Speakers

The last meeting of April will be a social meeting on Thursday, April 25, 2019 from 5 to 7 pm at Fiddlehead Restaurant (located at 422 Franklin Street).  This meeting will be giveback night with 10% of all meals sold at the restaurant between the hours of 4-8 pm to come back to the club for our outreach efforts.  So, come eat, drink, be merry and spread your Rotary Love!!  Feel free to bring and or invite family and friends to this event.  

John Lake is the newly-elected Prosecutor for LaPorte County, which makes up the 32^nd Judicial Circuit of the State of Indiana. He has practiced in Criminal Law for his entire career, over 27 years, and has tried over a hundred cases. His recent successes include 5 murder convictions since 2014 in LaPorte County. He has also worked as a Deputy Attorney General for the Medicaid Fraud unit. As the County Prosecutor, John heads up a team of 16 Deputy Prosecutors.  He is a lifelong resident of LaPorte County, having attended Marquette High School and the University of Notre Dame, graduating with honors in 1988. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from Notre Dame Law School in 1991, and was married the same year. He and his wife Mary, also an attorney and a Deputy Prosecutor, have raised 7 children, with only three remaining at home. John is a 10-year Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow, having been very active in the Michigan City Rotary Club in the past, and looks forward to more involvement in the community now that he is home to stay.

State Rep. (and our fellow club member) Pat Boy, will discuss what took place downstate during her first session as an Indiana State Representative!

Andrea Huntington, Director of Development for Shirley Heinze Land Trust, will give a short presentation about the organization and its work protecting rare and significant natural areas in northwestern Indiana.

Meet this year's RYLA students and hear about their experience!

No regular lunch meeting

Maggi Spartz will provide an update on current happenings at Unity Foundation including their focus on education and workforce development as well as a review of the 2019 Annual Report to Community.  Since 1992, Unity Foundation has helped to make La Porte County stronger…now and forever.  In 2018, Rotary of MC received a grant from Unity for our Eyeglass Project and our Club also has a Fund with them!  Join us to learn more about OUR community foundation!

Enjoy a picnic at the Barker Mansion garden. Invite your family and friends!

In 1968, the Mansion, also known as Barker Civic Center, was presented to the City of Michigan City under terms of a legal agreement between the City and the donor, Catherine Barker Hickox. Her wish was that the Mansion, her childhood home, should be used as a cultural and civic center in memory of her father, John H. Barker. A commission was established to direct the Center’s activities which would include restoration, preservation and documentation of the Mansion and its artifacts. These activities are for the purpose of education, research, and interpretation of the life-style of a wealthy industrialist of the late 19th century for a broad public audience.

Such is the background for the evolution of the Barker Civic Center whose specific mission is as follows:

• Present a historically accurate portrayal of Barker family life, especially that of John H. Barker - family man, citizen, entrepreneur, industrialist, and philanthropist; and also that of his daughter Catherine Barker Hickox - orphan at age 14, heiress, businesswoman, and founder of the Barker Welfare Foundation.
• Offer tours, programs and exhibits portraying the cultural, social and economic activities of the period, thereby fostering the public’s appreciation of the mansion’s original furnishings, architecture and gardens.
• Serve area schools with specially focused tours, games and programs.
• Create a gracious and hospitable atmosphere for usage by non-profit civic and cultural groups and for lectures, recitals, and weddings.
• Welcome the public to the Mansion and to our many programs as a volunteer.
• Preserve and maintain the Mansion and its contents in order to ensure its place on the National Register of Historic Places.