Ann Arbor Rotary Harpoon

Song Leader: Don Devine           Accompanist: Joan Knoertzer

Committee Meetings:
    11:00 International Humanitarian Projects, Rob Northrup
    11:00  Membership Development, John Sepp

Upcoming Events:  

February 8 Speaker: Bruce Thomson, Psychotherapist, Lecturer, CEO of Thomson Solutions
The Brain Chemistry of Addiction – Defeating Shame and Guilt
February 15 Speaker: Deborah Brzoska, National Arts Education Leader
Transforming Schools & Student Achievement with Arts Education
February 22 Speaker: Clifford Lampe, U-M School of Information Professor
Social Media – Potentials, Pitfalls and Practices
February 29 Speaker: Henry Pollack, U-M Geology Professor Emeritus
A World Without Ice

Notes from the Meeting of January 25:

Wendy Brightman’s invocation concerned “Daddy’s rules for dating my daughter,” a sample of which is provided here. “If you pull into my driveway and honk, you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure not picking anyone up.” Here’s another: “The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter, including places where there are beds, places where there is darkness and places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops or anything other than overalls and a goose down parka.” And finally: “Do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off my daughter’s body, I will remove them.” And so forth in that vein, but you get the picture.

President Nishta thanked our luncheon team. Dave Williams set up the room, Steve Pierce was the songleader with Maurita Holland as accompanist. Greeter/host was Nicole Appleberry and Dick Elwell; taking attendance were Dale Berry and Rob Boehnke. The AV man was Dan Romanchik, Dallas Dort was on audio and our mic runners were Claire Foley, Tom Millard and Bob Dascola.

A contingent of Rotarians drove to Lansing Jan. 24 to meet with Gov. Rick Snyder for purposes of bestowing honorary Rotary membership on our chief executive, a process which was put into motion    many months ago by Past President Beth Fitzsimmons. The tieless governor received our delegation with pleasure, and the photo of the “dandy dozen” shows some who emulated the governor’s aversion to constricting neckwear.

Ashish Sarkar for International Projects passes along a memo from Namaste Direct/Ann Arbor Rotary Club partnership, thanking our club for supporting three clients in the business development with Microcredit Program in the Suchitepequez department of Guatemala. Rose Veraluz Rodas, Ofelia Medina Perez Gabriel and Carolina Beatriz Garcia Nolazco de Torres all live in San Francisco Zapotitlan; each will receive financial literacy training and will meet with a business advisor monthly to assess the strengths and weaknesses of her business, as well as complete a monthly cash flow analysis.

Carolyn Shear introduced our Junior Rotarians from Greenhills High School, along with Mike Marich who contacts the Rotary hosts; Terry Linden who contacts resource Rotarians; Jim Smith, the driver, and John White, the photographer, and Al Storey, who provided orientation. Our Junior Rotarians are Marina King, with an interest in theater and English. Her host was Burt Voss and her resource person was Carla Milarch. Anna Forringer Real has an interest in anthropology and history; her host was Bill Dunifon and her resource persons were the Frisanchos, Heidi and Roberto. Suzanna Meisel is interested in law and English; her host was Carolyn Shear and her resource person was Bob Donnellan. Libby Hines sent our students introductory letters.

Speaking of Junior Rotarians, did you know that Scott Westerman is a former Junior Rotarian? Sixty-eight years ago, Scott accepted that status as a youth in Ohio. He spoke briefly about his feelings then, and followed with a warm message to our Junior Rotarians, wishing for them that this day would be a memorable experience.

For our Centennial moment, Karen Kerry introduced Al Storey, who served as club co-president in 1973 along with Peter Forsyth. When the latter left Ann Arbor, Al was sole president of a club with 225 members, all men, and roughly divided 50 percent town and the other half gown. There were about 20 committees then, some of which didn’t accomplish all that much, according to Al. But just look at us now, he said. Women make up a significant portion of our membership, we have an excellent selection process of choosing presidents and if you look in on us at 11 o’clock, you’ll see a host of committees busy doing meaningful Rotary work. Al said the leadership from officers and members has been outstanding, with a strong “Service Above Self” attitude. Before stepping down, Al  urged each of us to look at a fellow member, across the table or across the room, and ask, “do I really know you?”

In Rotary news related to polio, the Gates Foundation has presented Rotary with another $50 million, bringing the total Gates Foundation contribution to wiping out polio to $405 million.

Bev Seiford followed up last week’s presentation on networking by announcing an online business directory and directing us to a signup sheet for further activities.

Steve Pierce for the nominating committee said Feb. 8 was the deadline for new member nominations. See Steve or Bill Dunifon if you have candidates.

