Our program today was Calvin Prison Initiative, a partnership between Calvin Theological Seminary and Calvin University. Dr. Matt Bruce was our guest in the presentation today, and walked us through this very important initiative.
Both Calvin and Hope in West Michigan offer opportunities for those incarcerated to earn full bachelor degrees. The Calvin Program srated in 2015 and is nor over 10 years old. So far there have been 87 graduates, and they were the first program in a Michigan State Prison to offer a Bachelor of Arts degree. Dr. Bruce touched on the funding, which comes from grants from PELL and through generous donations in the private sector.
The United States has the 5th highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. While less than 5% of the world's population in in the United States, but over 20% of the world's incarcerated population resides in the United Sates.
Why does Calvin offer this program? Calvin has found to have had a 0% return rate of those that earned a full degree while in the program to return to being incarcerated after release. This type of impact has positively impacted many local families in the West Michigan community. Programs like these are becoming more popular, as they are offering a better alternative for those incarcerated to better their future compared to joining possible prison gangs or wasting time with no impact on their future life.
Rotary is sponsoring a Food Truck at St. Pat's Church on Friday, February 6th, between 9:00am and 11:30am. Reply to John King's email if you are able to assist!
The District 6290 50/50 raffle has begun. Tickets are $20 each, or 5 for $100. See Tom Manderscheid for your ticket!
Change for Change jar is on the back table. Drop your change to assist our Interact Club in granting additional Micro-Loans with the Interact Club of Grand Haven High School.
We have a Rotary Spotlight every month on WAWL.
Next year's Rotary International is being held in Tiapei Taiwan, Gernot and Kirstin are looking to see if any members are interested in attending. Cost will only be $5000 in total.
Save the Date - Friday, March 27th will be a Literacy Summit at Trillium in Spring Lake
The Jeep Raffle is starting. The Grand Haven aquatics center is the beneficiary and the drawing will be this summer. Let's sell 1,000 tickets!
50/50 Raffle: We collected some amount of dollars today, making the running total something more than that. There were no winners, so the pot rolls over!
Coffee at the Grand Haven Rotary Meetings provided by Kenzie's BE Cafe - please be sure to thank them by visiting the shop for a coffee or your next meeting!
