This week we had a field trip to Honor Community Health in its new location on Cass Avenue. What was formally the Webber Media Arts Academy is now a new health center with walk-in services providing high quality care to individuals and families regardless of ability to pay, insurance status or place of residence. Our host was Chris Jackson who gave us a tour of the facility along with Oakland 360 walk-in care center and introduced us to CEO Debra Brinson and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nikhil Hemady. We got to hear how excited and proud everyone was that HCH will become Michigan’s first family Medicine Residency Program that identifies as a Federally Qualified Health Center based Teaching Health Center. Chris hopes that they can make District One the medical anchor of Pontiac.
This week Rick David and Payton Triplette started a discussion about the revitalization of Pontiac. The comparison was made between Detroit and Pontiac, which have both seen bankruptcy, population decline, fractured infrastructure and negative perception. Detroit is now thriving, but Pontiac is still floundering trying to find a way to turn around its city. This conversation brought a lot of talk about what could be done and what needs to be done to make Pontiac a city that brings people and business back to the city. We all agreed that an hour of time is just not enough time for all the dialog for this subject, which is why we will turn this into a 3-part discussion.
It was field trip week, and we went to the Pontiac Transportation Museum. Some of us had been to the museum when it first opened in May 2024, but we were all surprised how much has changed, or should we say grown. When we first visited, only phase 1 was open; now phase 1 is entirely different, and phase 2 has opened. Rick only had about a half hour to give us a quick tour, and that was not enough time. The cars, the history, the memorabilia are all amazing, even if you are not a car buff, there is something for everyone to enjoy. And they are working on Phase 3. This place is such a gem that visitors from eighteen other countries have visited the museum, and we cannot wait for phase 3 to open.
This week our speaker was Charles White of Peer Pressure Elite Wrestling. Charles was there for two reasons, one to thank us for our charitable donation in purchasing the belts for his wrestling team and to talk about a collaboration between himself and Pontiac Rotary to get a football field installed in Rotary Park. Right now, they use the park 6 days a week (during the season) for practicing but play their games at Pontiac High School which costs them $4000.00 per season, and that is very costly to a team with little financial backing.
Our field trip this week was to city hall to meet newly appointed Chief of Staff, Sherikia Hawkins. Ms. Hawkins’ many responsibilities include a top 10 priorities plan for 2026 and making sure the various departments are hitting the ground running, staying on track to get these priorities accomplished. We also discussed programs for people in the middle (ages 28-58 yrs.) since they seem to get left out as most programs focus on youth and seniors, and the culture of the staff in City Hall, making sure everyone has an enjoyable working environment.
This week our speaker was Steve Waterfield, the director of Athletics at Oakland University. Steve was here to discuss NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness Rule) as well as the transfer portal and how it affects the sports teams at O.U. In short the transfer portal is a database where players (students) can transfer from one school to another, in hopes to be picked up by a higher racking school with a better chance of being played and seen by the pro’s, the problem with that is, if they don’t get picked up by another school, they run the risk of losing their spot on their original team or maybe even losing their scholarship.
Here we go... another year full of opportunities to engage in Pontiac through Pontiac Rotary! Join us!
As Sam enters the second half of his presidency, we still have lots to accomplish! In the interest of stewardship and sustainability, we've made some changes to the meeting schedule, (1st and 3rd Thursdays), lunch RSVPS (required in order to have a lunch available) and dues (to keep up with district and RI commitments.) Your Rotary Board wants to ensure that we are still around for our NEXT 100 years!
How can YOU be a part of our Rotary future? Join us at our next meeting an learn how you can get involved! It's going to be another great year to be a Rotarian!
Another Wonderful Parade! It was a cold and cloudy December Saturday, but the Pontiac Rotarians were not going to let that keep them from passing out over a thousand hats and a mountain of candy to the parade goers. We had an excellent group that walked along the route with our new “boat float”, and our very own Christmas elf (Rick David) at the helm. It was terrific to see all the smiling faces that came out to see Santa and a big thank you to all of the police and military people who were there to keep us safe.
Our very own President Sam dazzled all of us with his use of AI to create his powerpoint presentation, plan date nites with his wife, manage his personal finances, and get verbal feedback on his speaker skills! Sam talked about the efficiency potential of AI, which can alleviate some repetitive tasks and allow staff to work on more complex and value-added activities. There are projections of 20 - 40% productivity boost as AI is implemented in the workplace.
