the instigator behind this program.
Classes generally number four 90-minute sessions – one a month for 4 months. Half of the presenters, Gerry said were retired professors from Adrian College and Siena Heights University who actually give mini courses in their specialties. Mike McGrath from Adrian College is one such presenter who always draws a huge audience and the same can be said about the instructors from Siena, he said, like Mike Shearson from SHU who has been instructing for the last three sessions. All instructors do this free gratis. Classes started in the Weber Center generally on every Tuesday and Thursday of the week and went for 8 years there. A flat fee of $25 is charged if you take one course. If someone chose to take a second class, there is only an additional $10 charge which covers ALL of the 8 classes offered!
Courses are offered in April and October every year. During the Pandemic, Gerry said, courses were offered on ZOOM. As things eased up, courses were offered in person as well as ZOOM. In April of last year, classes were held in the basement of the Adrian District Library now that the Weber Center remains closed to this date.
There are currently 300 members, he said. Gerry distributed handouts of classes that will be offered next month: Great Cities of the Middle Ages – Highlighting Baghdad & Kaifeng and presented by Dr. Mike McGrath. Classes will be April 5, 12, 19 and 26 starting at 9am. Another class will be Exploring the River Raisin presented by Stephen May and Meija Knafl on April 5, 12, 19 and 26 starting at 11am. Another class is Poetry presented by Charmaine Stangl on the same days starting at 1pm. Another class is Explorations in Psychology presented by Dr. Gordon Hammerle on the same dats starting at 3pm. Another course is Prohibition presented by Florian Berdyk. They are scheduled for April 6, 13, 20 and 27 and begin at 1pm. The last course is Hamlet presented by Robert Ploegstra, PhD on the same dates but starting at 3pm.
The others are: A Portfolio of Black and White Photography - Thursday mornings at 9:00 a.m., April 7, 14, 21 and 28. Instructor: Dr. Robert Gordon; Lenawee at War 1861-1865 - Thursday mornings at 11:00 a.m., April 7, 14, 21 and 28. Instructors: Jim Malarney and Dave Maxwell; How to Think About God - Thursday afternoons at 1:00 p.m., April 7, 14, 21 and 28. Instructor: Mark Schersten.
RI FoundationOur next presenter was Mike Olsaver. Mike is the chair of both our RI Foundation and the Adrian Foundation. The RI Foundation, Mike said, sets us apart from other service clubs in that this fund helps out in so many international causes. Even to this day, Mike said, RI has set up a relief program for the Ukranian situation. The Shelter Box program instituted some time ago, Mike said, is being revisited in light of this most recent crisis. Mike even mentioned that the international arm of this organization was a big influence on his joining the club many years ago.
Mike said we track our giving year after year at the club level since we are expected by RI to have 100% participation from our members at the level of $100 per capita. The importance of that is that if we meet that goal ($4,700 by this June 30th), our club qualifies for matching funds from District 6400 for projects/causes we want to give to. In the past: In 2020-21; 2019-20 - $5,000; 2018-2019 - $9,000. Grants our club has applied for include: the Women’s and Children’s Shelter in Tecumseh, Reparative surgeries last year for children stricken with Polio in India, and the Centennial Clock just to name a few.
This current year, due to the Pandemic of the last two years has impacted club attendance as well as giving, we are averaging only $10 per member. We have a long way to go, Mike said. The Adrian Rotary Foundation distribution to our club every year, on the other hand, allows us to support local causes.
If you have not already, be sure and log onto myrotary.org and sign up to give automatically on a monthly basis. Or you can pay with your semi-annual dues statement or just give Mike a personal check. All of these work!
There were actually two stellar speakers today - Members Gerry Burg and Mike Olsaver.
Guest today were:
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