Club Meeting, Featuring: Katie Dodge, Livonia Early Childhood Center

Today’s meeting was chaired by our President-elect, Erin Dobbins, as our

outgoing President Dave Stechholz and our current President, Nancy Darga are still in Calgary, attending the Rotary International Conference.

Our speaker today was Katie Dodge, the principal of the Livonia Early Childhood Center located at 18000 Newburgh Rd.

Katie has been a resident of Livonia since second grade and began teaching in Livonia in 2008. Her PhD is in Special Education and the Gifted and Talented. She has been the principal of the Center for 5 years.

The Childhood Center serves 700 children with a staff of 125.

Programs include Early on Michigan, Child Care for 6 week to 35 months old children, and programs for 3 to 4 year olds. The Center also has 2 speech programs. The Early On Michigan Program is specifically for infants and toddlers, birth to 3 years, whose parents need help finding social, health and educational services that will promote the development of their children with special needs. The programs for 3 and 4 year olds are full and half day programs. Priority is given to children who live in Livonia and program spots are limited.

The remainder of the meeting focused on the Wine Tasting Event that the Livonia Rotary Clubs are sponsoring on Friday, June 27, from 5-7 PM at the Eddie Edgar Ice Arena. This event is a fundraiser for the Rebuild Rotary Park Project and is part of the Livonia Spree Celebration. Details for set-up and volunteer spots were discussed. There will be a 50/50 raffle and a Spin the Wheel opportunity. Tickets are $35.00 per person.

Claude Kendrick reported that plans for Touch a Truck have already begun and the Interact Club is proposing some new and exciting add-ons for this year.

A reminder that there is no Rotary meeting next week on July 2nd due to the 4th of July holiday. The next upcoming volunteer opportunity is Road Clean-up on Saturday, July 19th.

Several members met after the meeting to finalize plans for the Wine Tasting Event. This is an ambitious event—thank you to all who have devoted time and effort to make this a success.

 Victoria Haltom