Epworth awards Momentum 5x5 prize
2025 Lakeside Series
Programs are Thursdays in the Marine Dining Room.
Note a change in time with each event. See your Reminder for updates.
10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 26 - Dr. Deb Van Duinen (Host: Beth Snyder)
“More than Words: Why Reading Matters for Kids
and What You Can Do to Help Kids Read More”
The benefits of regular reading habits, for children and adults, are well-documented and have been linked to positive academic, personal, economic, civic, and social outcomes. However, the general decline in reading among children, teenagers and adult Americans has also been well documented. These declines, as seen in both reading ability and the habit of regular reading, are evident even among college graduates.
In this presentation, we’ll explore changing definitions of literacy, declines in reading habits, and benefits of reading and being literate in multimodal ways. We’ll also discuss what you can do, as a parent, grandparent, professional, and community member to encourage and support the reading lives of those around you (and maybe yours as well!).
Presenter: Dr. Deborah Van Duinen, the Arnold and Esther Sonneveldt Professor of English Education at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, focuses her research and teaching on adolescent literacy, young adult literature, and boys’ literacy practices. She is the founder and director of Hope’s annual month-long community-wide reading program, Big Read Lakeshore, now in its 12th year.
8 p.m. Thursday, June 26 - Mira Rubin, Ukraine (Host: Bill Parkhurst)
Mira Rubin, a native of Ukraine, holds an undergraduate degree in Global Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara and a Masters in International Relations from the University of California San Diego. She has been an active community advocate and a San Diego resident since 2006. Mira has been volunteering with the local Ukrainian community for over a decade. From 2022-24, Mira served as the President of the House of Ukraine (HOU), a nonprofit museum founded in 1960, whose main mission is sharing Ukrainian history and culture with Americans. She has supported Ukraine’s defense and raising funds for humanitarian relief efforts have become Mira’s full-time, unpaid commitment. In August 2023, Mira launched Shield of Freedom, a 501(c)3 dedicated to supporting Ukrainian defenders on the front lines in the Russia-Ukraine war. Currently serving as a CEO of this nonprofit, Mira continues her tireless efforts to aid those impacted by the conflict and personally delivers aid to Ukraine multiple times per year. She also guides custom trips for Shield of Freedom donors.
8 p.m. Thursday, July 10 - John Langknecht (Host: Jim Rosborough)
“Your U.S. Navy Today, Current Operations, Successes and Challenges”
The presentation will discuss the Navy’s current employment in relation to the Founding Fathers’ objectives for a U.S Navy and how that relates to the current strategic environment. Included will be an assessment of the current Navy’s shrinking fleet, and options to restore it given current shipbuilding industry challenges.
Presenter: John M. Langknecht, Capt., USN ret.
John is a lifelong Epworthian who served 30 years in the Navy. At sea he served in Surface Combatants ships and Aircraft Carriers. After his Navy career, he worked 12 years in the Shipbuilding Industry.
8 p.m. Thursday, July 17 - Chris C.J. Kingdom-Grier (Host: Karen Bagwell)
“Idlewild, the Black Eden of Michigan: Heirlooms of the Past, Honored in the Present”
Idlewild’s story is a model of hope, resilience, entrepreneurship, restoration, and Black excellence juxtaposed over a national landscape of Jim Crow and segregation while offering creation, vacation, recreation, vocation, gyration, and salvation.
Using original songs, a pop-up museum, and lecture, Kingdom-Grier will share his passion, his experience of over 50 years, and his knowledge of this recreational and musical mecca that continues its evolution toward greatness.
Presenter: Chris C.J. Kingdom-Grier was born and raised in Idlewild and is a descendant of one of the first black owners, philanthropists Robert and Margaret Riffe. His African American and Racist Memorabilia Collection, which includes a sizable Idlewild portion, has been described as tier 1 museum quality by George Bayard, Executive Director of the Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives. Kingdom-Grier is CEO of Kingdom-Grier & Associates Organizational Flourishing, Coaching, and Consulting Firm. He is the current Yates Township/Idlewild Historian & Archivist.
