President Dawn Johnson opened our meeting with the ringing of the bell and kicked off the meeting with 60 guests and Zoomers in singing our “National Anthem” with Jody Tull De Salis on the piano followed by reciting the Rotary Four-Way Test. Jim Irwin then stepped up to the podium to reflect on our American way of life. While we don’t always see eye to eye on every issue, he reminded us that whenever you are exercising your constitutional rights in public, be certain that what you are saying is truth. He closed with reminding us how fortunate we are to live the American way. Don Devine led us in singing a Rotary favorite “In the Good Ol’ Summertime”.
President Dawn thanked all the members who made this week’s meeting possible by setting up, greeting, mic running, and tech support. Several guests were introduced by their hosts. Ashish Sarkar’s birthday is on June 1 and Mark Ouimet is celebrating his 48th year as a Rotarian.
Bob Mull came to the podium to present the results of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program for the 2025 tax year. He presented an overview of the tax preparation program, highlighting a significant increase of $1.3 million in returns processed compared to the previous year, largely due to increased returns prepared and higher refunds from tax law changes. He shared a detailed case study of a client named Peggy who received over $5,000 in refunds after being advised about the Michigan Homestead Property Tax Credit, which led to additional refunds for multiple previous years.
This is the second year VITA has collaborated with the Accounting Aid Society, and it has been a great success. They provided a full-time site coordinator and two full-time assistants that gave the program a lot of stability. Sixty volunteers operated five days a week from late January until April 15th, and every Monday all through summer until next tax season. In partnership with the Accounting Aid Society, 20,400 returns were processed in the Detroit area saving a total $32 million.
President Dawn then invited Ken Fischer, former President of the University Music Society (UMS) to
introduce this week’s speaker, Matthew VanBesien, current President of UMS. Matthew began by saying he will talk about the 148th season while at the same time UMS has several other initiatives currently underway. In two years, UMS will celebrate its 150th Anniversary that will begin in September of 2028 and run through December 2029.
Today’s talk focused on next year’s programming, events and celebrations in our community. Matthew then noted one of the things that differentiates UMS in the performing arts world is lots of series are able to have these same artists and companies, but Ken and his team and many, many people along the way have gone just that extra mile to really build a deep sense of partnership. UMS has hired Karen Brown as its first Chief Operating Officer, and she will start in July. In addition, UMS has a very exciting aspiration to develop a home for UMS to create this new kind of arts venue that allows artists and companies to come and sit down for longer periods of time, 
allows people to experience the arts in kind of a different environment, and most importantly for students. UMS will continue to use the incredible venues such as Hill Auditorium; Rackham and the Power Center as has been the tradition for almost 150 years.
The 2026-2027 program reflects the work of many people, with VP of Programming Mark Jacobson and his team shaping a well-balanced season. Four themes run throughout the year: Arts and Wellness, No Safety Net, UMS 150 Commission, and Family Programming. Several presentations focus on health and wellness, particularly mental health. The No Safety Net theme is designed to be provocative, exploring issues of our time in experimental ways. The season will also feature the first of three new works commissioned for UMS’s 150th anniversary, along with the launch of formal family programming. For a complete list of 2026-2027 programs, go to https://ums.org/season/2026-27-season/
