WELCOME to the newsletter of the Rotary Club of Livonia AM. Our club meets weekly to socialize, discuss the needs of our community and the world around us, and take action to address those needs. Please consider visiting our club or joining us on a service project.

All Are Welcome!

Club Assembly

February 05, 2025

The meeting was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, a song, and an Invocation led by Pastor Dave Stechholz. Happy Bucks were collected by Sharon Pommerville.

The Club's first order of business was the Induction of Tom Martin. Joining Tom in the front of the room was Steve Alexander, his sponsor. Welcome to Rotary, Tom!



Tom was born and raised in Livonia, class of 1980. In 1998 he applied to be a Rotary Exchange Student, sponsored by the Rotary Noon Club. Tom was sent to Syberia. He later joined the Noon Club since they sponsored him as an exchange student.

Our Club approved the challenge to the District 6400 selection of Scott Collier as District Governor Nominee - Designate 2027-28. The official Challenge with another candidate, Therese Maggioncalda, was approved. We are awaiting Ballots that will come out shortly.

This Saturday, February 8th, from 1-4, is our work with Forgotten Harvest, 15000 W. Eight Mile Oak Park (Greenfield and 8 Mile Rd.). Come out and help.

Deanne Gaffney, a member of the Livonia Noon Club, will be our speaker next week. She will talk about the history of Rotary in Livonia.

President Dave passed around a list of the numerous projects that our Rotary Club has completed this Rotary year, beginning July 1st, starting with The Big Picnic at Greenmead and ending with this Saturday's Forgotten Harvest service project. See our List of Accomplishments HERE. Mind-blowing the things our small club has accomplished. Club members were reminded that we are not required to do all these activities, but to do something.

Pat Zucal was invited up for a big announcement about the Carnival. Wade Shows has 3 weeks available and Sears agreed! This is our major fundraiser, so the club is overjoyed with the news. Our weeks will be Monday, May 19 – Sunday, June 8, 2025.

Pastor Dave was invited along with others from the community to see the progress that is going on with the Senior Wellness Center. Things are moving along with the expected completion December 25, The Mayor views this as the catalyst to Livonia Vision 2021. The completion of the Senior Wellness Center will be the first phase of our New City Center, (NOT DOWNTOWN). Pastor Dave reminded members to drive by the Rec Center to see what is happening there. More information can be found at LivoniaBuilt.org. The New City Hall, Police Department, renovation of Fire Dept, and the Library are planned. Mayor Maureen Bosnan will speak to our Club on February 26th about The City Center. President Dave reminded members that this would be an excellent time to invite prospective members. See more Construction Photos HERE.

The Giving Committee's report was given by Bill Friske who shared the committee's recommendations. Two were given. Breaking Barriers for Kids and Families asked for one thousand dollars to stock the food cooler and pantry at Clarenceville HS. Discussion occurred and this recommendation was placed in motion and approved. The other recommendation from the committee was for $500 to purchase Children’s books for the City Center Library. Motion was made and passed. A third grant request was reviewed requesting a donation toward the California wild fires effort. This recommendation was from Rotary District Calif. It was discussed and a decision was made to pause this request since we have a huge request from the City to help raise funds to replace the pavilion.

The pavilion replacement was discussed. The City wants the two Rotary Clubs to participate in the funding for this project. We will discuss this later. We will seek donors for this project along with funds from our club.

Tammy Bonifield talked about the LPS Foundation Dinner. The featured speaker, Maria, is an author and gives away books to children. We would like to have her bring her trailer filled with books to Touch a Truck. Could our Club also collect books? This is in the discussion phase.

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) will be held at Camp Copneconic in Fenton May 2^nd – May 4^th. Two students from each of the Livonia schools can attend. $250 per student. Applications need to be in by March 01, 2025. The Churchill HS Interact students can pay for one of the students since they did so well with Touch-A-Truck. Stevenson HS and Clarenceville HS will pick their students that will participate.

Susan Paluchniak

Veronica Cruz - Breaking Barriers For Kids and Families

January 29, 2025

President Dave Stechholz opened the meeting, and Bob Carris provided the Invocation.

Dave shared that January is Vocational Service Month in Rotary, emphasizing the importance of the business and professional life of each Rotarian. Our club was blessed with the presence of three guests: Drew Buatti (Livonia New Club), Diane Sviontek (LAMR-Volunteer Corp) and Veronica Cruz (Alpha USA/ Breaking Barriers for Kids and Families). Welcome!

Today’s scheduled speaker, Father George Shaloub was ill and will be rescheduled. We were fortunate to have Veronica Cruz from Alpha USA as today’s speaker.

Erin Dobbins reported that our club’s challenge for the 2027-28 6400 District Governor Candidate was successful and so both candidates, Scott Collier and Therese Maggioncalda, will be on the ballot and club members will be able to vote on the candidates in the near future.

Upcoming reminder was to sign up to volunteer at Forgotten Harvest on Saturday, February 8th from 1:00 – 4:00 PM.

Mention was made of the exciting events that are scheduled for the upcoming 6400 District Conference in Windsor; May 30^th - June 1^st and to sign up for the convention and a hotel room.

Today’s speaker, Veronica Cruz, Executive of Community Involvement and Government Affairs at Alpha USA, spoke about the organization, Breaking Barriers for Kids and Families that used to be called Livonia Kids and Families.

The organization provides a year round food pantry that started at Emerson and then moved to Franklin HS. Students with disabilities work in the pantry to achieve job training skills. The pantry serves 500 families, reaches 16 schools, and impacts 2,500 low income families. Veronica was also connected to Livonia AM’s Rotary Club successful fundraising project that resulted in the installation of a walk-in cooler at Clarenceville HS; completed in 2024. Another program, STEAM, is an educational program that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. And finally, the Greenhouse program at Garfield School is a fully operating greenhouse that involves planting, nurturing, and harvesting crops and feeding them into the food pantry. Veronica outlined a few 2025 initiatives for the organization: creating a market-style food pantry at Garfield, working on obtaining a refrigerated truck, building an all-inclusive playground/park for students with disabilities, launching the fundraiser, Tour de Kids, age 3-9, that will take place on June 14, 2025, and continuing the Tour de Livonia fundraiser that provides a 6-7 mile family ride and an individual ride of 20 miles. Veronica shared that the organization does not receive any government support and that donations can be given in cash, pay pal or Venmo, or by volunteering on the Board or through fundraising activities.

Victoria Haltom

VISIT OUR CLUB IN PERSON

We meet at the

Livonia Senior Center Complex

15218 Farmington Road

Livonia, MI 48154

Every Wednesday, 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM

All Are Welcome!