This past week we celebrated the induction of our new 2018-2019 club President, Brian Pearcy. In addition, the remaining members of our club leadership were also inducted including Vice President, Rachel Koslowski, Treasurer Deb Green and Secretary Susan Richardson. We were also thrilled to honor Julie Hardy as our outgoing President, for all of her hard work and dedication put forth this past year! We are very much looking forward to a superb new year in Rotary. Thank you to Larry Wright for facilitating our ceremonies.

#serviceaboveself #rotaryclubofbellevilleMI #installationofofficers #betheinspiration

Victory Park - Flower Planting

Our club members enjoyed a lovely afternoon of gardening at Victory Park, cleaning out the landscaping and planting new flowers around the gazebo. Very BIG thanks to Joyce at Garden Fantasy Florist & Greenhouse for contributing the flowers and to Keith Bruder for the supplies, tools and transport, along with everyone's hard work! Thanks also to the couple of kids from the park that joined in to lend a hand as well! We'll have pics of them to add later on. We love how our community always pitches in when we're out working on projects! PS: Thank you to Joyce for re-stocking our LFL (Little Free Library). Don't forget the next time you visit the park to "take a book and leave a book"!

#rotaryclubofbelleville #rotaryinternational #makeourparksbeautiful #victorypark

Belleville Rotary Club 2018 Scholarship Awards

What a fabulous evening we enjoyed as our club presented the 2018 recipients of our annual Scholarship Awards! We were so very proud to announce this year's winners at the dinner this evening. Each recipient was very much deserving of their scholarship award, having made significant contributions to their school, their community and their academic careers.

Club President, Julie Shonta Hardy kicked off the evening by talking about the awards program and how each of the kids were selected. One by one, as each recipient was announced, they received cheers of support from their family members as well as members from the school board and staff, including Peter Kudlak, the VBPS Superintendent and BHS Principal Stacey Buhro.

This evening's keynote speaker was Judge Brian Oakley, who talked to the students about the importance of being an honest, kind and trustworthy adult in today's society and continuing to give back to the community in which you serve.

We would like to thank the Cozadd Foundation for their generous support of our Scholarship funding and for making this very important program possible.

Congratulations to this year's recipients:
Nina Hardy-Don Juchartz Award
Shelby Ostrewich-Charles B. Cozadd Award
Davis Mears-Academic scholarship
Erika Nofz-Academic scholarship
Noah Copeland-Community service scholarship
Alexandria Long-Community service scholarship
Alec Emerson-Vocational Education scholarship

#BHS #Rotaryclubofbellevillemi #rotaryclubscholarships #rotaryinternational

Photos from the evening's festivities can be seen and downloaded in the gallery below from Timeless Images by Susan, LLC (Your email will be requested at first download only, but it is used to unlock the gallery only-no other purpose!)

https://client.timelessimagesbysusan.com/bellevillerotaryc…/

Rotary Interact Club of Belleville, MI

Our club had the privilege of having two of our Interact members visit last week to talk about the year in progress and give us the rundown on all of their events so far! Nina Hardy (President) and Alexandria Long (Treasurer) shared a fabulous presentation that highlighted all of the programs that the Interact Club has participated in so far, including:
-World Polio Day
-Book drive for our Little Free Libraries
-Participating in Kids against Hunger
-Participating in bell ringing for the Salvation Army
-Supporting our Belleville Club for its annual Italian Dinner!
-Participating in the annual Plymouth/Canton Peace Summit
-Conducting fundraising program for Shelterbox

We are so very proud of these kids and the great work they are doing within our community! If you are a current Belleville High School student who might be interested in learning more about the Interact Club, please contact Mrs. Kidder or see Nina Hardy!
#interactclub #bellevillerotary #rotaryinternational #rotaryclub #bellevillehighschool #BHS
www.bellevillerotary.org

Fat Tuesday Italian Spaghetti Dinner

It's that time of year again! Bring the family out for our annual Italian Dinner fundraiser! Join us on Tuesday, February 13th, from 4:30pm-7:30pm at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Van Buren #3996 for a night of great food and family fun! We'll have raffles, prizes and lots of delicious Italian favorites and a cash bar! The best part? You'll be supporting our BHS scholarship fund! Tickets are available from any Rotarian or buy them at the door! Plus, there will be Paczki!!

Holiday Fundraiser

The Rotary Club of Belleville holiday fundraiser has begun. We have wreaths, door swags, ceder roping, and centerpieces to complete your holiday decor. Proceeds from the fundraiser go back into the community through scholarships, literacy efforts, necessity assistance and good deed projects within our Sumpter/Belleville/Van Buren area.

Please see the product brochure below and sales form for ordering. If you are interested you can send a completed sales form to jerrygrichardson@gmail.com. Orders need to be in by November 28th for delivery on December 5th. (Click here for sales/order form).

World Polio Day

Ending Polio: Rotary members have played a key role in bringing the world to the brink of polio eradication Their efforts have not only ended polio in 122 countries but also created a system for tackling myriad other health priorities, such as Ebola. If you are interested in helping to you can do so by donating here: https://www.rotary.org/en/donate#pp

Let's Help Houston

Rotary District 6400 will now be collecting donations to be sent to Rotary District 5890 (Houston Area Rotary Clubs) to help them provide aid to those in desperate need. Here's how you can help.

If you are in the United States, please make your donation by sending a check to
PDG David Carpenter
Treasurer FEIN 38-3336188
Rotary District 6400 Foundation
2732 S Newburgh
Westland, MI 48186.

If you are in Canada, please make your donation by sending a cheque to
Rotary Club of Essex Foundation Fund
P.O. Box 42
Essex, ON, N8M 2Y1.

In either case, please put “Hurricane Harvey” and your Club name (or city name) in the memo line.

MATCHING CHALLENGES (Sept 15, 2017)
1. For every club that donates, as an entity or through its members, at least $100, D6400 will donate USD $100. With 50 clubs, this is a maximum match of USD $5,000.
2. An anonymous, and very generous, Canadian Rotarian will match all individual contributions from Canadian Rotarians to a maximum of CDN $10,000.

If we take full advantage of the matching opportunities, we will be sending at least USD $10,000 and CDN $20,000 in support. Please make your donations by September 15 so that we can get funds to where they are needed as soon as is possible. All funds raised will be sent to
District 5890 Charities, Inc. (FEIN 76-0569758)
c/o Jackie Barmore,
3525 Preston Ave., Pasadena, TX 77505.

Rubber Duck Race Update

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Due to the inclement weather, the Taste of Belleville has been cancelled and rescheduled for next Thursday, 8/24/17. However, due to gaming regulations, we are required to execute our Rotary event today!

Since it is too dangerous for us to put the ducks (and our humans) into the water tonight, we will be executing our backup plan, which is a traditional raffle drawing for the same prize winnings as the duck race would have paid out. You can be the BIG winner of: (1st prize: $1,000) (2nd prize: $250) (3rd prize: $100)

You can still get in on the action, as tickets are still available for purchase at the Higgerson & Neal Funeral home, located at 209 Main Street in downtown Belleville (734-697-9400). Tickets are $5.00/each or 5 for $20 and available until 5:45pm. Starting at 6:00pm, if there are any tickets left, you can get them at Horizon Park on the lake, until the drawing is officially held there, at 6:40pm tonight! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

LUCKY RUBBER DUCKY RACE

Help support the Rotary Club of Belleville, Mi by buying a ticket for the Lucky Rubber Ducky Race on Belleville Lake during the 'Taste of Belleville'. If you would like to purchase tickets contact us by email or come visit us at our new location WCCC.