Our invocation was offered by Hal Leland while Keith Olson led us in song. John MacFarlane introduced Salvation Army Lieutenant Anthony Nordan as his guest, while Ryan Welle introduced our Exchange Student, Avendano Jose Antonio (Pepe) Ramos. Keith Olson reported on the arrival of the peaches and, since the meeting, has put in a lot of time and effort to make sure this annual fundraiser became a great success. We were also told that Hal Leland and Mark Bring are in charge of our programs this year and will look to fellow Rotarians for assistance in this effort.
President Steve passed around thank you notes from Sara Bowman for supporting the Grand Roy Government School in Grenada and from skaters in our community's rookie league. Bob Russell based his Rotary Minute Plus quiz on the details of the Rotary Minute Plus Insurance, and five out of five questions were answered correctly, thanks in part to either a 50/50 chance on true-false questions or on multiple choice questions, having two of three options both correct.
Dave Johnson led off our brags and fines, putting in a five dollar bill for the success of last week's Fish & Game Club Steak Fry and for getting a 56 Ford advertised. Wally Cole followed up saying the food at the aforementioned Fish & Game Club fundraiser was delicious. Randy Kempfer bragged about Keith Olson's intelligence while Mitzi Moe talked about a turkey barbecue open house at The Daily Journal the next day. Mike Smith reported the walls on his new office were going up and would miss the coming week's meeting to attend a concert. Kathy Austvold reported why Leona was absent this and the past week, having fallen and broken her arm. Ryan Welle told us Pepe's parents did an exceptional job in raising him, that Pepe needed to sell 15 Otter Tail Footbal cards, and that he was proud of his father Bob, our program for the day. Dave Peters also contributed a dollar as did Steve Andrews for his wife arriving safely in New York City. Anthony Nordan also got into the act, indicating that the Salvation Army had lost its cook and that they needed to find someone with a food license. Mike Wollan told us that his grandson broke his leg in two places at football practice.
Bob Welle gave our program, talking about his recent visit to Cuba. He went through a brief history of the island including how in 1902 the United States entered into a perpetual lease of Guantanamo Naval Base, agreeing to pay $2,000 a year, but that Fidel Castro has refused to cash the checks. Since Raul Castro came to power he has loosened the socialist economy so that now 20% of Cubans are entrepreneurs. All tourists have to buy from government stores, however, and prices are quite high. Cuban professionals get 40 pesos a month while non-professionals get 20 pesos, or about $20 U.S. When Cuban doctors go to another county to work, the other country pays Cuba for their services and then the Cuban government pays the professional 40 pesos a month. If a professional then returns to the island, the person is likely to end up driving a taxi to generate more money.
Bob described the education system as "quite good" and free. There are 11 million people living on an island 44,000 square miles in size, with 2.2 million people in exile from Cuba. There is a very huge black market on the island.