With long term family connections to scouting, Judie Foster Babcock sees many connections between the scouting mottos/laws and the Rotary 4-Way Test; that’s part of what attracted her to Rotary. Many of her jobs revolved around helping people. She currently works at St. Paul Traveler's Insurance; however, her Rotary badge reads “Philanthropist."
Stories
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The River Falls School District has two referendum questions on the ballot for next Tuesday, April 3, said Jamie Benson at the March 27 Rotary meeting. The referendum will help River Falls maintain its high performance by investing in facilities that support learning. A video on the district’s website http://www.rfsd.k12.wi.us/district/referendum-informational-video-q2.cfm#d569010 provides an overview of the referendum, including the proposed projects and the needs they will address. |
![]() Kevin Westhuis (Utility Director) and Ron Growth (Water/Wastewater Superintendent) are proud of the work that Ron and his team do to take care of our water and wasterwater systems. Water and wastewater operators are required to be certified (and recertified) by the State of Wisconsin; this is important and serious business! Kevin noted that River Falls Municipal Utility (RFMU) delivers safe, fresh, cold drinking water to our homes for about $2/1000 gallons. |
![]() Rotary has the power to make dreams come true, according to Carlos Galvez, who visited and updated the club on the Chapita Bonita Stove Project. "When you support this project, you are helping people who are a world away," he said. "One thousand, twenty eight miles from here, you are making other people’s dreams come true." |
![]() When we surveyed members last year, one of the themes was a desire for more service projects, according to Carole Mottaz. Well, Carole has a proposal! Carole is chair of the board of our local Big Brothers, Big Sisters affiliate. As an affiliate, BBBS is allowed to “do anything” as long as they can fund it. When a funder recently did not renew support for 2017, leaving a $50,000 hole in their budget, they started thinking about ways they could generate more support for the affiliate. They are now looking at a new funding source, a second-hand sporting goods store in River Falls. |
![]() River Falls Rotary would like to thank all the businesses and individuals who donated to our "Porch Party" fundraiser benefitting River Falls School children. |
The Islamic Resource Group (www.irgmn.org) works to build bridges of understanding between Minnesota Muslims and the broader Minnesota community through education. Members believe a deeper understanding of different religions and cultures contributes to peace and harmony in the world. "As with Christianity, Islamic religion and culture are two different things, and it is important to understand both," said John Emery, left, who started his path to Islam when he served as a translator in the Armed Forces. Also pictured: Bill Montgomery. |
One in three women will be a victim of some form of intimate partner violence in her lifetime. An average of four women are murdered every month in the state of Wisconsin, and about half of those homicides occur in rural areas like ours. Turningpoint provides help for survivors to rebuild healthy lives free from domestic violence and abuse. |
![]() Marsy’s Law is an organization based in California that advocates for rights for crime victims. Each state does things its own way. “Marsy” was Marsalee Ann Nicholas, a UC-Santa Barbara student who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. Marsy’s law was eventually started by Marsy’s brother, who was very disturbed when his family encountered Marsy’s murderer in a grocery store just one week after Marsy’s murder; they had no idea he’d been released on bail. |
![]() ARC (Assistance & Resource Center) is an all-volunteer organization and works out of space donated by St. Bridget’s church. With 97-98% of dollars contributed distributed to clients, they operate on very low expenses. If they can’t help, they refer patients to other resources, like The Salvation Army. In some cases, because they are locally controlled, ARC is able to provide more and/or different types of support to those in need. |
![]() At this week's meeting, inbound Rotary Youth Exchange Student Ana Novoa presented our club with the official flag of the Youth Exchange Program for Rotary Districts 2201, 2202 and 2203 in her home country of Spain. |
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![]() Human trafficking has been selected as Rotary’s next global initiative, following the incredible work we are close to finishing with polio eradication. We acknowledge that we are not the expert in this area, but know that we can play the important role of convener, bringing together and supporting those who are already working on human trafficking. |
![]() Greg Dahl, Winfield United, spoke about Land O’Lakes, a Fortune 500 company with 290 facilities across all 50 states and 50+ countries. They have 10,000 employees and are the 3rd largest US member-owned cooperative. WinField United is a crop protection, seed marketing and professional products company in River Falls for 30 years! |
![]() Hossein Najafi, PhD, gave an overview about data science field and the UW-RF program. UW-RF is the only school in the UW system that offers at data science undergraduate degree. Data science is a relatively new – but huge – field of study. It is emerging now for three reasons: data volume, computational power, and advancements in machine learning. Najafi touched on aspects of data volume, computational power and advancements in machine learning (AKA artificial intelligence or “AI.”) |
