February March 2012 Dawn Dispatch

The Dawn Dispatch

Midland Morning Rotary News

Club No. 26026

February/March 2012

District No. 6310

President’s Message

Jude Patnaude, Club President

Text Box: Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Our Club can look back on 2011 proudly as a year when we had good participation from our members on many projects including Oktoberfest, bread and candle sales, the Senior Dinner, Loons parking, the Dictionary Project, and Midland Blooms.

In fact, Oktoberfest reached a new high in fundraising, and with our Loons parking, we were able to meet our club level commitments to Polio Plus and the Rotary Foundation Annual Programs Fund. With your generosity, our Club had the highest per capita contributions to the Annual Programs Fund in District 6310, too. We also thank Sharon Miller for an informative year of programming, helping to boost member attendance.

From a Rotary International view, we are halfway through the Rotary year and challenges remain. We began a Strategic Planning exercise at the end of 2011. This will provide a roadmap for the next three years. I challenge us to complete the plan at our Club Assembly on Feb. 7. Let’s keep in mind what local projects we can devote our fundraising efforts to. When this is identified, we benefit the community, better raise funds and ticket sales, and give our members a greater sense of purpose in fundraising.

Increasing and maintaining membership is another challenge. Please invite one guest to our meeting over the next year. If they have interest in joining – wonderful! If not, we have shown what Rotary is about and it may benefit us in another way.

As always, if you see a member who has not been attending, tell them we miss them. And, be sure to reach out from your
comfort zone and speak to members at a meeting you don’t normally sit alongside.

Together, let’s make 2012 a memorable year!

Jude Patnaude, Club President

Officers: 2012-2013

President: Jude Patnaude

President Elect: Bridget Sadenwater

President’s Nominee: Mike Zimmerman

Treasurer: Michelle Kocan

Secretary: Sharon Miller

Past President: Bob LoFiego

Sergeant-at-Arms: Kevin Heye

Chairpersons

Club Administration: Cathy Bott

Service Projects: Sue Moody

Membership: Kevin Heye

Club Public Relations: Millie Jezior

Foundation Chair: Doug Randall

International Service: Ryan Green

Exchange Program News

Youth Exchange Outbound Students and Country Assignments

The following are the country assignments for our 2012 Youth Exchange Outbound students:

Sponsored by Midland Morning Rotary

Madeline Levinson, Midland High School - Brazil
Megan Levy, Midland High School - Czechoslovakia
Hannah Pickering, Dow High School - Taiwan
Taylor Shuler, Meridian High School - Germany

Sponsored by the Midland (Noon) Rotary Club

Taylor Dean, Dow High School - Australia
Tellie Kumar, Dow High School - Brazil

Drake Pendleton, Dow High School - Czechoslovakia

Exchange Student Update: A Note from Brooke Ehrlich, Germany

It’s so strange to be writing my report in a new room and not in the hammock of my last bedroom as usual, but I’m quickly adapting here as well! As you can tell, I switched to my second host family. I already love them so so much!

My host dad is Thomas, he’s a salesman. My host mom, Andrea, watches small children during the day while their parents are at work. I have one host brother, Matthias, who is 18 and was on exchange in the U.S. two years earlier. My host sister, Johanna, is now in Ecuador and my other host sister, Maria, is currently studying in Madrid. I switched families on December 28th and we are already getting along very well! I was very nervous to change families at first after already leaving my comfort zone in the U.S. and then adapting to my last family, but after all of the annoying packing was finished and I came here to get settled in, I would say it is a great choice to switch families. I absolutely love my last host family and always will, but I can see that I love them in a different way than I love this family or will love my next host family because they are all so different.

I spent my New Year’s in Köln with some exchange students and it was the most incredible thing! There were thousands of fireworks everywhere and the Cathedral looked so beautiful surrounded by them all. There were just as many people as Fireworks, it was truly amazing and I know I will always be remembering this New Year’s on each New Year’s to come.

I took my German exam over the last Rotex Weekend that we had, and it went very well! I received an e-mail from my District’s President saying I had done very well which made me feel even better about it. At this point, I’ve been working on lots of children’s learning books just to pick up some extra vocab and really practice the grammatical structures and so on.

As always, I’m continually learning and learning and learning some more! I can already see myself becoming more independent each day from this exchange, which I think is a very good trait to pick up on while I’m here. Thanks everyone for being interested and of course for providing me with such an amazing experience!

