President’s message:

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Although, fundraising (money) is the lifeblood of Rotary projects. Rotary raises essential funds that support initiatives in food insecurities, education, youth development, health care and community development to name a few. Without consistent fundraising these life changing efforts might stall leaving critical needs unmet. Our fundraising not only generates money but it builds community, awareness and a shared purpose. It’s uncomfortable for most of us to ask for money but it’s more uncomfortable for us to tell those in need that we can’t help.

Money used wisely is the opposite of evil.

Morning Meeting 10/14/25:

Another informative and thought provoking meeting. Aside from all of the great camaraderie, our presenter, Dan Buron from Goodwill of Northern Michigan had a great presentation concerning chronic homelessness in our area. It is a very real problem and it appears that we have agencies in our area to help deal with these problems. More then temporarily finding a place for the homeless to sleep they are working with the homeless to discover the root cause of their homelessness. Then they attempt to work on those causes to find a long term solution. There certainly are some chronic conditions which don’t have easy solutions.

There were some statistics showing the financial advantage toward helping these folks. If you consider the costs to our healthcare system and the costs to our law enforcement the financial cost of homelessness is significant. Of course human dignity should trump the finances.

At the meeting on October 21, we were presented an update from the Elk Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. This organization represents  Acme, Alden, Atwood, Bellaire, Central Lake, Eastport, Ellsworth, Elk Rapids, Kewadin, Rapid City, Torch Lake and Williamsburg.

Their mission is to promote business and community prosperity through advocacy, education and networking. This organization is not for profit and is directed by a board of directors. The Chamber has roughly 300 members. The Rotary Club of Elk Rapids is a proud member of the Chamber!

The Elk Rapids Chamber of Commerce organizes and partners on many local events, for example the farmers market and evenings on river street. The Chamber appears to be working very hard in successfully furthering their mission.

The Board met after our morning meeting. Significant votes involved approving our Good Works Committee recommendations. We approved the following; $3K for the middle school youth in government, $3k for Roboherd robotics for the ERHS and $2k for the Village Market Christmas Giving Tree. 

It was noted that we need to continually remind members that the club runner email information is meant for club business only.