At Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Luncheon on May 10th, Karen Kerry, Board Member of Fisher House Michigan and Ann Arbor Rotarian visited the club to say, "that the house has started a campaign that will DOUBLE your donation dollar."
To date Michiganders have donated more then $1.5 million toward Fisher House Michigan's construction commitment of $3.5 million for the Ann Arbor House. Because of the strong support of the community FHM has committed to breaking ground in Ann Arbor in 2019.
Karen said, "to keep things moving she wants everyone to join their 2018 Memorial Day Match Campaign."
This Memorial Day, Fisher House Michigan is asking you to honor a Service Member or Veteran in your life. Donate and double your impact between May 1 - June 30, every donor dollar will be matched by generous Michigan donors, led by a $100,000 challenge gift from Ann Arbor's American Legion Post #46.
You are invited to take a self guided tour of the trees planted on May 6, 2018. ClickHEREfor Google Earth images with a red circle show the exact locations of tree plantings at each site.
The addresses included are sufficient to guide your vehicle to each site using the Map APP on a smart phone.
There are six sites, and they are in good numeric order to circle Ypsilanti township.
Look for the District 6380 tree tags. These are 40 of the fifty trees planted in Ypsilanti Township. The 10 remaining will be planted in due time by the Township. The other 50 trees have been and will be planted in Rolling Hills County Park.
John said, "Detroit neighborhoods have been in a downward spiral defined by expanding blight since the 1960's." John Hantz, long time Detroit resident and CEO of theHantz Group, approached city government in 2008 with a proposal to revitalize neighborhoods using the skills and resources of Hantz Group employees to establish a large farm. The desired outcome was cleaner, safer neighborhoods, improved property values, a rekindled local economy, and improved schools.
The mission behind our investment is truly livable neighborhoods.
What the Hantz Group Farm Detroit (Hantz Woodlands) has done:
Removing Blight: Hantz Farms Detroit has worked with neighbors and sponsors to clear brush, weeds, and debris from more than 2,000 parcels within one square mile.
Demolishing Abandoned Structures: Abandoned structures attract illegal dumping, and are a source of danger within Detroit neighborhoods. Hantz Farms Detroit has invested more than $1 million to remove 62 dangerous structures from the landscape.
Planting Trees: Lots that were once defined by nuisance trees like mulberry and box elder have been improved with managed plantings of oak, maple, birch, and poplar. Volunteers have partnered with Hantz Farms Detroit to plant 25,000 trees in evenly spaced rows.
Entrepreneurship Training: Moving beyond neighborhood beautification, Hantz Farms Detroit is working in partnership with neighborhood schools and sponsors to help students explore entrepreneurship.
Vocational Training: Hantz Farms Detroit and Hantz Foundation works with sponsors to create hands-on learning experience in professional trades.
Educational Services: Hantz Farms Detroit is available to participate in education and consulting work that assists leaders in expanding and improving urban agriculture as a new commercial sector within urban economies.
Jay Vincent was our speaker at the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Luncheon on April 3, 2018. Jay talked about his book called "My Story: United States vs Jay Vincent" and at risk kid's.
Jay told, us he played for Michigan State University under coach, Jud Heathcote, where he teamed with Magic Johnson and Greg Kelser to win the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
In 2010 Jay made bad decisions in his business in East Lansing and was sentenced in September 2011 to prison for 5 years and a half years.
Jay Vincent told a story about when he was in prison, he tried to act brave and climbed a slab and told the criminals how bad he was. He told them he was a third degree black belt and if anybody challenged him they’d be in trouble. Most bought the story.
One guy did not.
“You might be a third degree black belt but I am 10th degree crazy,” one guy screamed back.
Jay said, "he did not say anything about having a black belt after that."
Today Jay writes books and talks to kid's about his hard times, so others can learn from them and live better lives.
Jay told us about a young man, that was looking like he was going down the wrong path. Jay took him to a library and described his experience in prison. The man listened and is now living a productive life and has never been in jail.
Jay wants to tell his story to help anyone who needs it. He would be happy to come to any event and talk about at risk kid's.
"I wish to lift the depressed and energize & inspire the rest."
I was honored and humbled to serve as “Toilet Warrior” on March 31 and April 1 for Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North (RCAAN) and D6380, for a final site tour, inspecting and assessing the impact of two Rotary Foundation sponsored sanitation-focused Global Grants which are led by RCAAN as international sponsor since early 2016. The two host groups were D3291 Foundation (representing 39 Calcutta area Rotary clubs), and the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Midtown (RCCM).
The goals of both sanitation projects are to end open defecation and break the cycle of generational poverty by empowering rural women with safe, private sanitation facilities so that they can educate their children better, learn sustainable vocations to augment their income, and thereby regained their dignity.
