Spotlight 05-01-12, Vol. 74, No. 18

Brighton Rotary Spotlight

Jane McManus, President

May 1, 2012, Vol. 74, No. 18

Guests:           Fred Arthur, wk 1; Dave Pothier, wk3; Bryan Bradford, Liv. Sunrise Rotary: Scott Brauer, VFW; Susan Kledzik, web designer; Cindy Longton, Insurance Restoration.

Announcements:

Past President Lori Lalama was introduced by Vice-President Pam McConeghy as volunteering to run today’s meeting in President Jane’s absence.

Congratulations to SELCRA for being awarded the 2012 Extraordinary Organization Award from the

The Rotary Runners are gearing up for a run tonight at 5:15pm from Naked Guy” statue at the Millpond.   See Greg Strouse or Mike Bourke for more information.

DON’T FORGET Gleaners on Saturday from 9am-12noon.  All volunteers are welcome!

Raiders Ramp Project for Saturday’s Labor of Love Day of Caring went very smoothly and recorded the first Raiders “double” when stairs were constructed at a ramp site plus a ramp was installed!  Thank you to our regulars and to our newest member Dave Pothier who joined the group before officially joining the Club!.

The Rotary Scholarship committee will be interviewing candidates from Brighton High School on May 3^rd beginning at 12:30pm..  All Rotarians are invited to join the committee and help provide up to $6,000 of scholarship support to promising, young BHS graduates.  See Cathy Riesterer for information.

Bill Anderson announced that the sunny weather on Sunday’s March of Dimes Walk  brought many walkers appreciative of the ice cream  provided by Tina & Dave Eicher, the pizza provided by Dave Plait, at our checkpoint. Volunteers included Michele bouhana, Lee Gough, Bill Gartley, Pam McConeghy as MC, George Moses with video/photo; Brian Parsons, Dave Pothier, Peggi Tuggle (who collected $250 thanks to Club pledges), and Brian Wutz.  Donations from Executive Financial Planning, Brighton Animal Hospital, Brighton Ford, MicroWorks, Michigan Commerce Bank, and Refrigeration Research made a great impact on the success of the  event.  Thank You!

Mike McManus compiled videos to present at last weekend’s District Conference.  All who have photos and/or videos that can be loaded on the Rotary laptop are asked to contact Mike so that they will be available for future Club use.

Our Club will be sponsoring a Rotary Youth Exchange Student this coming school year:  Matias Esteban Jara Cantreras, “Matti” for short, is from Santiago, Chile.  He will be staying with the families of  Stan Schafer and Terry Gill.  A third family is sought.  If interested, see Cathy Riesterer.

President Jane and Mike McManus left on Sunday to travel to Bangkok, Thailand to attend the Rotary International conference on behalf of our Club.  Their flight was initially delayed 2 hours in Detroit, traveled to Minnesota where they were told the plane had to return to Detroit.  After spending the night in Metro Airport, they finally landed in Toyko at 11:30pm last night and should have landed in Thailand during our meeting.  Stay tuned for photos and an interesting update when they return!  Watch the RI conference beginning on Tuesday, May 8, in English at http://rotary2012.sessionupload.com/  For the latest convention coverage, go to www.rotary.org

Brian Parsons alerted the  Club that an ALS Awareness Walk organized by Raiders Ramp Receipent Don Barnowski’s son will be held this Sunday, 5/6/`1 at noon beginning at the Johnson Center.

Upcoming Events:

05/05/12    9am                 Gleaners Food Bank Volunteers

05/5-9/12                           Rotary International Conference in Thailand

6/26/12                              President’s Night

Program:

Program Host Jim Barnas introduced Bryan Bradford and Piet Lindhout who discussed the Veterans Memorial planned for downtown Brighton at Mill Pond Park.  To begin the presentation, Jim asked all veterans present today to stand and be recognized.  The group included Bryan Bradford, Scott Brauer,Ron Cleveland, Dennis Kalio, and Bill McCririe. Our speaker, Bryan Bradford, is a member of the Livingston Sunrise Rotary and vice president of the Veterans Memorial committee.  Thursday, 5/3/12, the Brighton City Council will consider final approval of the Memorial plan.  In 1989, the Mill Pond Park Project placed the well-known Veterans Memorial Rock onto a pedestal, front and center as visitors entered the Mill Pond area from Main Street.  Piet proposed that the Memorial needed to better commemorate the contributions of area veterans and with the considerable assistance of his father and area veterans groups proposed the current design to be placed on a hill behind the old Town Hall building and the concert amphitheater.  The memorial will provide a place for reflection and consideration of the many sacrifices made by our veterans.  If final approval is given this week, groundbreaking is scheduled for May 28^th at 11:30am with construction to begin after Labor Day and be complete by Veterans Day.  Funding for this project will be provided by business and individual donations.  More information can be found at www.BrightonVeteransMemorial.org. 

Progressive 50/50 Drawing  $685  pot in week 7, 31 cards remain.   Adrienne Knackg drew the six of diamonds; Jeff Billig drew the nine of hearts; and Jim Barnas drew the seven of spades.