History
History Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North
Women in Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North
Rotaries First Club - Chicago
Past Rotary International Presidential Themes
The Four Way Test
History Of The Rotary International Bell
 
History of Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North
 
The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North was chartered on December 26, 1967, by it's parent club Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. The founding President was Paul Meyer's. 
 
The original club was considered at first as the North Campus Club. It was more of a "knife and fork" club and didn't really do very much for the cause of Rotary. The club first met at The Lord Fox Restaurant in Dixboro. The Lord Fox Restaurant, was an old farmhouse built in 1880 and was then converted into a restaurant in 1920.
 
 
Then the club meetings moved to North Campus Commons. Then to the Holiday Inn on Washtenaw, before moving to Holiday Inn, Near The University of Michigan on Plymouth Road. In July 2021 the club moved to the historic Earhart Manor in Concordia University during the COVID-19 pandemic and 3 other locations during that period (for more detail continue reading). On October 13, 2022 the club meetings moved to Dixboro Church on Church Street of Plymouth Road in Ann Arbor.
 
Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North, offered modest scholarship support after the club was established, and worthy non-profit organizations were given financial gifts.
 
Rotary Club Of Ann Arbor North has had speaker's almost every week since the founding of the club . Among the speaker's were Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, Howdy Holmes, Chief Executive Officer and President of "Jiffy" Mix and former MotorSports Driver, John Barfield, founder of Bartech Group Inc., and Don Canham, U of M Athletic Director.
 
On May 4,1987, the U.S.. Supreme Court ruled that Rotary clubs may not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. Rotary issued a policy statement that any Rotary club in the United States can admit qualified women into membership. 
 
After women were admitted to Rotary Club Of Ann Arbor North, everything changed and the club became more active. Virginia Nordby was the first female member of our club, followed by Gail Scott.  
 
Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North, known for giving birth new Rotary Clubs in the Ann Arbor Area. 
 
In November 1990, the former Briarwood Club was formed, meeting at the Ann Arbor Hilton. The first President was Jean Willing under District 6380 DG Stan Tulak.  
 
Ann Arbor Rotary West, was created on December 12, 2014. Bob Overhiser and Phil Zepeda, a Past RCAAN President became the first President of the West Club. They meet at the Quarter Bistro on Stadium Blvd Ann Arbor.
 
The RCAAN Foundation was then created in 1991 by Phil Zepeda with help from Ted Sichler, Jim Menlove Gerald Bradley, and Mike James, to provide services at local level and to supplement the world wide service of Rotary International
 
In 1991, Bob Greenough, formed The Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden in Gallup Park, with help from the Ann Arbor Parks and Recreation Department. RCAAN continues to maintain the Garden to this day.
 
 
In 1997, Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North recorded a folk CD called The Music of the Great Lakes. Among the songs on the CD was The Great Lakes Song, and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The songs were sung by various members of our club. Proceeds of the sale on the CD went to The Rotary Club Of Ann Arbor North Foundation.
 
In 2017, the  Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North celebrated our 50th Anniversary.
 
From March 2020-July 2021, all of our lives changed, including how we met in Rotary. The COVID-19 pandemic stopped all RCAAN in person meetings stating March 14, 2020, the club went from in-person meetings to Zoom Virtual Meetings. Under President Eric Tindall's leadership the club continued weekly meetings until the end of the Rotary year. Then in July new President Steve Lessens, changed meeting to the following:
  • First Monday of the month was a Zoom Board Meeting at 7 PM
  • Second Thursday of the month was a Zoom meeting with program at 12:00 PM
  • Third week of the month there was no meeting
  • Fourth Thursday on the month there was a Zoom Social at 5:30 PM
This schedule is still the schedule today.
 
During this pandemic, the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North was the lead of a group of 13 Rotary Clubs from India, Uganda and SE Michigan on a Rotary International Foundation-matched Global Grant (GG #2014854) award titled “Pandemic Relief for Detroit Project.” 
 
The project provided PPE donations to Metro Detroit hospitals, medical clinics, and nursing homes working with the aged and underserved populations, and cash assistance to nine food banks serving the hardest-hit areas in Detroit and neighboring communities in Ypsilanti, Pontiac, Novi and Ann Arbor.
 
Area Rotarians and volunteers from Palav delivered purchased critical PPE to Veterans Administration Hospital in Detroit, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit Mercy Dental Clinic, Brilliant Detroit Community Outreach Services, Say Detroit Community Outreach Services, UMRC, Porter Hill Nursing Home and Presbyterian Village Nursing Homes. In aggregate, these PPE supplies included nearly 10,000 specialty facemasks and face shields, 75,000 surgical, nitrile and latex gloves, 250 gowns, dozens of sanitization stations, thermometers and safety signage. To see the full story of the Global Grant with videos Click Here.
 
The first in-person meeting after the COVID-19 pandemic, which we continued using Zoom so members could continue seeing our meetings virtual, was July 8, 2021.
 
Rotary Club of Ann Arbor North also changed meeting locations on July 8th. The Club moved to Concordia University in the historic Earhart Mansion, for 6 months.
 
The meetings schedule changed as follow:
  • First Monday of the month is a Zoom Board Meeting at 7:00 PM
  • Second Thursday of the month is a In-Person/virtual Meeting with Speaker
  • Third week of the month no meeting
  • Fourth Thursday of the month is an In-Person/Virtual Meeting with Speaker
  • In case of a month with five weeks in a month there is no meeting
In January 2022 another COVID-19 outbreak brought the club back to Zoom meetings. March 2022 we started back meeting at 3 locations:
  1. Cross and Resurrection Lutheran Church- The Chapel at EMU- 812 Ann Street Ypsilanti, MI 48197
  2. University Living Ann Arbor- 2865 South Main Street Ann Arbor, MI 48103
  3. Ann Arbor Public Library- Pittsfield Branch- 2359 Oak Valley Dr. Ann Arbor, MI 48103
On October 13, 2022 we came back to the North side of Ann Arbor to meet at our permanent location at the Dixboro United Methodist Church at 5221 Church Street Ann Arbor, MI 48105.