FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 12, 2017
CONTACT:
Marsha Smith, Executive Director
Rotary Charities of Traverse City
(231) 941-4010
msmith@rotarycharities.org
Rotary Charities and Rotary Camps & Services Announce Retooling and New Staff
Traverse City, Mich. – Rotary Charities and Rotary Camps & Services announced decisions by their boards to retool staffing to address the changing landscape for their organizations. Rotary Charities will add Leah Bagdon-McCallum as their newly created Director of Community Capacity and Evan Gray as the newly created Director of Organizational Capacity. Rotary Camps & Services will add John Noonan as the Program Director and Nick Killian as the Greilick Director.
“This staffing model will allow us to respond to emerging opportunities that align with our vision for more substantial, transformational change through our grantmaking,” said Rotary Charities Board Chair, Elaine Wood. “Prior to replacing two staff positions, Rotary Charities retooled its model to be more in line with the systems change we are hoping to catalyze. Leah and Evan bring unique skill sets that will help us build capacity in organizations, networks and communities. We are delighted to welcome them to our organization.”
Rotary Camps & Services Chair, Sharron Zimmerman, agreed. “With the addition of the waterfront to our Discovery property and the opportunities to manage our legacy property at Greilick, our organization will be uniquely positioned to leverage these community assets to have more impact in our region. John and Nick round out the Board and volunteer team to make great things happen for our community.” Rotary Camps & Service purchased the Discovery Pier property in May 2016. In December 2016, the Boy Scouts vacated a long term lease at Camp Greilick.
ABOUT OUR NEW STAFF

Leah Bagdon-McCallum, formerly with Senator Gary Peters office, has a background in community building and fund development. Leah grew up in the area and has strong ties here. Her position will focus on our work in communities.

Evan Gray moved to our region several years ago from Idaho, where he was an administrator for a year-round co-ed boarding school. His background is in consulting, experiential education, organizational development and servant leadership. Evan’s position will focus on organizational and network capacity through grants and NorthSky, Rotary Charities’ capacity building program.

John Noonan has served as a project manager for the Discovery Center and Pier over the past year. He will assume a full-time position and oversee all the Rotary Camps properties.

Nick Killian, formerly a Camping Director for the Boy Scouts of America, will assume the newly created position of Director for the former Camp Greilick, now Greilick Outdoor Recreation & Education Center.
ABOUT ROTARY CHARITIES
Since its inception in the mid-70s, Rotary Charities has distributed more than $56 million in the form of 1,250 grants to organizations and non-profits in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska and Antrim counties. The public foundation was formed following the 1976 discovery of oil and natural gas reserves on property owned by the Traverse City Rotary Club/Rotary Camps & Services. Its purpose over the years has been to distribute interest income generated from the oil and gas royalties to organizations throughout the five-county region of northwest Michigan. More information is available at www.traversecityrotary.org/charities/.
ABOUT ROTARY CAMPS & SERVICES
Created in 1955, Rotary Camps & Services is a separate 501(c)(1) nonprofit, which owns 1,800 acres in Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties. Their mission is to steward strategic land and water resources, and be collaborative innovators who respond to community opportunities.
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