Today’s meeting was called to order by President Joyce and Jody Tull led us in our patriotic song.
Our inspirational message today was from Carolyn Hiatt. Carolyn says, ‘Rotary is the gift that keeps on giving!’ Carolyn lived in Hawaii for 58 years and back in 2001, she decided she wanted to engage in community service and Rotary was the vehicle to provide that. Joining Rotary opened up opportunities for life changing service experiences in several countries. After her tenure in Hawaii, she relocated to Ann Arbor and joined our club. While she has found new friends in the RCAA, it’s important that as a club, we need to continue to grow – as in, we always need more members! What can we do to achieve this? Talk to your friends, neighbors, etc. Maybe you know folks who are new to Ann Arbor or maybe acquaintances who were former members. Either way, get one of our Rotary ‘business’ cards and share with those folks!
Today’s musical selection, led by Shelly MacMillan, was ‘Take me out to the Ballgame!’ That was fun! Let’s go Tigers!
We had several guests today including a guest of Jodi Tull who was visiting from Switzerland! We welcomed a visiting Rotarian from San Diego and another guest of Joanne Pierson’s. President Joyce had a couple of guests including today’s speaker and also Joyce’s Links ‘sister’, Darlene.
Happy birthday to 5 Rotarians this week and one anniversary (22 years) to acknowledge.
President Joyce has the following announcements: Thanks to Sam Kottamasu and Jodi Tull for a wonderful yoga retreat this past weekend. Thank you to Collyer who presented a mental health webinar last week. Thanks to our archives committee – who packed up many of our historical items that are now stored at the local Kiwanis Center. Thanks to Larry Gray who has volunteered to take pictures of all of our flags that will be used as various backgrounds.
The thanks continued with the weekly thank you to our meeting helpers: Leo Shedden, Dennis Burke, Ken Fischer, Marsha Chamberlin, Don Deatrick, Mary Avrakotos, Larry Gray, Fernando Leon, and Pattie Katcher.
Todd Kephart provided an update on the 21st annual food drive which has now concluded. This food drive supplies a critical source of food for public school students during their summer break. These students rely on school-offered meals that are, unfortunately, not available during the summer. To note, $1 donated equals 2 meals. This year $48,000 was raised, which equals about 100,000 meals to provide to students.
Norman Herbert offered recognition to 5 RCAA members for their support and ongoing support to RI Foundation programs. Those members are Don Deatrick, David Keosaian, Todd Kephart, Phil Klintworth, and Joanne Pierson and each received a new pin in honor of their level of giving. Norman also mentioned that a member, one considered a major donor ($10,000 or more) will be honored at a later date. Additionally, 69 club members made donations totalling over $15,000 in this past year! Norman then gave a presentation of the Foundation Development Committee. The transcript of his presentation will be made available soon.
President Joyce introduced today’s speaker, Erica Chappel. Erica is the current General Manager of Briarwood Mall, a position she’s held since November, 2023. In a short time, a lot has happened at the mall! Before describing those changes, she asked members for examples of memorable times that they’ve had at Briarwood Mall. Members mentioned the cafe at Hudson’s and the famous Maurice salads, the fun times at Farrel’s ice cream shop, and also when Rotary hosted a ‘touch a truck’ event for kids to see big trucks up close.
Briarwood has a large ‘walker’ population, with many individuals walking for 30+ years. Any walkers in the audience? Yes, a few hands went up.
Erica went on to share the long planned changes and updates to the mall that are happening. One big change was the demolition of the Sears store in January 2024. The overall theme with Briarwood changes is this: we are building for the community and the expected growth in our community. One goal is that by the end of 2026 there will be mixed use retail/residential space in the old Sears space. The plan is to create a community, one of its kind in the midwest, to appeal to a variety of customers.
The mall is planned to be the social hub of Ann Arbor as the primary shopping, dining and entertainment destination. The changes will include new stores, new food options, an exercise facility, to name a few. In March 2026, there will be a specialty grocery store called Harvest Market opening that specializes in locally sourced foods and the area will feature entertainment space. Other features of the mall change includes a grassy open space with lounge chairs, outdoor fireplaces, etc.
The housing portion of the mall changes will be a luxury residential tower, called the James. The 370 rental units are of all sizes including a parking garage, and a wide range of amenities such as pool, fitness center, common area and more. The space will feature all electric appliances and solar panels creating enough electricity to power all the common spaces. Your electric car will also be able to charge at one of the several EV charging stations! It sounds very exciting and we can’t wait to see it all in mid-late 2026.
After reciting the 4-way test, our meeting was adjourned.
