Club Assembly

Today’s meeting was called to order by President Dave and the Invocation given by Victoria Haltom. President Dave led us in singing The Happy Wanderer, in honor of peanut butter and jelly sandwich day. Happy Birthday was sung to Greg Greene and Bill Fried. Happy Bucks, led by Sharon Pommerville, included remarks about the

enjoyable social gathering that Pat Zucal organized at One Under in Livonia. Members of both Rotary Clubs were present.

Reminder that Saturday, April 5th is the first Road Clean-up event of the season. Meet at 8:30 am and breakfast at Sam’s Place after work is completed.

Check out the upcoming event calendar with some significant highlighted activities:

• Livonia State of the City address takes place on Wed. April 9th, from 4:30-6:00 PM, at the VistaTech Center at Schoolcraft College. Registered members as of now include: Tammy Bonifield, Erin Dobbins, Dave Stechholz, Tom Martin, and Deanna Gaffney.

• Register to participate in Clarenceville HS’s Career Day on April 15th.

• No regular Rotary Meeting on April 23; Instead members will be attending the Mayor's Ambassador Breakfast on April 23rd at 8:00 AM at Laurel Park Manor.

• Wine in the Park, sponsored by the Livonia Rotary, takes place Saturday, May 17th, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM in Rotary Park. Tickets are $35.00 per person (limited to 150 guests). Also a 50/50 raffle.

• Dave and Larry are offering complimentary concert tickets for the Livonia Civic Chorus’ 60th anniversary performance on Sunday, May 18, at 3:00 PM at the Stevenson HS PAC on 6 mile in Livonia. The theme is “Welcome to the 60s!”

Today’s focus was a Club Assembly Meeting:

Thanks to the Membership Committee and the work of Chairman

Mike Ladwig for bringing two new members to be approved. Unanimous

approval was for Wayne Kinney and Marlene Katafias. Welcome

to you both! ​

Bill Friske reported on the approval of grants. There was a

discussion and amendment to the originally proposed grant of

$750.00 to the Michigan Works Matters organization. Claude Kendrick

proposed raising the grant to $1,500 which was approved by

members.

Nancy Darga, our incoming Livonia AM President for 2025-26, gave a summary of her experience attending the PELS 6400 District event. She commended President Dave, Bob Carris, and Bill Friske for being the most enthusiastic and successful salesmen of the year for selling over 90 of our soccer balls at the event. Nancy recounted that the most valuable part of her experience was the wisdom she gained from the various speakers. A common theme and problem for Rotary is the world-wide decline of membership. Other than Asia, membership in all other areas of the world has decreased significantly. Nancy outlined some ideas and ways of thinking to change that: "Rotary Clubs and its members must tell their stories, they must become “Shift Disturbers”, by becoming a Flamingo—not being one of the crowd but leading the crowd so that others follow in effective ways." All meetings need to be “Rotary Happy”, and finally, Nancy expressed how grateful she is for the help she is receiving and especially the time Tammy Bonifield, our treasurer, has spent with her to understand the club’s financials.

The meeting closed with a brief update on the “Rebuild Rotary Park” project with Deanna Gaffney reporting that the City of Livonia will support a flyer and that volunteers are needed to run the Wine Tasting Event. Deanna stated that the project is turning into a multi-tiered project that will require many hands on at different levels as the project progresses. Thank you to Nancy and Deanna for spearheading this most valuable community endeavor.

Victoria Haltom