Chris Nugent, President-elect of the East Lansing Rotary and Peter Dewan, Board Member of the East Lansing Rotary Foundation presented a $5000 check to Adam Cummins, Community & Economic Development Administrator, City of East Lansing to support the Place Project. The Place Project is an initiative created to help sustain and provide additional business support services in response to the significant economic consequences experienced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Place Project (Project) is part of a long-term economic development and recovery strategy that will help address some of the many social and economic challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Multi-disciplinary and experimental, the Place Project will prioritize public health and use simple, cost-effective tactical urbanism techniques to reactivate and enhance downtown public spaces by providing interesting, comfortable places for the community to safely gather and engage in the local economy. Each location identified for the Project will be designed for social distancing, as applicable, to provide an environment for people to socialize safely, engage in the local economy, and get outdoors. “East Lansing Rotary members are pleased to partner with the City of East Lansing as we navigate through these challenging times. East Lansing Rotary members continue to seek out opportunities to fulfill our motto “Service above Self” and the Place Project is an excellent way to support our community”, said Peter Dewan.
Key areas of the downtown the Place Project will actively engage include: the MAC Parking Garage, the elevated plaza at the Marriott, the Division Street Garage, Ann Street Plaza, Bill Sharp Park and the 500 Block pedestrian alley. Included in the programming will be pop-up Farmers’ markets, East Lansing library programs, Art Pop-up displays, safe public seating and warming areas among other community events. Additional information about the Place Project can be found at https://www.cityofeastlansing.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1354.
East Lansing, MI – The Rotary Club of East Lansing is providing some “holiday cheer” this year for the residents and staff of the Willows at East Lansing.
The Willows at East Lansing – part of Trilogy Healthcare Services, headquartered in Louisville, KY – opened its’ doors in 2014. The facility can serve up to 139 residents across all service lines, including: Assisted Living, Memory Care, Short-Term Rehab, Long-Term Care, and Respite Care.
Currently, The Willows at East Lansing is providing care for 22 residents in the Assisted Living program and 15 residents in Memory Care. These individuals have been isolated from their families and friends since March 2020 and have been quarantined several times since then, per orders from the governor and/or state health director.
“People across mid-Michigan have been affected in innumerable ways by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our club thought that it would be in keeping with Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self” if we could pinpoint at least one way to brighten the lives of people in our community during these challenging and oftentimes trying times,” said Sung Lee, President of the Rotary Club of East Lansing.
“One idea that surfaced was to provide some ‘holiday cheer’ for the residents at The Willows and at the same time thank the staff there in some small way for all of their efforts to support the residents in their care,” said Lee.
He pointed out that the Rotary Club is providing assisted living care residents with “goodie bags” filled with an assortment of snacks and candies, a pocket calendar, a writing journal and a puzzle book and providing memory care residents with a variety of tasty treats. In addition, the club is providing twenty (20) $25 Meijer gift cards to be distributed to The Willows staff – nurses, nurses aides, housekeeping, maintenance, kitchen and administrative staff – via a special employee “blind” drawing to be held prior to Christmas. The gift cards can be used to purchase food, clothing, or other store items.
“This gesture by the Rotary Club is a big boost to our morale here at the Willows,” said The Willows Executive Director Keith Fisher. “Our staff has been working hard to insure the health and safety of our residents and this gesture by the Rotary Club is not only uplifting for everyone here; but most appreciated,” he said.
The Rotary Club of East Lansing has a long record of community service dating back to its formation in 1961. The Club currently has 48 members and has supported numerous community projects, including the children’s playground at Patriarche Park, the East Lansing softball fields and aquatic center and numerous upgrades and renovations at Haven House.
Photo: From left to right: Chris Nugent, E. Lansing Rotary President Elect; Erica Flegal, The Willows – Asst. Director of Health Services; Jessi Yeargin, The Willows – Weekend Supervisor; Sung Lee, E. Lansing Rotary President and Keith Fisher, The Willows – Executive Director.
East Lansing Rotarian and Willows resident Roger Niemeyer enjoying some treats as a result of the East Lansing Rotary’s “Holiday Cheer” with The Willows at East Lansing.
The Rotary Club of East Lansing held a Community service event that began in 2009. Since that time, the club had normally provided complete Turkey Dinners and Pumpkin Pies for the Thanksgiving celebration at the Haven House Shelter. This year, unfortunately, the Covid-19 interrupted that tradition. So, this year, the club asked for donations from their members and from the community, to raise funds for the Haven House. A total of $ 1,435 was raised that could be used to provide the five families that they are hosting in local hotels with hot Thanksgiving dinners. Any additional funds raised can be used by Haven House as they see fit.
We would like to thank our Rotarians who have generously contributed funds in support of this annual event once again. Without your support, this important community service project would not be possible.
TOTALING $ 11,000 TO EAST LANSING HIGH SCHOOL
GRADUATES
The Rotary Club of
East Lansing, through its Foundation, is pleased to announce the award of “Joe
Gross Memorial Scholarships” to five graduating seniors at East Lansing High
School.
The scholarships,
totaling $11,000, were presented to the following college-bound seniors: Jingting
Lin who will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Thomas
Adelman who will be attending the University of Michigan, Sasha Bacon who will
be attending Stanford University or the University of Michigan, Anna Comstock
who will be attending the University of Michigan, and Madison Duncan who will
be attending Hampton University.
These scholarships are awarded annually upon meeting several criteria that include: the student applicant’s involvement in the Community and related service activities; academic accomplishments; and financial need. Individual scholarship amounts do vary and can range between $1,000
and $3,000.
Scholarship funds are
raised through the East Lansing Rotary Foundation which holds an annual golf
outing in September known as the “Scramble for Scholarships.” Last September’s (2019) golf outing marked
the 32nd year for the
event. Over this period, the Rotary Club
of East Lansing and its Foundation have
awarded nearly $161,000 in scholarships to assist graduating East Lansing High School
seniors with their college expenses. The
scholarships are named for Joseph Gross who was a Rotary Club of East Lansing
President and Governor of Rotary District 6360 who cared deeply about young
people and their futures.
Many thanks to all the Community sponsors, donors and of course the golfers, that have supported these scholarship efforts throughout the years!
Anna ComstockMadison DuncanJingting LinSasha BaconThomas Adelman
hris Nugent, President-elect of the East Lansing Rotary and Peter Dewan, Board Member of the East Lansing Rotary Foundation presented a $5000 check to Adam Cummins, Community & Economic Development Administrator, City of East Lansing to support the Place Project. The Place Project is an initiative created to help sustain and provide additional business support services in response to the significant economic consequences experienced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