![]() The Rotary Foundation has been named the “best charity in the world” by charity watchdogs. Not only do the funds you donate end up directly funding projects, making it efficient, but it’s also effective. This is because of Rotary’s unique ability to leverage the “local experts” on the ground – Rotarians in countries where the work is happening. Roy and Marlene Gargulak presented to the group as part of the District Foundation Committee, convened with the goal of growing giving to The Rotary Foundation by Rotarians in our District. |
![]() The public library, according to Nancy Miller, is the best thing we do with local tax dollars. Celebrating 34 years of working at the library (the past 20 in the new building), Nancy said that people often tell her that the library is one of the reasons they chose to locate in River Falls. |
John Kremer is shown being pinned by president Heather Logelin as a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow. Fellows receive a pin for each additional $1,000 donation to the Rotary Foundation. |
![]() What's worth remembering? Photographs tell the story of your life, as Jill Krentz outlined in her introductory talk. |
Maesa Kuchera reads with Rick Wilson, a River Falls Rotary Reader. Maesa was chosen to be the River Falls Rotary Reader Student of the Month for October. Maesa is in Ms. Lori Rosenow’s third grade class at Westside School. Maesa enjoys reading with Rick Wilson on a weekly basis, and her favorite book series is Pete the Cat. In her free time, Maesa loves swimming and dancing. |
![]() The River Falls Rotary Club marked World Polio Day by viewing a brief video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xheITaL96B8 , followed by a rousing game of POLIO JEOPARDY! |
![]() As an anthropologist, Ed Robins appreciates the value of intercultural exchanges. He first traveled to Belize in 2002, to assess the likelihood of developing a study tour for UW-River Falls students. They did subsequently develop a two-week study tour. Over 15 years, more than 500 UW-River Falls students had the opportunity to experience what he calls “the conservation of cultural experience and biological diversity.” Now, River Falls Rotary is going into action with even more support for Belize. |
![]() Rotarians joined with Youth Leadership in River Falls planted four fruit trees as part of its Natural Resources Day. |
![]() Ana Novoa, Rotary's youth exchange student from Spain, provides an early look at her experiences as an exchange student. She talked about daily life and culture in her region of Spain, Galicia. |
Victory and Valor for Vets, created by Jessica Schmitt to honor her husband’s memory, provides assistance to veterans, service members and military families. Jessica and her husband, Derrick, grew up in River Falls and were high school sweethearts, married right out of high school. He joined the National Guard with an understanding that they wanted to stay here in River Falls. He ended up in active duty, eventually the first from Minnesota trained as a member of the Elite Air Force Special Forces Phoenix Raven. |
![]() Steve Engelhart provided an introductory talk about his life experiences, the growth of online readership and the changing world of advertising. |
What if you could empower women, protect the environment and improve the lives of families throughout a whole country? Hudson Daybreak Rotarians have found an amazing way to accomplish this in Gautemala. Led by Dr. Greg Young, Rotarians Linda Robertson and Margaret Christianson visited with our group to talk about their work. He has traveled to Guatemala many times with his family, doing medical mission work, but recently focused on providing clean cooking stoves to Guatemalans. |
![]() Music has been an important part of leading an ordinary life for students at the Music School for Children With Disabilities in Honor of Paul Harris in Lublin, Poland. Founded by Rotary members, the school serves 20 students with various disabilities, including Down syndrome, autism, and visual impairments. The Rotary Club of Lublin-Centrum-Maria Curie-Sklodowska has provided funding with help from Rotary Foundation Matching Grants and the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society, which houses the school. After their son Mateusz was born with underdeveloped eyes, Mariusz and Joanna Kania looked for ways to help him be active. When he showed an aptitude for music, they looked for a teacher and were thrilled to find the Paul Harris music school. |
After serving her time, Bianca sought help from a local homeless organization, A Safe Haven, and moved to its shelter in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Bianca followed the program closely -- she attended all the required meetings, passed drug tests, and volunteered at every opportunity. |
![]() A highlight for the team was greeting the chief of Sagadugu. The team got excited about buying goats and food for children in the villages where I support eight churches. It was good to see the pastors of most of the eight churches, and I had to explain that we were just passing through on our way to Bolgatanga. |
![]() The three-year achievement sets the stage for polio-free certification of the entire Southeast Asia region by the World Health Organization. The Indian government also plans to convene a polio summit in February to commemorate this victory in the global effort to eradicate polio. |
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