Dear Rotary Members and Friends,

In response to these extraordinary times, we must join together in extraordinary ways. The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor Board is mobilizing resources to focus on immediate and longer-term responses to the Covid 19 epidemic in our community.

The International Humanitarian Projects Committee has been re-tasked as the newly-formed Disaster Relief Committee, charged with administering our Club’s Coronavirus Relief Fund. It is working closely with the Community Allocations Committee.

The committee has prioritized assistance to health care and other front-line workers; children; and disadvantaged communities. We plan to add our support to existing efforts and also to fill gaps we see in the safety net.

We hope to report back with a comprehensive and strategic plan of action in the next Harpoon. We invite the input and participation of all members. To join the Disaster Relief Committee email the Chair, Dan Lewan dan@e4project.org

For ways you can contribute RIGHT NOW, please see Michael Field’s excellent article from the April 4 Harpoon.

A St. Joseph Mercy Hospital link addressing their needs is here.

Our District has also initiated a project (100K Mask Challenge) to obtain 100,000 masks for local health care providers and is still in need of donors! Please contribute by clicking on this link. More information is on the District 6380 about this initiative is on the District website.

Local Rotarians are already stepping up. Hats off to Pat Stejskal and the MASKerAiders! The Rotary of Plymouth Michigan has donated 500 face shields to St. Joe’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, plus 50 shields to other front-line workers.

Dean Hilda Alcindor of the Leogane, Haiti Rotary reports that her club has sewn and distributed 4,000 gold and blue washable cloth masks with the Rotary Logo on each one! Go team!

For those Rotarians who want to take immediate action we urge you to contribute time, money, or material now at one of the above links.

We will have more definitive information next week including the process for donating to a dedicated Ann Arbor Rotary Disaster Fund. Thanks in advance. (And here is a link to an article from Kiwanis about tax deductibility for donations under the new CARES act.)

The Disaster Relief Committee