History of our chapter
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Mike & Jan Neubecker are the founders of the Downriver chapter and are proud parents of their gay son, Lee who came out to them in 1991. It was several years after their son "came out" before Mike and Jan attended their first PFLAG meeting in 1995 at PFLAG Detroit.
In 1996 Mike and Jan scheduled the first PFLAG Downriver meeting in their basement in June of 1996. The chapter has met every month since then. In September of 1996 the meetings moved to the current Southgate church location. They gathered together many downriver folks for the first meeting and then formed a steering committee to formalize the PFLAG/Downriver chapter and do all the necessary things to formalize the chapter such as preparation of bylaws and affiliation papers. |
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| The chapter received their affiliation papers in October of 1996. They became a chartered chapter in the fall of 1997. Mike was the first President and served for two years. Janice followed as President and has served several years followed by Maryan Mackie who served for two years and now Mike is once again back in that role as President.
Mike Neubecker served as the Regional Director for the Great Lakes Region which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio and also serves on the National PFLAG Board of Directors. He served as Vice President and Chair of the Regional Directors Council for four years and now serves as an RD Elected board member to the PFLAG National Board of Directors.
Many things have happend in their lives since their son came out in 1991. Now their son is married to David who changed his last name to Neubecker and together in 2009 they have adopted two children from the foster care system in the Chicago area. These children have been in their home since 2007 and are brother and sister and of course love their Dad and Daddy as well as Grampy and Grammy as they like to say. |
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