President Rosemarie rang the opening bell promptly at 12:25. After we sang My Country ’tis of Thee, Agnes Reading quoted several pundits commenting on the census. Noting that people are the ‘glue’ that make the meetings run smoothly, she thanked the usual suspects. She then recognized Visiting Rotarians, guests, and birthdays.
Past President Greg was called to the podium to accept the official presidential plaque, which records his presidential year and boasts a gavel.
Dan Romanchik, Membership Chairman, urged us to change our mindset from ‘recuriting’ to ‘sharing’ when we think about inviting people to join Rotary. He pointed out that we enjoy the friendships we make in Rotary, and feel pride in the accomplishments of the club, and these are wonderful things to share.
Dan invited us all for beer and pizza at Dominick’s on Thursday, August 15, at 5:30 – just for fun.
Norman Herbert took the podium to update us on the progress of the Golf and Tennis Outing. He applauded the work of Ashish Sarkar and Joe Dietrich who are doing so much to make this, our single fundraiser, a success. He urged us to register for dinner and golf and tennis, and to be alert for sponsors, both golfing and non golfing. More auction items will be welcomed by Kati Bauer. You can register by going onto our website, a2rotary.org, and scrolling down Events/News to Golf and Tennis Outing.
Susan Smith, almost unrecognizable without a fancy hat, announced the First Annual Wine, Women & Song Benefit Gala for the Kerrytown Concert House. The event will be at The Ark on Sunday, August 25. The afternoon will begin at 3:00pm with a silent auction and wine and light hors d’ouevres, and the show will start at 4:00pm. Admission is $25.00 – $75.00 depending on seating chosen. Tickets are available from Kerrytownconcerthouse.com or theark.org.
Ed Hoffman was wearing the hat when he announced a Social Committee event introducing Indian artist, Shanavas, whose work was introduced to Ann Arbor by Rotarian Jody Tull. Jody worked with the organization Yogis On Wheels while she was in India. This is a group of disabled young adults who are interested in having jobs so they can maintain their independence. One of the artists, Shanavas, gave one of his paintings to Jody. She brought it back to Ann Arbor and had it framed at Pierre Paul Gallery, telling the story of the group and the artist, Shanavas, to gallery owner Lee Giles. Giles wants to promote this event throughout the community with all proceeds going to the artist in India. He will host the opening with wine, beer and soft drinks and munchies on Friday, September 20 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. The gallery is at the corner of Huron Parkway and Washtenaw, 3252 Washtenaw. The exhibit will be open from September 20 through October 13. Plan to come see this beautiful art and tell your friends to come see it.
President Rosemarie announced a very special District workshop that will teach attendees how to craft and tell powerful stories. International author and speaker (and our D6380 Governor in 2016-17), Michael Angelo Caruso, will show us how to use the power of narrative in Rotary, at work and at home. The workshop will be Saturday, September 14, 8:30am to 2:30pm at Concordia University. The $20.00 fee gets you breakfast beverages and a barbeque lunch. Go onto the District website to register.
Notes from the Program
Norma Sarkar introduced our Speaker, Margaret Leary, who is currently the 2020 Census Education Coordinator for the League of Women Voters in the Ann Arbor area. Margaret has an impressive academic record, including a Masters in history since her retirement in 2011. She spent the majority of her professional career at the University of Michigan Law Library where she served as Assistant/Associate Director from 1973 to 1984, then Director from 1984 until her retirement. She has been active in consulting and on American Bar Association accreditation teams. Margaret contributes to the community in many ways. She was an elected trustee of the Ann Arbor District Library from 2004-2016, has served on several boards, and was a member of the Ann Arbor Planning Commission from 1994-2003. She continues to do research projects and publish articles in a variety of publications.
Margaret began her remarks by explaining that the League of Women Voters is an advocacy group that researches policies and educates the community on issues but does not endorse any candidate or political party. She then turned her remarks to the decennial count, the census. WHY we are counted is required in the Constitution and is used to apportion representatives to Congress, draw state legislative districts, distribute federal monies, and in many federal, state and local government decisions. The private sector also uses the census information. WHEN we are counted is between March 1 and June 30 every ten years. WHERE people are counted is wherever they they live, be it house or apartment, retirement home, military base, prison, in group homes, under bridges. HOW people are counted this year includes not only paper responses, but now people can respond by internet or on cell phones. The census form comes in the mail and includes instructions for paper responses and how to file electronically.
This is a huge undertaking and many things can affect the accuracy of the count: underfunding, understaffing, confusion surrounding rules about where people are counted, concerns about confidentiality from respondents, and breaches of cybersecurity. The form is short – no long form this year – seven question that take about 10 minutes on average. The detail that was requested on the long form will be obtained by sampling the American Community Survey which is an ongoing survey that provides data every year. The Census Bureau must deliver the census to Congress by December 31 of the census year and information to the states by April 1 of the following year.
Margaret recognized the concern many people have about the confidentiality of their answers. All census workers, whether staff, temporary workers or volunteers, must take an oath to never reveal anything they may learn while canvassing or working on the census in any capacity; the oath is in effect for life. The fine for divulging any information is $250,000 plus jail time. There is much ignorance about the reason for the census and the importance of it. Complete Count Committees made up of tribal, state, local, church, school, business leaders work together to educate all people, and assuage their confidentiality concerns, to encourage participation in the count. The Census Bureau goes to great lengths to make participation easy, including publishing the census information in 60 languages. It is important for people to understand how responding to the census benefits their community. In FY 2016 Michigan received $29.8 billion through 55 federal spending programs guided by data derived from the 2010 Census.
