President Susan Froelich’s term came to an end at the meeting on June 29, 2022 and Mark Oiumet assumed the mantle of leadership. Susan’s presidency was packed with activity and success on many different fronts. Read the full text of her remarks here.
The meeting opened with Tom Strode’s playing of The Star Spangled Banner. Ingrid Sheldon’s Inspiration read several of the quotations from the Embrace Our Differences art display that is a project our AntiRacism and Public Image Committees joined with other community groups to bring to Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. We had live music for our singing, thanks to Kathy Waugh and husband Curt. Kathy lead the club in Carole King’s version of You’ve Got a Friend backed by Curt’s piano.
President Susan welcomed Visiting Rotarians and Guests, thanked the people who make meetings go smoothly, and announced birthdays through July 12 since we don’t meet on July 6.
Dan Romanchik invited us all to march in the July 4 Parade. The route will be shorter this year, around eight-tenths of a mile. Our rally point will be announced via email blast on July 1.
Norma Sarkar recapped her very busy year as Director of Club Outreach. Norma organized the many activities in her portfolio around “Resilience”, lining up the projects starting with R and ending in E. You can read her parting thoughts here.
President Susan reviewed her presidential year. It was a busy one, packed with challenges and successes. The link to the full text of her remarks is above. At the conclusion of her remarks, she invited Mark Ouimet to the podium to receive and don “The Shirt” that symbolizes the presidential role. Mark expressed thanks and admiration to Susan on behalf of the Club.
President Mark turned our attention to his goals for the year. His first goal is to expand membership since we need people to do the many projects we undertake. He will work to develop new, young leadership in the club. His second goal is to build the club foundation. He showed how contributions from the foundation have impacted the monies we distribute into the community and urged us all to keep the foundation on our radar as we plan our annual and long term giving. And finally, he wants us to inject a healthy dose of fun in all our activities. Many of our members have young families, and activity planning and outreach need to aggressively include these members.
President Mark closed his first meeting with his own quote: “Rights and privileges vs obligations and responsibility.”
Notes by Agnes Reading
Photography by Fred Beutler
