Mary Pettit staffed the registration desk.  Mark Bring greeted us.  Stan Carrigan gave our invocation.  And Bob Russell was leading us in singing today. And our own Pres. Lori was at the podium.
 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Please bring a guest at any time we have plenty of room.  We want to see everyone at the YMCA!  On this date we only had 24 Rotarians present.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK:  We had both Cassandra and TJ Martin with us from M-State both representing the basketball teams.

STUDENT GUESTS:   Our own Lulie was with us!  AND we had Elise and John with us from Hillcrest for their third time; President Lori thanked them for being a part of our meetings these last three weeks.

ROTARY MINUTE:  Our own Bob Russell led us with a Rotary Minute - And we actually got 4 out of 5 questions correct today - Way to Go Rotarians!

BABY PHOTO:  It was Keith Olson last week - and Keith was the only one who submitted the correct answer so you don’t win for picking yourself!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  It was announced that some help was needed with the Otter Orations Speech Meet at the Kennedy Secondary School this past Saturday, January 26th.  Some Club Goals were shared with the group - invite some folks to Rotary we are looking for at least two new members.  Our service projects will total 15 at the end of this year which is fantastic - we are a service club!  Our own Brad Hoganson volunteered to coordinate a Club Classification Study to see how our membership is represented across different categories.  And the next Board meeting is set for Wednesday, March 6th at 11:00 am BEFORE the noon meeting.  Past President Steve is still working on a complete set of Board members and Officers so please say YES if asked.

BRAGS AND FINES:  Quickly - Anthony reminded us about Feed My Starving Children Bus Trip; Steve A. contributed a scooter buck; President Lori enjoyed an Arizona vacation (sounded like fun); Keith O - What about Bob R.; Mary P. also contributed a scooter buck and was happy about the Public Library opening; Rod E. reported he was wearing his 1943 sweater made by his wife who was working on it when then met on a train during the War (what a great story!!); Dean M. expressed his thanks to our great FFHS basketball fans and especially to Dave Johnson; and Dave J. reported he won the big Split the Pot at a basketball game but only kept his $20 investment in tickets and donated the balance back to the basketball team (# 1 fan of Otter Basketball!!).  

PROGRAM:  Randy Kempfer introduced our speaker, Mike Donoho.  Mike was at Noon Rotary to talk a little about the Otter HS Speech Team.  Mike serves as the Head Coach for this team and is 100% dedicated to this program and these students.  He was hoping that a couple speech students could join him, but these students are so busy -- they were off with the One Act Play performance and unable to attend our meeting.  With competitive speech there are really two main categories that include interpretive speech and public address.  Contained within a speech meet there are some 13 different categories with the need for a ton of rooms and even more judges.  The big home speech meet for the Otter Fergus Falls Team is coming up this Saturday, January 26, 2019 at the Kennedy Secondary School.

There will be over 20 teams present, with so far 264 entrants, using about 40 different rooms throughout the day.  Our own President Lori will be present at the end of the day on Saturday to hand out all of the awards for the meet.  A speech meet is not always much of a spectator event, but people are welcome to attend and sit in on any of the events.  With the success of this home meet in the past, this meet is recognized by a national competition as a qualifying meet to go to nationals in Omaha in 7 different categories.  And the theme of the meet this year is “Circus” so that is bound to be a whole lot of fun.

Mike also told us about a new venture at the High School in relation to starting up a debate team this past fall and looking for that program to grow in the future as well.  So far the debate team had 6 members and always looking for more.  The last time the FF High School had a debate team was in 1976 so excited to get this program going again.

The FFHS and Mike, along with all of the speech coaches, are extremely excited to have this great relationship with the local Rotary Clubs and so much appreciates our support!  Great Program – Great Information – Great Chance to Once Again Support our Local Students! Thanks Mike.           

Joi Burton, a member of the Rotary Club of North Garland County, Arkansas proves how a small club can make a difference in the world.  Through Rotary, Joi experienced a great love for the country of Kenya, and after her first visit she was invited by a friend to live a few weeks in a village a day’s drive from the Nairobi airport.  Before she left, the Rotary Club of Arlington South gave her $500 to do a project in the village that was comprised of a few houses, several huts, a school and a church – no electricity, no water and was located several miles from the nearest road.  The day after she arrived she told Moses, the man that accompanied her, that she had a “little bit of money” from her club and asked if there was something they needed.  He told her they needed concrete to replace the floors in the school as the children were getting their uniforms dirty from having to sit on the floor all day.  She and Moses went to the nearest town and purchased gravel, sand, and cement – the villagers then completed the floors in all the rooms.  

The next week, she again told Moses that she had a “little bit of money” and asked if there was anything else they needed.  They needed glass to replace the broken windows in the school.  She and Moses bought large plates of glass and were able to place windows in the entire school.  The following week, she again told Moses that she had a “little bit of money” left – what else do they need?  They then purchased metal paint and brushes to paint the rusted tin roof. And with a little more of that money left – they were able to make ladders with sticks and rope to paint the roof! And on the last week that Joi stayed – she still had “a little money left” where they purchased school books and two cases of chalk!  They were completely out of chalk.

This experience built the foundation for other efforts including global grants for wells.  What a difference one small Rotary club can make with a little bit of money.