Stories

Our Dominican Republic Service Trip 2017 was a great success! Locals dug the footings for 2 homes. We built the steel rebar framework for footings and all columns. We then made, hauled and poured cement for all footings. We poured cement in cores and columns. Then laid three courses of block and then back-filled dirt to level floor for cement. A new team arrives Saturday and will bring walls up another 7 feet and ready it for the roof the following week. Third team does plumbing and electrical.  New homes to be occupied within four weeks.

 

 

Gaylord Rotarians met at the Rotary Bill Granlund Memorial Trail at the middle school on Sunday to clear out the overgrowth and make the trail accessible in width for the snow groomer! We will be updating main signage and  nature station markers in the Spring. A re-dedication of the renovated trail is happening in May 2017!

 

Gaylord's first CASH MOB to support small business! About 40 Rotarians met under the pavilion on Main Street and randomly chose Isabella's Copper Pot as the first cash mob recipient. Dr. Peter Opperman drew the lucky winner. We "mobbed" Isabella's, showering them with surprise sales during this slow retail/orange barrel time of year.

	The Rotary Club of Gaylord annually join our Alpine Village Alpenfest celebration by offering freshly made hamburgers, hot dogs, Alpine Fries and cold drinks.  During the week long festival Gaylord Rotarians volunteer to feed the festival goers with enthusiasm.  Our efforts and funds earned allows us to assist the needs of many local groups and individuals.

The Rotary Club of Gaylord was established in 1956, chartered from the Petoskey Rotary Club.  For over fifty years progressive individuals have made the difference within the community of Gaylord and around the world.   Rotary International has made many a young professional better by allowing them to get involved.  Rest assured no advancement in life or within a community will move forward without effort.  Rotarians around the world have succeeded in taking on the challenge of ending polio, cleaned the drinking water of third world countries and building schools and hospitals all over the world.  Nothing can improve a persons confidence and self worth until they have shared in the improvement of a human life.

 

 

What is it like taking a large team to Africa?  It has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. In mid February, I began leading Rotary members from all over the East Coast of the United States through Ghana. I’ve tried to give the team a warm Ghanaian welcome like I’ve received on my earlier trips. A large trip is a real blessing because each person sees Ghana and our work in a different way.

For years, Angalia Bianca had slept in abandoned buildings throughout Chicago. She stole. She did drugs. She spent time in and out of jail for forgery, theft, trespassing, and possession of narcotics. But after she landed in prison for the seventh time, something changed -- Bianca knew she wanted a better life. She just didn’t know how to make it happen.

Throughout India and around the world, Rotary clubs are celebrating a major milestone: India has gone three years without a new case of polio. The last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on 13 January 2011. To mark this historic triumph, Rotary clubs illuminated landmarks and iconic structures throughout the country with four simple but powerful words, "India is polio free."