Yearly Archives: 2021

“Infections, deaths and breakdowns that began in big cities a few weeks ago are rapidly advancing into rural areas, unleashing deep fear in places with little medical safety net.” NYT May 11, 2021 Today in India the coronavirus crisis is engulfing the healthcare system. The country has been disastrously overwhelmed and on Tuesday India was […]

Part of the Object of Rotary is the “development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service.” And while we have been keeping in touch via Zoom and email over the past 15 months, there’s nothing like a face-to-face meeting. With that in mind, Dan Romanchik and Mary Avrakatos decided that it was time to start […]

The Nominating Committee met to select a new Director for Youth Development.  This two year position on the Board is responsible for oversight of Rotaractors, Interactors and RYLA.  The newly elected candidate had recently declined to serve in the position due to competing demands. Arthur Williams graciously accepted the nomination to continue to serve July […]

A lively discussion was ended by executive director Lori Walters at 12:25 pm. President Joanne rang the opening bell and looked to Tom Strode for the patriotic song, My Country ‘Tis of Thee. Bev Seiford read a piece that was shared by Susan Gray about how precious each of the 86,400 seconds we are granted […]

While we acknowledge with deep gratitude all contributions on behalf of Rotarians whether monetary or otherwise, this week the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor celebrated the following individuals for their generous giving in 2020 which cumulatively has qualified them for the following recognition levels. The Ann Arbor Rotary Foundation welcomes Dale Berry, Robert Northrup, Patricia […]

Tom Strode led the meeting with God Bless America. Though we were all on mute, you could see people singing. Shelly McMillan’s meditation on mothers and children was in honor of Mother’s Day and from the Sondheim Into the Woods, recited the lyrics “Children will Listen.” Our music selection was Espranza Spalding singing On the […]

The April 28, 2021 meeting opened on Zoom with social time.  There were questions about when in-person Rotary meetings may resume.  September 1 is the possible resumption date but is dependent upon U-M.  There is research and ongoing discussions of incorporating a meeting hybrid option (zoom/filming of meetings) and how this would work. Lori Walters […]

The Board of Director’s Meeting was held on Wednesday, April 21 via Zoom. Club membership on March 31 was 259 Active members, plus five Honorary members and seven Inactive Emeriti. Attendance for the month’s five meetings was 35%. Average attendance at each meeting was 90 members plus seven others. Our Engagement Ratio for the month […]

Fourteen Rotary Club of Ann Arbor road waste warriors were once again smiled upon by the Highway Gods with a sun-kissed sky on Saturday, April 17, 2021 for the State of Michigan Adopt-A-Highway trash pickup on the 2.1 mile stretch of I-94 between State Street and Platt Road. Fueled with Washtenaw Dairy donuts provided by […]

The Community Allocations Committee met on April 14 and recommended grant awards to 12 organizations as part of the Community Grants Program.  All in all, we received 27 applications totaling over $118,000 in funding.  Our fundraising for this fiscal year was impacted by the COVID pandemic, but we were still able to cobble together $52,000 […]