The Annual Meeting of the RCAA was called to order by President Dawn and Jody Tull  led us in our patriotic song.  The membership then proceeded to recite the 4-way test.

Peg Talburtt provided our inspirational message today which focused on Thanksgiving and the history of it being a national holiday.  From Washington to Thomas Jefferson and Lincoln who finally in 1864 declared the holiday as a time for giving thanks and gratitude.  And we also all give thanks and gratitude to our AARC leaders who inspire us and work hard to lead the great work of our club.  

Our musical entertainment today was provided by Ingrid Sheldon and Jody Tull.

President Dawn and the Club welcomed visitors from Washtenaw Community College and also our Rotary Your Exchange student and her ‘host sister’, both of whom are students are Community High School.  We also wished happy birthday to Claire Foley and Greg Dill.

Thank you to the helpers for today’s meeting: Peg Talburtt, Rosemarie Rowney, Ben Bolen, Barbara Dawes, Bob Mull, Linda Kentes, Larry Gray, Jody Tull and Pattie Katcher.

Our Rotary Youth Exchange student, Thea Søndergård, provided a lovely introduction including photos of her hometown of Ry, Denmark, a small town of only 7,500 residents.  She became interested in the program as a way to experience a new culture, make friends, and to expose herself to different environments and opinions that are different from her community.  She is one of 4 children and speaks 3 languages, including a strong command of English which she attributes to living for a year in Kansas City. During her exchange year, she would love to visit Hawaii, go to Prom, and visit more states in the US.

Today’s meeting, the Annual Meeting, is one held every December where we recap the year’s activities, vote on the FY 25-26 leadership, review and update our Bylaws, and review our finances.  To that end, Immediate Past-President, Joyce Hunter gave a brief overview of the Club’s Annual Report of 2024-25; the full report will be available on our website for your full review.  Highlights included our efforts in Youth Impact, Community Service, Scholarships and Grants, Global Reach and Rotary in Action.

Kathy Waugh took us through the formal review, vote and approval of the slate of nominees for the 2026-27 year.  The top leadership positions will be Roy More, President, Leo Shedden, President-Elect, and Dawn Johnson, Immediate Past-President.  Other club directors were names and, a quorum present, was approved by a membership vote.  Kathy then presented several changes to our club Bylaws which are primarily language edits and updates.  We reviewed changes for the Foundation Bylaws and our Club Bylaws (grammatical changes and moving text to more appropriate sections).  The changes and new Bylaws  were approved and will soon be available on our website for review. 

The Treasurer’s Report, presented by Bill McPherson, provided highlights including Club Income and its sources, Club expenses and those sources.  Our expenses are allocated between two different funds with approximately 33% from our Club directly and 66% from the Ann Arbor Rotary Foundation (AARF).  The AARF income for the year, from sources like our CSA, the GPO event, donations, district grants, etc., totaled $393,176.  Expenditures from this source are largely the Community Service Grants that the Club awards – a total of $273,723.  Specifics on the Treasurer Report will be posted on the website.

Norman Herbert provided an excellent review of the AARF charitable fund, which was established in 1985 and is categorized as a 501c3, meaning that your contributions to this fund are tax deductible.  As mentioned, the AARF primarily supports our Community Service Fund and Norman provided a summary of the ‘flow’ of this Fund: contributions such as member’s CSA, the AARF, GPO and others support the Comm. Service Fund which then our Club uses to support such things as grants, scholarships, international projects and other expenses.  Details will be posted on the website.