Spotlight 1-18-11, Vol 73, No. 2

Brighton Rotary Spotlight

Jeremy Jones, President

January 18, 2011, Vol. 73, No.2

Guests:            Adrienne Knack, wk1; Bryan Bradford, Liv. Sunrise Rotary; Eric Guerin, BCPA Mgr; Jeanine Kenny, St. Patrick School Principal; Frank Mancusu, Attorney; Jae Plaweiki, Junior Achievement; Anne Rennie, Brighton Community Ed; Claudie Roblee, Brighton City Council.

Announcements:

President Jeremy played in the Michigan Pond Hockey Classic this weekend on Whitmore Lake, and his team lost in the championship game by only one goal, but had a ton of fun!

Ticket sales for the Jeff Daniels' concert on 3/19 at 8pm are close to 300 tickets sold-the BCPA is a third full and public sale will not start until later this week!  Sponsors for the event include Citizens Insurance ($5,000), Duncan Chiropractic ($1,000), Level One Bank ($1,000), Micro Works Computing ($1,000), and Toole Insurance Agency ($1,000) Two sponsorship opportunities are available for purchase and today is the deadline-contact Mark Sweatman, Michele Bouhana, or Jeremy Jones if interested.  Six or seven Interact students are needed to help usher and sell tickets on 3/19 at the BCPA.

Rotary Foundation meeting will be held next Tuesday, 1/25, at 1:30pm.  See Jeff Toole for info.

Good Deed Doers project this month (organized by Tom Coates. Anne Belser, Bill Metz and Mark Sweatman), will be sending American flags to  Tom's son's troop in Afghanistan.  Fifty hand-sewn, American-made, flags will be sent for the servicemen to keep along with a note from our Club.  A donation bucket was passed to collect funds for purchase and shipping.

Bill Gartley announced that Interact and Sylvan Learning Center are hosting another Practice ACT test on Saturday, February 5^th at a cost of $25 in advance, $30 at the door.  Register at the Brighton District Library or Sylvan Learning Center.

Jae Plaweiki and Janine Kenny from the St. Patrick School Junior Achievement Program presented Mike Bourke, President Jeremy, and Rotary with a glass award honoring our Club's support of JA.  Last year, the seventh grade class created a business, elected officers, held stockholder meetings, sold candy bars and earned enough money to travel to Washington, D.C., on May 2-4 of this year.  Rotarians interested in teaching or helping with JA should contact Mike Bourke.

Rotary Readers have received a call to participate in Community Connect on Saturday, January 28, 29011 from 9am-2pm at the Cornerstone Church.  Nancy Johnson has gathered volunteers, and additional helpers are welcome to join.  Nancy shared potential books that students would enjoy hearing to give readers an idea of books they may wish to share.

Rotary Youth Study Exchange seeks host families to sponsor a student during the 2011-2012 school year.  Both in-bound and out-bound students will be participating, so if you know a student that would like to be an exchange student or if you would like to host a student from 3-12 months (your choice), please contact Jane McManus or President Jeremy.  Terry Gill and his family have volunteered to host a student, but would like 1 or 2 more families to collaborate with this venture.  Students would be in Brighton from August to June.

The VINA Dental Clinic is trying to expand their services to meet community needs and is hosting a Dinner-Auction at Lakelands Country Club on February 6^th.  Tickets are $75/person and items for purchase include a timeshare in the Bahamas and other trips.  Cathy Riesterer has posters available to publicize the event.

The Livingston Sunrise Rotary is hosting "Midnight in the Tropics" buffet dinner dance fundraiser on January 21^st from 7-11pm at The Johnson Center of Cleary College.  Cost is $50/person and the Grand Prize of the door prizes is 8 days in St. Croix.  For tickets or information, contact Jim Lawrence @ 810-220-0755 or Carrie Gautsche at 810-919-7049

Upcoming Events:

01/25/11    1:30pm            Rotary Foundation Meeting, Community Center

01/29/11                            Rotary Readers, Community Connect @ Cornerstone Church

03/19/11                            Fundraising Concert with Jeff Daniels at the BCPA

06/28/11                            President's Night

Program:

Program host Michele Bouhana introduced Matt Modrack, Downtown Development Authority (DDA)  Director for the City of Brighton.  Matt came to Brighton in 2005, after holding positions in Canton Township, Lapeer and Royal Oak.  New activity in Brighton includes:  205 West Street (former TCF Bank location): an office/retail building, $2 million investment in the City; Bagger Daves on Grand River (former Country Squire location), $900,000 investment; The Pound on West Main Street (former Singer Press building) with planned rooftop dining, and a new raised crosswalk at West and Main streets. New Directions for the DDA include pursuing more grants, PSD cooperative advertising, purchase of the Chamber of Commerce site, and re-development liquor licenses.  The goal of the DDA is to do what businesses can't do:  parking, festivals and remove barriers.

Progressive 50/50 Drawing :  $175 pot and 49 cards remain.  Matt Modrack drew a Two of diamonds, Emil Engle drew a Three of diamonds, and Cathy Riesterer drew the Eight of hearts.