Pictured (L-R): Marty Barta, Terry Bigelow, and Darwin Scherba.

Flushing resident Terry Bigelow has been named the Flushing Rotary Club’s Service Above Self Award recipient for 2020.

Bigelow, who is the program manager for the Flushing Christian Outreach Center (FCOC), received her award at the Rotary Club’s weekly breakfast meeting on February 6. She was presented the award based on her outstanding professional achievement within her occupation and for contributing her time and energy to the problems and needs of society.

Bigelow, a 1974 graduate of Flushing High School, attended Michigan State University to pursue a career in teaching. During her junior year at MSU, she auditioned and was offered an acting role with The Young Americans Broadway Tour. After a nine-month tour, Bigelow returned to MSU and resumed her education, where she received a B.A. in Elementary Education in 1979.

Bigelow began her teaching career in the Los Alamitos Unified School District in California. She was involved in many aspects of education, from classroom teacher to directing student musicals and drama programs.

With the help of a colleague, Bigelow founded the Los Al Players—a youth performance troupe that developed into what is currently known as the Orange County School of the Arts. The California charter school currently enrolls 2,000 students in grades 7-12 and prepares students for higher education and a profession in the arts.

In 1986, Bigelow returned to Flushing and taught middle school writing in Montrose. She also served as the afterschool drama coach.

In 1989, Bigelow received her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Eastern Michigan University. She would go on to hold the position of Montrose Middle School Assistant Principal and Montrose Alternative Education High School Director from 2003 to 2010. She retired from Montrose Schools in 2010.

Shortly after her retirement, Bigelow became the program manager for the FCOC, which provides food and clothing for 400 to 500 individuals each month. FCOC has become an efficient resource for those in need within the Flushing community, serving every client with dignity and grace. The FCOC is supported by many of the Flushing churches.

Bigelow oversees around 100 volunteers at FCOC and coordinates a variety of programs at the center. She has become well-regarded for bringing compassion and expertise to the FCOC vision and for having a genuine concern for the wellbeing of the community’s most vulnerable members.

In addition to her role with FCOC, Bigelow has been instrumental in providing food for school-aged children within Flushing Community Schools through weekend distribution. As a certified trainer for Bridges Out of Poverty, she has also given presentations across the state and the country regarding the hidden rules of poverty, the barriers of poverty and how communities can help neighbors in need to become self-sustaining.

The Rotary Club of Flushing’s Service Above Self Award reflects Rotary International’s motto and seeks to recognize someone in the Flushing community who goes above and beyond (Service above Self) in their service to the community and beyond, thereby exemplifying the Rotary motto. The recipient is always a non-Rotarian.

(Left to right): Andrew Schmidt, Rich Willette, Josie Willette, Tina Willette, Lauren Quigley and Kevin Foltz.

Flushing High School senior Josie Willette has been selected as the Flushing Rotary Student of the Month for January.

Willette received her recognition alongside her parents Rich and Tina Willette and her favorite FHS teacher, Lauren Quigley, at a recent Flushing Rotary Club meeting. Josie is ranked eighth in the senior class with a 4.02 GPA and is currently taking AP Chemistry and AP Calculus classes.

After graduation, Willette plans to attend Michigan State University to pursue a degree in elementary education. She said she would like to stay in Michigan for the time being and job shadow teachers while in college. Eventually, she hopes to continue her education with a master’s degree.

As a student at FHS, Willette is no stranger to the spotlight. Last fall, she was crowned the 2019 Flushing Homecoming Queen and played a key role in leading the senior team to victory in the Homecoming Powderpuff game. She has also been a three-time captain of the Flushing Girls Varsity Soccer team at Flushing and has been named to the All-League Academic team in all four years of high school.

Willette belongs to several clubs at FHS, including the National Honor Society, the Science National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, the Student Leadership Organization and Varsity Club (where she is a Media Specialist).

Willette also fills her spare time with volunteering. She has dedicated many hours to serving with the Special Olympics, the Flushing Candlewalk, soup kitchens and food drives. Additionally, she tutors kids from Central Elementary School every week and serves with the “Chain Gang” for youth and sub-varsity football games through Flushing High School’s sports officiating class.

Although she is focused on grades and athletics, Willette earns some extra money by babysitting and using her painting skills to create welcome signs to sell. For hobbies, she enjoys watching movies and TV (her favorite movie is “The Proposal”) and hanging out with friends, family and cousins.

Willette said that her favorite time at FHS was attending classes when her older sister Logan was a senior at the high school. Namely, because Willette — a freshman at the time—got to hang out with her sister and her friends.

Willette has designated her $100 Rotary donation to be given to Special Olympics, which she has enjoyed being associated with as a volunteer since seventh grade.

(Reprinted from The Flushing View, January 30, 2020, by Ben Gagnon, with permission)

(Pictured L-R:  Dave Bennett, Rotary Club of Flushing President; Dr. James Cantwil, DDS;  Darwin Scherba, Rotary Service Above Self Award Coordinator).

Dr. James K. Cantwil, DDS, has received the Rotary Club of Flushing’s distinguished Service Above Self Award for 2019.

