Livonia First Citizen 2024 - Holli Kerkhof

Our meeting opened with a Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance led by Bob Carris, dressed in his prince outfit and hat from his time in Cameroon.

Russell Biesinger, a guest of Reverent Dave Stechholz, was visiting our club. Welcome, Russell, we hope to see you again at our club.

President Claude Kendrick asked members who attended the District Assembly on April 27th in Windsor for feedback. Tammy Bonifield said she had a lot of people in her workshop for club treasurers. There was also a workshop that dealt with ''why people come to the club and why they stay there". It was brought up that there was a lot of material on the main Rotary.org site. Scroll to the learning center to access this information. It was discussed that each club is expected to raise $1400 this year towards the Polio Eradication effort. Our club exceeded that amount last year because of the spaghetti dinner this past Fall.

District Conference in Grand Rapids, May 3rd-5th was summarized by Tammy. She also mentioned that our Club won the Dick Hedke Award for "Membership." Tammy said that's because we care about our members. Nancy Darga summed up the event as standing on a beach with waves of information floating over your feet with groups of neighbors all over the world to help you. Dave mentioned that our club had 11 members in attendance, more than any other of the 54 District clubs.

Shirt Embroidering: Bob Carris reminded members that he will be taking shirts to be embroidered with our Club logo next week after the meeting on May 15th. Bring the shirts to our next meeting along with $13.50 for the embroidering fee. 

Adopt A Road Cleanup: This Saturday at 8:00 AM. Meet at the Senior Center. Donuts, coffee, juice, and water will be provided. Please bring your own gloves. Grabbers to assist in picking up trash will be provided.

Livonia First Citizen 2024 - Holli Kerkhof: 

The speaker for our meeting was Holli Kerkhof, Livonia First Citizen 2024. Holli is quoted as saying, "It seems like one thing always leads to another. So many groups have needs, and I like to get my hands dirty and help them if I can."

Holli works at Community Choice Credit Union, which focuses on doing projects for the community that feed her need to help people and causes.

She is a member of the Livonia Rotary (Noon) Club, Livonia Lions, and the PTA. She recently took a vacation day to do a taco day at her son's school for the teachers and support staff.



Holli goes to Chamber of Commerce meetings for her job but it also connects her to other groups. Farmington Cares is another organization that she's involved with. Cares supports 8 communities surrounding Farmington that are in need of everyday necessities due to insufficient financial resources. Cares gives monthly food assistance to 700 families. These families "shop" for food by appointment. They can pick out what they want in the store and then go through a checkout line, just like a regular grocery store. This way, if kids go with parents, they don't know the food comes at no cost to parents.

Holli's giving shows other ways, too. When she bought Flower cards that gave away a free arrangement each month, she bought two cards so she could give someone a free flower arrangement just because. 

Community Choice Credit Union offers free credit counseling to help couples get into a home. The credit union also provides student backpacks and teacher boxes full of supplies. The credit Union stresses members volunteering for nonprofits. It appears that Holli has found a perfect place to work and volunteer, a place to get her hands "dirty" and help the community. 

Susan Paluchniak