Horsin' Around at Rotary
When you have an equestrian-themed meeting, it tends to lend itself to a little horseplay. Fortunately President Matt Hausler grabbed the reins and brought the unruly group to attention. We had 37 club members in attendance today. Fred Hueston of Conway, Arkansas was back on the guest list along with our group of speakers, Amy McMullen, Lisa Kay, Deb Huntly, and Emma Huntly.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Were you adequately greeted today? I suspect so since Jim and Sue McLain teamed up as our greeters. Tom Oelke led the pledge and Kirk Swabash counted us through the 4-Way Test. It's Venison Stew time folks! The problem is, Dave Meyer reported that we haven't sold very much stew. We have a lot to sell, up to 300 containers, and just a few orders have come in. Keep selling. You can submit forms via email or by dropping them off to Joe Kanine, joe@kanine.cpa. Rod Niswander and Dave report that the sign-ups for volunteers next week look good. The Venison Stew Drive Thru is next Tuesday, October 27th at the Petoskey Bay View Country Club from 3 until 6 p.m. Venison Stew will be perfect for your Theodore Roosevelt Birthday Celebrations that evening. President Matt said last week's Multi-Club Rotary Mixer in Alanson was well attended. All of our club members who attended received make-ups! Former District Governor and Noon Club member, Jane Millar, was honored with yet another Paul Harris Fellow to add to her collection. The Charitable Giving Committee met after our regular meeting. They have selected the 32 charities to compete in the 4th Annual Coach Pollion Charity Championship. The bracket reveal show will be at our Nov. 10th meeting and the voting will begin that day. They are also working to finalize plans for our Holiday Giving Breakfast to be held on Tue. Dec. 15th where we will honor our four winning charities. HAPPY BUCKS Open those wallets and shake out some cash! It's time to share our happiness! Val led us off to thank her friend Amy for presenting today, and added an extra buck for Amy's beloved horse Rose. Sue McLain's email was hacked, so if you get an email from her asking for a job reference, delete it. The nice thing about the hack is that she re-connected with many of her friends! Jenn and Andy Kolp had a great trip visiting numerous sites and doing some camping and mountain biking in the east. They broke camp early one morning to attend the Woodstock Vermont Rotary Club meeting only to discover that once each month instead of meeting at 7:00 in the morning, they meet at 7:00 in the evening at the local bar! Carlin was on the local TV program, Good Day Northern Michigan on 9&10 News yesterday talking about Petoskey's Fourth of July. And that was a two-dollar bill from Steve Shuman. One dollar was for sitting on a mountain in Colorado three weeks ago, and the second was for rafting in Yellowstone last week. Life is good! PROGRAM--Rising Hope Equestrian Center Val coordinated our program today and introduced our speaker Amy McMullen of the Rising Hope Equestrian Center which is located in Harbor Springs at Quick and Hoyt Roads. The facility is on land donated by CeeJay Heckenberg and the founders of the center were Marita and Fred Hackl. Amy is the president of the board and other than a barn manager and some contractors, the organization is run by volunteers. The mission of Rising Hope is to provide horsemanship, education, scholarships, and therapeutic programming to students regardless of their ability to pay or their learning profile. They serve all ridership styles and interests. A student, Emma Huntly, reluctantly stepped up and eloquently shared her testimonial about how the program “has been a blessing to me.” She suffers from high anxiety and the program has helped her build confidence and overcome her challenges. “They are just so kind and understanding,” she said. “They told me that I can do anything that anyone else can do,” she added. Emma's mother Deb said that she has really seen the difference the program has made in her children, and through scholarships having the cost burden removed helped to ease Mom's anxiety as well! Lisa Kay also spoke. Lisa has been an educator and has a long history with horses. She says horses are truly therapeutic because of their ability to sense energy and their natural instinct to protect the herd. She says they can detect grief, anxiety, or fear in humans and can help to temper those emotions. She said they can really make a difference for children with mental health challenges or behavior challenges. Rising Hope Equestrian Center collaborates with other horse programs including the Exceptional Riders Program and a future partner will be the Unbridled Heart to Heart. Rising Hope also offers horseback riding lessons and they provide stall boarding from November through May and pasture boarding the remainder of the year. Amy calls the care for horses “an expensive love” and says fund-raising is always a challenge. She says they need funds to care for the horses, provide training certification opportunities, equipment, scholarships, facilities, and they are looking to add on some new classroom/meeting space. Anyone interested in making a donation, or wanting to learn more can go to their website at www.risinghopeequestriancenter.com. Thanks for the great program! Have an awesome week everyone! Respectfully submitted, Carlin Smith | 
