Mary was 16 years old when the tornado hit Fargo in 1957. Mary gave a first hand account of the category 5 tornado that devastated the Golden Ridge development in north Fargo.
Meet this year's Rotary 4-way test essay winners. Addyson Laux (dark hair) 1st place ($500), 2nd place ($250) Ava Klemm, 3rd place ($125) Neil Trowbridge. Outstanding young adults that we know will do well in life!
Addyson Laux 1st place
At our 3/25/25 Rotary meeting Mackenzie Hamm, Executive Director of Cornerstone in Frazee gave a heart felt overview of Cornerstone, a community and youth center that was created to have a safe place for kids to hang out after school.
Our 3/11/25 Club meeting was Shawn King, Public Works Director for the City of Detroit Lakes.
The club met at the new Public Works building on north Tower Road. The building is
home to the street department, the parks and recreation department, and the arena.
An aerial view of our successful 15th annual Poles N Holes Fishing Derby
Our 2/4/25 DL Breakfast Rotary meeting was Rick Michaelson and Paul Muckenhirn giving a summary of what to expect this Saturday at our clubs Poles N Holes Fishing Derby. Poles N Holes is our number 1 money making project. It is a large project and involves many Rotarians.
Lucas Holzhueter, owner of Detroit Lakes Tae Kwon Do brought some of his students to our 1/14/25 meeting to demonstrate Tae Kwan DO.
Katie Gehring of Hope Blooms was introduced by Mary Schutz. Katie is the operations manager at Hope Blooms, which is a nonprofit organization in Fargo, ND. Katie lives on Nelson Lake by Cormorant. She’s originally from the San Diego, CA area. Her husband is originally from Montana. Through a series of jobs and events they ended up in the Cormorant area. Katie is a professional florist and has worked for several flower shops. She began working with Hope Blooms in Fargo after becoming aware of them.
Hope Blooms is a non-profit that collects flowers from events, weddings, funerals, flowers unsold at grocery stores, flower shops, and other places they can find flowers.
Hope Blooms is a non-profit that collects flowers from events, weddings, funerals, flowers unsold at grocery stores, flower shops, and other places they can find flowers.
They arrange them into smaller arrangements placed in small glass jars and delivered to people that need a lift or who are in an assisted living center or an addiction care center and other places where the person just need some sort of cheer on their life. Katie says they go through about 2,000 buckets of flowers per year. In the six years that Hope Blooms has been operating, they have delivered about 98,000 bouquets around the Fargo Moorhead area. Flowers are good ice breakers to start a conversation. They are all delivered to people free of charge with a small card that says, “You Matter”. As an example, they bring flowers frequently to every patient at Prairie St John’s addiction and mental health facility. It helps to begin a conversation. They do have a small shop in Fargo, and they have a van that they use for delivery and picking up flowers. They are seeking small food jars that they can use as vases. They like small food jars better than vases because they are a little heavier glass, not as fragile, and they’re very small. So, they put together small bouquets and deliver to more people, allowing them to get the most flowers delivered every day. Along with donations of food jars they are always looking for volunteer delivery people. They did receive a grant to expand, and they are looking to expand into the lakes area. But they won’t be working on that for a few months.
Linda Wiedewitsch
Our program on 12/10/24 was on Patriot Assistant Dogs (PAD). Linda Wiedewitsch brought two dogs, one a therapy dog (yellow lab-Jonathon) whose purpose is to visit and give comfort to more than one person and a service dog (black lab-Amos) is trained to be of assistance to one person.
Linda introduced Philip Krabbe and his service dog (black lab-Cal). Philip gave use a history of his experience as a marine and how he has benefited from his service dog to deal with traumatic brain injury and PTSD.
Anyone interested in giving financial support (501c3) to Patriot Assistance Dogs can send a check to:
Patriot Assistance Dogs
28579 US Hwy 10
Detroit Lakes, Mn 56501
Philip Krabbe and his service dog (black lab-Cal)
Our 12/3/24 program was Michele Baker member of the Board of Salvation Army and Red Kettle Campaign captain for over 30 years. She spoke on the funds raised and how they benefit people in need. Our club having just finished out time manning the Red Kettle at Central Market can appreciate the generosity of the people of Detroit Lakes
Sandy Gunderson gave a passionate presentation regarding Environmental Consulting and the importance of proper handling our trash to decrease the impact on our environment.
Honorary Rotarian and City Councilman Ron Zeman and City Manager and Rotarian Klemm gave a great tour of DL's new City Hall.
DL's new City Hall
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