Liebe Grüße,

Brooke Ehrlich

Club & Event News

Midland Morning Rotary Club Recognizes Muladore for Vocational Service

Each year, the Midland Morning Rotary Club recognizes a community member who has given time and resources to the community through their vocation. The 2012 Vocational Service Award was presented to Andrea Muladore.

Muladore has a three decade long record as an advocate for patients and family members in a health care setting. She most recently served as manager of social work and transition planning at MidMichigan Medical Center–Midland, retiring in December 2011.

“Andrea would often be the person – the uncommonly rare person – who could envision the ideal and encourage others to open their eyes and become as passionate about it as she was,” said Rotarian and Vocational Service Committee Chair Bridget Sadenwater, community volunteer manger for United Way of Midland County.

Muladore worked as MidMichigan’s lead in the design and development of the new Spiritual Care Center at the Medical Center, creating a sacred space for people of various faiths, with or without church affiliation; for patients, families, physicians and staff.

“We are pleased to recognize Andrea’s contributions,” said Jude Patnaude, Midland Morning Rotary Club president and senior vice president and director of trust operations for Chemical Bank, Wealth Management. “Throughout her professional career she has leveraged her talents for the good of others. She is most worthy of the Vocational Service Award from the Midland Morning Rotary Club.”

Midland Morning Rotary Club Members Attend the 2011
Rotary Foundation Gala

National News

Rotary Clubs Worldwide Meet $200 Million Fundraising Challenge for Polio Eradication

Rotary clubs around the world have succeeded in raising more than $200 million in new funding for polio eradication. The fundraising milestone was reached in response to a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“We’ll celebrate this milestone, but it doesn’t mean that we’ll stop raising money or spreading the word about polio eradication,” Rotary Foundation Trustee John F. Germ told the annual conference of Rotary leaders. “We can’t stop until our entire world is certified as polio free.”

“In recognition of Rotary’s great work, and to inspire Rotarians in the future, the foundation is committing an additional $50 million to extend our partnership,” said Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer of the Gates Foundation. “Rotary started the global fight against polio, and continues to set the tone for private fundraising, grassroots engagement and maintaining polio at the top of the agenda with key policy makers.”

To date, Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $1 billion toward the eradication of polio, a cause Rotary took on in 1985. In 1988, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined Rotary as spearheading partners of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. More recently, the Gates Foundation has become a major supporter. In November 2007, the Gates Foundation gave Rotary a $100 million challenge grant for polio eradication, increasing it to $355 million in 2009. Rotary agreed to raise $200 million in matching funds by June 30, 2012.

DGE Georgene sends her congratulations to all Rotarians in District 6310 for their generous contributions towards eliminating polio. She also urges clubs to continue their fundraising efforts and maintain their commitments to complete eradication of polio. To learn more, visit the www.clubrunner.ca/6310.

Upcoming Meeting Programs

Do you have a program in mind? Programs include one speaker per month from the following sectors: social, education, governmental and business/economic. Speakers broaden the scope of guest speakers that get introduced to our club and also provide informative topics that may draw new members. Share your ideas with Sharon Miller at (989) 631-4806 or sharon@ith1.com.

Date Speaker Topic

Feb. 7 Club Assembly Review of Strategic Plan

Feb. 14 Sue McKeller Valentine’s Day

Feb. 21 Bob Chadwick District Govenor

Feb. 28 Erik Jyhla A Look Back on the Great Lakes Bay Region

March 6 Dom Gagliardi Classification Talk

March 13 TBA TBA

March 20 Dr. Todd Thomas Northwood University

March 27 Joe Lehman Mackinaw Center

Greeter Schedule

Below is the greeter schedule for February/March 2012. Should you not be able to attend the meeting you have been assigned to greet members and guests, contact
Jude at (989) 839-5307 so a replacement can be found in a timely manner.

Date Greeter

Feb. 7 Ann Fillmore

Feb. 14 Dom Gagliardi
Feb. 21 Betsy Haigh

Feb. 28 Kevin Heye

March 6 Millie Jezior

March 13 Michelle Kocan

March 20 Larry Lang

March 27 Sharon Leenhouts

Club Reminders

Ongoing Projects

Used Postage Stamps: Used postage stamps continue to be collected to send to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIBP) in England. The RNIBP takes these used stamps to dealers or collectors, and the money goes to support programs and aid for blind and partially-sighted people. They can use stamps of any value from any country. Simply cut them off the letter or package leaving ¼ to ½ inch of paper around the stamps or block of stamps. Please collect these stamps and give to Elyse or put them in the marked envelope at our registration table.