At 12:15 pm on May 14th, President John Chandler called the Rotary meeting to order at the InterContinental Hotel. Paul Meekin gave the inspirational moment, “Don’t ask a mountain to move, just take a pebble when you visit” and “Healing depended on 10,000 kindnesses”. President John led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Rotary 4 way test. The scribe was Linda Mulhern. Jeff Baidoo introduced guests and visiting Rotarians and Kathy Bjerke helped Jeff as a greeter. President John asked for a moment of silence due to the recent death of Bob Hanley. Both Milestones, ie length of time in the club and May birthdays were celebrated and the group sang “Happy Birthday” to the Rotarians in attendance with May birthdays.
Jay Pfaender introduced our speaker, Halgan “Abraham” Khayr, who is a survivor of polio. He came to this country via a refugee camp in Ethiopia. He was given a medical visa to come to the Chicago Shriner’s hospital. They were able to relocate his dislocated hip and he was given the resources needed to go to school at the University of Illinois. Robert Brown, a Rotarian in Illinois was his mentor and guardian. Robert was able to introduce Abraham to wheelchair basketball while studying at the university. Abraham became a strong advocate for all people dealing with disabilities and is very thankful that he came to the United States with the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) which gives everyone the opportunity to achieve even if they have a disability. He said in the 3rd world, life opportunities are eliminated when disabled. Abraham has worked hard to ship used wheelchairs to both Ethiopia and Somalia. He wanted to thank the Rotarians for pursuing the Polio Plus campaign and noted that there were only 4 cases of polio diagnosed last year around the world…as we like to say, we are, “so close” to eliminating the disease!
Abraham was given a certificate of appreciation for speaking to the club and a donation will be made to Tree House.
Bill Collins introduced new member, Mary Knudsen. She is a real estate agent in the Highland Park area of St Paul. She has won the Coldwell Banker president award. Mary is very involved with various groups and even met her husband at an open house! They live in Mendota Heights and like to travel to exotic locations. Mary is a former member of the Eagan Rotary club and is a graduate of the University of St Thomas.
Michael-jon Pease introduced new member, Sue Katsiotis. She works at the University Club and loves to plan events for both members and their families at the University Club. She is a graduate of St Catherine’s university. Sue has been married for 30 years and loves to garden, read and travel.
Dan McKeown was able to give a multiple award Elmer L Anderson presentation to both Francis Luikart and Chuck Roach for their donations to the St Paul Foundation.
Dana Bruce reminded everyone of the new member orientation on Thursday, 5/16 at Summit Brewery starting at 4 pm as well as the St Cloud Rotary membership recruitment meeting on May 18th. Michael-jon Pease reminded everyone of the program on 5/19 at 1:30 pm to watch the film “Came to Testify”. Peggy Kuo, one of the judges will speak at Park Square Theatre about the experience of judging cases which include rape as a war crime. President John asked for 10 volunteers to help with Education Day next week and was able to get them in short order. We will be recognizing approximately 100 middle school students from the St Paul schools at the event.
We had a number of Happy Dollars this week, including Jerry Meigs with a new great grandson, Jim Kosmo reported that his daughter is currently cancer free to the disbelief of doctors, Aaron Gjerde talked about the upcoming film debut about the Hill district in St Paul that will also be broadcast on TPT, Chuck Roach was happy to have many volunteers to help push his troublesome car out of the indoor parking lot so it could be towed and finally, Carolyn Will reported that her daughter had been accepted to medical school in Detroit.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:14 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Mulhern
Scribe