Home Page | Rotary Club of Grosse Pointe

Service Above Self

We meet Wednesdays at 5:30 PM
Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

788 Lake Shore Road
Grosse Pointe Shores, MI 48236
United States of America

Venue Map

Meetings are in

The Venetian Room (June - August)

The Fo'c'sle Room (September - May)

Visiting Rotarians and Guests are Welcome!

Our 6th annual fundraising cruise on the yacht INFINITY will be held on Thursday, September 12th, 2019.

Click Here for more information and to buy tickets.

The Grosse Pointe Rotary Tot Lot Re-Imagining

On Aug. 1, 2019, the Rotary Club of Grosse Pointe unveiled the $250,000 “re-imagining” of its nearly half-century-old Tot Lot in the City of Grosse Pointe to make it an ADA/ADHD compliant, all-inclusive play park and learning development environment for kids 2 to 10 years of age.

In 1973, Grosse Pointe Rotary designed and installed the initial Tot Lot play park for children 2 to 5 years of age at the corner of St. Clair and Waterloo in the City of Grosse Pointe. Then, in 1997-98, the club performed a true makeover of the original park and invested significantly in park improvements.

The Tot Lot is the only dedicated ADA-compliant and all-inclusive children's play park that is open at all residents and families of the five Grosse Pointe communities and Harper Woods.

It’s time to update and bring these insights and improvements to the Rotary Tot Lot with a design makeover involving an investment of $250,000. For more information please click here.

Presenter - Melanie Taylor

Melanie Taylor was the winner of the Distinguished Young Woman of Michigan 2018.

Melanie won this title in high school and spoke to the Club about what was involved before heading out to the national competition in Mobile Alabama. Distinguished Young Women is a national scholarship program that takes place in all 50 states and awards a billion dollars in scholarships each year.

The competition consists of a review of extracurricular activities, transcripts and test scores, self-expression, and on-stage interview, and a fitness/health portion. Throughout the process, Melanie made some great friends and earned $7,000 in scholarship money.

Since then, Melanie has completed her freshman year at U of M where she is majoring in public policy and writes for the Michigan Daily as well as a foreign policy journal. She was also able to attend the 2019 national competition as a “has been” where she rekindled friendships, went on publicity tours, and was able to enjoy the city of Mobile.

To learn more, you can contact Melanie at meltay@umich.edu or go to www.distinguishedyw.org.

Melanie presenting a club flag from the Mobile, AL Sunrise Club.

Presenters - Bud and Sue Ozar

Bud and Sue Ozar are the founders of Friends of Kenyan Orphans

The organization is dedicated to raising and granting funds and resources to grass root organizations in Kenya which support a dignified life for orphaned or abandoned girls by providing basic human needs of food, shelter, clothing, education and healthcare within a safe and caring environment.

The Ozars talked primarily about the St. Clare Centre for Girls - a school and living facility that they raised funds to build in 2008 - for 350 orphaned or abandoned girls from ages 4 to 20. The girls are rescued from slums, displaced persons’ camps (that arose from disputed election violence), early marriages, and female circumcisions.

The Centre operates under four pillars – work, study, prayer, and sport/exercise. The Ozars are amazed at the amount of studying done by the girls who realize the importance of an education. To this end, since 2014, the Ozars have been raising funds to pay for their graduates’ higher education – college, university, or trade school.

The Ozars have such a powerful story that 9 Rotarians committed $100 each to their cause. Others are welcome to bring a check to the next meeting or donate on their website www.friendsofkenyanorphans.org.

Paul Harris Fellows

Kim Towar gave a brief summary of the Rotary International Foundation (to learn more, go to www.rotary.org) as she presented Paul Harris (x7) pins to Steve McMillan and Diane Strickler.

Presenter - Gail Marlow

Gail Marlow is the Executive Director of the Motor City Mitten Mission.

The organization began with the providing of sleeping mats and pillows to the homeless that are made out of recycled plastic bags and has expanded into also supplying food and clothing. In 2019, it has provided 600 mats made out of 2 million plastic bags. This is all accomplished by volunteers working out of St. Clare Church.

Ms. Marlow is very passionate about serving the homeless and, because she does outreach every day, she gets to know them and can help facilitate services on their behalf. To learn more of all the Mission does, visit www.motorcitymittenmission.org. To offer financial assistance through the Quicken Loans Challenge, go to

www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/motor-city-mitten-mission

Presenter - Anna Gleason

Our presenter on August 14th was Anna Gleason, one of our outbound exchange student who lived in Finland.

Anna’s presentation focused on family, friends, school, trips, the Finnish culture, and what she learned.

Her love for her three host families was obvious as she considers each to be part of her family. Because the Finnish people are so reserved, Anna had to really push herself, which involved speaking Finnish, to find friends. In school, she enjoyed the International Club and practicing dancing for months for a formal ball. Her travels took her all over Finland as well as to Estonia, Sweden, and Russia.

Anna found the country to be beautiful and the Finnish people to be very reserved, with very little small talk. She felt that learning the language was very important (the 6^th hardest to learn) and is proud of what she accomplished.

Anna will be studying marine biology, and become a Rotaract member, at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia this fall.

Tot Lot Update

A huge thank you to Jon and Lisa Gandelot who, as trustees of the Edward and Ellen Dryer Foundation, donated $35,000 to sponsor one of the big playscapes. As of 8/14/19 the current donation total is $102,236 ($250,000 goal) from 36 donors.

Visiting Rotarian

Therese Maggioncalda was a visiting Rotarian at the last meeting. She is a member of the Taylor Michigan Rotary club. (Pictured on the left with our Julie Baumer)

Tot Lot Update