Dodging raindrops, 43 water-repellant Rotarians and their 10 guests, along with eight dry Zoomers enjoyed today’s weekly Rotary Club meeting.
President Roy More struck the bell to begin the meeting and led us in reciting the 4-Way Test. He then cued pianist extraordinaire Jody Tull de Salis who accompanied the Club in My Country ’Tis of Thee. Shannon Polk then came to the podium with wise words to “widen our circle.” She encouraged each to make even one intentional move each week in order to build our circle and thereby encourage new voices, new experiences, and new perspectives.
Troubadour Matt Boylan brought out his acoustic guitar and led us in the singing of the Beatles summer of 1967 hit, All You Need Is Love.
President Roy thanked this week’s meeting team: Ben Bolen, Matt Boylan, Don Deatrick, Rob Shiff, Mary Steffek Blaske and Linda Wallis.
Rotary Club Updates and Announcements
Birthday sparkles and extra frosting to Mary Avrakotos, Carolyn Hiatt, Dan Lewan, Julie Lowery, Greg Gaylor, Pat Pooley, Patricia Garcia, Kristin Giant, Lauren Heinonen and Max Wisgerhof! And the celebration continues with Club anniversaries: Ebru Misirli Mansfield for her 20 years of membership, and Terry Linden for his 33 years.
Mystery Rotarian revealed: Which Michigander loves BBQ, got his BS in aviation, MS in cybersecurity, went to WMU (wait for it, just one second), and is a skydiver? Greg Gaylor!
Thanks to Jon Strite who brought tasty ripe apples from his prolific home orchard. Yummo!
Guests of Robert Mull, Jody Tull de Salis, Ebru Misirli Mansfield and Shannon Polk were introduced. STRIVE committee members were featured: Sara Maddock, Melissa Foster, Anna Byberg and Ademola Osofisan. Thank you all for your help in this important and life-changing program.
President Roy reminded us that the Environmental Action Group will be hosting a booth at the Green Fair on Sept. 18 starting at 5:00 p.m. Contact Dennis Burke to assist.
With sadness, More shared that have been three deaths we want to acknowledge:
– for Club member Kat Forsythe;
– for Club member John White’s son-in-law; and
– for Donna Hrozencik’s mother and Mark Ouimet’s mother-in-law.
Two reminders:
1) No Wednesday meeting the week of the Golf Outing; and
2) The highway cleanup is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20.
Golf & Entertainment Outing
The 50/50 raffle team is counting on each of us to beat last year’s nearly $3,000 pot. As Marlena Studer sang, “Prepare to be a winner,” by placing your raffle purchases starting at 8:00 a.m. on Sept. 14. Rick Jarzembowski thanked Susan Shipman for succeeding in selling out the GEO dinner. If you are still interested in attending, contact Susan (Susanshipman@comcast.net) to get on the wait list. Conversely, if you are now finding yourself unable to attend, contact Susan to free up your seat so that it can go to someone on the wait list.
Peace Pole Dedication
Chair of the Rotaract Committee, Dennis Powers, announced that the stellar teamwork of Norma Sarkar and Rotaractor Olivia Guzman made Ann Arbor’s 2nd Peace Pole possible. It will be dedicated on Sept. 22 at 8:00 p.m. by the Peony Garden entrance to the Arb. Everyone is invited, and asked to sign interest in advance (link is in today’s Rotarian) so enough refreshments are provided.
Matt Heatherwick, Chief Program Officer at the Accounting Aid Society, took the podium to highlight the exceptional work of VITA – Volunteer Income Tax Assistance. This program provides free tax preparation to low- and moderate-income individuals. Championed by Club member Bob Mull, many of our Club members help each tax season in this project. Heatherwick said that there were 27 in-person tax preparation sites during the traditional tax season, and seven continue through Thanksgiving. There are five drop and go sites, 60 pop ups, and one virtual site. In Washtenaw County, 1,600 returns were filed resulting in $2,470,000 in refunds and saving those taxpayers $480,000 in tax preparation fees. Four hundred volunteers spent 13,000 hours of service in the southeast Michigan area.
Embracing Our Differences
Today’s keynote speaker was Nancy Margolis, the Executive Director of Embracing Our Differences (EOD). Margolis described that the purpose of EOD is to use the power of art and education to open hearts and to celebrate the diversity of the human family. EOD is committed to increasing diversity, which is expressed in myriad forms, including race and ethnicity, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language, culture, national origin, religious commitments, age, (dis)ability status, and political perspective.
EOD is an annual, juried outdoor installation featuring billboard-sized (12′ x 18′) images created by local, national and international artists to reflect their interpretations of the theme “Enriching Our Lives Through Diversity.” Art work is installed in two parks: Gallup Park in Ann Arbor and Riverside Park in Ypsilanti.
Lynne Settles, EOD Art Director, and Kay Wade EOD Education Director, shared the microphone with Margolis to explain how the artistic process works. In August there is a call for the art to all Washtenaw County residents across all age groups. The winning pieces of art are selected by a six-member jury of Ann Arbor area artists. Concurrently, there is a call for quotations from the general public. Those quotes are then matched to the artwork selected for banners. The quotations give individuals in the larger community a chance to have their voices represented by expressing their thoughts, feelings, and ideas.
The three speakers opened their presentation for Club feedback by asking what members saw and felt when looking at the various pieces of art.
This program originally started in Sarasota 25 years ago. EOD remains unique to Sarasota, Ann Arbor and Ypsi. EOD will have a special event on Sept. 18 at 5:00 p.m. at Gallup Park to which all Rotarians and Ann Arborites are invited. Margolis encouraged contacting EOD to arrange for docent-led tours of the billboards to maximize the understanding of the exhibit. There are plans to reproduce some of the banners to a smaller scale so they can be displayed indoors.
Rotarians gave Margolis, Settles and Wade a warm round of applause.
President More gaveled the bell to end our meeting.
