There were 17 Rotarians present for the meeting with our guest speaker, Mr. Mark Puppe, being a visiting Rotarian.
Lisa M., Deb M., and Holly W. joined us on Zoom, and Dr. Patti Lindholm was present as part of our program for today. President Katie led us in our opening Pledge of Allegiance, and Mary Pettit gave a wonderful invocation to start the meeting. And our own Wally Cole served as greeter and occupied the front desk for us. Some general announcements included the reminder of our M-State Basketball Social to take place starting at 4:30 this afternoon at M-State followed by pizza at Northern Air Lanes, with our own Mr. David Johnson volunteering to pick up the tab for the pizza and pop. Then we plan to move over to the women’s and men’s game to follow. Special note - about 10 of us took in the games and it was a great time had by all and an overtime win for the Spartan men’s team! So we are all invited back because we helped them pull off the win in the end! Deb Maerten invited us to consider an opportunity for a service trip to Bolivia coming in the middle of September of this year. A chance to see the school that we helped fund and a chance to observe the work of Rotary in an international setting - more information to come later.
Brags and Fines were quite numerous here today so let’s recap. Mary P. was pleased to report that a number of her dancers had performed for the Someplace Safe event and even choreographed a special dance for the event, and she told us about a guest artist that has been in residency with the dance company recently. Buzz Lundeen reported that he appreciated that work of Ken Hardy regarding a recent article in the Journal regarding our upcoming Magic Show. Which by the way, keep selling tickets and get your money into Brain for the show ASAP. Sign up went around for help before and after the show and it looks like we have filled the spots but can always use more help this Sunday afternoon. Remember Magic Show - Sunday, Sept. 23rd at 2:00 pm at The Center for The Arts! Wally Cole spent a day lobbying at the State Capitol for the MN Chiropractic Assoc. and highlighted an article in the paper concerning his granddaughter's recent performance in the middle school play. And Happy Anniversary to President Katie - who already spent a week in Mexico with her husband so a nice early celebration of their Anniversary.
Our program for today was introduced by Mr. Jamie Larson and he welcomed Mr. Mark Puppe, who is the volunteer recruiter for the American Red Cross of MN and the Dakotas. Mark has been a Rotarian since 2002 and has a complete understanding of the concept of service above self. He has been in his current position for about a year. He has an uncle that was present after 9/11 representing the Red Cross, so service runs deep in his family. The Red Cross has been responding to all kinds of local and national events for many years and works toward the goal of relieving human suffering wherever it is found. Some of the guiding principles of the Red Cross include compassion, collaboration, creativity, credibility, and commitment. Mark’s office is located out of Fargo, but he serves a three-state area. He reported that 90% of the funds raised by the Red Cross go directly to services and only 10% is used for administrative costs. Three main areas of focus for the Red Cross would be Blood Drives, volunteer services that might include help to veterans as well, and disaster services. We all hear about the big disaster events where the Red Cross has a presence, but one of the main areas of focus is local fire disaster relief. Local house fires are devastating for the families involved and immediate relief from the Red Cross for these families is so important. The Red Cross also helps out with food, shelter, clean up, basic goods, health and mental health support, and other short term needs of individuals and families. In any given year the Red Cross can respond to 60,000 disaster events, serve over 4.8 million meals, and provide over 240,000 overnight shelter stays. Over 20 people from our area recently went to California to help with fire disaster relief, but many volunteers can help right from their own homes.
Dr. Patti Lindholm was with our group today as well. Since her retirement as a physician here in Fergus she has been volunteering with the Red Cross. She has found all kinds of ways to volunteer, and not as a doctor, but more in general services. She recently was doing phone calls with California residents to arrange services and hand out funds to those in immediate need. She has really enjoyed the work and would encourage anyone that is interested to get involved. The training by the Red Cross is excellent and they always work in pairs, so you always have someone else to guide and help you. Patti has also helped in several local events and was recently serving meals at a local fire event. She reports that volunteers are always needed and for sure “You Can Do This!!” If anyone is interested, please feel free to call Mark at 701-831-1460 and get involved!!
Just a note - as passed along by the Morning Club - please keep the Strand family in your thoughts and prayers at the death of an expected child and the hospitalization of the mother.
A reminder for next week that there will be a follow up report from Beth and Dean Monke about their recent mission trip to Jamaica!
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