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Without a pianist, we started our meeting by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and The Four Way Test. Jamie Larson offered our invocation. There were multiple announcements, including: 1) where you can go to vote to support the Fergus Falls Kiwanis Otter Riser's effort to secure $50,000 from Kiwanis International to build a splash pad (https://voting-app.kiwanis.org/ki-va/entry-details/1/1/22) (there are 17 entries from across the United States and Canada, with three from Minnesota; for the last few days Fergus Falls has been trailing the Chisholm Kiwanis Club but as of 3:15 p.m. today the Otter Risers had taken a small lead; remember, you can and should vote once a day through Thursday when the contest ends); 2) a reminder to continue to hold Dave Peters and his family in your thoughts and prayers; 3) thank you letters from the YMCA and The Dictionary Project were read; 4) only one of our five teams has brought in any new members this year, with that team (consisting of Steve Andrews, Mark Bring, Greg Darling, Jake Hexum, Dean Monke and Anthony Nordan) responsible for two) meaning everyone still has a lot of work to do so each team recruits at least one new member before our Rotary year ends on June 30th; 5) we would like to identify a student completing their sophomore or junior years to attend RYLA, with registration due by March 31st; 5) the Club's Board decided to continue limiting chairs at a table to four during our regular weekly meetings because of the pandemic; 6) we still need to identify at least one family willing to host an exchange student starting in August; 7) on April 13th we are planning an evening meeting for Rotarians and their spouses, Sunrise Rotarians and their spouses and prospective members to celebrate navigating 100 years of existence and hear from President Theodore Roosevelt about the years just prior to our charter; 8) relief efforts for Ukranian refugees can be supported through The Rotary Foundation's Disaster Relief Fund; for more details, contact Bob Russell. We then proceeded into Brags and Fines and Tim Hunt led off by saying he and Desta were celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary that day, commenting it's been "one hell of a train ride." Scooter bucks were contributed by Anthony Nordan, Mary Pettit (and for a grandchild celebrating a fifth birthday) and Mark Bring. This writer thanked Zack Stach for leading the prior week's meeting while Keith Olson commented that both he and his brother, Guy, visiting our club virtually from Arizona, had been active in Boy Scouts. Steve Leitte also talked about his lifelong experience in scouting, noting Bob Olson was his Scoutmaster in 1936 and that Steve has sat on approximately 40 to 50 Eagle Scout Board of Reviews. Guy Olson then added that Bob Olson was an Eagle Scout. Finally, Ken Harty expressed his appreciation to Zack Stach for attending the Presidential Elect Training Sessions February 24th and 25th in Ken's stead. Brenda Thompson was introduced as our speaker for the day, a visiting Rotarian from Alexandria and the Prairie Fire District Executive for the Boy Scouts of America, Northern Lights Council. Prior to becoming employed by the Boy Scouts, Brenda had served 17 years as a volunteer for the program, with both of her children becoming Eagle Scouts and successfully nominated to the Order of Arrows. Cub Scouts is for children ages 5 to 11, with girls allowed to join starting in 2018. There is an all-girl unit in Fergus Falls. Scouts BSA, or what we traditionally call Boy Scouts, is for children 11 to 17, with girls allowed to join as of 2019. They have separate troops for boys and girls and then they have what was described as a linking group. In Cub Scouts it is recognized the parents lead while in Boy Scouts the kids are the leaders with the adult volunteers providing encouragement, supervision, and transportation. There are also Venturing, Sea and Exploring Scouts, the latter professionally based. The aims of scouting include character development, leadership development, citizen development and personal fitness. The motto of Boy Scouts was shared on PowerPoint and by Keith Olson reciting it (before seeing it on the screen). Advancement is an important part of scouting. There are currently 138 merit badges for Boy Scouts and the organization has also partnered with another group to offer religious medallions. Volunteers to scouting need to complete an application, pass a background check and receive training, including in the area of child abuse. In Brenda's district, there are currently 677 youth involved in scouting from ages 5 to 20, with 332 adult volunteers. They are a part of 26 Cub Scout Packs, 24 Scout BSA Troops, and an Exploring Scouts unit. Brenda was an encyclopedia of knowledge on scouting and her enthusiasm for it was clear. |
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