This past week club leadership met for their monthly board meeting. The board reviewed several items including preparing agenda items for our upcoming Club Assembly. We also had reports from the Literacy, Youth Service, World Community Service and Social teams. The recent Social team survey was completed by 27 members and provides insight to plan future activities. Tom Fleming, our Literacy team chair shared that Elaine Case has volunteered to co-chair our My Book Day project. She will work with him to continue this signature club service project. We also reviewed recent members’ donations to The Rotary Foundation’s PolioPlus program and I am happy to report as of October 31st, club members contributed $2,096.00. This is 140% of our $1,500.00 club goal and included 4 members who participated in the District 5960’s Strike Our Polio challenge contributing $365.00 each.
In the stories section of our club bulletin I have shared several items including a recent article from the Post-Bulletin about April Sutor and her apple cider hobby, a summary from the organizing committee of the Rotary Holiday Classic as well as information received from District 5960 extending the Strike Out Polio challenge to November 15th.
As we begin Rotary Foundation month, I am sharing information about the origins of the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. We have a large number of club members, totaling 27, who have been recognized over the years. I will continue to feature information this month about The Rotary Foundation to help each of us build our Rotary knowledge.
Please join us this Tuesday, November 8th for this week’s meeting. If you can’t join us in-person, I will be sending a separate email with a ZOOM link so you can join in. This week’s program will feature four Rotarians who recently walked The Way in Scotland: West Highland Way & Great Glen Way. I hope you can join us as Elaine Case, Bill Wiktor, Dick and Joanne Rosener share their experience.
Did you know that we have a genius in our midst? Holly Ebel recently wrote an article in the Post-Bulletin about Rochester Riser, April Sutor, and her prowess at producing wonderful apple cider.
In case you missed it here is what she wrote...
At a meeting some weeks ago I was given a glass of apple cider, not unusual since it's a popular fall beverage. What got my attention was how incredibly delicious it was: smooth, appley, full of flavor, like having just taken a bite out of an apple.
Clearly not a commercial cider because of the deep color, and the drink was also served in a former Cran-apple bottle.
I asked about this nectar and was told that the cider was pressed by April Sutor. So friends, that's how I came to find myself in April's Rochester garage on a recent chilly Sunday morning watching her press apples into this wonderful beverage.
When I arrived she was already well into it, adding apple after apple to a grinder. The machine grinds the apples into a fairly unappetizing-looking mixture, which she then puts into a barrel press that presses it down, forcing the precious juice out at a leisurely pace into a large plastic bucket.
A simple procedure? Hardly. All the equipment is muscle-powered, no batteries or electricity, This is how she spends her Sundays, describing this as a hobby.
"I love it," April said.
And so she must. There were bushels upon bushels of the fruit in her garage, and even more bushels in her car. And believe this — she was going to a friend's orchard to get even more that afternoon.
"It's been a great year for apples," she said.
I wondered how she'd gotten into this hobby.
"I grew up in Marshall, Minnesota, and watched people mash apples. The whole process appealed to me," April said. "Then about 10 years ago, a neighbor and a friend who both had orchards asked if I wanted some apples, and that's when it started. At first I was using a meat grinder to mash the apples, and that took, time, was messy and wasn't easy, but then my siblings rescued me by giving me the apple grinder. What a difference that made."
There's nothing fancy about the two pieces of equipment — they do what they were designed to do — grind and mash. During a break in the action she poured a glass for me from the bucket that was catching the juice.
"That's barely 10 minutes old," April added.
Fantastic.
Nectar.
She estimates she gets two to three gallons a pressing. Each gallon takes roughly 20 pounds of apples to produce the juice.
April grinds and presses into December.
Is the kind of apple important to the overall taste of the cider?
"Not at all. I use whatever I am able to get or am given — Haralsons, Sweet 16s, Granny Smiths — it makes no difference," April said. "It doesn't matter. One that I especially like is the Chestnut crab, a small apple that brings a cinnamon taste."
Each batch, she said, is unique because there is always a mixture of different apple varieties.
"I call it the 'Seven Generation Cider' because of what goes into it," April said. "I've even had apples you've never heard of, some going as far back as the Civil War."
