Next week will be a busy week with the second Meat Raffle at the Bent Paddle Taproom Thursday the 26th from 6:00 - 8:00 PM. Come hungry. There will be pulled beef sandwiches to prime the pump. There won't be a regular Friday meeting at the YMCA on Friday the 27th because Rock the Skyline is on Saturday the 28th at the Shriner's Event Center 5-10:00. Tickets online $35. Lots of great food, cider and beer for "tasting". A silent auction and great music including Big Wave Dave and the Ripples. So warm up your dancing shoes. 

 

Guests last week were: Our Speaker Ann Glumac, and student Rotarians from Proctor Lola Witly, Zoey Stuber, and Sophie Folkestad. 

Kevin talked about his trip to Guatemala and to Santa Maria de Jesus. We were pleased to learn that there is a Rotary Club in Antigua which is only 6 miles away. It looks like we are moving towards helping to build schools there. We will need to define the scope of work and the cost to build in order to fundraise and write a grant application. Tom asked our student Rotarians to introduce themselves and speak about their current activities and future plans. It is great to meet some of the fine young people in our community. 

Ann Glumac is the Executive Director for Spirit Mountain which she said was built by and for the community and is owned by the City. 55 years ago when the steel plant shut down the City decided to focus on tourism. The initial building of Spirit Mountain cost $6.5M in 1974 and the construction was completed in 5 1/2 months. Today there are activities that bring tourists and the Duluth community to Spirit year round. Their annual payroll is $4M which includes 50 fulltime and 100 parttime employees along with many volunteers. A recent $13M grant from the Legislature paid for a new lift and new grooming machines. Club members talked about what a great asset Spirit is for our community. Thank you Ann for your presentation and for your leadership of Spirit.   

 

The Depot Foundation Arts for All Scholarship fundraiser runs through Saturday, February 21st. Go to DepotFoundation.org 

 

We were sorry to learn about the passing of Susan Meyer's father. 

 

Our March 20th meeting will be a Bring a Guest Day. We are also considering supporting a cause on that day. 

 

March 27th is our next opening for a speaker if you have someone that you would like to invite to speak. 

    

Febuary is Rotary International Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month. 

 

Thought for the Week