SPY Officers For 2020
President Steve Grosshans
Vice President Justin “Sam” Coan
Secretary Christina Grosshans
Treasurer Shana Cappon
Promotions Director Pete Weller
Membership Director John Fisher
Sgt.-At-Arms Jeff Gibbs
Director-At-Large Wendel Peabody
Drawing Winners
At the SPY’s Annual Meeting of the Membership held Friday, January 10th, there was the traditional prize drawings at the end of the festivities. The grand prize 50/50 cash-drawing winner of $175 was Amy Patrick. Being the generous sport that Amy is, she donated it right back to the SPY’s. Thank you Amy!
Other prize drawing winner were:
Zeke Cappon
Rene Strimback (twice)
Diane Updyke
Stacey Nurenberg
Amy Acker
Craig Capon
Wendel Peabody
Marci Teachworth
The lucky person that got to take “Myrtle The Fertile Turtle” home with them for a year was Rene “Oh Joy” Strimback.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Sunfield Area SPY’s will be held on Tuesday, February 11th. at the Sunfield Library meeting room starting at 7 PM. Guests are always welcome!
Congratulations Liz Nagel
We have recently learned that Elizabeth (Liz) Nagel---former High School state champion in golf---former MSU varsity golf standout---former Michigan professional golf tournament champion---former member of the women’s pro SYMETRA golf tour---has earned her “card” and is now a bone fide member of the LPGA tour. Congratulations Liz!
Liz is the daughter of John and Nancy Nagel. John is the general manager and pro at the Centennial Acres golf course.
Looking Ahead
· The SPY’s 25th annual Wild Game Dinner / Sportsman’s Night will be held on Saturday, February 1st. Event Chairman Pete Weller has indicated that there are many, many more prizes this year, as well as a lot of many innovations that should make this year’s Wild Game Dinner a rather special extravaganza!
Tickets are going extremely fast (as usual) so contact Pete (517-743-1642) ASAP if you want to get in on the action!
· The SPY’s annual Euchre Night (AKA “The Showdown on Main Street”) takes place on Saturday, March 14th If interested in attending, please contact the event chairperson, Casey Shettler (517-231-2192) and let him know for planning purposes.
Texas Hold ‘Em Coming Up
Our Texas Hold ‘Em chairman Wendel Peabody tells me that our first Texas Hold ‘Em event of 2020 will take place March 1st. thru the 3rd. (that’s a Sunday; Monday; and Tuesday). Please mark your calendars and think about helping out for a shift. Details will follow in the weeks ahead
Recent Memorial Contributions
Recent memorial contributions came in from:
Steve & Christina Grosshans gave in memory of Millie Peabody.
John & Sandra Fisher donated to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Bea Boyer; Millie Peabody; and Rauli Aho.
Robert & Diana Overholt donated to the Steve Wakley Memorial Scholarship Fund in memory of Millie Peabody.
Valerie Hanna made contributions in memory of George Monasmith and Merlin Brooke.
Rob Piercefield Receives the SPY’s Outstanding Service Award
Pictured (left) is SPY’s Membership Director John Fisher presenting the SPY’s 2019 Outstanding Service Award to Rob Piercefield.
The Bible says in John 15: verse 13, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”.
One usually thinks of a soldier throwing himself on a live grenade to save his buddies in a foxhole as the example befitting this passage. However, we are here to tell you of another way someone has laid down his life for his friends and neighbors.
We speak of Rob Piercefield. We have honored Rob twice before in 2010 and 2014 for his decades of considerable community service and achievements. But, all that is history and we aren’t going to re-hash those important works.
But, Rob is like the Ever-Ready bunny---he just keeps on going and going---taking on new challenges successfully, and helping people in so many different ways as he does so.
If you looked up the words commitment and dedication in the dictionary, you would find Rob’s picture as the definition.
Ya sure, the Monday night free dinners he started and provides for are still going strong after 12 years. Over 200,000 of these dinners have been served at sites he started and provides for in Sunfield, Mulliken, Portland, and Grand Ledge.
And ya, he is still providing food for the Sunfield Senior Nutrition program every other week.
And ya, he has provided around 60 funeral lunches this past year alone.
The decades long list goes on and on. The breadth and depth of his service and involvement in a wide range of community and youth betterment programs is boundless.
And, as if he wasn’t involved up to his eyeballs enough, a little over a year ago he went out and got elected our County Commissioner.
As a rookie on that board, he has accomplished more for this area and the County in the short time he has been there than has ever been achieved in years by any other Board member.
In addition to his initiative making county government more transparent and responsive---especially when it comes to drain and culvert issues, tonight we are honoring Rob for two significant achievements he was responsible for this past year.
The first is the saving of the Sunfield Recycling Center. To state it simply, the Sunfield Township Board voted to close the facility. Rob stepped in and not only got it reopened, but expanded the coverage area---negotiated other townships to kick-in financially to support the center---and obtained grant money that further put it on a sound financial footing.
His other major accomplishment was the creation of the Eaton County Ag Resource Day. This event was a tremendous help to area farmers who have suffered greatly due to the extreme wet conditions of last Spring. Rob arranged to gather a number of resources, from both government and businesses, together to provide some assistance for farmers struggling to deal with this hardship.
Both were important successful undertakings for our community at large.
And oh ya, he still has his restaurant to run. Which starts his day at 5 AM.
It is said, that it’s easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is---standing up and taking action. We are celebrating the fact that Rob has stood up, time and again, took on difficult tasks, and took actions that have provided significant results.
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