Advocates for Benzie County

Former Club member Ric Robb said that the inspiration for what became Advocates for Benzie County was a presentation at Sunrise Rotary in which the speaker said that the homeless rate for kids in Benzie County was 15%. Ric and Sonny Rodriguez began investigating the issue and found that there was a major housing issue in our County.  With a goal of making Benzie County a better place to live, they held a forum on housing.  But they soon discovered that housing was only one of several inter-related issues, the others being education, health care, employment and infrastructure.

 

The group became Advocates for Benzie County, and the number of advocates has grown from five to 140. The group has held 11 forums on a variety of topics and has established task forces on child care and housing. Ric and Tim are urging local citizens to pick an area of interest and become Advocates. Ric also urged the Club to consider becoming an institutional member of the group.

 

The Q & A session that followed the presentation was informative not only from the speakers' remarks, but also from comments from Club members affiliated with two of the county's biggest employers.