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President Nick called today’s meeting to order at LCC’s Michigan Room with a full house attending on a cold January day. Rotarians recited the 4-Way Test and Chris Holman provided the meeting’s reflection which focused on “the joy of having no place to go” as an antidote to our busy lives. A great point to remember is “hug a friend today as you may only be able to remember them tomorrow”. Hari Kern at the piano and Mark Hooper with the vocals, led us in singing America the Beautiful. We were able to welcome special guests to the meeting as Ben Rathbun brought 5 students and the Principal from the Wilson Talent Center. Ben spent time with them in his role as “Principal of the Day” at the Wilson Talent Center and then brought them to Rotary for the full principal experience. President Nick updated that the Health of the Club is good! For the special music of the day, we were treated to a solo performance from our own Dr. Steve Robinson of Lansing Community College. Steve shared two songs from singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith while playing his Elderly Instruments guitar. The songs were Get in Line and Sneak out the Back Door. If you’d like to hear the tunes, you can find them at https://ronsexsmith.com/. President Nick shared some announcements including the opportunity to volunteer with the Greater Lansing Food Bank on January 25 from 9:00-11:00 am. We already have about a dozen volunteers and please reach out to Jason Brunette if you’d like to join in the good work. Congratulations to Denise Donahue as she was presented her red badge today! Welcome officially to the Club Denise! Kim Garland gave an update about our international grant funding that was provided to Global Dental Relief. If you’re not familiar, Global Dental Relief provides free dental care and health education around the globe for preventative and restorative care. Weeklong clinics are staffed by volunteers and they reach children for whom dental care is beyond reach. With the $5,000 grant from our Foundation, there were two of the weeklong clinics held in the Mayan village in Guatemala in May and June 2023. 11,000 children were screened, 604 teeth were restored, and 369 cleanings/fluoride treatments were provided. These services equated to over a quarter million dollars in free dental care. Thank you Lansing Rotarians!! For further details on GDR or to donate, check out their information, https://www.globaldentalrelief.org/ We have seen some Rotarians “in the news” with the new WLNS show created by Susan Angel featuring Lansing Rotary. We also saw Irv Nichols promoting the American Red Cross recently on the news too! A special moment in today’s meeting was made by President Nick in recognizing 60-year Rotarian George Nugent for his significant financial donation to the Foundation. The funds are unrestricted to the Foundation and provide an opportunity for the Foundation to add to its work on behalf of the Club. George explained that the funds came as an annual deduction from his IRA. He chose the Rotary Club Foundation for this allocation to recognize his long-time support and involvement with Lansing Rotary. Thank you, George, for the amazing contribution and the example you have set!! Before our Chair of the Month and Chair of the Day could introduce the speaker, she was able to make her new member presentation to the Club and receive her blue badge. Laura Appel shared she has always lived in a Big10 town by being born at the hospital on the Ohio State University campus, moving to East Lansing and living in the shadow of MSU and attending the University of Michigan. She considers herself lucky to have supportive parents and being able to “live the American dream”. All her schooling took place in East Lansing at schools that are still in the community today and allowed her to grow up in a neighborhood that was close-knit. In her work as a policy analyst, she works in the community and appreciates all of the amazing assets and locations here and feels lucky to have grown up in such a community.  Laura then introduced Joanne Gerstner who is a sports journalist and the Brandt Fellow Sports Journalist in Residence/Professor of Journalism at the School of Journalism at Michigan State University. She is also the author of the book Back in the Game: Why Concussion Doesn’t Have to End Your Athletic Career. Our speaker gave an overview of how the attitude toward concussion has shifted as more knowledge has become available. A key shift has been the change in thinking of concussion as a brain injury and the outcomes of that shift. In 2010/11, Joanne was able to spend the year with University of Michigan neurology in a form of residency to study the science of concussion. She learned the many nuances of diagnosing and treating concussion and wrote a book with one of the neurologists. Science and increased awareness about concussion and brain health have changed the way youth parents, coaches, and players pursue athletics. Fear of incurring concussions, as well as incomplete or incorrect information, is leading some parents to keep their children out of contact sports. Competitive cheer or other sports without properly trained coaches or without proper safety equipment create more risk for student athletes. There is also a difference in concussion between men and women related to neck strength and how force is absorbed. She asks us to remember three things about concussion: 1. Education is needed and you need to find the right people for diagnosis. 2. Demand better training for coaches and have athletic trainers available on site at all events. 3. There is no quick fix for concussion. Thanks to Joanne for the detailed presentation. A donation will be made in her name to our Foundation to do good works in the community! President Nick announced our networking social on Thursday, January 25 from 4-30-6:00 pm at Lansing Brewing Co. See you there! Email for Julie Pingston is: jpingston@lansing.org |
