A Fantastic Regular Rotary Meeting
LAMR President Claude Kendrick chaired a great, action-packed LAMR Meeting, beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation by Mike Ladwig. Tammy Bonifield presided over a big haul of “Happy Bucks.” 15 LAMR Rotarians and 3 guests (Mitsy Morris, Livonia Democratic Club; Patrick McNally, Clarenceville Engagement Coordinator; and Matt Collins, Livonia Lions & Past Livonia District Governor) were present “live,” and 3 “also alive Zoomers.” A crowd of 21, total! It’s still “Bring A Friend to Rotary” Month. Announcements: Greg Greene noted that Saturday, May 11th, 9-11 is our “Adopt-a-Road” project on Five Mile; park at the Senior Center. Dave Burton affirmed that Thursday, May 2nd is National Day of Prayer, with the 50th Anniversary Year Livonia Prayer Breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at St. Mary’s Cultural Center on Merriman, north of Six Mile Road, and with a member and his son doing the Scripture readings.
Clarenceville High School
Our first and briefer speaker was Patrick McNally. Patrick introduced himself and mentioned two events coming up at Clarenceville High School: Friday, May 17th Career Opportunities Day presentations for career awareness; and May 29th, an end of the year event. Rotarians are welcome to these. To volunteer or find out more information, you may inquire of Patrick at: Patrick.McNally@Clarencevilleschools.org. He also noted that as Engagement Coordinator for community outreach, and under his watch, absenteeism at Clarenceville has had a 20% improvement this past year. Our LAMR is also looking into the possibility of starting an Interact Club at Clarenceville.
Matt Collins and Kids Coalition Against Hunger
Our old friend and distinguished partner in Livonia community service, Matt Collins, thanked our Livonia A.M. Rotary Club for outstanding collaborative service in our city and world. Matt is “Lions-through-and-through,” having served many years as Livonia Lions Club President and recently as the Lions District Governor for their district. Matt mentioned the upcoming Kids Coalition Against Hunger (KCAH) meal-packing events, to which we can or are joining in:
Saturday, June 8th (Lions-sponsored), noting that we also, as the LAMR club, are doing Passport-to-Safety on the same date, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the LPD and Livonia Fire Dept. parking lots. Maybe some can do both!
Saturday, October 12th (LAMR-sponsored) KCAH meal packing event at St. Edith’s RCC gym, 9:00-11:30 a.m. Matt noted that in the decade-plus of our KCAH meal-packing events in Livonia, we are approaching the half-million meals mark!
Matt mentioned projects we have also done together (Lions and Rotary) in addition to KCAH, including Sleep-in-Heavenly-Peace (bed building for children) and during COVID the candy and flower distributions at St. Mary-Mercy Hospital (now Trinity Health) for nurses and other health workers. The Lions have been known for their service in providing eyeglasses, sending eyeglasses (including sunglasses) to MOST Ministries (in Ann Arbor) and Seedlings Braille Books for Children (in Livonia). Matt noted that the Lions would be doing diabetic-retinopathy screening at the Livonia Spree, and volunteer screeners would be needed. Lion Matt especially spoke about Diabetic Retinopathy, an eye condition that can cause vision loss and blindness in people who have diabetes and a completely preventable disease. Livonia Lion Daniel Rathbun has gotten a grant to study this disease. Matt suggested that vision screening could be done at the Touch-A-Truck (pending Interact Club approval). They have an ambulance and trailer to take D-R screening on the road. What a project! In short, Matt applauded our efforts to work together to help build a better Livonia.
We closed with the Rotary Four Way Test, but no Greg Greene jokes.
- Dave Stechholz
P.S. Tickets to the Livonia Civic Chorus “I Write the Songs” Spring Concert on Sunday, May 19th 3:00 p.m. at Stevenson High School Auditorium are available from Larry Stephen, Victoria Haltom, or Dave Stechholz. ($15 per adult).
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