Hillsdale club hosts Rotarian from India Sanjay Mehta from Ahmedabad joined the Rotary Club for lunch and fellowship. He also presented a flag from International Rotary India.

Hillsdale Rotary Club (Michigan, US — District 6360) President, Duke Anderson, welcomed local guests as well as an international guest to the meeting at Johnny T’s Next-Door.

Sanjay Mehta from Ahmedabad, a fellow Rotarian, joined the Hillsdale club for lunch and fellowship.

He shared with the club the success and growth of Rotary International in India and expressed his pride in being part of such an active and helpful service club.

He presented a flag from International Rotary India to the club supported by his friend Suhil Pater, who is also from India but now lives in Hillsdale and owns the Day’s Inn.

Heather Tritchka introduced the guest speakers with questions about the local Foster Care programme in Hillsdale County.

She asked if anyone knew how many children were currently in foster care in Hillsdale County (132).

She also asked if anyone knew on average how many of those children have had to be sent out of the area to other foster care facilities because of the lack of available homes in Hillsdale County (25 per cent).

She introduced the guest speakers, Vicki Hinshaw, foster care supervisor, and Tracy Sweet, licensing supervisor.

These two women presented the startling statistics that point to the immediate need for good people to step forward and become licensed foster care providers.

Foster care is a temporary arrangement made for children who cannot safely stay in their own home. Homes are needed for children 0-17 years old.

There were many questions asked by the club including the question from Rotary member Tim Sullivan, “Is it permissible for a couple who both work full time to still become foster parents?”

Hinshaw said that foster homes can be anything from single parents to two working parents and all variations in-between.

She urged interested parties to contact her if there were any further questions.

A new foster care training programme called Pride is starting at 6 pm on Wednesday.

The meeting concluded with an announcement from Rich Moore about the dedication of the basketball and volleyball courts at Sandy Beach along with the unveiling of a historical marker.

The historical marker is a sign with information about the history of Sandy Beach dating back to the days of the Baw Beese Potawatomi clan.

Rotarian Daniel Bisher has headed this project putting together the wording and content which has passed approval with the Michigan historical oversight committee.

The unveiling will be held at 10 am on June 24 at Sandy Beach, Lake Baw Beese.