Regular Meeting, May 26, 2010

(Matt Vertin listens intently to a question from the audience.)

Attendance: 17 Members and two guests

Guests today were Janice Vivian RN, Manager of the new Garden View Assisted Living and Memory Care center (the old Stillwaters facility is being completely renovated) and Matt Vertin, representing CLK Junior Hockey Association.

Announcements: Condolences were proffered to Joel Keranen and Patsi Bastian on the loss of their relative Jim Jukuri. Jim passed away last Friday, May 21. He was a past member of our Rotary Club. Also, President Jim announced that his brother-in-law had passed away recently from cancer. Our last announcement was Captain Don’s upcoming 80th birthday on June 09.

The program on the state of CLK Junior Hockey Association and sponsorships was presented by Matt Vertin. The hockey program has continued to evolve in difficulty as families have had to deal with increased expenses and the desire to have a common hockey identity or brand. Unlike the past, all teams in the CLK Junior Hockey Association are known as the "Calumet Ice Kings" and all wear same jersey.

Participants pay between $300 - $400 registration fee per year. Other expenses include travel, equipment, ice rental, etc., a daunting challenge, so sponsors are needed to help underwrite expenses.

The CLK Rotary has sponsored a team for many years, in the Bantams level. Our sponsorship has been in the $200 - $300 range. Our sponsorship was partly used to pay the costs of CLK Rotary Jerseys.

As teams participate in tournaments and travel, the need for a common identity had become apparent. The Association decided to establish the Calumet Ice Kings as the brand name. New jerseys were supplies to all players. Team jerseys displaying the sponsor's name on the front have stopped although sponsors, such as CLK Rotary, will still sponsor specific teams and will be recognized as sponsors in schedules, tournaments and announcements.

Matt addressed questions from the group after his presentation. He did say he thought he might know where an old CLK jr hockey jersey is located that may be obtained by our Club for display.

Regular Meeting, May 19, 2010

(At left, five of our six guests who were from the CLK, LL/Hubbell and Horizons school systems.)

Attendance: 20 Rotarians and six guests: George Twardzik, Principal, CLK High School; Chris Davidson, Horizon’s School; Dave Hein, CLK Schools; Barbara Jones, Lake Linden/Hubbell Schools; and Craig Sutherland, Superintendant, LL/Hubbell Schools. In addition, Bob Sharkey, our ADG and District Governor-elect joined us.

President Jim called the meeting to order, introduced the guests, and then announced that the Board Meeting has been re-scheduled to Wed may 26 at 4 p.m. in the River Valley Bank conference room, Calumet.

Question: Why was Phil sitting by himself during the meeting?

After lunch, President Jim introduced the Rotary program, CHOICES. This program was presented to 9th grade students in the CLK, Horizons, and Lake Linden/Hubbell Schools. CLK Rotary members who worked as the instructional teams were Jim Lowell, Tom Tikkanen, Kathy Johnson, Kevin Store, and Keith Stenger.

Each group presented a one-hour program to a class followed by another hour the next day. There were two classes presented at the Lake Linden/Hubbell schools, three classes at CLK and one class at Horizons.

The CHOICES program helps students identify choices they will have to make in terms of Self Discipline, Time Management and Money Management. As students work through the program they discover consequences (both good and bad) for making certain choices.

As we moved through the condensed CHOICES program, Jim Lowell (with the help of Tom Tikkanen) displayed a Time-line chart that demonstrated the long-term effect of one's choices, a very effective visual presentation.

As part of the presentation, the school administrators who were present gave positive comments. One recurring theme was: "Nice to have the message comes from community members as opposed to the teachers as it might carry a little more weight."

At the conclusion of each "Choices" class, the Key to Success was presented to each student participating, a small token reminder of their "choices."

Before adjourning, President-elect Tim Baroni extended an invitation to the school administrators to join CLK Rotary.

Regular Meeting, May 12,2010

(Our presenters, Scot Gavaret and Chuck Nelson)

Attending the meeting were were 18 Rotarians and several guests. Guests were: Scot Gavaret, Aspirus Cardiac & Vascular Institute; Judy Resh and Mike Hauswirth of Aspirua Keweenaw Hospital.

Announcements, questions, and Happy Dollars:

Capt Don gave Happy bucks to celebrate the 40th season of the Isle Royale Queen.

Question: Any idea when we will see Tom Scanlon at a CLK Rotary meeting?

President Jim announced programs for the next couple weeks> May 19, CHOICES program with guests from LL/Hubbell and CLK Schools. May 26, Matt Vertin on CLK Junior Hockey.


Today's program featured both Chuck Nelson and Scot Gavaret. Chuck called his presentation, "The Changing Spectrum of Health Care in the U.P." With its acquisition of the Ontonagon hospital and partnership with Keweenaw, Aspirus Health system has invested over $20 million dollars in the western UP. This investment has helped 800 employees working in 5 counties of the UP. The total payroll is $25 million.
Chuck stressed the Aspirus was invited to the UP as opposed to making a strategic move.

Scot's presentation focused on the New Level of Choice for Cardiac Care in Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon counties. The Aspirus Cardiac and Vascular institute is up and running with a cardiologist on staff at Aspirus Keweenaw.

In general, Aspirus health system is an integrated system. The system operates a hospital in Wausau plus 4 critical access hospitals (including Keweenaw) and a number of clinics. Their mottos is: "Passion for Excellence and Compassion for People."

Aspirus has received a number of awards including top 50 ranking as a hospital and several other top ratings by industry publications.

A very inspired and inspiring presentation. See you Wednesday.

Business Meeting, May 5, 2010

Well, May is here so Dumb and Dumber are back at work on the blog.

We had 16 Rotarians at lunch, a small but lively group!

President Jim's announcements:

Welcome back to Capt Don (we missed you) and today, May 5, is Cinco de Mayo day. Those first two comments generated some discussion.

Then Jim reminded us that the district region conference is May 14 - 15 at Eagle River WI. Though it is the last minute, CLK Rotarians are encouraged to attend.

Kudos and thanks to Jeff Primeau for developing the Club Website!. If you have not looked at it, check it our by clicking on this link: www.clkrotary.org

There were no birthdays this month. We need to recruit new members with May birthdates.

President Jim presented a list of donation request that had been received. The Board recommended $100 for Chamber membership. A motion was made and passed to pay no more than $500 for the CLK JROTC program request. This motion was tabled. All other requests were denied at this time.

Next board meeting is May 18 at 4pm at Range Bank on Calumet Ave. Officers are reminded to attend.

Other announcements: the program schedule for May is ready and Frank Fiala has resigned from the club,

Committee Reports:

Tammies Committee will be meeting soon. Tammies here on August 14.

Scholarship committee has met and has a candidate from each school.

See you on Wednesday.