We are excited to announce that you may purchase tickets online to our upcoming D'Vine Event (ticketing fees of $2.22 per ticket apply.) You can pay for your tickets via credit card or PayPal account. You will be asked during the process how you learned about the event, so please be sure to drop the name of the Rotarian who told you about the event!  All tickets purchased online will be available "will-call" the night of the event. We will see you on the 27th!

To purchase tickets, click HERE.

Rotary Health and Humanitarian Outreach (HHOP) Honduras Mission Trip
April 12-20, 2013

Carol Ringleburg introduced and presented today on the HHOP mission trip to bring fresh water to families in the Honduras. Several Rotaract students came to share their experiences in setting up new water filters in remote areas of the Honduras. One thing they noted was that there were several areas that were known for violence and the team had to be extremely careful. Local Rotary clubs were helpful in insuring their safety.

The students helped set up new filters in several areas and spoke of efforts they went through to insure the filters worked correctly. They also visited a hospital which was eye opening in that there were no private rooms. The students were able to seethe very real situations that the hospital deals with on a daily basis. It was noted that their was no working bathroom at the hospital. Each student spoke of their desire to continue to help out and rasie funds to assist the effort now that they are home by raising funds, awareness, and bringing more people with them. 

Local Rotary clubs also invited the Rotaract students to visit with them. Needless to say the meetings were very different from how our local clubs operate. However there was very little in way of a language barrier as almost everyone spoke English. The students attended a party at a local Rotary Presidents house where karaoke was the primary form of entertainment.

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ANNOUNCEMENTS IN WRITING!

May 26th: Musical Fountain Re dedication on Sunday, 5/26 9:30pm. Please help support the musical fountain fund through the Grand Haven Community Foundation. Contact Ken Formsma

June 19th: YMCA 50th Anniversary Celebration: The Verve Pipe is playing down at the Y and will be playing from their latest children's album. (Released just 2 weeks prior to their appearance!)

June 20th: Keep our Kids on Track Fundraiser: This great event will support the more than 2000 boys and girls that are part of the Boy Scouts of America in Ottawa and Muskegon Counties. The event will start at 6:00 pm at the Spring Lake Holiday Inn and feature great games, drink specials, and a silent auction. Click here for more information.

June 27th: D'Vine Event will be held on June 27th from 6-9 pm. Great auction items: A fat tire 3-wheel bike, paddle board, kayak from Earth's Edge, a Jon McDonald Painting, seating for 4 for the July 4 Fireworks on the Kirby deck (Yes, it will happen!), a children's beach tent, and many more items! 30 Students will be volunteering. Don't let them show up the Rotarians, let's get more volunteers and participation. Call Jay if you would like to volunteer... or he will be calling you! 844-7250.

By End of June: Our Future Vision- Rotary International has a program called "Every Rotarian, Every Year".  GH Rotary has pledged to raise the minimum of $100/Rotarian in our club.  This is a $10,000 goal.  This money stays at RI for 3 years and then is MATCHED and RETURNED TO US for a total of $20,000 for our club to use in 4 years.   Additionally, RI is requiring 100% participation by 2017 to be eligible for Grants to our club for projects.   This means that if we want grants for water projects or community projects for our Rotarians we MUST be generating a $100 donation to RI from every Rotarian by 2017.

July 28th: Pancake Breakfast is scheduled for July 28th to be held in the Michigan Commerce Bank served from 8-12, volunteers show up at 6, done by 1:15. To get involved, contact Chuck Vonesh.

September 14: North Bank Bike Tour will be held on September 14 and benefits local Spring Lake and Grand Haven Rotary water projects.  Contact Bill Bassow to volunteer or to sponsor the event.

Job Opening: Youth Exchange Officer needed. Please contact Chuck Vonesh or Kelly Larson

 STUDENTS OF THE MONTH:

April: Willie Bennick  and Natalie Toth

May: Emma Baty and Ethan McMillian

What a way to wake up, great breakfast and good people who are investing in each other and our community!

Last Week:

Twelve members were here to discuss membership retention and recruitment efforts. Conversations revolved around the challenges of:

• Maintaining passion
• Creating excitement and celebrations
• Communicating our mission/vision
• Connecting with our community via communications
• Marketing 
• Committing to Committees
• Following through with recruitment and sponsoring

This Week

Fifteen members and two guests enjoyed lively discussions about our community events and our opportunities to get involved. The presentation this morning was led by Bari Johnson who discussed the clean water initiative in Honduras. It was great to see Eric Kaelin here again this week after he overslept and missed last week's meeting.

Rotary Club of Grand Haven has established a pilot program for 2 separate meeting times. 

1. Our traditional Monday noon meetings meet at the Grand Haven Community Center with lunch and a meeting.
2. We have a second meeting on Tuesday mornings, 7:30am, at Desserts By Design/Consider It Done at 320 Columbus Avenue, just one block west of the community center. This morning meeting is fast-paced and wraps up in one hour.

Please be our guest at either meeting - whatever best meets your schedule. As a member, you are welcome to attend whatever best meets your schedule for the week.

Grand Haven Rotary has a page dedicated to what's going on with our local chapter. Click Here to find us and like us and give suggestions on how we can make it better!

To send announcements and other information to the newsletter editor ghrotary@gmail.com.