In his retirement, Larry Goodlander drives for UBER. He likes the freedom that he has choosing his hours and days. Over the last 9 years he has had 9,000 rides. He averages 2 rides every 30 minutes. He explained that 45% of the fare goes to the driver & every ride is videotaped.
David Burdo is with Chance Sports. The nonprofit provides scholarships that remove financial barriers that prevent young athletes from accessing competitive club sports. The need-based funding allows kids to participate. Almost 2 million dollars awarded to athletes so far.
Rebecca Taylor with Serve GR co-founded the organization 2 years ago with the mission of meeting the needs in the community. Two mobile food trucks visit underserved neighborhoods. They have response teams working with churches & care teams addressing the needs of local families.
Rebecca Visser from Lori's Voice lorisvoice.org/ spoke about the nonprofit and their passion to support children with special needs. They provide items that insurance will not cover. These may include accessible vehicles, safety beds, wheelchair ramps and so much more.
Nancy Hicks with the local Alzheimer's Association Chapter alz.org/gmc spoke to our club about the disease. She discussed the warning signs and treatments that can slow the disease progression. She also provided resources for patients and family members.
For our meeting Jerry Hough, a retired Air Traffic Controller spoke. He talked about Air Venture. For one week every year Oshkosh is the busiest airport in the world. More than 700,000 people & more than 10,000 planes attend, bringing in over 237 million to the local economy.
Our Kiwanis member John LaPorte gave a presentation on one of his hobbies. He uses epoxy resin in woodcraft to create beautiful pieces of art. He showed pictures of the process from start to finish.
Ian MacNeil from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) spoke about the program at Aquanis College. This is a membership-based, program that offers a wide variety of 90 minute lectures, short courses, and special events for adults over 50. It's $75 to join & $10 per course.
Kyle Wartella and his son Bryce spoke about Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This year they had 566 campers and are the second largest camp in the country. They are expanding to include athletes of all abilities and may need to add a second week to accommodate their growth.
Andrew Lamppa owns Built to Benefit builttobenefit.com/. Working with companies across the country, he helps them to stop simply managing and start leading by design. He talked about going beyond the simple “thank you” and making people feel truly appreciated and valued.
Mike Martin and his assistant Blair joined the club. Mike gave part one of a talk titled "Why the Beatles are worth remembering". They performed songs in popular culture that have "staying power". Some are centered on the themes of love, loss, hope and the meaning of life.
President Brenda Eller talked about our participation in the Comstock Park Mill Creek Days - facebook.com/profile.php?id=…. We plan to have a booth with games for kids and maybe even cookie decorating. We plan to use the time to discuss Kiwanis and maybe pick up a few members.
Mike Martin and three other members from the Golden K joined us for our meeting. Mike gave a talk titled “Why I No Longer Hate Poetry”. He explained how poetry can express feelings and emotions in just a few words. Poems can help with loss of a loved one and even make you laugh.
Lindsey VanDyke & Ashley Sturgis from Early On Kent ISD spoke. They help families find the social, health, and educational services to promote the development of their infant or toddler (up to 36 months) with a developmental delay, disability, or established medical condition.
NFL Football player Terry Bradshaw spoke at the 2025 Kiwanis International Convention in Pittsburgh.
facebook.com/watch/?v=392697…
Today was part one of his talk and he gave a humorous look at football and talked about Kiwanis and the vision and importance of helping kids.
Hillary Sawyer with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids talked about their locations and Camp O’Malley. Membership is only $5/year. The clubs boast that 98% of members graduate high school, 84% maintain A’s and B’s in coursework.
Brenda, gave the club a two part talk on what she learned from the Kiwanis ONE (Ovation, Networking, Education) event that she attended. It featured discussions on the new Kiwanis Engage website, Amplify, Law Enforcement Career Academy, mental health programs and much more.
Maggie Lancaster and Nicolette Chambery from the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum gave us on overview of the museum, emphasizing the Museums for All and Pay What you Can Family Memberships. They offer reduced admission rates to encourage attendance by people of all income levels.
Sister Adriana Gazzera from the Consolata Missionary Sisters spoke about their mission and specifically their school in Djibouti. The School for All is for physically and mentally disabled children. They have between 25-30 students. consolatasisters.org/
