September 25th meeting: Anthony Nordan gave our invocation and Mary Pettit led us in songs after Dean Monke introduce Erika Lahti, our outbound Youth Exchange Student in 2020-21; she will finish four years of high school in three years so that she can participate in the program. There were several volunteering to pay fines or brag: Greg Darling for missing the previous week; Katie Johnson for missing some meetings due to work and to honor her children who both had birthdays in the prior 10 days, meaning all her children made it to adulthood; Bonnie Denzel for the apple fundraiser that saw 27 individuals at their farm picking apples that are being sold at Meadowland Foods; Mary Pettit for having to miss the board meeting and two club meetings; and Dave Johnson reporting on the farm home he grew up in being successfully burned down by the local fire department the prior week.
Our program was introduced by Randy Kempfer, who is in his sixth and final year on the United Way Board. He then introduced Mary Phillipe, the director of United Way, who is now in her 16th year with the organization, 14 years as its director. United Way raises funds in both Otter Tail and Wadena County, with the money raised in each county used in the county in which it is raised. The theme for this year's campaign is "Give Where You Live" and the goal is to raise $420,000. She articulated United Way's goals as 1) providing funding for programs it supports; 2) promoting early childhood education and literacy, noting that since 2013 United Way has placed over 50,000 books in the hands of children; 3) reducing the stigma of mental health problems and calling attention to mental health resources; 4) reducing food insecurity for residents; and 5) creating awareness of local human trafficking and sexual exploitation and providing preventative educational support. In listing accomplishments, Mary indicated that the Friends of Friends Fighting Hunger fundraiser has provided $364,000 to food shelves, $395,000 to the back pack food program (which served 170 children last year and this year so far has 140 participants), and $22,000 for other nutritional needs, for a total of $781,000. This year 850 children have participated in the Stuff the Bus program and the annual Coats for Kids effort is just getting started. Upcoming dates include the Otter Tail Pumpkin Festival on October 19, the Community Support Luncheon on January 15, the Friends of Friends Fighting Hunger event on January 25, and the little black dress fundraiser on April 16. In conclusion, Mary thanked us for living united.
October 2nd meeting: Keith Olson provided the invocation, thanking the almighty for anything that could be done to stave off winter, while Katie Johnson was our song leader, happily leading us in singing K-A-T-I-E and two songs from our songbook. Bonnie Denzel announced that for our October 9th meeting we will gather at the YMCA to eat lunch and then head out to distribute dictionaries to third graders, with simple written directions to be made available to those that have not been involved in this effort before. Bonnie expects everyone will be done with their task by 1:00 p.m. When it came time for brags and fines Mike Clark paid a scooter buck while Dave Peters contributed for missing some meetings, as did Ken Harty and Sean Sullivan. This writer was happy about the Minnesota Twins making it to the postseason, and in honor of the two native Norwegian intern teachers Dean Monke brought and introduced to our club, Keith Olson indicated he would contribute a significant sum of money if Honorary Member Elaine Olson, who was in attendance, would talk Norwegian to our guests. Not known if that occurred after the meeting or not.
Jackie Mortenson was our program and she talked about the Brain Injury Collaborative of West Central Minnesota; its e-mail address is bicwcmn@gmail.com. The Collaborative's mission is to "raise awareness and enhance the quality of knowledge for people affected by brain injury," believing "that by working collaboratively with resources in the area, we can develop an area-wide brain injury network. Brain injury awareness, education and resources will develop from this collaboration." Jackie's youngest son suffered multiple concussions and had many problems as a result for which no improvement was made until they started working with a functional neurological chiropractor in the Twin Cities. (Wally Cole reported similar services are available in Fergus Falls, mentioning his office, which resulted in him willingly paying the suggested fine for his comment.) There are ten people on the Collaborative's Board and 108 people are receiving its newsletter. It was indicated that concussions are not easily diagnosed and a list of common symptoms associated with the condition was provided, including headache, dizziness/balance issues, light sensitivity, nausea, vomiting, changes in sleep patterns, mood swings, difficulty thinking or concentrating, slurred speech, memory issues, seizures, vision changes, speech problems, emotional dysfunction, depression, anxiety and even possibly death.