Club Meeting Featuring Steve Speitzer, Community Organizer

President Nancy Darga brought the meeting to order with the members reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The Invocation was given by Reverend David Stechholz and focused on peace and love. After Sharon Pommerville’s welcome hugs to all and her Happy Bucks, Nancy brought up the Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA), and we discussed ways to get our Interact students more involved in leadership programs and various ways to promote it, including engaging school counselors, creating promotional videos, and providing the RYLA application link to the local high schools.

Nancy then pointed out that we had another visitor to our meeting, Stephanie Richards from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department.

Greg Greene then gave us the dates for the 2026 road cleanup windows (April 16–19, July 16–19, and September 24–27).

Nancy then introduced our guest speaker for today, Steve Speitzer, Community Organizer.

Steve grew up in Livonia and graduated from Bentley High School. He then moved from Livonia and raised his family before moving back to Livonia in 2021. He started listening to people and gravitated to those in harm’s way, and also discovered that there was a Christian Faith Council in Livonia.

Steve started working with the Interfaith Leadership Council and helped to promote understanding and cooperation among different religious and cultural groups in Livonia, helping to find common ground and bring peace to our community.

Moving toward that goal, the first annual Livonia Day of Unity and Prayer was held on May 1 at the Madonna University Welcome Center, which was an awesome event, and Steve is involved in planning the next one on May 7, 2026.

Steve emphasized the importance of listening to and learning from people of different backgrounds. He also discussed unconscious bias and the need for safe spaces to have difficult discussions about prejudice and discrimination.

The members then recited The Resilient Courage Pledge with Steve. President Nancy Darga then presented Steve with the Rotary Soccer Ball.

The meeting ended with the members reciting the 4‑Way Test and the ringing of the bell by President Nancy Darga.



Marlene Katafia