Feliz Cinco de Mayo Amigos!
Cinco de Mayo this year happens to fall on Taco Tuesday. It's a planet alignment that just can't be ignored! Hal Lawrence returned from his winter in Mexico just in time for this phenomenon. In addition to Hal, we had 36 other Sunrise Rotarians in attendance, plus we had several guests join us for Membership Month and President Chuck almost pronounced one of their names correctly! Our guests included Rotary 6290 District Governor Mark Andresky, former District Governor Dave Thomas of the Noon Club, Jeff Elyart, Tracy Butler, Jacob Knaggs, and Bill Shearer.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let's get this party started! Chuck rang the bell. Anne led the Pledge, and Hal led the 5-Way Test. Wait. What? In a slight breach of Rotary Protocol, Hal added a #5, "Is it FUN?" Heck yes it is! This is Sunrise Rotary!
We have a few things keeping us busy these days. Pay attention. You're going to want to write this down:
This coming Saturday, May 9, is our annual Adopt-a-Highway Cleanup led by Rod. He has an army of volunteers listed on his green piece of paper. For those who want breakfast, meet at J.W. Filmore's at 7:00 a.m. Then they'll meet at 8 a.m. in the parking lot to hand out vests and bags. Bring your own gloves and grabbers.
We have two events the following Saturday, May 16th, which our District Governor noted has been declared as "The Epic Day of Service" by the district.
Dave Meyer is seeking a team of eight people to head out to Camp Daggett at 9:00 a.m. to spruce up our cabin. Dave says we will mostly be assembling new beds. Lunch is provided at the end.
Our next Rotary Social Event is next Tuesday, May 12th at the Noggin Room in the Perry Hotel. The fun begins at 4 p.m.
Carlin reminds the club that it's time to donate to Petoskey's Fourth of July. Donate on our website, www.petoskeyfourth.org, or get a check to Joe made out to Sunrise Rotary Charities. The club will match up to $2,500 of club member donations. Carlin added that the America 250 Hometown Block Party on July 3rd is shaping up nicely to be a fun, community, semi quincentennial celebration!
Lastly, Membership Month is now in full swing. Christy encouraged all club members to bring a guest to one of our fabulous May meetings. No matter how much promotion we do, to be successful, we need to extend personal invitations. If you bring a guest, you will be eligible to win...wait for it....passes to the Sky Bridge at Boyne Mountain! Our guests will also be entered to win. And don't forget, the grand finale of Membership Month will be a Cinnamon Roll Breakfast on May 26 featuring the bakery skills of prospective member Tracy Butler! BAM! (That was me dropping the mic). Thanks Christy for putting together a great month!
HAPPY BUCKS
In a well-disguised effort to fleece money out of our club members, we now have the segment of our meeting known as Happy Bucks where Rotarians blindly hand over money to tell us about the great things in their lives. Who's first?
Hal jumped up. Was that a 20? He's happy to be back after his winter in Mexico.
Congratulations to John Marshall who's oldest son graduated from Texas Tech and starts his first job on June 1!
Brian also has a graduate in the family. His adult daughter Laura received her Master's Degree from NMU over the weekend.
There was another celebration this past weekend; Heidi's niece got married!
That was an actual $2 bill from Jim M. who is heading to Grand Rapids where he will meet a friend to do some mountain biking.
To heck with biking, Heather's step daughter is now behind the wheel. She started driver's training. Yikes!
And Kathy threw in a buck in appreciation of the nice birthday wishes she received. Happy 39th Kathy!
PROGRAM--DISTRICT GOVERNOR
ALL RISE! We were honored today to have Mark Andresky with us. Mark is the District Governor for Rotary District 6290 that spans from Grand Rapids to Wawa Ontario. Mark hails from the Charlevoix Club and stopped by to see his neighbors in Petoskey to share an update on district activities.
Mark's introduction into Rotary came in 1988 when he applied for a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship and was successful. He spent a year studying business and law in Strasbourg, France in what was a life-changing experience. That program is now called the Global Scholar Program and our district will be awarding two scholarships this year.
He lauded Sunrise Rotary for its focus on membership. "You're a growing club, a model club," he said. Unfortunately Rotary's challenge is membership loss with our district losing between 2% and 3% of members per year. One way to address that is a new concept called "Companion Clubs" where people can participate in all of the benefits of Rotary engagement, but at a different time and maybe a different place. You only need eight members to make this work. The Benzie Club grew by 20% with this approach.
Mark announced that our District has a new 3-year strategic plan that was initiated by last year's DG Breanna Scott. It's the first time the district has had an up-to-date strategic plan since Dave Thomas was DG back in 2019. Formulating the plan took 7 months and 17 meetings and the 13-page finished product is now available for review on the district's web site.
Rotary International would like all clubs to have a similar plan and our district is offering trained facilitators, including Mark, who can come in and help. Fifteen clubs in District 6290 have gone through the facilitation process so far. He says it takes four-hours on a Saturday and there is no cost.
There will be no District Conference this year. Instead we're gearing up for a joint conference with another Michigan-based District, April 16-18 2027 at Crystal Mountain Resort. The theme will be Peace Building and Conflict Resolution.
You'll see that as a recurring theme under new DG Julie Shoemaker of Frankfort. Her installation will be June 6. Her plan is to not visit every Rotary Club in the district during her tenure, but instead host regional mixers throughout the year. A big event will be a Peace Walk across the International Bridge between Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Canada on Sat. June 27th.
Thank you Mark for your great presentation today and for your dedication and devotion to Rotary Clubs throughout District 6290!
Have a great week everyone!
Respectfully submitted,
Carlin Smith