Cantwil, who has owned and operated a dental practice in Flushing for 12 years, was presented with the honor at the Rotary Club’s breakfast meeting last Thursday. He received the award based on three qualifications: exemplifying outstanding professional achievement within his occupation; contributing his time and energy to the problems and needs of society; and demonstrating high ethical standards.

From a professional achievement standpoint, Cantwil has received several comprehensive dental and surgical certifications.

He also serves as a trustee on the Michigan Dental Association board (MDA) and has served multiple terms on the Genesee District Dental Society Board of Directors.

In many instances, Cantwil has given of his time to take care of the needs of others. He has participated as a coordinator for the Give Kids a Smile Foundation, volunteered as an oral health presenter in the Flushing, Swartz Creek and Clio school districts (1994-2014) and served as a Eucharistic Minister and Lector at local Catholic parishes (1980 to the present).

Cantwil has also completed several volunteer medical trips with the Haiti Dental Mission to the mountain village of Delatte, Haiti. As part of the team, he has helped to provide dental care and surgery to over 360 people in an impoverished region.

Cantwil will return to Haiti this month, where he will bring a pre-med college student along to get hands-on experience and receive the spiritual reward of serving others.

The Rotary Club also wishes to recognize Cantwil for his commitment to high ethical standards. As a convenience store employee from 1979-1988, Cantwil observed abuses in the use of state aid and food stamps. That experience has led him to remain politically active in regard to reforming the use of the state’s welfare programs.

Cantwil graduated from the University Of Detroit’s School Of Dentistry in 1988 and practiced as an associate dentist until 1989, when he began his own practice in Flint Township. He would later move his office to its current W. Pierson Road location in 1997.

Cantwil has been married to his wife, Elisa, since 1986 and has three children: Elizabeth (born 1989), Olivia (born 1992), and Roselyn (born 1996).

The Rotary Club of Flushing’s Service Above Self Award reflects Rotary International’s motto and seeks to recognize someone in the Flushing community who goes above and beyond (Service above Self) in their service to the community and beyond, thereby exemplifying the Rotary motto. The recipient is always a non-Rotarian.

The Flushing Rotary Club instituted this award in 2011 and has awarded it in each subsequent year to a Flushing area resident who demonstrates this level of selfless service. It is among the highest annual recognitions awarded by the Flushing Rotary Club. 

(Reprinted from article by Ben Gagnon, The Flushing View, February 7 2019)

Flushing Rotarian recalls medical mission trip to Kenya

NOVEMBER 01, 2018

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Dr. Duane Allyn with Enoch, a Kenyan child he sponsors through the Kenya Relief organization. Photo provided

FLUSHING — From its inception, the Rotary Club of Flushing has encouraged members to pursue the Rotary International motto of “Service above Self.”

Flushing Rotarian Dr. Duane Allyn has exemplified that calling.

Allyn, a pediatrician based in Flint, recently embarked on an 11-day medical mission trip to Kenya this September. While overseas, he helped to perform numerous medical treatments and examined children and adults before they went into surgery.

For Allyn, the trip represented his sixth time serving as a volunteer with Kenya Relief, a faith-based organization that sends around 20 short-term mission teams to Kenya each year.

“When you go, you get to meet wonderful people…and you get to give your heart,” he said. “Our presence there can make a total change in a person’s life.”

Allyn served in the rural Migori region of Kenya, which is west of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Here, Kenya Relief operates an orphanage, a school and a clinic with surgical rooms and a pharmacy.

Over the course of his trip, Allyn saw hundreds of patients and treated everything from goiters to high blood pressure. His team included three ENT specialists, a plastic surgeon, two residents and an operation room staff.

Allyn said that his desire to serve on medical missions was stirred seven years ago, during a time when he was dealing with depression and a sense of professional “burn-out.”

“My wife prayed and sensed God was telling her that I needed to return to my roots (of service),” he said. “She called a surgeon friend of ours, who then connected us with the Kenya Relief Fund.”

In August 2012, Allyn took his wife and daughter to Kenya for the first time. He said that the experience was mind-blowing because of the country’s dire lack of basic medical care.

“There was a young lady—probably eight or nine-years-old—who had been kicked in the leg and had her femur broken,” the doctor said. “My wife and I had enough money to have a rod flown over (from the United States) so that she could have surgery to repair her leg.”

Allyn said that the operation would have cost the girl’s mother $200, which is about 20,000 shillings in Kenyan currency. For perspective, the average Kenyan only makes $1 to $2 a day.

Filling Kenya’s great need for medical treatment, Allyn said, has given him purpose and fueled his desire to give back even more.

“I’ll do anything they ask of me over there,” he said. “It’s ‘Service above Self.’”

Outside of administering medical care, Allyn has also helped his Rotary district to raise funds for a new well at Kenya Relief’s missionary home in Migori, as well as bathrooms and a septic tank for the organization’s school. Altogether, Rotary District 6330—along with contributions from the Flushing United Methodist Church and a Rotary Club in Alabama—raised $26,000 for the project.

Back home, Allyn encourages medical students and Rotary members alike to get involved with Kenya Relief’s causes, whether through participation with mission teams or by donating.

As a multi-faceted outreach, Kenya Relief also welcomes educational, construction and evangelistic mission teams. To get involved or to donate, visit kenyarelief.org