Our meeting opened with an Invocation by Mike Ladwig. Rounds of thanks were offered to outgoing Club President Claude Kendrick for a great year of Livonia AM Rotary leadership. Claude then gave the Club a big thank you for being allowed to serve us for the year.
Update on the Cooler project: Discussions on opening the door have delayed the final installation.
The Touch a Truck committee, led by Churchill HS Interact club members, has been meeting every two weeks at the Chamber of Commerce. The event will have more vehicles than last year.
The first speaker was Jon Wennstrom, the outgoing President of Livonia (noon) Rotary. Claude gave a talk at the Noon Club so now was Jon's turn to address our club. Both club presidents stressed unity between the clubs. Jon said their Club has started a member spotlight each month with info about club members.
Jon reported that Starfish Family Services came to speak to the members, asking for 2500 diapers. He mentioned that sometimes a project can be small-scale, but the outcome is huge. He loves our newsletter by the way. Jon suggested that the clubs share newsletters to better support each other. The noon club currently has 33 members. The reverse raffle that the club used for a major fundraiser is gone forever due to the expense of renting the room.
Presently, the club is doing a wine pull for its fundraiser. This is held in May. It started out with just one event, but now the club has two time slots for attendance, which has worked out well.
Carrie Budzinkski was our second speaker for the morning, speaking about Niji-Iro Japanese Immersion Elementary School. This is a Livonia Magnet School located at 36611 Curtis. Carrie enrolled her son when he entered kindergarten, which was the best time to start. The school is a 50-50 split, with math and science in English and the rest in Japanese. When the students are in 6th grade, they can take Japanese classes at Wayne State for credit. Classes are presented in both English and Japanese.
The Niji-Iro school is a family commitment. School events tend to be elaborate, with music and Japanese costumes. Some of the students perform at other Livonia Schools.
Carrie is asking for some funding for the after-school program /summer school. Our club gave money for library books when the school started. There are currently 250 students in the school.
Susan Paluchniak
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