President Mark Foster welcomed everyone to today’s meeting and introduced our pianist extraordinaire Tom Strode who led us all in singing My Country ’Tis of Thee.

Rotary history doubles as inspirational welcome
Downs Herold came to the podium to teach us six important words to recall: rotary wheel… woodruff key… new coin.

He noted that our Rotary emblem featuring the Rotary Wheel has been identified as the second most-recognized symbol in the world. Former President Herold continued that the history of the Rotary wheel goes back to 1905 when a wagon wheel with 13 spokes was sketched by a member of the Chicago Club. In 1920, the wheel spokes were then reduced to six and 24 cogs were used to give it a sturdy appearance and to reflect a real, working gear wheel.

In 1924 the design was altered slightly to include a “keyway.” A gear without a keyway provided no provision for the transfer of power to or from the shaft – making the wheel idle. (The keyway in the gear allows space for a metal key to be inserted into that space which also fits into a grove in the power shaft, which then connects the gear to the power shaft.) The new design was made because a working gear would signify a “living force,” and better reflect the organization’s Service above Self motto.

Herold shared that more than 20 years ago when a visiting District Governor addressed our Club, the DG emphasized the significance of the subtle but important keyway shown in the Rotary gear wheel emblem. He distributed a Woodruff Key to all at that meeting. Herold’s looks like a thick dime cut in half. That DG charged members to carry that little key with one’s loose change, as a daily reminder that without the active participation of Rotary Members acting as a key linking the wheel to the power shaft, the wheel would just spin on the shaft.

Herold still carries that little key in his change purse and each time he sees it is reminded to act like a gear key and keep the Rotary spirit that serves society.

Now the last two words come in: New Coin. Downs added a new shinny penny that was stuck to a mailing yesterday to his little change purse – just before visiting Stadium Hardware to see if he could buy some Woodruff Keys to give out to each of us today. But after seeing that a key that matched the size that he received years ago was now almost $2 each and the hardware store had less than a dozen on hand, the new Penny smiled out of his change purse as he returned his key.

Herold suggests that each of us – in the room and via zoom – check your loose change and look for the shiniest coin. Designate that as your Rotary gear key. Look at it to frequently remind yourself that we each can do our part in making sure that the power from our Rotary wheel is transferred to the power drive shaft of our Rotary Club. “Be Inspired.”

Music

Jim Irwin came to the podium and polled the members: January 27 or June 9? Members voted for June 9, which turns out to be International Children’s Day. In honor of all the work our club does to help Kids Succeed, we sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and The ABC Song with Tom Strode delighting us with his well-studied music lessons.

Business Meeting

President Foster welcomed new guests and President Elect Joyce Hunter announced this week’s birthdays. Hunter also praised Shelley MacMillan for her 40th anniversary as a Club Member.

Roy More jumped to the podium to have us Save the Date for the Sept. 11 Golf and Pickleball Outing, and SHARE the Date with friends, coworkers, and neighbors. As this is our Club’s only fundraiser, so it is imperative for us to join in helping kids succeed. (More noted that our Club is only able to fund half of the requests that come from deserving area non-profits with important projects that help kids succeed.) He then showed a video from the Community Allocations Committee recognition reception from earlier this year. This segment showed Angela Stroud of the Children’s Literacy Network sharing what her group, funded by our Club’s donations, does in the Ann Arbor, Ypsi, Detroit and Jackson area. You can see all the videos by accessing our Rotary Club’s YouTube channel.

Rosemarie Rowney piqued our interest with one-of-a-kind silent auction items that could be yours at our GPO silent auction. These include driving lessons and an opportunity to drive a real Model T at the Gilmore Car Museum, bespoke trip to Ann Arbor’s Hands-on Museum with Washtenaw Dairy treats afterwards, and personalized pickleball training at Wolverine Pickleball. The auction catalog will be on-line soon, and you must be present at the auction to bid on these delightful experiential items.

President Mark reminded us to check the weekly meeting spreadsheet to see what meeting set up or duty you are assigned. The tasks are fun, allow you to get to know your friends in the club, and pave the way for a great meeting. If you are unable to fulfill that assigned duty, please find your substitute and let Administrator Shari know that it is covered and by whom.

