SPY's Newsletter 5/28/2025

Christina Grosshans
Jun 20
5 min read

SPY’s Community Newsletter

#364

(5/28/25)

2025 SPY’s Scholarship and Senior Awards Announced---Part One

On Tuesday, May 20th. Lakewood High School held their annual Senior Awards night. At that event the SPY”s and the Sunfield Community Foundation gave out a total of eleven scholarships and awards. Thirty Nine years ago, the Sunfield Area Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) began awarding scholarships to deserving high school seniors. To date, well over $350,000 has been given in scholarships and recognition awards to 221 different students.

In addition to traditional scholarships, the Sunfield SPY's also have instituted a separate Trade's Scholarship program. This is an additional scholarship that will be awarded to eligible graduating seniors that wish to enter a trade. We also award the “Lade Military Service Medal” and cash Honorarium for students entering the military, as well as the Richard Lenon Award that is based solely on Community Service.

Due to “SPY’s Community Newsletter’ space constraints, in this issue we will only cover a couple of the awards, with the rest of the recipients to follow in the next Newsletters.

Pictured in this issue is Alana Cappon who received the Richard Lenon Community Service Award which is based solely on, and given to, the student that has demonstrated the most dedicated and significant community service. Alana received a plaque and a $500 cash award for her outstanding service.

News From Our Library

Let there be lights! And, now there is, thanks to an energy efficiency grant obtained by the Sunfield Township. The Sunfield District Library is one of the recipients of that grant. Stacie McNees Desgranges who was the Sunfield Township Clerk at the time, obtained a $100,000 “Community Energy Management Grant” from EGLE. EGLE stands for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. The grant was going to update areas of energy inefficiencies in its community’s buildings. The Library, the Welch Museum, and possibly the Community Rooms were to benefit from it.

After an energy audit was performed by a professional inspector, areas of loss were recommended for updates. Thanks to Stacie, the Inspector, and the grant monies, the library received major upgrades. Three new furnaces with their respective air conditioning units were replaced by Mark Woodman’s Heating and Plumbing of Sunfield. The old units were the originals from when the building was constructed in 2000.

The next area of improvement was the lights. All new LED lighting upgrades were performed by Clorwell Electrical Contractors LLC of Lake Odessa. The library now has three areas that can function on a 50/50 basis. The patrons and staff have all noticed that even on a 50 percent level, these areas are so much brighter than before, and will save money to operate. Repairs to an outside fixture will help to illuminate the book return box in the entry area, as well.

The last improvement, yet to come, will be the replacement of the two exterior doors. Both the front door and rear door are major losses of heating and cooling. Once those improvements are in place, the library will be completely upgraded.

Grants are difficult to obtain and the community is very lucky to have people working to help us. A huge thank you to Stacie is felt not only by the staff, but by all of the library patrons.

Notice #1

Coming up on Sunday, June 8th, will be the 34th. annual Centennial Acres / SPY Shoot-Out golf tournament. Our event chairmen Derek Desgranges and Steve Grosshans are still looking for some intrepid hackers and whackers to fill out the outing roster. Give either Derek (269-838-7686) or Steve (269-838-6459) a call for further information---or to volunteer to help out---or to sign-up your team. This is a fun event and a major fund-raiser that helps the SPY’s with our various youth and community programs!

Notice #2

Coming up on Sunday, June 1st is the Lakewood Lions Club’s Annual Chicken BBQ. This one will be held at the Lake Odessa Fair Grounds from 3 PM til 5:30 PM. This is for take-out only with drive-up service starting off of Fourth Avenue. Prices are---Adults $15 and Children $8. (Please see attached flyer).

Contributions

· Mark & Mary Hanna renewed their Platinum Sponsorship for 2025 & 2026.

· Jim & Diny Peabody also renewed their Platinum Sponsorship for 2025.

· Best Tax Service renewed their Corporate Sponsorship for 2025 & 2026.

· Mike & Amy Acker made a donation to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Paul Fisher, Jr.

· Oren & Rosie Best made contributions in memory of the following:

Phil Spitzley

Verd Rumfield

Ruth Burch

Kay Bodemuller

Louann Woodman

Roy Bailiff

Paul Fisher, Jr.

Dale Rogers

Betty King

Harry Wallin

Shirley O’Toole

Parting Comments

· Deep Thought of the Week: Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked well with what sounded good.

· Notable Quote: “If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago---a liberal 30 years ago---and a racist today.”

· That’s Puny Department: Boarding School taught me how to get on an airplane.

· Did You Know Section: Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and created the first algorithm that calculates Bernoulli numbers intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first to recognize the full potential of a "computing machine" and is considered to be the first computer programmer. She did this in 1843, and obviously her program was never used because it required a machine that could never be built at that time. Now there was a woman that was way, way, way ahead of her time!

Final Notices

1. If there is any organization or business out there that has something they would like to advertise or promote, please feel free to submit it to this Newsletter and we will help publicize it. There is no charge.

2. We are glad to provide this means as a public service to help keep the community informed.

3. If you are looking for further information about the SPY’s events---Corporate or Platinum Sponsorship information---scholarship forms---youth sports reimbursement forms---past SPY newsletters---etc.---just go to the SPY website at www.sunfieldareaspys.com.