(With spring training almost upon us, I thought it might be nice to remind everyone that the "boys of summer" are heading south...besides, I am in Chicago without my Rotary pictures. The pitcher is young Rick Portcello throwing the first pitch of the 2009 season to a member of the NY Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida.) Twenty Rotarians were present and Mike Agin, Exec Director of Little Brothers, who was our program guest for the meeting.
After Happy Dollars and fines were paid, President Jim introduced Mike Agin for the program.
Mike began by thanking CLK Rotary for sponsoring his daughter, Hannah, as an exchange student. Hannah spent 1 yr in Poland. She is now attending school In Iowa and making the effort to keep her Polish language skills current.
Mike focused upon the Firewood Program operated by Little Brothers. This program provides split firewood for 81 seniors in the 2 county area. Little Brothers gets volunteer help from Michigan Tech fraternities, church groups, Rockhurst University in Kansas, and a group from Traverse City MI. The volunteers cut, split, stack and help deliver the firewood to needy clients.
Firewood is either purchased by Little Brothers or donated. This year, Camp Kitwen in Painesdale was closed leaving several hundred cords of firewood. The prison system donated 100 cords to Little Brothers. With help from local contractors, the 100 cords was moved to the 2 lots Little Brothers uses for cutting & storage.
This is a big undertaking. The senior citizens cannot afford gas/oil/ electric heat so the firewood helps to keep their expenses down while keeping the house warm. To accomplish this enormous task, Little Brothers maintains an inventory of 12 chainsaws, 3 hydraulic splitters, 15 splitting mauls and a variety of other tools.
After Mike fielded several questions from members, President Jim presented him with a check from CLK Rotary as a donation from our club.
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