On this sunny 1^st of March we were honored to witness the maiden voyage of Incoming President Jim McIntyre.  INVOCATION - Dan Hartlieb led us in a prayer for love and guidance to shape our path to helping others to provide a more perfect community.  A moment of since followed in honor of Rotarian Jim Brady.

NEWS - Richard Piet of WKZO indicated someone got "hooked" on curling.  National competition apparently be held in Kalamazoo in a couple of weeks.  Google is looking for test centers and Kalamazoo is in the forefront of saying "over here".

ARTS NEWS - Jim Bridenstine gave us the updates including this weeks Art Hop which is 1 or the 4 major art hops held annually.  Also plenty of theatre, dance and film festival choice for the interest of all.

VISITING ROTARIANS - Chris Haenicke (Oshtemo), J.R. Fulton (Vicksburg) and Bill Dimond (Kalamazoo Sunrise).

GUESTS - Ed Gordon, wife Alice and the pastor of 1^st Congregational Church; Bryan Zocher, Ms. Zeigler; Michael Brown, Michael Cook and Ashley Johnson; Steve Duisterhof, Alex Stump; Kendra Stetser Rowe, Rob Oakleaf; Jennifer Lang, Molly Russell; Dale Hein, Lori and Jay Pyatt; Anne Lipsey, Phylllis Hepp; and Jeff Ross, Tim Harvey.

SONGS - Amy Remmert led "America the Beautiful" in honor of the Olympians.

ANNOUNCEMENTS - Contact PP Rex Bell if interested in filling one of two vacancies in the upcoming nominating slate.

The results of the Rotary survey are now being tabulated and will be announced soon.

RSVP by March 10 for the Rotoract first anniversary event to be held March 17. 

Please return Red Rose nominations to Terry Williams by April 7.

HAPPY BUCKS - happy but sadly Gif Blaylock for upcoming family move to Cincinnati.  Amy Remmert for recent gathering (food fest) of GSE group we are sending to Italy.  They are certain to make us proud.  DG Kathleen Tosco for Karl Sandelin's Rotoract granddaughter.  Sean McCann for birth of son Alexander three weeks ago.  Jose Santamaria for triplets turning 14 and for their successful rock band performance at the library.  Jennifer Lang for German alumni who took her to lunch recently (they always have a home here) and for the announcement that Colleagues International is again selling Super Books.  Brian Kaufman for the very successful Rotoract launch and the Rotarians who were instrumental in assisting.

PROGRAM

PP Barbara James introduced Jeffery Brown of the Poverty Reduction Initiative and Ellen Kissinger Rothi, Executive Director of Housing Resources, Inc.  They addressed the efforts locally in assisting those caught up in the housing crisis.  The hopeful news is that there is an exciting and effective coalition of  agencies helping with homelessness.  Ellen Kissinger Rothi, who is also Chair of the Poverty Initiative Coalition, focused on the groups addressing the root causes of the problem, not just providing emergency shelter.  Together they have a 10 year plan and are currently in the 4^th year of the plan which focuses on prevention, rapid rehousing, system changes and building community capacity.  The discussion of who actually makes up the homeless population held surprises, including the info that 41% of the homeless are children.  She also announced the 21^st Annual HRI Walk for the Homeless on March 27, 2010.  Jeff announced the next Project Connect to be held at the Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds.  This is a day of free services for the materially poor.  The services are provided right there - right then including medical screenings, basics needs such as haircuts, education and employment advice and personal services.  This year it is to held May 12 from 1-6 p.m. for low wage earners.  It is a collaborative effort of over 40 agencies who really make if a fun day!

This was an outstanding program complete with statistical surprises as evidenced by the number of questions generated at the end.  Kalamazoo is fortunate to have such cooperative and dedicated agencies and staff.  They certainly deserve our thanks and support.

Congratulations Incoming President Jim on your maiden voyage, well done!