A beautiful sunny Wednesday sparked pre meeting conversation on March 15, 2023. The big topic was that Marlena Studer is working on reactivating the Rotary Youth Exchange. Several of our new members became acquainted with Rotary this way. The Zoom chat string included a reminder from Todd Kephart about our Food Drive. Although the drive is officially over, the window is open for the rest of March. More is needed in these trying times. A match is available for all donations over $25.00: foodgatherers.org\rotary.
Dawn Johnson closed the etiquette speech telling us how important it is to RSVP to the meeting notice asking about our attendance. This helps the Union staff to set up the appropriate number of tables and chairs and tells the kitchen staff how much food to prepare. President Mark rang the bell to start the meeting. Tom Strode played the patriotic song and Carolyn Hiatt gave the Inspiration. She talked about doing the right thing even if people around you are discouraging. The full text of her remarks is below.
Dave Keosiasn played a video of the Irish Golden Tenor, Frank Patterson, singing “The Rose of Tralee”. This was followed by thanks to the people who make the meetings run smoothly and the reading of birthdays.
Don Duquette, representing the Environmental Action Group, played a video of Bill Gates. Mr. Gates expressed confidence that we are able to defeat global warming but cautioned that the scale of the problem is vast.
Happy Hour for Thursday, March 16, was announced. Fred Beutler talked about VITA, the volunteer tax preparation program that Rotary has supported for the last several years, and urged people to volunteer next year. Details of this year’s program will be reported later. Fred donned a green top hat to get us ready for St. Patrick’s Day.
Notes from the Speaker
Downs Herold introduced our speaker, Sarah Miller from the Visitors and Convention Bureau, now known as Destination Ann Arbor. The organization dates back to the realization, in 1966, by the University and the Chamber of Commerce, that Ann Arbor had not organized marketing campaign to sell the attractions of the city for conventions and tourism. Sarah has been with the Bureau since 2001 and became CEO in 2018. The organization is funded by a hotel tax, now 5%, and the budget is close to $5 million. In 2015 the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti bureaus consolidated.
Sarah detailed how much tourism matters to the area, showing statistics on economic impact, the number of visitors we had in 2022 and the number of employees in the hospitality business. There are three areas of focus: Sales, Marketing and Community Engagement. Sarah showed us a long list of new hotel projects. There are bicentennials to be celebrated in the next two years, Ypsilanti in 2023 and Dexter and Ann Arbor in 2024. She urged us all to engage with Destination Ann Arbor by keeping the group informed of goings and doings of interest to visitors.
President Mark announced that next week’s program will be about Rotarians Making A Difference. Mark Avrakotos will make a presentation about her trip to Sierra Leone. He closed the meeting with some good advice: Never iron a four leaf clover – you don’t want to press your luck.
Carolyn Hiatt’s Inspiration:
In 1968 as a Harvard undergrad, my friend and Honolulu Rotarian Dr. Kent Keith wrote and published a booklet for student leaders called “The
Paradoxical Commandments”. In the last 50+ years they have been put on walls and refrigerator doors, featured in speeches and articles, preached
from pulpits and used by leaders of all types. Mother Teresa thought they were important enough to put up on the wall of her children’s home in
Calcutta. I am sure that you have heard all 10, but today I will share my 5 favorites. I think of them by the title — “Anyway”:
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway
