Club Assembly - April Fool's Day

7 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 17 hours ago

It’s “Environmental Month,” fellow Rotarians, as we support the environment and ecological, sustainable initiatives. After the Pledge of Allegiance, led by President Nancy Darga, an invocation was given by Bob Carris, commending hospitalized but recovering “founding member” Sharon Pommerville to God’s care. Fourteen members of our Livonia A.M. Rotary Club, plus six guests and two Zoomers, made for a happy gathering of 22 of us.

Subbing for Sharon, Tammy Bonifield collected happy bucks. Mike Ladwig got busted in his happy buck April Fool’s joke that he was leaving shortly on a plane to marry a star in Las Vegas. Nice try, Mike; you had almost everyone fooled.

PDG Russ Jones graciously presented Rev. Dave Stechholz and his wife, Janet, with a major donor lapel pin and a lovely inscribed crystal. Russ emphasized how gifts to TRF (The Rotary Foundation) are “gifts that keep giving,” touching human lives around the globe.

Sharon Pommerville will also be receiving a special recognition when she returns to our meetings.

The Rotary magazine’s April featured article was on malaria eradication, with many other special articles for Rotarians to read. President Nancy then highlighted a number of items:

It’s time to register and book your room for the District Conference at Frankenmuth, May 1–3. Bill Friske will be honored at the Conference by carrying a Rotary flag during opening ceremonies.
The Livonia Rotary (Noon) Club’s Easter Egg Hunt candy packing took place last Saturday, and the Easter Egg Hunt is Saturday, April 4th at Rotary Park, 9:00 a.m.

Volunteers are welcome.Re-Build Rotary Park: Progress on the new Rotary Park pavilion was noted, complete with pictures. A mural, fireplace grill and grate, tables, and the peace pole and Rotary sign were all discussed. The ribbon-cutting is tentatively set for June 2nd.

Bill Friske spoke about the chartering of the new Riverview Rotary Club on March 25th, joined by club members Nancy Darga, Sharon Pommerville, and Tammy Bonifield.
The joint Rotary clubs’ Wine Tasting event during the Livonia Spree was reported, with Wayne Kinney, Erin Dobbins, and Deanna Gaffney working on this.
The Awards Committee met Sunday afternoon, March 29th, and completed applications for the Hedke, Archer, Jennifer Jones, and other awards.
RYLA is coming up at Camp Copneconic, Fenton. At least one Churchill High School student whom we are sponsoring will be attending.
Several of us will be attending the Saturday, 8:00 a.m., April 18th District 6400 Assembly at the Plymouth Cultural Center.
Deanna Gaffney talked about the really cool Livonia Rotary sister club’s Grub Crawl at eight different restaurants and bakeries in Livonia on Thursday, April 16th ($40 per person), ending up at O’Malley’s. Mark your calendars.
In view of Sharon’s hospitalization after she got pretty sick (a kidney stone) at the Awards Committee meeting, and Tammy Bonifield graciously taking her to the ER, it was recommended that, through DACdb, we have emergency contact information. A great suggestion.
Lastly, President Nancy mentioned the Saving the Sibley Prairie Coalition, a prairie project in the Brownstown area. This environmental project is “for the birds” (humor, meaning the inclusion of bird migratory settings). This may be a major project, with more information to come.