Club Meeting Featuring, Wayne County Sheriff, Raphael Washington

Our meeting was opened with an Invocation led by Mike Ladwig, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

President Nancy reported that Rotary International wants the clubs to focus on the Next Generation of Leaders.  Nancy is very happy that our club has two active Interact groups at Churchill HS and Stevenson HS.

Our Club is pleased that the ultrasound machine has finally arrived at the maternity clinic in Cameroon.  The residents are happy, dancing around the machine in thanks, as shown in this video.  Bob Carris will talk to the doctor there on WhatsApp this coming week.

Happy Bucks were collected by Sharon Pommerville, a lot of those were for Nancy's "Nancy Darga Day" award from the City of Northville. Congratulations, Nancy!

Club was happy to hear that the Monks finally made it to Washington DC.

We are very pleased to have Raphael Washington, Sheriff of Wayne County and three of his co-workers who work on community engagement with us today. Since the county is so large, with 43 cities and townships, the sheriff's department needed to divide the county into parts so that citizens are better served.  That’s why the department has the community engagement officers. The main job of the Sheriff Department is to assist cities where needed, such as working parades, festivals, mounted unit, park patrol, marine unit, special response team, and patrol secondary roads.

The sheriff's department is one of the few in Michigan that still has a mounted unit. Sheriff Washington passed out the Wayne County Community resource guide. Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputies guard the 3rd Judicial District Circuit Court, which is the largest circuit court in Michigan.

When asked how he decided to join the service, he told the story that at a young age, he and several friends were playing ball with pop cans when one of the cans hit him in the face above his eye.  A police officer took him to the hospital to get stitched up. That officer followed Raphael through the years, talking to him, seeing how things were going, and that relationship led him to join the sheriff’s office.  He’s been in law enforcement for 43 years.

Last minute business, the Stevenson HS Interact club requested a $140 grant for a Valentine's Day donut sale at the school.  The group voted and accepted.

The meeting ended with the 4 Way Test, and one Greg Greene joke.

Susan Paluchniak