During the week, April leaves the apples and is a director of Family Services Rochester. She also referees volleyball at both the high school and college level. That's not all. A few years ago she organized a neighborhood garden on an empty space at the end of her street, and neighbors who wanted to were given a plot.
This love of gardening is evident at her home where she has a sour cherry tree, which yielded 40 gallons of the small fruit this year, in her front yard and raspberry bushes growing in the back.
What does she do with all the cider? She freezes and cans a lot of it, but mainly she gives it away to friends, neighbors colleagues.
Does she cook with it?
"It's great in a smoothie," she said.
A fall favorite, apple cider is delicious either hot or cold, plain or spruced up with spices. Try it in desserts, syrups, cakes and of course apple cider donuts. It also adds to sauces, marinades and vinaigrette dressings. What about as a cocktail? It can also be transformed into an adult beverage with rum, whiskey or bourbon added. It truly is one of the more versatile of the seasonal beverages, however it is used.
Donation deadline has been extended to November 15th to participate in District 5960's STRIKE OUT POLIO Challenge!
Polio eradication is Rotary’s most significant priority, and we aren’t going to stop until we get the job done. And, in the current environment, we know how much a viral outbreak can affect our society. We would like to encourage you to donate to Polio Plus this month. As always, we just encourage you to give something, regardless of the amount. It costs less than $5 to vaccinate a child fully, so any amount helps! We want to encourage you to be generous, though, and that’s why we have a special matching program again this year!
You can be rewarded and recognized for donations to the Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund depending on you level of giving:
BASE HIT: Give at least $100 to Polio Plus during October, and the donation will be matched 1:1 with Recognition Points, as well as a membership to the POLIO PLUS SOCIETY.
HOME RUN: Give at least $365 (the equivalent of $1/day) to Polio Plus during October, and in addition to the POLIO PLUS SOCIETY membership, we will utilize Recognition Points to make you a Paul Harris Fellow!
Once you’ve decided how much you are comfortable giving, it’s easy to give to PolioPlus: You can give a check (made payable to The Rotary Foundation with “PolioPlus” in the memo line) to our club Treasurer, Janet Swanson or you can make a payment on-line at Donate | Rotary International.If you do donate on-line please provide a copy of the email received from Rotary International, verifying your contribution, to Janet and Don for club record keeping purposes.
Remember, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a great partner in the effort to eradicate polio. Every dollar Rotarians give, the Gates Foundation matches 2:1. As a Rotarian, you should be proud to be a part of the largest public/private partnership in the world’s history. We are this close…and you can help us finish the job!
Thank you for all you do as a Rotarian, and thank you for helping to STRIKE OUT POLIO!!
The following was written by Mike Van Stratten current co-chair of the Rotary Holiday Classic organizing committee and member of the Greater Rochester Rotary Club.
As a high school basketball player, I was fortunate enough to participate in the very first Rochester Rotary Holiday Classic in 1988.
The Classic was created by a group of Rochester Rotarians and the Rochester Public Schools Athletic Director to support our local high school basketball programs. At the end of the first year, to the Rotarians’ surprise, the Classic ended with extra funds beyond the expenses. That’s when the Classic became a an annual fundraising event
Fast forward 34 years and this amazing event has contributed over $1,000,000 to area youth-related non-profit organizations. In addition, event proceeds funded a Rochester Rotary court for the auditorium, which is still in use today. Lastly, more than $80,000 has been donated to local schools to help support their basketball programs. At its peak, the Classic made downtown Rochester home to 32 boys and girls high school basketball teams and their families for three days during the last week of December. But most importantly, The Classic provided an annual event for generations of families to gather and watch really great basketball.
The Rochester Rotary Holiday Classic has had a great run, but sadly, all good things must come to an end. Below are some of the headwinds that we have moving forward:
1. Dwindling Rotary volunteer numbers and time commitment from the Classic committee members. We literally have a few members doing all of the heavy lifting and contributing unsustainable volunteer hours towards this project each year.
2. Since the beginning, the Steering Committee has taken the lead from the Rochester Public Schools and catered to their needs/ wants/ desires to best support the schools’ basketball programs. Rochester Public Schools have provided us with proposed operating agreement guidelines for 2023 that the Steering committee cannot meet. Fundamental changes must be made in the Holiday Classic’s structure that will ultimately exclude the Rochester Public Schools for the first time.
