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Kathy A. gave our invocation. President Zack stated we will be helping with backpacks at the United Way on October 18 and 26th and that the distribution of dictionaries to third graders and the Andy & Elmer books to second graders is fast approaching. We also learned that Steve L. and Cody O. would be mulching Lake Region's Community Garden later that day. Steve A. led off the bragging, telling us he celebrated with his parents their 77th wedding anniversary in Pelican Rapids the prior weekend. Mark B. was apologetic for missing two or three club meetings but noted he would be attending the Board meeting after our program. Tim H. just returned from a trip east to see all his boys, their wives and families and contributed to tell us about his excellent adventure. Steve L. talked about tilling the garden aforementioned. Ken H. paid for missing a few meetings, including being gone last week when he celebrated his birthday, and was also happy to have our speaker for the day working at The Daily Journal. Keith O. punched his card as he had to leave the meeting early, while John M. shared his concern for his brother-in-law who was hunkered down in a hotel in Jerusalem, trying to find a way home to the U.S. Zack contributed for the surprise 40th birthday party his wife threw for him, noting however his birthday was about a month away. (You'll make it Zack!) The last festivity before the introduction of our speaker was President Zack presenting Cody O. with his membership badge.  Ken Harty then called on Hannah Temple, an employee at The Journal, to tell us about her work with NABUR, which stands for Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding & Respect. Ken described Hannah as a rock star and that she is from Idaho but her father grew up in this area. Hannah has been at her job for a little over a year now, having been at Walmart and responsible for its social media efforts before her current employment. She really likes her new job, saying it has not felt like going to work since she started. NABUR is being re-introduced, and its an effort to provide factual information about what is going on in Fergus Falls. Right now, the only category in which you can post is general, but by 2024 they hope to have added more categories. You can post questions, concerns, upcoming events, scenic photos, topics for discussion, recent events, etc., but everything must be done in a respectful manner. Each reporter has a name tag on NABUR and they are going to attempt to post articles as highlights form the week. A poll was conducted of community members attempting to find out what content they wanted to see, and hot button topics and sports recaps both garnered a 20% response rate. A person can also do a poll on NABUR. Hannah showed us a QR code on the projector screen which some of us used to sign up. Ken added some comments, noting that in the media industry, if you are not doing something like this you are dying. Once NABUR relaunches, they hope to have ads in it. The first effort to get NABUR off the ground was hindered by not being able to embed video and the software was clanky; the new version is much easier to use. To gauge how much it was used, Hannah told us 350 people signed up for the paper's newsletter, which means they initially signed up for NABUR. Ken also told us that the paper received grant money for an investigative project that is going to be called "Change Happens," talking about what is happening in our environment. The company that owns the paper (Wick Communications) has 16 other properties, five of which are working with NABUR. The most recent acquisition by the company was the Flagstaff, Arizona newspaper from Lee Communications, which owns the Bismarck Tribune and the Winona Daily News. |
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