President Josh Sprague opened the meeting proudly bringing us up to date on our abilities as a club to switch over to live streaming and our extraordinary efforts to donate time and resources to address the epidemic. He noted the grants approved to local community organizations and our appreciation to Chair Kelley Burnett and the local grants committee for vetting over 40 applications to get down to the final list of very deserving recipients. He thanked those who are spending their time volunteering and demonstrating through their action our principle of "Service Above Self". He also thanked both the Club and Foundation boards, and all the officers, for your flexibility, hard work, and dedication during these difficult and uncertain times.
President Sprague made the following announcements:
  • Next week we will hold an online meeting using the Zoom platform, and once everyone is logged in at 12:35, we will kick it off by a quick Zoom tutorial by Bridget Hallstrom, who will answer any questions you have.  For the program, former Rotary Club of Edina President, and current Minneapolis University Rotary Club member, Ellen Kennedy will be presenting on the “State of Hate, “ as she runs down the current anti-semitism and racism trends in America  and beyond.
  • Then the next week on April 30, we will return to the Facebook Live format as we hostour virtual Vocational Ethics Day, featuring a lively discussion between ethics speaker John Rubischko, and moderator and Eden Prairie AM President John Crudele, as they look back on John Rubischko’s federal mortgage fraud and the lessons her learned from that experience. 
  • Then on May 14th, we’ve rebooked Jon Kaufman, from H20 Open Doors, and he’lll be flying in from California to talk about some of his recent projects with the SunSpring solar and wind powered water purification system, including a recent installation at the Escuintla National Hospital in Guatemala, where we visited on our Guatemala Service Trip in April of 2019.
  • On May 27th, we will have our vocational offsite meeting at the Discovery Nexus Center tech incubator and collaboration center at the University of Minnesota, and on May 28th, we will be headed to the Walker Art Center for private tours of the sculpture gardens and the permanent collection.
The Invocation came from fellow Rotarian Tom Cook, father of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Edina. Tom wrote and President Sprague recited:
 
• Let us give thanks to our Creator for this day.
• And may our Creator give... 
• Comfort to those who lament, “Not another day;”
• Patience to those who cry, “Just get me through the day;” and
• Hope to those who wonder, “Will we ever see a new day?”
• May we, as Rotarians, be blessed with...
• Courage to confront the challenges this day will bring;
• Compassion for those who are burdened by the loss of health and the suffering of loved ones; 
• Strength to make the best of every situation; and
• Generosity to share something of ourselves today and every day in service and care for others.
• And when the world moves toward healing, may we be wiser, more humble, and grateful for the gift of each other. Amen.
 
Charles Sprague recited the Pledge of Allegience and Four-Way Test.
 
The following Rotary Club of Edina member anniversaries were recognized:
 
 
Susan Stiles visited the set to bring us up to date on the progress of meeting our Rotary International Foundation Goals. We are on tract to meet the $100,000 mark and Susan would really like us to achieve the 100% participation goal. She also mention the following Rotary International funding activities involving disaster relief:
• District 5959 recently approved $100,000 in Global DDF funds
• $75,000 to Italian Covid-19 Response Fund, and $25,000 to Rotary’s Disaster Relief Fund, for badly-needed medical equipment and supplies such as full body thermal scanners, triage units, computer tablets, tele-medicine software, and isolation stretchers. 
• Talk to me about Disaster Relief Fund, and how that plays in to TRF season. These donations count towards a member’s annual PHF recognition and you receive a Paul Harris Fellow pin and recognition.
 
 
President Sprague introduced this week's speaker, originally from Minnesota, Douglas Keillor is the founder and executive director of Juvenile Justice Advocates International. Doug is a human rights attorney currently living and working primarily in Mexico. He holds a Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in International Politics from American University. In 2012 Doug was awarded a Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship to research excessive juvenile detention in Mexico City. As a result, the Mexico City Superior Court invited him to help implement a pretrial release program. Due to the lack of organizations working on international juvenile justice reform, in 2013 Doug founded the U.S.-based 501(c)(3) Juvenile Justice Advocates International.  This organization is dedicated to ensuring kids are detained only as a last resort and for the shortest time possible. While it is estimated over one million children are behind bars across the globe, and that the damage this does to kids is internationally recognized as a critical human rights issue, the amount of time children spend in pre-trial detention does not often receive much attention. Doug is working to change that. 
 
 
Josh thanked the speaker and closed the meeting with a quote from Cornel West, “Remember that justice is what love looks like in public…