Calcutta (population ~15 million) is the home of Poet Rabindranath Tagore, India’s Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and is also known as City of Joy where Mother Teresa (beatified in 2016 as St. Teresa of Calcutta) served the poor and rescued the sick and orphans off the streets. (Two past D6380 delegations to Calcutta were led by PDG Terry Youlton for Polio Eradication efforts in the late 1990s, and it is also the site of a 3H Grant co-funded by D6380 for a diabetes research hospital).
RCAAN and RCCM began Project Dignity in 2011-12 as a Simplified District Grant project for $18,000, and the successful implementation of 120 in-home toilets and lessons learned were used by RCAAN to organize these two new Rotary Foundation Global Grant projects, which have since engaged the financial support of Rotary Clubs of Ann Arbor North, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor West, Chelsea, Ferndale, Milan, Novi, Saline and Ypsilanti Rotary Clubs.
I am pleased to report that both Global Grant projects have far exceeded their original targets of rural in-home toilets awarded to below-poverty-line villagers subsisting in the Sundarbans - a lush mangrove forest with high biodiversity located in the Ganges River Delta outside Kolkata. This achievement was possible due to frugal money management by our dedicated Rotary partners and project chairs in India, who used bulk procurement of raw materials and supplies, solicited free labor and services from local toilet awardees or providers, and leveraged with Exide India Battery Corporation which augmented Global Grant funds - all of these allowed RCCM, our Project Dignity partner Club, to add 80 more toilets over the original goal of 320 toilets. Each toilet costs approximately $210/unit and comprises of 2 composting septic tanks to store solid waste while microbial action prepares it in 3-4 months to be used as fertilizer for the farms.
(1) Global Grant 1527157 ($96k) with District 3291 Foundation and ~30 Calcutta area Clubs has completed 526 toilets (original goal was 500). I was graciously hosted for the review by D3291 Foundation Chair Rotn Jayanta Chatterji on March 31, 2018. See photo.
(2) Global Grant 1526428 ($84k + investment by Exide Battery) on Project Dignity undertaken with the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Midtown (RCCM), and 7 co-sponsor Michigan Rotary Clubs has now completed 400 toilets (as of April 1) with the NGO Sri Ramakrishna Ashram Nimpith (SRAN)...The project will conclude with 420 toilets by end of May 2018. Photos show toilets are named for each sponsor Club from D6380.
On April 1 early morning, I accompanied the ever energetic Rotn Rakesh Sahni, my Project Co-Chair of RCCM and 6 of his club members - Radhika Sahni, Ruby and Matoo Sikri, Samir Prasad, Joydeep Sanyal, and Sumi Agrawal Past-President of Inner Wheel Club of Calcutta-Midtown and our chief instigator for Project Dignity in 2009 - we toured for over five hours in ~105F steamy temperatures across a 2 km area in the lush biodiversity of the Sundarbans. We toured an area occupied by both Muslim and Hindu communities co-existing harmoniously, led by the Ramkrishna Ashram’s monks and two sanitation contractors, both, on foot and by vehicle over narrow, often precarious sandy embankments to inaugurate 20 new rural toilets. These toilets will empower rural woman-run households with health, hygiene and safety to enable them to take up sustainable vocations and thus, raise their living standards.
In conclusion, I am grateful to Rotn Ashish Sarkar of RC Ann Arbor for undertaking a site visit with RCCM members to the Sundarbans on February 5, 2018, when the previous batch of 20 toilets was inaugurated. Five RCAAN members also toured with me to inaugurate the first batch of 40 toilets completed in March 2016: John Copeland, Matt Copeland, Bryan Schindel, Laura VanSteenis and Tamra Ward. The following photos don’t do sufficient justice to portraying the harsh realities of rural life in the Sundarbans, which is highly vulnerable to climate change, or to the hardships and challenges of bringing sanitation supplies and training/followup to these secluded communities. The dedication of our local Rotary and NGO partners is commendable!
RCAAN’s third sanitation focused Global Grant 1635112 ($36,000) was awarded in March 2018, and will begin in May 2018 in Bungamati, Nepal with partners RC Chandragiri (Nepal), RC Singapore and Nepal Consul General’s Office in Singapore - the goal is to improve school sanitation and community hygiene with new toilets for 4 girls schools which are being rebuilt after a devastating earthquake in 2015. A site tour is planned in October 2018. Stay tuned!
Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Foundation received $8.68 from 01/31/18-04/30/18.
Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North isregistered in the Kroger Community Rewards Program. Sign up and start making money for The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North Foundation (Kroger Community Rewards #21725).
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Luncheon Day & Time: Thursday's at 12:00 pm | Luncheon Address: Holiday Inn Near The University of Michigan, 3600 Plymouth Road Ann Arbor, MI | Web Site:http://www.rcaan.org| E-Mail:rotaryclubaan@gmail.com| Phone: (734)224-4130 |
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