Regular Meeting, November 26, 2008

(Our speaker, Dan Giachino, Head Coach, Ojibwa Eagles Midget Hockey Team.)










HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

The 19 members and 1 guest who attended the meeting were rewarded with a very interesting program by guest Dan Giachino, Head Coach of the Ojibwa Eagles hockey team, and a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner by the Lisa and Elaine of the Irish Times.

At the outset of the meeting, Kevin announced that next week is our business meeting during which we will induct new member Susan Hallwachs of Hearing Applications, L.L.C. Next he passed around a sign-up sheet for our December 5, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., bell ringing assignments. It is always nice to have two members ringing the bell at each hour, especially in these tough economic times. Please don't let the Salvation Army down. Finally, he reminded everyone about the Christmas dinner on December 17.

After lunch, Dan took the floor with a nice presentation about the Midget team, Ojibwa Eagles. He pointed out that the casino was the first major sponsor of the team wherefore its name. Though they are no longer sponsors, the board decided to keep the name because of brand recognition.

The team is composed of 20 members, age 15-19, who pay $4,500 to play for the team. They start on Labor Day and finish their schedule in March and play a total of about 60 games during their season including about ten tournaments. Since all team members are students, they must maintain a 2.5 GPA to stay eligible. All practices, workouts, and classwork as well as homework assignments are conducted during the week (though occasionally there is homework being done on the bus as they travel to a tournament) and the games are played on the weekends. This year's squad is composed of 8 local boys and 12 from far afield such as Seattle and California. A 8-9 member board manages the team and its traveling bus.

Coach explained that his primary goals are to 1) get the boys ready to go to the next leve;l if they so choose, and 2) to develop their hockey skills. Winning is important, he says he tells the team, but for him personally it is player development that he is most proud of.

Througn six seasons, there have been 84 different young men that have called themselves Ojibwa Eagles. Out of those, 33 players have moved on to a higher level of hockey, about a 40% success rate. Higher levels include NCAA Division I (such as MTU), NCAA Division III (such as Finlandia), ACHA Club Hockey, and Junior A where they can play through the age of 20.

Following his presentation, Dan answered myriad questions. For more information including sponsorship opportunities, see the Eagles website at www.ojibwaeagles.com.


Your editor will be gone for a couple of weeks so I'll next see you at the Christmas Dinner. Since I won't be here next week, I have posted a picture of our new member-to-be, Susan Hallwachs, who will be inducted next week, December 3.

Regular Meeting, November 19, 2008

The meeting was attended by 19 members and 3 guests (guests were Linda and Dave Grahek who were attending their last meeting before heading home to Breckenridge for the winter and Karen Van Dyke from the Hancock Rotary, our speaker).

President Kevin reported that next week there will be an induction of a new member as well as a report on the "Luminary Project" we helped to fund. He hopes that many members will be present for that meeting.

Karen Van Dyke was our speaker. She presented a compelling case for community support of the United Way on whose board she sits. The goal of this year's drive is $150,000, an amount that can be achieved through payroll deduction in some cases, pledging, or one-time contributions. She pointed out that the United Way supports 15 charities throughout the area and reminded us that all the chartites have zero-based funding so their heartfelt needs are met only with this year's contributiuons. Inasmuch as administrative costs are miniscule, the vast majority of the money collected goes directly to the charities. In additon, she pointed out that while earmarked gifts are not desired, they will be accepted in the spirit they were given. Karen's formal presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session.

See you next week when we induct a new member into the Club.






(Karen van Dyke and Kevin enjoy a good laugh after receiving the treasured CLK Rotary mug.)

Regular Meeting, November 12, 2008

(Shortly after the meeting, Jim Lowell and John Weting engrossed in conversation.)



Our meeting attendance was 16 members (50%) and 4 guests. Guests were Linda and Dave Grahek; Asststant District Governor Bob Sharkey; and John Weting of Marquette, our District Rotary Foundation Chair and our speaker.

A sign-up sheet was passed around for the CLK Rotary dinner in December. A good turnout will be much appreciated.

Midway through the meeting, Chuck wicker of Hancock Rotary arrived with bundles of beautiful Rotary Roses. Chuck has been doing this fund-raiser for well over 15 years and we all look forward to his annual visit...and especially our wives, husbands, or significant others as the case may be.

After lunch, John Weting took the floor and gave a stirring presentation about the various projects of the Rotary Foundation. Though he emphasized the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship fellows with pictures and examples of their accomplishments, we also touched on the many programs of the foundation such as Polio Plus, Group Study Exchange, Around the World Medical Programs, and World Peace Fellows to name a few. In addition, he mentioned programs that are specific to our district such as Power Flour.

He pointed out that 1/6 of the world's population live on less than $1 per day and 1/2 on less than $2 and followed that with examples of what $100 can do such as provide hearing aids, catarack surgury, textbooks, etc. That brings to the forefront the Every Rotarian Every Year program or $100 per Rotarian every year.




(A couple of years ago I was in Tampa, Florida, for a few hours as we disembarked from a cruise and then immediately drove north toward Michigan. As we left, I picked up a Tampa Tribune and later, in our motel, I started reading it. A picture which appeared on the Opinion Page featured a ferryboat sailing in front of the Statue of Liberty, a boat that looked strikingly like the Isle Royale Queen IV. Well, I kept examining the picture and was convinced it was a sister ship until using a magnifying glass I was able to make out the name of the boat, the John Jay, which was the name of the Queen before we bought her. After a good deal of investigation I was able to track down the picture and now have a copy for my wall. Unique, eh?)