Awareness of Human Trafficking

Would you believe it? 22 members were in attendance, including 3 Zoomers and 19 “live,” including four guests: Rev. Chad Parmalee and Russell Bissinger (invited again by this scribe), Trey Greene (who noted his brother Greg’s absence!), and today’s speaker, Therese Maggioncaldra, who was the Program Chair of DisCon 2024 (District 6400's Annual Conference). LAMR President Claude Kendrick chaired another great LAMR Meeting, beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance and Words of Inspiration on supporters by Victoria Haltom. Tammy Bonifield did the rounds for “Happy Bucks.” Tammy also presented everyone with a beautifully decorated Rotary cupcake (tasty!!) to celebrate our Livonia A.M. Rotary Club’s 36th birthday on May 17th. Thanks, Tammy! It was noted that the Club did a great job on our first “Adopt-a-Road” clean-up project on Five Mile Rd. on Saturday, May 11th, with excellent Churchill Interact participation. 

Upcoming Events:

Passport to Safety - Saturday, June 8th, 10:00-2:00 PM; volunteers come at 9:15 AM to the Livonia Police Station, a service project to help our children, youth, & families.

LAMR Evening Picnic at Rotary Park - Wednesday, June 12th, 5:00-ish, Rotary Park, Pavilion #1. More details to follow. Many thanks to Pat Zucal for arranging this!

LAMR Annual Installation Party at Tammy Binofield's lake cottage in the Irish Hills - Saturday, June 15th, 1:00 PM or when you arrive. Bring swimsuits. Golfers, come in the morning; non-golfer spouses can hang out with Tammy. Bring a bottle and a dish to pass. An added treat: District Governor-Elect Dr. Nick Krayacich, Rotary’s first-ever “First Gentleman” and husband of PRIP Jennifer Jones, will install President-Elect Dave Stechholz and other Club officers around 5:00 PM.



Clarenceville High School Cooler Project:

President Claude announced three big checks have come in for our “Cooler Project” at Clarenceville HS. We are under $4,000 toward meeting our goal of raising $30,000. Keep making an “ask,” and thanks to all who have participated, donated, or made an “ask.” 

Awareness of Human Trafficking:

Therese Maggioncaldra, our Speaker and President-elect of the Passport-to-Safety Club, did an outstanding job presenting on a difficult subject: Human Trafficking.  Therese is a gerontology social worker and is involved with our own Erin Dobbins in Rotary’s peace initiatives (one of the seven areas of focus in Rotary). Sadly, human trafficking occurs right here in SE Michigan and worldwide. People, often youth and children, who have been caught up in this trafficking have been lured into a horrible life of bondage or servitude. Human trafficking includes labor trafficking, domestic servitude, debt bondage, and, notably, sex trafficking. It is dehumanizing. “Human trafficking” is the second largest criminal enterprise, second only to drug trafficking.  What makes it human trafficking?: fraud, coercion, force, and lack of consent.

Therese showed a compelling video of young people, especially those who were caught up in “human trafficking” against their will. Often, they trusted someone who drugged them or suddenly took advantage of them in a vulnerable state. We were encouraged to report to the police any instances we may see of what might be human trafficking; the police will at least investigate and, in many cases, rescue an individual who has been forced into human trafficking. This was an engaging program, so we closed without our usual Rotary Four Way Test and Greg Greene jokes.

Rev. David Stechholz