3. The Rochester Public Schools’ Athletic Directors have created an adversarial relationship with the Steering Committee through threats and intimidating behaviors. The Athletic Directors’ baseless accusations of the Steering Committee exploiting HS athletes in an attempt to increase revenue has eroded our working relationship. There is little value in working to support an organization which seeks to undermine the core beliefs of Rotary’s Four Way Test of the things we think, say and do.
4. Rotary Club membership is about half what it was 10 years ago, which means it’s very difficult to recruit new people to join our steering committee and somewhat difficult to find volunteers for the two-day event. Also, as membership ages, many aren’t interested in doing this type of volunteering or attending this type of event.
5. Our Rotary Admin Staff member has half the hours available to help as in previous years. Far more hours of work must be absorbed by the current Steering Committee members
6. We face competing tournaments that can offer more money and other enticements to the same teams we are trying to recruit.
7. Increasingly difficult environment to fund raise and maintain title sponsors has led to dwindling revenue that can be allocated in the form of community grants. Currently projected, in 2022, to have only $8,300 of revenue for available community grants. The previous six years average available revenue for community grants is $30,367
8. Push back from Rotary members for having an expectation to buy two tickets each year.
I support celebrating the 2022 Rotary Holiday Classic as the final of this fantastic fundraiser.
We have officially begun our Annual Calendar Raffle fundraiser to support local community and international projects. Our ticket sales run from October 25th through December 6th.
As a Rochester Riser you have the opportunity to help fund service projects both in our local community as well as internationally with this fundraiser!
Here's how it works:
We will sell only 1,000 tickets ($20 each)
$10,000 in winnings are guaranteed to ticket holders
You are asked to sell 25 tickets
Our fundraising helps support:
Our My Book Day Project providing 1st graders in Rochester with their own book
Local Grants served these non-profits this past year:
Boys and Girls Club of Rochester - funding their Torch Club leadership development program
The Reading Center - funding Gage Elementary reading proficiency tutoring program
International Service projects including a grant to World Without Orphans along with support for 10 other Rotary funded projects located throughout the world. These include water wells, nutrition education, reducing child mortality, solar lighting, scholarships, building furnishings and more.
Please make sure, if you haven't already, to get your sales packet from Jolene Hanson. If you have any questions please contact Dean, Amy or Jolene.
The Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation.
Rotary established the recognition in 1957 to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships.
The first Paul Harris Fellows included past RI Director Allison G. Brush, who served during the 1937-38 Rotary year, and longtime RI Treasurer Rufus F. Chapin, both for donations made in 1946. Mrs. Adan Vargas was the first woman to receive the recognition, for a gift made in 1953. Mrs. Harry L. Jones was the second, and one of only five people recognized for contributions actually made in that inaugural year.
Early Paul Harris Fellows received a certificate of recognition. In 1969, the Foundation unveiled the first Paul Harris Fellow medallion at the Rotary Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Japanese metal artist Fiju Tsuda created the piece under the direction of former Foundation Trustee Kyozo Yuasa. Today, Paul Harris Fellows receive a certificate and pin. They are also eligible to buy a Paul Harris Fellow medallion.
Rotarians have a tradition of supporting the Foundation by honoring others. Ida LeTulle Taylor became a Paul Harris Fellow in 1978 when her husband, Vann Taylor, who was serving as a district governor, made a donation in her name in honor of their 34th wedding anniversary. The gift also made her the 25,000th Paul Harris Fellow.
At the International Assembly in 1979, incoming RI President James Bomar challenged each Rotary club to make one non-Rotarian a Paul Harris Fellow. The Rotary Club of Pikesville, Maryland, USA, responded by making a donation in the name of Mother Teresa in 1980. The entertainer Pearl Bailey also became a Paul Harris Fellow through a joint effort of the Rotary clubs in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Many other notable figures have been named Paul Harris Fellows, including U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, U.S. astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, and polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk.
The number of Paul Harris Fellows reached the 1 million mark in 2006.
The Rochester Risers Rotary Club is a dynamic and inclusive club of engaged members dedicated to making a lasting impact in our community and the world.
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