SPOKES VOL. LXVI NO. 19 November 12, 2019
Our greeter this morning was Melinda Gruber
President Odland opened the meeting on this cold and snowy morning with “America the Beautiful” and Art Ayers provided our invocation. We had a goodly number of members in attendance in spite of the weather.
Guests:
Our Guests this morning included prospective new members Brian Kurtz and Mike Libovich and our speaker Donna Zeppiero
Getting to Know You: Rosalie Plechaty
Rosalie was born in Tucson Arizona, the first girl in a couple of generations and was admittedly spoiled because of that. She had the choice of a car or college when she was 16 and chose the car. She was married the first of three times one month after her high school graduation. She divorced when she was 21 but they remarried shortly thereafter for marriage number two. Her career centered on non-profit work with a long stint working for the American Cancer Society in a couple of different roles, including fund raising among well-to-do Texas women. She also served on her town council and had a radio cooking show (She doesn’t cook). She also remarried Walt for the third time, this time in the Catholic Church. She loves to volunteer. She and Walt have been in South Haven for 10 years but have visited here since she was 17 and one of her favorite photographs is of their boys on the beach in front of what turned out to be their home many years later. She conveyed all of that and more in less than 5 minutes!
Announcements:
- November 21st is our Chamber ABO at the Moose Lodge with the Moose. Sign up is being passed around.
- December 10th is our Holiday Party at the Yacht Club
- December 17th is the Open Door Dinner at the Methodist Church
- December 21st is our day to do the Salvation Army Bell Ringing
- We have new member applications from Mike Livovich, Steffin Davis and Brian Kurtz. They will be inducted next week.
- Splash Pad ribbon cutting on November 15th at 1:30 PM.
- Glenn Pietenpol statue dedication on Saturday, November 23rd at 11:30 AM
- The Rotary Foundation is offering a matching grant for donations to their foundation over the next few weeks. A quick way to get to your Paul Harris award!
Songs
Bob Boerma was our song leader this morning and had the task of leading us in a couple of songs that we may not see for much longer.We began with “Down by the Old Mill Stream.The song was written in 1908 while Taylor was sitting on the banks of the Blanchard River in Findlay. Reportedly, Taylor's friends persuaded him not to publish the song, believing it had no commercial value.However it became very popular, selling over four million copies of sheet music.Our next selection was another old favorite of somebody’s, “For Me and My Gal”, which was written in 1917 but turned into a big hit when Judy Garland and Gene Kelly recorded it as part of the movie of the same name.We finished with “Sing a Song to Rotary”.
50/50
This week Jerry Portman had the correct ticket, but not the lucky ticket as he drew the queen. Sue Duval was the big winner, taking home $2.
Fines:
- Dan Leihr and Bill Roberts were both very vocal in extoling the virtues of the Illinois football team again this week. Larry Wittkop has put the past behind him and is looking forward to a big battle in the big house this weekend.
- Dan Thompson has hope that Navy will win its fourteenth game agains Notre Dame this weekend but it’s probably just hope.
- Dene Hadden is celebrating the 12th birthday of Grandson Brooks today (silently).
- Tom Fleming announced that it is Big Ten Tuesday!!
- Bob Stickland thanked all for their kind words and cards as his wife Delores is recovering well and is home.
- Tony Martorano thanked all of the Veterans for their service.
- Pete Swanson will be performing at a couple of places this week.
- Bob Copping appreciated our breakfast fare, especially the boiled eggs.
- Jerry Portman had a long story about deer hunting and the reduced numbers of hunters. He suggested that we continue to tell deer camp stories and that it might be a good time to start an auto body business.
- Jim Bradford, Mark Odland and others paid big fines for having pictures in the paper this weekend.
- Jim Davis was proud of his Alma-Mater, Ferris State for their victory over Grand Valley on the gridiron this weekend.
Pete Swanson introduced our speaker this morning, Donna Zeppiero from Al-Van Humane Society
Donna recently became president of the Al-Van Humane Society which was established in 1968. They became a no kill shelter in 2012. She said that they had about 1500 put-downs in 2010 and have had none since 2012. They work closely with Animal Control officers in Allegan and Van Buren Counties to handle stray cats and dogs and work hard to get any animals they accept into the shelter adopted. She stated that the number of stray animals has been reduced because of the Spay and Neuter programs they and other shelters have adopted. No pet is adopted out that has not been fixed.
They also have low cost Spay and Neuter days each year where pet owners can get their animals fixed and this year have engaged a traveling spay and neuter vet to come to the shelter on December 6th this year for low cost treatment.
Most of the animals that they receive are injured, ill or old and as a result the medical costs at the shelter have skyrocketed.
They provide a lost and found service and all of their animals are microchipped and owners information recorded. They also do bite prevention programs in local schools.
They are funded by donations, grants, fees and income from the resale shop (which generates about $30,000 a year). They also depend on many volunteers. Currently they are looking for donations of cleaning supplies, towels and blankets and they are always looking for donations of kitty litter (They buy it by the pallet).
President Odland thanked Donna for her informative presentation. He presented Donna with one of our valuable speaker’s pens.
We closed the meeting with the Four Way Test.
Next week’s program: Ross Woodhams will introduce Dave Doetsch from Midwest Family Broadcasting
Greeters: Dene Hadden and Steve Miles
Editarian: Dene Hadden