An Information Packed Meeting Aug 26, 2020

The August 26 meeting was preceded by lots of interesting and diverse chatter. Tom Strode started by announcing that just yesterday he became a septuagenarian. Some one of us asked if he could spell it, and advised he start learning to spell octogenarian. We then noted the loneliness of campus, the success of telemedicine, the timing of getting flu shots, wondered how to control students, hoped to get back to normal soon, reported students wearing masks but not always parents helping with move in, and finished suggesting a new category of membership – pet membership for our cats and dogs.
On a more serious note, we grieved over the news of Jacob Blake, whose family has roots in our area.

Christina Ferris

Executive Director Lori Walters delivered a short update on Zoom etiquette, announcing that we will have to use a passcode beginning in September, and reminding us all to mute our speakers.  President Joanne rang the bell and turned the podium over to Tom Strode who played God Bless America.  Christina Ferris told us that this trying time is also a chance to pause and think of the small things that make us happy.  She shared some of her list, like seeing how the light changes through the day, and seeing her neighbor walk her dog at the same time every day.  Christina encouraged us all to make our own lists and celebrate these small things that make life more normal. Rick Ingram shared the James Taylor rendition of Call Up My Name, illustrated by two children walking hand in hand over a bridge, the little girl carrying a stuffed deer.

President Joanne returned to the speaker screen and delivered a shotgun blast of announcements in her typical fashion.  She thanked the people who organize all the things that bring the meetings to us all.  Under Housekeeping, she told us to not shout out her name but to type questions into Chat or send her a private message.  This Zoom format is how we will be operating going forward for the foreseeable future. Sadly, Past District Governor Judy Garber passed away August 11.  Past President Ashish will serve a 3-year term on the International Board of Directors for Rotary Action Group for Peace.  John White is appointed as District 6380 Regional Lead for the Western Region.  You can still purchase the delicious Italian Summer Festival wines from Paesano, for which Rotary will receive a donation (734 791-0484).  A video recording of the wine talk is available through the website for $50.00 (a2rotary.org/fundraiser).

Talking Trash, our Adopt-a-Highway clean-up date is Saturday, September 26 with a rain date of October 3.  We will be picking up I-94 from Platt Road to State Street. The assembly point will be announced later; show time is 9:00am.  Click here for more information and to sign up.  Thanks to DOGS and Tom Millard for arranging this.   Karen Kerry’s Safe Socializing Picnic has three more spots available for the B.Y.O.E (Bring Your Own Everything) event August 26.

President Joanne Pierson

What’s the Buzz?  Lots is going on with our club in spite of this unwieldy format. ARC, Membership and Program are meeting regularly.  Zoom Meeting Coordinators and Harpoon Editors are needed.  The Membership Committee needs members and even if not on the committee, President Joanne states that we are ALL on the Membership Committee because we need new members!  We need a Peace Committee chair, and Don Deatrick is looking for people to help with Hire MI Vet.

President Joanne prefaced her Board Meeting update by announcing, and thanking our terrific Board of Directors.  Secretary Barbara Eichmuller has posted the Summary of the meeting here.  Funding was approved for five grants:

  • Ghana: Recruitment of Women Needing Fistula Repair
  • Haiti: Scanners for FSIL (Faculty of Nursing Science of the Episcopal University of Haiti) (Online teaching requires scanning of teaching materials)
  • UofM Rotaract: Spring Break International Service Trip
  • Children’s Literacy Network: BookPALS program. Rotary CAC District grant partnering 2nd grade students from Ypsilanti and Dexter schools to read books together with our Rotarians as mentors — goal to improve reading skills.
  • Veterans Initiative: Funds for the annual hiring event, near Veteran’s Day. mentoring program of Veterans, and the transportation program “Wheels to Jobs” to help veterans on the low end of the socioeconomic scale to and from their jobs

We have a Global Grant Scholar, Dr. Norihito Kaku from Japan.  On August 25, the World Health Organization announced that transmission of the  wild poliovirus has officially been stopped in all 47 African countries.  With more work, the other strains will be eradicated, in large part thanks to Rotary International.  President Joanne closed her portion of the meeting recommending we read Waking Up White, by Debbie Irving.  This book is about how one person learned that well-intentioned mindsets perpetuate ill-conceived ideas about race.  President Joanne reads Ken Fischer’s book, Everybody In Nobody Out, when she needs uplifting.

Notes from the Meeting

John White

John White introduced our speaker, Valarie Wafer.  Valerie became a Rotarian in 2005 and has built a long and distinguished Rotary resume including club and RI service and participation in many international projects. For 2020-2022, Valerie is one of seventeen elected members on the Rotary International Board. Her portfolio includes 73,000 Rotarians in 43 districts touching four countries across six time zones.

Valarie opened her remarks by saying she has heard we are a very fun group – a theme she came back to later in her talk.  She told us we were reassigned to Zone 28 in July.  This means little to the daily operation of our club.  In the question period she explained that because of the seriously shrinking membership in North America, the zones had to be reapportioned.

Valarie Wafer

For Valarie, Rotary is a personal story. She has had many deeply moving experiences with Rotary and she chose her recent trip to Kosovo with Gift of Life to tell us about.  The trip was to perform heart surgery on children.  She took particular interest in one family, a family with twin 18-month old boys and one child who would be born soon.  One of the boys needed surgery and she could really feel the parents’ agonizing hopes that their son be chosen.  When he was, the relief was palpable.  When the little boy was to be discharged, through an interpreted she talked with the parents.  No interpreter was needed, really  – parents communicate through the heart.

Valarie moved on to talking about how embracing change is leveraging power, how adapting to change lets organizations remain relevant.  What we do  in Rotary is transformational.  This pandemic is our opportunity to change.

Valarie then took questions for about 20 minutes.  The reorganization of zones responds to the crisis in membership in North America.  This is a serious challenge to Rotary International as a huge portion of funding comes from North America. RI is not losing members to other service clubs; young people are just not joining organized groups.  RI is examining its organizational structure with the goal of discarding structures that are no longer relevant or useful, and flattening the management structure. Caused-based clubs are online clubs that are singularly focused.  They partner with community groups for their projects. RI is seriously concerned about racial justice across the globe. There was a special meeting on the topic on July 18, where the need for an international view was recognized and plans were made to develop this view.

President Joanne had to interrupt this fascinating conversation to close the meeting.  Next week our speaker will be Ron Harris, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee.  His role  is to cultivate a corporate culture where diversity and inclusion are aligned with the company’s corporate strategies and values.

President Joanne closed with a quote from Milton Berle, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”