There was a good showing of Rotarians present for Noon Rotary today, with Keith and Cody joining the group online.
President Katie led us in our opening Pledge of Allegiance, and Tim Hunt gave a wonderful invocation to start the meeting. And our own Kathy A. served as greeter and occupied the front desk for us. We had Stephanie Grow officially join us as a new member today!
Also joining us was Becky Bjerke who has recently moved to the Fergus Falls area and is living on Anna Lake. She works for Gate City Bank and her husband is a hydrologist for the county. Special welcome to Becky. We were also joined by four students from M-State - special thanks to Mr. Hal Leland for getting these students to Rotary - and from left to right on the picture we have Annie Trosvig, Degny Gerhardson, Kaitlyn Olson, and Felicity LeBlanc. Kaitlyn and Felicity were on the women’s basketball team this year, and Annie and Degny were here representing the Music Department at M-State.
Some general announcements included the preliminary results of the Rotary Magic Show with some 280 paid guests and over 44 tickets given away. Gross receipts totaled about $7,700 dollars and looks like we hope to raise over $4,000 dollars from the event. SPECIAL thanks goes to Brian for ALL his hard work and coordination to make this such a successful event. And Brian was already dressed in his duck attire getting ready for the July Rotary Duck Derby! Brian did make mention that a consideration for next year will be to offer a free event in late February and seek more event sponsors, so members are asked to consider this and see a Board member with your thoughts and ideas.
Brags and Fines were quite numerous here today so let’s recap. Steve L. thanked our President Katie for her words about Rotary at the event. Mark B. has missed some meetings so he paid up. Stephanie even as a new member today paid up for leaving early for a meeting. Zack offered a special thanks to Brian for his hard work for the Club and also bragged about the music and arts programs at the public schools. Keith reminded us that it was 85 degrees in Arizona. Wally bragged about the M-State games and a recent concert at the school. Katie told us that student guest Annie has been a family friend for a long time, and she remembered Dagny from 4-H. Kathy A. was only 13 hours behind us all because of her recent trip to India and Thailand but awake enough to run the front desk for us and thanked Becky for the cookies from Gate City Bank those attending enjoyed.
Our program needed little introduction because it was a review of Dean and Beth Monke’s recent mission trip to Jamaica. This is the second trip for Mission Jamaica for the Monke’s along with 67 other folks from Minnesota looking to offer some help to the needy in Jamaica. St. Andrews Lutheran Church in the Cities has been going to Jamaica for over 35 years in support of an orphanage there and building about a dozen simple homes each year. This year they built two homes in a Jamaican community and helped construct a chicken coup at the orphanage.
There are currently 92 residents at the West Haven Children’s Home and the facility has been improved each and every year through the hard work of volunteers and the wonderful staff that serve these residents each and every day. About 15 of these residents were helped to Church on the Sunday that we were there and let me tell you the service was Loud and Proud. What a wonderful service and no better way to praise the work of the Lord being done in that community.
Our local Men of Bethlehem Bible Study group had donated two miter saws and stands this last year for Mission Jamaica and we got a chance to see this equipment in action and be appreciated for the amount of time this equipment was saving on the home build job sites. Perfect example of how a simple donation can make a world of difference for an area of this world that is in need. Also got a chance to see how a new chicken coup will have a wonderful impact on the financial strength of this organization. The Home has begun to sell eggs to a local hotel and therefore raise some needed cash. After all these days those eggs are gold!
There will be opportunities for our Rotary Club to get involved. Any member is welcome to consult with Dean or Beth if they would be interested in going on this mission trip in the years to come. It is well worth the time and the weather is wonderful. Also we will be providing information about the chance to sponsor a child at the West Haven Children’s Home, and for only 10 dollars a month or 120 dollars for the year you can support a child at the home and help keep this wonderful mission alive and well. More information will be shared at a later date.
No program on Jamaica would be complete without al picture of one of its wonderful beach views.
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