Bob Mull recapped VITA’s (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) work this past year with 31 volunteers completing 670 returns – an increase of 25% more returns that last year with less than half the number of volunteers! The entire VITA season was in person this year and resulted in $1,379,009 in refunds which saved their clients $145,000 in tax preparation fees. Mull pulled the curtains back on the operation to reveal that just as tax preparation season was beginning, the full-time site coordinator left. Mull and team regrouped to work with the Lansing-area Capitol Area United Way. Mull shared that this was a particularly challenging year in that many people didn’t file their taxes during covid, so Mull and team were preparing up to three years of returns instead of just the 2022 return. He also shared that there were many more people employed though a gig economy like being an uber, lyft or door dash driver, and had no paper trail of the time worked, miles driven, etc. This meant that the VITA team members had to be detectives to substantiate the paper trail for the IRS return. He noted that another issue faced this year was that many of the clients coming to VITA preparers were victims of identity theft.  They had kept no record of their all-important identity theft protection PIN sent to them by the IRS. Mull shared his observation that there is trend over the last several years to have fewer and fewer clients getting health insurance through the “marketplace,” and more and more with Medicaid health insurance.

Finally, there were many changes in the Tax Code including many federal provisions for covid years that expired, so there were reductions that cut clients’ returns by thousands of dollars. Mull reflected that with the reduction of child and dependent credits, it was not a surprise to him to see the increase in numbers needing food pantries. (See previous Rotary Meeting about the Maize and Blue Pantry.)

Mull thanked his Ann Arbor Rotary members on the VITA team: Bob Buchanan, Karen Gladney, Fred Beutler, Eric Macke, Bob Mull, Dave Williams, and Roy More. And we all thank our club for $2,050 in financial support from our Club.

Guest Presentation by Joe Loney

Dennis Powers introduced speaker Joe Loney, Regional Director for Maryknoll Lay Missioners, and Executive Director of the Foundation for Social Justice based in Bolivia. Prior to joining Maryknoll Lay Missioners, he worked for 10 years as an assistant public defender in Detroit. At the Foundation for Social Justice, Loney oversees a project called “Moving Forward Together for the Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities.” Its main goal is inclusion and non-marginalization of those with disabilities in their rural home communities.

Loney took the podium stating that disabilities were both a cause, and a consequence of, poverty. His focus is to empower Bolivians with disabilities to be self-sustaining, not accept the limiting status quo, and to resist the feeling of resignation.

Loney gave us a bit of Bolivian geography: it is roughly the size of Texas and California combined, yet has only 6% of those state’s populations. It is a landlocked country surrounded by Peru, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. Loney works primarily in the rural high-mountain plains town of Tacopaya, and the more populated tropical Cochabamba.

At each site, (each between three and six hours from the Capitol of La Paz) Loney’s organization helps infants through senior citizens with mind or body disability issues so they can perform day-to-day activities and participate with others.

One example of their success is working with a nearly-blind man to become self-sufficient by becoming a beekeeper. Another inspiring story is helping a woman whose 13-year-old son was unable to walk, so she carried him the mile to her work site at another person’s farm. With attentive physical therapy, the boy can now stand on his own and walk 25 feet on his own. Yet another was a success story of a young man with severe hearing issues who got a start on a car and motorcycle washing business. It has since grown to accommodate more vehicle services, which has integrated this man into the community.

Loney stated that there is a huge impact made simply by sharing and caring without preaching. He reminded us of St. Francis who said, “use words as a last resource.”

Loney emphasized that there was a need for early detection of disabilities. This is often a challenge because the Bolivian government doesn’t have the resources to spend on the disabled, especially in rural areas. So Loney works to survey the population (82% of the population of Tacopaya has been surveyed) and of the 938 voluntary participants, 101 were confirmed by specialists to need help: 75 with speech therapy, 17 with psychological help and nine needing Neuro-pediatric help.

Loney’s biggest challenge is the complacent attitude of many who think that a disability is just the way it is and remain complacent and resigned to that fate. He is motivated to change the mind set and challenge the status quo for those with disabilities.

The audience gave Mr. Loney a hearty round of applause.

President Mark concluded our meeting with everyone speaking aloud the Rotary four-way test:
1. It is the TRUTH?
2. It is FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Respectfully submitted,
Mary Steffek Blaske