The June 22, 2022 Ann Arbor Rotary Club meeting opened on Zoom and in person with social time. Emily Olson provided Zoom etiquette guidelines to the virtual attendees.
At 12:31, President Susan Froelich called the meeting to order. We all joined in the singing of “let freedom ring. Inspiration was provided by Patricia Garcia, who shared a reflection on being Summer Solstice super heroes in difficult times. Downs Herold shared the history of “It’s a Great Day to Be a Rotarian”, which was sung by all.
President Froelich welcomed attendees and guests, thanked the meeting coordinators and shared this week’s birthdays. Sympathies were extended to Dave Anderson whose wife, Joan passed away last week.
Ellen Putney-Moore presented the Emeritus Award to J. Downs Herold who exemplified “service above self”. Downs was always destined to become a Wolverine. While his parents lived in Bradford, Pennsylvania, they were both U of M alums, and Downs’ mother insisted on giving birth at the U of M Hospital, where she trained as a nurse. As you can imagine, there was no other option for Downs other than U of M for college where he received his Bachelor and Masters of Science in Biology and Microbiology. While finishing his Masters, he received a call from the U of M Extension Service regarding a conference coordinator position, which set Downs on a new career path that was “much more interesting than chasing bacteria around.” As the University Extension Service’s Conference Coordinator, and later Department Director, Downs was at one point running 300 events a year. It was through these positions that Downs helped to establish the Ann Arbor Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and he served as the U of M rep on the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce. Within the Chamber, Downs helped start an Innovation Center to help bring new tech jobs to the region, thus kicking off the tech movement in Southeastern Michigan. While helping run a forum for new businesses, he started the company Classic Collegiate China to design and produce commemorative plates and his favorite part of this venture was interacting with his diverse and international customers. Downs has been married to Sondra, for 58 years after a chance encounter at a U of M vs. MSU football game. They have a son and daughter, and seven fantastic grandchildren. Downs has been involved in a plethora of local organizations, including the First Presbyterian Church and, of course AARC which he has been a part of since 1979. As a member of Rotary, Downs has contributed in innumerous ways, including serving on the Program Committee, which he also chaired for two years; Board of Directors member, serving as President from 1995-96; Secretary from 2001-16; and Song Leader from 2000 to present. He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and has been a Paul Harris Fellow. Downs expressed his appreciation for the Award and mentioned that Al Storey was his Rotary sponsor.
Joanne Pierson sponsored and introduced new member, Lori Walters who was also sponsored by Barbara Eichmuller. She needed no introduction having recently served as AARC Executive Director for 3 years, but a fun Q&A about Lori’s history was shared including that she is an MSU fan, lives on 12 acres in Brighton and farms sheep, was a member of the Chelsea & Livingston Sunrise Rotary Clubs, served on the Brighton District Library board and as president of the Livingston County League of Woman Voters.
Lauren Heinonen shared reflections on servicing on the Board as Public Image Director for the past two years. She joined Rotary on Halloween which was in inauspicious day to join our fun and engaging Club with members in costumes & Halloween apparel. Ashish Sarkar & Agnes Reading were very persuasive in encouraging her to join. She became involved by joining STRIVE, taking meeting attendance and joined the Public Image Committee when there was a need for a webmaster even though she didn’t know how to manage a website. She took on other tasks including every other newsletter production while continuing other RCAA volunteer activities. Service has been her motto and she thanked the many AARC members who have helped during her service. The Public Image Committee was previously solely focused on improving communications but during Lauren’s tenure took on additional duties to engage more with the public. Thank you to Lauren for her enthusiastic and committed service to the RCAA.
Joanne Pierson reflected on her service in rhyming prose as is her wont. Her recitation focused on the good deeds done during her tenure and encouraged current members to become active on our existing committees and volunteer their services.
Rick Ingram introduced Rich Coleman who served in Pittsfield Township’s Department of Public Safety for 27 years. After his retirement he continues to work part-time with the Township along with participation with the Crime Prevention Association of Michigan. His daughter Britney and son, Alex, studied music at Ann Arbor Open and Huron High School. Britney now lives in New York City and has performed on Broadway.
Coleman’s presentation focused on the “Impact of Scams and Fraud on Consumers”. In 2020, there were 4.7 million reports of identity theft and fraud and in 2021, this increased to 5.7 million reports nationwide. However, the numbers are vastly underreported as many people are too embarrassed to report that they have been a victim of fraud. In 2021, Michigan reported 111,572 cases of fraud, identity theft and other scams and imposter scams were the top reported fraud.
Coleman provided some strategies for fraud prevention. If you are uncertain about an email received, do not click on hyperlinks. Hover over email addresses and if it’s not coming from a traditional web address than it is likely an imposter. Best practices to avoid telemarketing fraud and illegal robocalls include: 1) Place your number on the FTC’s Do Not Call Registry, 2) Don’t trust your Caller ID to identify the caller, 3) Do not answer calls from unrecognized numbers, and 4) If you do answer the phone, remember it is okay to hang up. If you think the call is real but are still concerned, search for the company’s phone number on their website and call that number instead of the number provided by the robocaller. Most importantly, NEVER give out any money or personal information including address, birthdate, social security number, account numbers passwords or PIN numbers,
Other fraud prevention strategies include not clicking on a website if it is “unavailable” which means that this is fraudulent website. Hover over the website address before clicking. Track what’s on your phone including apps. Before downloading any apps, review the data that will be collected and question why this data needs to be collected. Xfinity offers a free service to its customers to prevent robocalls including free call blocking, labeling fake calls and investigating suspicious calls. Use gift cards when traveling for purchases at restaurants & shopping to prevent skimming of credit card numbers.
Bob Mull mentioned that websites offering tax preparation services can be possible scams. Grandparent scams are common where callers are saying they are grandchildren to gain information. Lori Walters suggested freezing your credit with credit reporting agencies. A credit freeze restricts access to your credit report, which means you — or others — won’t be able to open a new credit account while the freeze is in place. You can temporarily lift the credit freeze if you need to apply for new credit. When the freeze is in place, you will still be able to do things like apply for a job, rent an apartment, or buy insurance without lifting or removing it. You can easily contact the agencies to unfreeze your credit when you need to apply for loans.
It is recommended to report fake (spoof) email addresses to vendors (amazon, etc.) so they can put this information into their system to block these addresses. Do not click on the email address or respond to the email — just copy and paste it into the body of email to send to the vendor.
Common Sense Media and Protect Young Eyes are two organizations that are working to protect vulnerable children from accessing inappropriate information and gaining information from children.
Next week’s topic: Changing of Presidents: Froelich to Ouimet — the past year and the year to come”. Quote for the Day: “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful.” George Bernard Shaw
Respectfully submitted by,
Jennifer Fike
Photography by Fred Beutler
