Regfular Meeting, June 23, 2010

Welcome to the penultimate week of Jim Lowell's tenure as our president.

Our meeting today had 23 Rotarians and guests attending! A good crowd!

Guests: Dave and Linda Grahek; Katie Curtis, Aspirus Keweenaw Rehab & Fitness; Karen Kelly, RN Portage Health Dialysis: Jane Nordberg, Portage Health.

The meeting opened with a song (albeit a different song than our usual) and pledge followed by President Jim calling the meeting to order. First reading of Janice Torgeson Vivian as prospective member.

President Jim announced a change in the slate of incoming officers. Sandy Huuki, prospective Treasurer, has declined the position leaving the Treasurer position vacant. Rich Schaefer was nominated for Treasurer. Motion by Dalquist, second by Scanlon to elect Rich Schaefer as Secretary/Treasurer for the upcoming year. Motion passed unanimously.

CLK Rotary incoming officers are: Tim Baroni-President, Kathy Johnson-vice President, Rich Schaefer Secretary/Treasurer. President-elect Tim is also looking for Rotarians interested in participating as Board members. Please contact Tim Baroni if you are interested.

We collected multiple fines including a table fined for eating out of order.

Katie Curtis – Copperman Triathlong Organizing committee, asked the Club for Rotarians to help man the Esery park turn-around spot for the bike component of the Copperman. Katie needs 5-6 CLK Rotarians for this event – August 7. Several members signed up on the spot with more needed!

Program: Karen Kelly presented a request for Organ Donors. Portage Health has commited to recruit 400 organ donors this year. Donors need to register at a web site (www.giftoflifemichigan.org or at the Secretary of State. Karen cautioned the club to verify your registration on the web site listed above. The old system of signing the back of driver’s license is not official.

Michigan is 42^nd in the country for registered donors. The Michigan Hospital Association is working to change that. There are 3000 people in Michigan waiting for transplant and over 104,000 in the US. Karen reminded us that one body can supply more than 50 parts to recipients.

Interest in becoming an organ donor? Follow these steps:

1> Go to www.giftoflifemichigan.org

2> Click on the “Become a donor” tab at the top of the page

3> In the box “Where did you hear about organ donation?” select “Hospital”.

4> In the box to select a hospital name, select the hospital of your choice.

5> Answer Yes or No to the question “Do you have a valid Michigan Driver’s license or State ID?”

6> If yes, enter your Michigan driver’s license number or State ID card number in the box provided. If no, you will be prompted for your street address.

7> Enter your name (as listed on your licenses or state id) in the box provided

8> Enter your date of birth in the box provided

9> Click “SUBMIT”.

10> In a few weeks, you will receive a heart sticker from the Michigan Secretary of State. Affix this sticker to your driver’s license. Future licenses will have a heart already embedded on your new license.

(Our presenters for the organ donation program, Jane Nordberg and Karen Kelly, posing in front of the Organ Donation Quilt.)

Regular Meeting, June 16, 2010

(Tori Roose, Mike Fouts, our high school scholarship recipients with President Jim,)

Attendance was 20 members and 7 guests, a nice full house. Guests were Tom Liljegren, Bob Sharkey, incoming District Governor, Scott Dianda, 110 District Candidate, Jeanette Polkinghorn and Lois Webber who were our program speakers, Mike Fouts and Tori Roose, our CLK Rotary Scholarship recipients. Returning Rotarians: Dave & Linda Grahek and Tom Scanlon

This enthusiastic group was full of Happy Dollars and fines. I could not keep track of who was paying for what purpose.

President Jim Lowell presented Scholarship checks to Tori Roose, our Lake Linden HS graduate who will attend Baker College to study as a Radiology Technician and Mike Fouts, CLK graduate attending the Powersport Institute of Ohio Tech College.

Our program featured Jeanette Polkinghorn and Lois Webber on a program called Simple Kindness for Youth (SKY). This program focuses on kids needs that are not being met through other programs. The example given was a child who wanted to join a swim team but whose parents could not afford to buy a swimming suit. SKY stepped in with a grant to buy the suit.

The program’s mission statement: To help young people build and maintain their self-esteem by providing means to access basic needs, enable them to feel accepted by their peers, and enable access to educational activities and community participation. Administration of the program is by SKY board members who are volunteers.

(Our program speakers representing SKY)

SKY Grants may not exceed $50 and are submitted by teachers, educational staff and other designated human services personnel. No other persons may submit applications for grants. The program focuses on youth in Houghton, Keweenaw and Baraga counties.

SKY accepts contributions (their budget calls for $10000 in contributions). The organization is located at 809 Hecla St in Hancock. Website is: www.simplekindnessforyouth.org

A very interesting program.

Regular Meeting, June 9, 2010

Inasmuch as Jim Lowell is approaching the end of his presidency I wanted to publish this picture of him taken at what must have been one of his proudest moments: presiding at the 60th anniversary of the CLK Rotary. Dressed for the occasion, Jim here displays a banner from the Killarney Club of Ireland.

Our meeting Wednesday again was sparse of members with only 13 in attendance, Thankfully 6 guests were there to fill up the tables somewhat. Guests were Marie Buche and Debbie Bradford from the Houghton Rotary, Dave and Linda Grahek who have returned for the summer, Betty Kilpela, and our speaker, Shawn Oppliger.

In last week's blog, Dan, wrote about the seriousness of the low membership attendance. Question: is this just an anomaly, some sort of ennui or torpor settling in temporarily or is it more or less the "way things will be" from now on. Only the membership can answer that and I for one hope that the rest of the month as well as next year is more characteristic of our usual commitment to the CLK Rotary.

Our guest speaker, Shawn Oppliger, is the Project Manager and School Coordinator for the Copper Country ISD and Western UP Center for Science, Math and Environmental Education. She gave a spirited and informative program about the school projects underway for the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative. One is amazed at the quality of the projects selected both in doing some good for the area and in teaching the participants leadership and stewardship skills.

For example, the C-L-K Horizons High School has 43 students working on "developing and implementing a plan to make the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge golf course into an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary and Habitat for birds and bats. Another example is the 45 students from the Lake Linden-Hubbell Middle School working as stewards of the shoreline of Torch lake's Adopt-a-Beach program. These are the other fine example of the LS Stewardship Initiative were presented as well.

A fine program unfortunately missed by many. For more information, check out www.lakesuperiorstewardship.org.

Among others with June birthdays, June 9, was the birthday of our two oldest members, Joe Enrietti (85) and Capt Don (80). Joe is also our longest serving member. Joe showed me his orders for deployment on June 9, 1945 when he was deployed from Europe to the USA for a 30 day leave and later more training with the eventuality to be sent to the Pacific rim. Joe was a tail gunner on a B-25 in the Army Air Corps and is presently the only CLK Rotarian who served in World War II. Had the war not ended, Joe would have been assigned to a B-29 bomber.

Capt. Don served in the Korean Conflict as a sergeant in the Shore Patrol of the US Marine Corps but never made it to Korea. He spent his brief military career stationed in Coronado, California.

On behalf of all the June birthdays, Joe and Don presented a cake for our dessert and another round of "Happy Birthday" was rendered.

Incidentally, today's blogger forgot his camera so there were no pictures to mark the occasion..

Monthly Business Meeting, June 2, 2010

For our monthly Business meeting, the attendance was very light: 14 Rotarians, no guests! The above photo gives us the message: Rotary is about Attendance! We need to see CLK Rotarians weekly on Wednesday at the Irish Times. We all find times we cannot attend however the non-attendance needs to be the exception. So, please dedicate yourselves to look at your work calendar and try to set an appointment every Wednesday at 11:45 – 1: 15 to attend your Rotary Club meeting. We would love to see you there.

June birthdays: Sue Dana, Joe Enrietti, Don Kilpela, Jim Lowrie, Sandy Huuki and Tom Scanlon. Capt Don and Joe share the same birth date. A lusty song was rendered for the usual price.

Speaking of attendance, for the past month it was 58%; this can and should be improved. The moth did have some perfect attendees: Capt Don, Steve D, Phil S, Jim Lowell, Pete V and Dan D.

Tips on making up a meeting: attend Houghton (Thursday noon at Franklin Sq Inn) or Hancock (Monday noon at the Ramada Inn) or you can also make up at www.rotaryeclubone.org

President Jim announced the June programs: June 9 will be Shawn Oppliger, June 16 will be our Scholarship award recipients, and June 23 is Portage Health organ donation program.

Club Finances: checkbook balance of $7572.21 and Savings of $4208.39 and all approved expenses have been paid. Joel estimated the Spaghetti Dinner netted the club approx $1,200.

Scholarship committee has chosen a CLK student and LL/Hubbell student. We expect to meet them at a noon meeting on Wed June 16.

Tamburitzans: Tickets are ready to sell. All CLK Rotary members need to be active in this project. The reality is the more tickets we (You and I) sell the more money the club makes. Selling 500 tickets nets us approx $1,779. Selling 600 tickets brings us almost $2,900. So….Buy tickets yourself! When was the last time you saw the Tammies?? Buy tickets for giveaway to a charity. Sell tickets to everyone you meet. Need a sales pitch? Try This:

Our RotaryClub is hosting the Tamburitzans for the 65^th (estimated) consecutive year. Proceeds from the show support CLK Rotary projects including CLK Scholarship and LL/H Scholarship and support of the "No Child Without a Christmas" program. The Tammies dances change every year as the students change. You need to come and see this show. I have tickets for sale: Would you like 4 or 6?”

Try the above presentation or something close to it. It works!

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.