Last week our speaker was our very own Rick David. Rick has been exploring the world of AI and the generational effects it has on people today, as well as people as far back as the “Silent Generation” (1928-1945). As he explained each generation, “Baby Boomers” (1946-1964), “Generation X” (1965-1980), “Millennials” (1981-1996), “Gen Z” (1997-2012), “Gen Alpha” (2013 -Present) he talked about how technology effected their evolution. It brought about a lot of discussions in our group like; social media, personal interactions, communication or lack of communication, marriage, fertility, education, email vs texts, it went on and on. In conclusion as our meeting time ran out, our new club President Sam, pulled out his phone and blew all our minds with some AI technology that none of us had seen.
This week our speaker was Dr. Ashelin Currie, the founder of We Love Lit! Dr. Currie spoke to us about her literacy programs and asked us this question, “How many hours are children awake each year? Did you guess 6000 hours? And, she told us how those hours are spent, 1000 hours in school and 5000 hours with home and community. Given the number of hours that a child spends outside of school, Ashelin partners with school districts, non-profits and organizations to develop systems that strengthen literacy, and empowers families and communities to embrace reading and writing by creating opportunities for children to unlock their potential through the power of literacy.
This week our speaker was returning guest Jon Noyes of Oakland Parks. Jon was here to do a follow-up on this year’s Groveland Oaks camping trip, which was a huge success. Jon talked about the kids having so much fun, riding bikes, fishing, roasting marshmallows, and a story about the kids preferring to take the bus to campgrounds instead of riding in the car with their parents. It led to another story about generosity, when Tim Travis went to Costco to buy all the food for the outing and a Costco employee inquired about Tim’s purchase, after hearing the story, that employee made a small donation towards the food. It was feel good stories all around and the club is so pleased how this event all came together, that they set a date for next year….. more to follow …10/17/2026
This week our speaker was District Governor Wendy Jones. Wendy got serious as she talked about creating new clubs and the “bring 2” as a way of recruiting new members into Rotary. She is worried that we have approximately 1350 members in our district today and if we get down to 1100 members, we will lose the district. We also talked about Pontiac Rotary teaming up with other clubs for volunteer events in the community, Roma Murthy, (District 6380 Membership Chair) who was also at our meeting, offered volunteer events from her Troy Rotary club for Pontiac to get involved with. And lastly Pontiac invited Wendy to our camping event at Groveland Oaks on Saturday, October 11th, which she happily accepted our invitation and said she would stop by on Saturday with her camper and her dog.
This week our speaker was Garland Doyle, Pontiac City Clerk. Garland spoke to us about Voting, Voting Participation, Marijuana Licenses and Marijuana retailers. After going over early voting and absentee ballots, he answered a lot of questions and concerns about the places where the Marijuana stores are located. He passed out a copy of his PowerPoint, with all the information that he spoke about which included maps, a list of approved permits and many other cannabis related material. As City Clerk, he is responsible for overseeing medical and adult-use cannabis regulations in Pontiac.
We Were invited to Goldner Walsh Garden & Home to a reception for the visiting Rotarians/Delegates from Pontiac's Sister City, Kusatsu, Japan on the evening of Thursday, August 21, 2025. Bob received the gift to the Rotary Club of Pontiac from the Rotary Club of Kusatsu
So, we revved up our engines and cruised Woodward....at least some of us did. We cruised to M1 Grille. There might have been at least one person who confused it with M1 Concourse but that is a story for another day!
Well, the Summer Eating # 6 is in the books....and what a summer day it was. Sunny/Shady and 80 degrees. Perfect weather to be outside on my deck. Rick picked up a delectable buffet of Chinese food from Ocean City. Soon Sam join the party as well as Carol and Ron joined us, fresh from staining their upper deck. We were joined a few moments later by Tom and Tim arrived last.
So, Summer Eatings # 5 at Ghost Modern Mexican is in the books
It was a small but mighty group which met last evening at Kegger Burger. We enjoyed the air conditioning and the atmosphere and especially the company!
We met last week at a "new to us" restaurant Slate Eatery! Fine diner dining at it's best! I saw coneys, several omelettes with grits, a pork chop breakfast and a crispy chicken sandwich with cheese fries delivered to the table. I think all was a hit.
conference room on the right of entrance
Pontiac, MI 48341
United States of America