8 p.m. Thursday, July 24 - Quentin Schultze (Host: Bill Parkhurst)
“You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out! Life Lessons from the Movie ‘A Christmas Story’”
I am going to deliver a super-fun-filled presentation with video clips from the movie “A Christmas Story” — about 8-year-old Ralphie, who wants a Red Ryder BB rifle for Christmas. It’s now the most popular movie in America, seen by 80 million adults annually on TV alone. My wife and I display a leg lamp every year. Cars line up to see it, and the popularity of the beautiful, magnificent “major award” is rumored to be the reason why property values continue to skyrocket in our area. I knew the legendary screenwriter, Jean Shepherd, and taught storytelling with him. I finally decided to write THE book about the meanings of the “parables” (life lessons) in the movie (they will knock your holiday socks off).
Presenter: Quentin Schultze is Professor of Communication Emeritus at Calvin University, where he taught for 33 years while writing many books and articles, leading faculty-development workshops across the country, mentoring CEOs and pastors on their public speaking, and loving his wife (Barbara, a retired hospice chaplain) and their two children with two grandchildren. See more at www.quentinschultze.com
10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 31 - Alison Helminski & Sharon Edgar (Host:Elaine Mollenkopf)
“Shoreline FORCE: Encouraging an active lifestyle through cycling”
Shoreline FORCE is the youth chapter of the Shoreline Cycling Club. Club members believe in educating and empowering families to embrace active lifestyles through cycling; to enhance a safe, healthy community. Our diverse group includes community members of educators, doctors, parents and grandparents, business and industry and bike enthusiasts.
Their dream is to transform the current culture to embrace a more active, outdoor lifestyle along the shoreline and surrounding areas. To inspire happy and healthy opportunities, is to build strong communities. They hope to share with you the activities and events we have initiated to provide education and opportunities for safe biking in our community, as well as inspire you to join us in the exciting plans they have on the horizon.
Presenters: Alison Helminski From athletics growing up to a career as a Physical Education teacher and fitness instructor, Alison has made movement a foundation of her life. She earned her degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids and is a currently a teacher at Ludington Area Schools. Learning to ride a bike is a right of passage that she saw slipping away from our youth with the increase in technology use at a young age. Alison has made her passion for movement an inspiration to get more kids outdoors, on bikes in building stronger, healthier bodies, minds and communities.
Sharon Edgar moved to Ludington in 2018 after retiring from 30 years working for the State of Michigan in a variety of policy and management positions. She started cycling about 13 years ago as part of a weight loss journey. Bicycling has become an integral part of her physical and emotional health. She has biked in three countries and 17 states including across the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. She advocates for youth cycling because it can provide a lifetime of mental and physical well-being. It feeds your body and your soul.
7 p.m. Thursday,Aug. 7 - “North Country Opera” (Host: Elaine Mollenkopf)
“‘North Country Opera’ Moves from the Theater Stage to the Big Screen”
Since its first staging in 1982, “North Country Opera,” the perennially popular, feel-good folk musical about life and love in northern Michigan, has delighted legions of fans. The most recent staging of the play — a knock-out, sold-out performance at the Ark in Ann Arbor in 2022 — was recorded, capturing every musical note, comedic line, and bar-stool wise crack in high fidelity. That recording, “North Country Opera: Live at The Ark,” premiered at the historic Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor in late 2023. North Country Opera is a folk musical by renowned Ludington, Michigan, playwright and songwriter, Jay Stielstra. Set in the Buckhorn Bar in northern Michigan, it is the north country’s own version of a timeless love story: a young man falls in love with the beauty of the northern woods and rivers — and the woman he meets there. After leaving for the big city to pursue bigger and better things, he realizes how much he misses the two loves he left behind.
It is a loving tribute to the people and culture of northern Michigan: fishing for trout in the cold rivers, hunting for birds in the autumn woods, snowmobiling in the winter. (And of course, the camaraderie and wit of local characters found in a favorite tavern.)
“North Country Opera” has been produced more than any other of Jay’s plays. It premiered in 1982 as the second play ever produced at the original Performance Network in Ann Arbor.
About the playwright/songwriter: Jay Stielstra wrote songs, plays, and poems that capture the natural beauty of Michigan for nearly 50 years. He died on March 1, 2024. Among many accolades for his work, Jay was awarded a Special Legislative Tribute by the State of Michigan in 2017 recognizing his lifetime of “artistic brilliance and unwavering dedication to protecting Michigan’s unique environment and natural resources for generations to come.”