John White

On Saturday, June 24, Lauren Heinonen and Christopher Wentland were married in Ann Arbor. It was the culmination of a five year courtship. The couple enjoyed a brief honeymoon in northern Michigan before Chris returned to California where he is midway through a one-year post-doc  at Sandia National Laboratory. Lauren has returned to Ann Arbor […]

(by John White)  John White arrived at the podium at the June 21 luncheon wearing an apron, a hair net, and a packet of ingredients from last year’s food packing event. He quickly had everyone’s attention and offered attendees a chance to participate in a kickoff meeting to plan this year’s edition. The meeting will […]

On the bright but chilly morning of October 15, four RCAA members traveled to Livonia to take part in a food packing event similar to the one to be hosted by the three Ann Arbor Rotary Clubs on Saturday, November 5. Their purpose was to observe, participate, and take notes to make our session more […]

When the Michigan Union opened in 1919, our club was one of the first organizations to hold its meetings there. We have met in the venerable building ever since, except for short periods due to wartime priorities and renovations. In 2012, we documented our long relationship with a plaque mounted outside the hallway to the […]

The catchy title above is one of the highlights of an article in the September issue of Rotary magazine. The title is “Get connected: How to build outreach (and membership) for your club. Written by Patrick Galvin, a Rotarian in Portland OR, it synopsizes a new set of strategies for recruiting, which he shared in […]

“The motive power of Rotary is friendship,” said Paul Harris in his address to the Rotary Convention in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1922. His remarks were greeted with a round of applause – and were endorsed 100 years later by the current members of Rotary. That is the opening paragraph of the article synopsizing the key […]

While traveling on a highway superseded by a nearby parallel expressway, I came upon this sign at the city limit of Ft. Morgan, Colorado. For a town of 12,000, its public image seems pretty advanced. The combination of the sophisticated sign, the service club logos, and their claim to be a “Tree City” was very […]

The June issue of the Ann Arbor Observer includes a general advertisement inviting readers to consider learning more about any or all of the eight Rotary clubs in Washtenaw County. Three are in Ann Arbor with one each in Chelsea, Dexter, Milan, Saline, and Ypsilanti. The ad is on page 9. Please feel free to […]

The latest issue of the weekly newsletter from the local Kiwanis Club notes that their Thrift Sale has been selected as one of Kiwanis International’s top ten Signature Projects in the world for clubs over 27 members. The final three will be announced on June 9 as part of Kiwanis International’s Annual Convention. Click here […]

From a contrite John White: I was charged with playing Don Duquette’s “Return to the Union” video on Zoom as part of our luncheon meeting on March 2. It was the one he created for our earlier return on October 6 of last year. Despite some successful trial runs just before noon, the sound didn’t […]