Grosse Pointe Rotary Club
Grosse Pointe

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 5:30 PM
The Village Grille
16930 Kercheval Ave
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
United States of America

Our meetings are Hybrid Meetings.

Members will receive email invites each week to join in person and a link to join virtually.

If you wish to be a guest please contact a member or Email us at GrossePointeRotary@gmail.com

Our Stories

Last night we were joined by Linda Smith, President of U Snap Bac, a non-profit operating in the City of Detroit for 38 years providing services to create healthy neighborhoods, advance racial equity, increase housing stability, and affordable homeownership. Linda has been part of the organization since June 10th, 1995, and has been the president of U Snap Bac for 29 years.

Recently, U Snap Bac has established 64 units of affordable housing by Mac between Alter Road and Wayburn. Linda was part of the first affordable and sustainable home projects in Detroit. Starting with a marketing budget of $0, and through sole word of mouth, Linda has helped find buyers interested in their new housing units. U Snap Bac provided a year-long course for the new home buyers of those units that were once a week and helped these people manage their homes and stay residents, some for over 20 years.

On the west side of Alter Road, Linda partnered with the northeast guide center and helped them obtain the land from residents, to build new housing for families with mental illnesses who are now able to seek help right on the site. There are 10 units of affordable housing she has helped attain land behind for right behind the Rite Aid on Alter. One of U Snap Bac’s missions is to work with families purchasing a home for the first time, or people who have never owned a home for longer than three years, to get a grant of $25,000. They also help find all sorts of resources to keep families in their homes. The organization is also launching a home repair grant, along with a senior citizens program help that's helped 25 seniors get up to $2,000 in grants to help them improve the conditions of their homes. 

U Snap Bac invites speakers and volunteers from all over to help residents with everything from wealth management, to home ownership, and estate planning. Many people in Detroit are living in homes left to them by their parents, but these homes are owned by the land bank. Linda has tried to help these people become homeowners. Instead of telling these people what they need to change about their house, her new approach is to show them ways that are safer and healthier, taking a step back and not assuming that she has all the answers. 

Word of mouth is their main type of communication, but they have just launched a hotline for people to call who are looking for resources to help them. Rotary can help by volunteering, from distributing food on Saturdays to coming in to speak and give advice on wealth management and homeownership at their office.

Nicole & Bob Deem: Learning to Live & Thrive with PTSD
 

PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events, or a set of circumstances.  Mr. Deem’s PTSD is the result of what he experienced during his years as a firefighter.  
 
Symptoms of the disorder may include nightmares (where the individual’s mind has them suffering the event again), flashbacks, social anxiety, and altered moods.  When Mr. Deem had one of these nightmares, he was not able to function the next day and it took some time for Mrs. Deem to come to grips with this.  What has allowed her to thrive are a good therapist, faith, a strong church community, a service dog, medication, a strong trusting marriage, and having a purpose.  
 
The Deems rely greatly on the two service dogs they have owned.  To be a service dog, it must be trained to perform a specific task that mitigates a specific disability for a specific person. They stressed that these dogs should be treated like medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, and need to be accommodated in public buildings and basically ignored to be allowed to perform their task.
Steve Tengler: The SET Fund: Rebuilding Michigan – one scholarship at a time.
 
With a $2,000 inheritance, Steve and Elizabeth Tengler started an education fund in 1998, which has continuously grown since then.  Each year, the SET Fund provides scholarships to Michigan residents attending Michigan colleges. They are awarded based on financial need and community involvement to applicants who live in the state and plan to enroll in or are currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at a Michigan college or university.
 
The Fund has given out 38 scholarships totaling $177,500, with a typical finalist being a child of a single parent earning $30,000/year.  The hardships suffered by some of the recipients are staggering, yet the students find a way to still help others.  The Fund’s goal is to reach $1 million dollars with the hope that the students, upon graduation, will live, work, and continue to volunteer in Michigan.
 
A wine tasting fundraiser will take place on 9/14 at the Windmill Pointe Park’s Tompkin’s Center.
www.setfund.org (http://www.setfund.org/)
Adam Hollier, Director of the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency
 
The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency was created in 2013 and is the central coordinating agency, providing support, care, advocacy and service to veterans and their families. The agency works to identify and break down barriers that veterans face in employment, education, health care and quality of life. It does this by helping to connect veterans and their families to the federal and state benefits they have earned. 
 