Notes from the Program of January 25:

Paul Glendon introduced our speaker, Elizabeth Campbell, Acting Director, Michigan Law Human Trafficking Clinic, on the topic “Battling for the Rights of Modern-Day Slaves.” The Michigan Clinic is the first clinical law program in the nation solely dedicated to the issue of modern day “slaves,” generally found in the sex trade and in labor markets. After drug deals, human trafficking is tied with illegal arms trade as a growth industry. In sex trafficking, victims may be found in escort services, massage parlors and the like; in labor, victims may be found in sweat shops, on construction sites and in janitorial jobs. Using coercion to recruit, harbor, transport or employ a person for labor in involuntary servitude or debt bondage generally takes the form of three elements, said Elizabeth. There is the (1) process of recruiting, moving or obtaining a person, the (2) means, which is by force, fraud or coercion and (3) the purpose, which is servitude in the sex trade or in labor. A foreign national is the most vulnerable person. By the numbers, using global figures, there are 12.3 million trafficking victims, but only 49,000 fully identified victims. Saying prosecution is “a mixed bag,” she said there were only 4,166 successful prosecutions in 2009. “Most of us have no idea how common trafficking is,” Elizabeth said, citing examples in Detroit, Dexter, Chelsea and Ypsilanti. The victims come to this country vulnerable and isolated; they don’t speak the language and have no support services. They’re also scared and are told law enforcement here is corrupt. Indications of a trafficking victim include whether they are coached in what to say and whether they have necessary documents on their person.  To help, Elizabeth urged calling the national hotline at 1-888-3737-888, notifying local police and supporting local boards assisting trafficking victims.

Thought of the Day: No thought, but President Nishta recommended a book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The book is about how the liberation of women could help solve many of the world’s problems.

Notes prepared by Don Faber, Harpoon editor   Photographs by Dave Reid, John White

Notes of Interest:

New Members bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to our Club. We have so many projects and activities both locally and internationally, that it is hard to imagine there is not something of interest to everyone you know. New Member nominations for March induction are due February 8. Guidelines for membership are on the website for your review and use when talking to nominees. The nomination form is also available on the website and you can file online or download and hand to John Sepp, Bill Dunifon, or Steve Pierce. We all have interesting friends and contacts who would make great Rotarians so talk up our club and bring in a new member.

New Rotary Professional Network: The purpose of the Rotary Professional Network is to facilitate the growth of Rotary, not just as a service organization, but also as a potential networking venue. If you’d like to have a better understanding of the wide array of professional goods and services that our members provide and help develop connections and relations that would allow you to add to business contacts and organizations you could serve professionally, this club is for you! The first activity will be the creation of an online business directory that can be accessed through a link on the Rotary website. Entries should be a PDF or HTML (not a word document) and include: name, business, address, phone, email, website, brief description of product or services (up to 200 words), community nonprofit affiliations and role, and photo (optional). Submit your entry for the business directory by February 15th to Bev Seiford or Barbara Eichmuller. Also let us know if you’d like to be involved in planning future professional networking activities. We hope you’ll join us!

Incoming District Governor: Our District Governor is happy to announce that Rotarian George Hedgespeth of the Birmingham Rotary Club, has been named District Governor, 2014/15. George is a long time Rotarian of D6380 and has more recently served the District as an Assistant Governor from 2007-2010 and currently the Chair of New Generations. 

Monthly Membership Report to the District: With the induction of Governor Rick Snyder on January 24, we now have four Honorary members. We had no changes in the active membership during the month so the club finished January with 310 active members. Average attendance for the four meetings was 53%.

Meeting Statistics: The fourth meeting of 2012 drew 143 Rotarians, one Emeritus member (Henry Amble), 16 guests and three Jr. Rotarians but no visiting Rotarians. In conjunction with the luncheon, a total of 27 Rotarians participated in meetings of the Community Allocations, Internal Financial Procedures, Membership and Rotaract committees. Eleven members participated in the Induction of Rick Snyder. On Monday, six members of the Publicity committee met. Finally, three Rotarians met over the weekend to assemble last week's Harpoon and post it on the website.

Makeup Cards from Roving Rotarians: Roy More (Denton TX on January 19) and Collyer Smith (Canton on January 23)

Birthdays: January 30 – Ingrid Sheldon; February 1 – Bruce Stone; February 2 – Adam Kozma, Donald Smith; February 4 – Nishta Bhatia, Karl Brenner, Roberto Frishancho

Links of Interest: Websites of interest to Rotarians.

Rotary International: The RI home page has links to About Rotary, The Rotary Foundation, Club Locator and Member Access. Our Club is in Zone 29. The zone has 17 districts and covers portions of Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ontario. District 6380: Our district's website includes 53 clubs in the counties of Washtenaw, Livingston, Oakland and Macomb in Michigan and Kent in Ontario. The district’s monthly newsletter and articles of district-wide interest are posted there.

Rotary Club of Ann Arbor: Our Club’s website provides background material and information including the current Annual Report, Strategic Plan, New Member Nomination Form, Committee Descriptions, Club and Golf Outing brochures, synopses of upcoming programs and an archive of Harpoons. Find us on Facebook.

Submit news, committee meetings, and announcements to the Harpoon, the newsletter of the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. Contact the Club to subscribe by email.

Our Club also sponsors the following Rotaract and Interact Clubs:

U-M Rotaract Club  Huron High Interact Club

Pioneer High Interact Club   Ann Arbor Rotaract Club

“Reach Within to Embrace Humanity”