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Literally at 12:25 pm President Pat virtually rang the Rotary bell (seems bigger on the podium) to bring the meeting virtually to order on a Mid-April day where it was really snowing. As with every meeting Lansing Rotarians stood up in their kitchens all throughout the Lansing area. Lynda Lynch led the invocation and President Pat cued up our club singing “America the Beautiful”, I never knew how good our club sounded until I heard it on YouTube. Our meeting began to proceed as normal, then virtually out of nowhere our District Governor Margie Haas joined our meeting to wish our club well in these trying times and to assure us Rotary internationally and in our district is doing its part to assist others in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Pat introduced our only guest, his wife Susan, the only guest he was allowed to invite and have attend in person, I think he really only invited her so he could get her to make his lunch by convincing her it was a honored and long held (about a month) club tradition for the guest to make lunch for the meeting. Next up was the health of the club, Julie Pingston was virtually certain that Nanci Yeadon is doing well recovering from hand surgery. President Pat and Donna Gardner reminded us that our Paul Harris letters had been mailed out and encouraged us all to make our annual Paul Harris contributions to Rotary International when we are able. Also, there was an announcement by our District Governor that will in the current pandemic polio immunizations are suspended for six months, however our donations and matching funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are going to be needed to keep our mission moving forward when we return to normal. Sam Tucker from an undisclosed remote location announced that in light of the current health crisis our annual local grant program is being reassessed to focus our grants on organizations providing human services in our region and the grant cap of $70,000 is being increased to $100,000 for this year. President Pat then gave a shout out to Janet Lillie and Sue Mills for organizing an outreach communication program for our local Rotary members to keep the lines of communication open to them in times of isolation. Ok, I admit, President Pat did not shout, but he got really close to the microphone on his laptop. Finally, President Pat announced the club is holding (fingers crossed) at Urban Beat in Old Town on June 9th featuring a musical program with performances from club members, Lynda Lynch, John Collins, Ed Castellani, President Pat and some surprise guests. President Pat introduced special music from Tracy Anderson, who showed us the vastness of her repertoire with her performance of Amazing Grace and Crazy Woman. President Pat introduced our chair of the day Janet Lillie, who introduced our days two speakers Gwyn Ann Shelle, Education Technology Specialist and Erin Powell, Nutrition Program Supervisor for Michigan State University’s Extension Program. They both took us through the many programs offered by MSU Extension which is available to individuals, businesses and other organizations throughout our state and to the rest of the world. The extension program offers online, face to face and group courses for practical solutions for agriculture, family life, food, health and lawn and gardening. Currently the program offers 58 courses online, with more being added each year. Since, we are in a virtual world for time being, these courses are available to be viewed or participate in online as a way to pass the time and maybe learn a new skill or gardening tip, when we can all go back to our on-hold activities and hobbies. Since 2017 the MSU extension program has doubled online participation in their programs from 3,000 to over 6,000. In the current environment we live in the program has added 1,500 new participants since the first of the year. Examples of courses include Farm Stress (sponsored by the USDA for our financially stressed farmer, which with the wet spring last year and the obvious situation currently financial stress on family farms is greater than ever. Baskets to Pallets to help small operations grow with business plans and general operational guidance. Family life programs include courses on building emotional skills for both new parents and early child development educators. Nutritional programs for families to eat healthier and make better food purchase decisions with limited budgets. Another program is Adulting 101, which is designed for high school juniors and seniors to understand personal financial budgeting, home economics and budgeting skills. I know a 19-year-old that could really benefit from a course on financial responsibility, guess who is going to class? Another program the extension office ran last summer was teaching emergency skills to the children of migrant workers. This face to face program taught them how to perform CPR and administer first aid, which after completion of the course the children could take these skills back to their families to pass on their newly acquired knowledge. In our current situation courses in safety for preparation and storage of food in our home, social (or lack thereof) and emotional coping skills and a cabin fever series, which runs every Friday from 10 to 10:30 am every week. Most of these courses is generally recorded and available for viewing when your schedule permits After a few questions from the chat room, President Pat thanked our speakers and promised a donation would be made in their name in lieu of a speaker’s gift. With that President Pat adjourned our meeting until the next Friday. As a reminder next week, we will not be meeting at the Lansing Center, we will instead be meeting from your kitchen or other place of shelter. Lunch will be Caesar salad, carved roast beef, roasted potatoes, fresh asparagus and fresh apple pie ala-mode for desert OR a tuna salad sandwich, the remaining crumbs from the bottom your last bag of potato chips and half a bag of M&Ms, but that my friends is your choice! |
that level. You make a contribution of half the amount needed to reach the next Paul Harris, make sure Cathy has your donation. A form will be completed so the District will match your contribution with the available points. The "Earn a Reward" Points Match Challenge will continue until May 31, 2020, or until the pool of donated points is exhausted.