Rotary News

March 19, 2007

President Drew wore two hats today taking over the news for Richard Piet.  Travel info included the early shutdown of the Oakland Drive bridge.  The good news is that the project is due for completion in July instead of September.  He even took over joke duty with a level of success.  To substantial relief he also announced the foregoing of Rotary songs in the face of exceptional musicians on the program.  (Whew - escaped the embarrassement once again!)  Ended with "blood money".  Pin check!

New members Matt Trottier, Jeff Ross and Tom King received their blue pins and shared their committee affiliations.

Visting Rotarian Charles Adams spoke of the opportunity for Rotary to lead the way in helping Haiti.  There is new hope with the new president and excitement to get behind the safe water program to fight the terrible water-borne illnesses so prevalent in Haiti.  The call to help is $50 to provide a single Biosand Water Filter and make a big difference!

Brian Kaufman appealed to Rotarians to remember who sponsored their membership and to now duplicate the process for another.  Jean Forrest indicated the new nominating form for the Red Rose Award will be on the website next week.  Jim Holtgrieve reported outstanding Tree of Lights success (total $11,300).

Greta Williams, Dan Hartlieb and Barb Walters shared great news on Casa Amparo.  The Reynosa New Millenium Rotary club is taking on the project of mentoring the older Casa girls.  This is a fabulous extension of the Casa project which also caught the attention of Rotary International convention planners who invited the group to present at this summer's convention in Salt Lake City.  Great compliment!

Stacy Ridenour described the KSO participation in the "Music Alive" project which features new American composers.  Their goal is to promote awareness and appreciation of these composers.  This is a collaborative KSO/WMU effort.  Stacy then introduced the Director of KSO, Raymond Harvey, who demonstrated the talents of the Kalamazoo Composer in Residence, Dr. Eric Ewazon.  This was via a brass trio performance which was warmly received.  Then Dr. Ewazen came to the podium and explained the upcoming performances of his Shadowcatcher Composition, which was inspired by Edward S. Curtis' photos of Native Americans.  He played a sample and without a doubt you are in for a treat.  Don't miss the opportunity.  Check the KSO website for details.