Mr. Hollier believes that there are three important components as to how veterans should be treated: (1) recognize and thank them for their service; (2) encourage them to take advantage of all benefits available to them; and (3) actively pursue benefits on their behalf. Studies show that the very high suicide rate of veterans is cut by 50% when they utilize their benefits. He finds that many don’t seek them because their active duty was a bad experience, or they don’t consider themselves to be veterans because they served in a support capacity.  
 
While director, Mr. Hollier has been able to double the connection his agency has with Michigan veterans but believes there are still 200,000 outside the system. To learn more, go to www.michigan.gov/mvaa (http://www.michigan.gov/mvaa)
 Cissie Cappola: New Member Presentation
 
John Mozena introduced Cissie and provided us with a brief background. She was born and raised in GP Farms, spent some time as a ski bum in Colorado, lived in the Chicago area for 45 years, and came back to live in Grosse Pointe for the last four.
 
Cissie shared the impact of a stroke she experienced in September 2021. While having drinks with friends she started speaking gibberish and was immediately taken to the hospital.  Fortunately, she was able to receive the tPA IV, but it still took her days to have limited speech. After two weeks of rehab, with her ability to speak being the most difficult to return, she was sent home.  A urinary tract infection, with symptoms similar to her stroke, put Cissie back in the hospital for 4 weeks, where she eventually had a pacemaker installed.
 
These health issues led to some despair, before Cissie finally accepted what happened and decided to take action and focus on hope.  A byproduct of this was her desire to become involved and, with a suggestion from Roger Hull in 12/21, our club (to its benefit) became a beneficiary of this commitment.
-- Amanda DeVeaux is a Wealth Management Associate with Morgan Stanley and lives in Harper Woods with her dog, Leland.
 
-- Todd Litton is the Director of Equipment Services US for Hillyard Inc., a company that manufactures and distributes cleaning solutions.  He lives in GP Farms with his wife, Holly, and their three children.
 
Please welcome both to the Club and help them become involved members.  
 
Ruth is the wife of Scott Matthews and the Director of The Second Mile Center in Detroit.  She teaches the children at the Center to “speak life”,
which is to be a positive force in the world.  As stated in Proverbs 18:21,
 
“Words kill, words give life, their either poison or fruit – you choose.” Her goal is to always put positive words in the air.
 
Every day, Ruth is confronted with “I can’t go to school” and “I can’t go to work”, which she responds with “yes, you can” and “let’s figure out a way to make it happen”.  To help these children find a better life, she tries to get them to believe they can do it, visualize it happening, and then work hard to achieve that goal.
 
In her own life, Ruth claims three statements daily: I am beautiful, I am loved, and I matter.  So that everyone can “speak life” to themselves, she  supports six daily rituals: (1) spend time with your creator first thing in the morning, (2) feed your spirit through prayer (read), (3) find some quiet time to reflect, (4) go to someone in your life for strength and support, (5) take random pauses to be thankful, and (6) encourage and believe in yourself.
Jef Fisk: Right Brain/Left Brian: Creativity Takes Many Forms
 
The right part of one’s brain is the basis for creativity while the left part is for analyzing. Most consider art to be the creation of music, performing, visual arts such as painting and pottery, and the written word.  Mr. Fisk believes that the business world presents its own opportunities to bring art and be creative.
 
He presented this by describing his own early journey as a singer/songwriter, a record producer (his own albums and others), and a photographer (fashion and industrial).  His career path then took a turn to information technology where he was a programmer, an IT manager, a professor, and a chief information officer.  Even in the technology field, he was able to be creative when designing computer programs, being a project leader, and with communications, such as newsletters, presentations, role playing, and videos.
 
Throughout his business career, Mr. Fisk has continued to work and perform with GP Theatre at many levels, conduct fundraisers, and make online entertainment during Covid. To learn more, please visit www.jef-fisk.com (http://www.jef-fisk.com/).
Up and Coming Speakers
Mark Mals
Mar 20, 2024
Mercy Education Project (MEP)
Roger Hull
Mar 27, 2024
Socio-political aspects of Roger's trip to Southern Africa
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