New River Jordan Program Presented to Rotary
December 4, 2018
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By: Stephen Kent
Aland Stamps
Aland Stamps tells a compelling story of a life on the skids and a backstory few people could recover from. Taken from his abusive, drug-addicted mother at a very young age, Aland spent most of his early years in foster care.
Aland was not an ideal child. When he aged out of the program he slid deeper into a world of drugs, violence, and crime. He had been in 20 foster homes, couch surfed, lived homelessly, and in various institutions.
But in the long run, Aland did turn his life around. In 2001, after being raided for drugs and being sentenced to five years in prison, he was also sentenced to five years of "zero tolerance probation". He emerged in 2006 a new person.
After graduation, Aland began giving transition seminars throughout the state for the MYOI program. He helps build awareness of the problems and the ways to cope and move into a productive life. His story is the subject of the documentary "I Changed My Story" and an interview series by the same name on YouTube.
Today Aland is spearheading the efforts of the River Jordan, where the moto is "To empower youth to take responsibility for their own individual lives and become a productive member of society."
RJ "intends to achieve our mission by providing transitional age foster youth who are participating in Michigan?s Foster Care Extension Program and are between the ages of 18 and 21, with safe and affordable independent living 'dormitory' style housing."
More importantly, RJ works with younger foster care kids before they age out. The objective is to put them on a better track before they find themselves on their own and out of the system.
For more information visit
www.RiverJordanInc.org.
CLUB NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS
The December 11 Board Meeting
is CANCELLED
We'll meet again on January 9, 2019 as scheduled.
A note to all members.
Dues invoices for the January to June term have been e-mailed. Please take care of this as soon as possible.
Welcome to new member
Kellie Berry who was inducted on Tuesday. Kellie is the manager of
D'Angelos restaurant on Columbus.
In the day's "
Rotary Foundation Minute",
Connie Schweitzer related how Polio had touched her family. She told how the first child born to her family was a dearly loved son who died of Polio in the 1940s. The family went on to have six kids but seldom spoke of that lost son. Only in later years did Connie learn of the suffering and the great lengths her parents went to for that son. After her month's death, the family made donations to a number of organizations including the Rotary Polio Plus program, which Rotarians were encouraged to support.
This year's
Vocation Day is scheduled for this week's meeting on December 11. It should be a full house. Be sure to be on hand to welcome the students; they are the future of Rotary.
The
Bay City Central High School Jazz Band has been booked for the Annual Holiday Program on December 18 at the Doubletree. Other service clubs have been invited. It promises to be a great day for fellowship.
---- DATES TO REMEMBER ----
December 11, 2018: Board Meeting
CANCELLED
Rotary meets at the Doubletree, as usual,
throughout December 2018.
There is no meeting on December 25 and January 1.
Upcoming Programs
(See the official schedule at
RotaryBayCity.org )
December 11, 2018: VOCATIONAL DAY 2018
Details available from Trevor Keyes and Matt Felan
December 18, 2018: Holiday Cheer
The Noon Rotary hosts other local service clubs for a Holiday Feast at the Doubletree.
Entertainment will be provided by the Bay City Central High School Jazz Band.
December 25, 2018: Merry Christmas Rotarians! No Meeting today
January 1, 2019: Happy New Year Rotarians! No Meeting today
Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.
Rotary is an intimate affiliation of carefully selected business and professional people,
having as its objective the promotion of high ethical standards in private, commercial
and civic life, and dedicated to the ideal that the basis of all worthy endeavor is unselfish service.
Current and past
DISTRICT DISPATCH newsletters are available on the District site shown in the LINKS section below.
Rotary Bay City on Facebook!
Click on the Blue Facebook to visit us there.
Remember! Check attendance sheets at the front desk.
LINKS
Stephen Kent
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Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations.
More from Stephen Kent
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