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Keith Olson offered up our invocation and, in the absence of a pianist, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance and The Four-Way Test. Our guests included Lulie, Kitty Lahti and Logan Larson, our exchange student, mother of our outbound exchange student in 1920-21, and Lori's amazing son respectively. Brad Hoganson introduced our Athlete of the Week, John Wahl, a senior at Hillcrest who is the baseball team captain and a golfer, planning to attend college in Eau Claire, Wisconsin next year. Presdent Lori then called Randy Kempfer and Shawn Sullivan up so she could induct Shawn into our club as its newest member, reminding us all about the Objectives of Rotary, what it offers its members, the obligations of a person proposing a member, and our Four Avenues of Service. Lori did an excellent job of sharing Rotary in her remarks. Randy said he has known Shawn for quite a few years, who is now heading up the new Northwestern Bank office here in Fergus Falls, and that Shawn likes to be involved in the community. Welcome Shawn! Lori also brought us up to date on the two most recent baby photos -- Mike Clark and Scott DeBrito, with Ryan Welle guessing Mike Clark but no one guessing Scott DeBrito; it was suggested that if Lori had used Scott's current photo, we may have had a little better chance of identifying him, but no guarantees! Lulie announced she was selling raffle tickets for a track team fundraiser, at $1.00 a piece; before she left the meeting she had sold out every ticket she had! Mike Clark promoted the Rotary Open on June 13, 2019, with a green sheet providing the details on every table (see accompanying article and attachments). Steve Leitte then announced that the trees we ordered for Hillcrest and the High School have been planted, with the assistance of Hillcrest students and the welcome help of public school staff. Ben Durbin passed around a sign up sheet to put Rotary stickers on 250 Josh the Otter books after our meeting on May 22nd, and to deliver the books and read them to students on May 29th. Finally, President Lori announced that we had received a thank you letter from the YMCA for our $1,000 donation. Pete Wasberg led off our brags and fines segment saying he had recently returned from 3½ days of golf in southern Florida, played 135 holes (which I believe adds up to seven rounds of 18 holes and one round of 9 holes) and scored his first hole-in-one ever on an extremely difficult 167 yard par three. Dave Johnson said that the ditch clean-up had been completed, picking up 18 bags of trash, with the able assistance of Steve Leitte and Wally Cole; David announced his well-earned retirement from spearheading this effort for our club . Dave also mentioned the night prior to our meeting, the Fish & Game Club had picked up along its two miles and 25 to 30 people turned out to help out, wondering if maybe they drew a bigger crowd because food and drink were served. Steve Leitte thanks those responsible for providing the help to plant the trees at Hillcrest and the High School. Our program was all about biking activities in Fergus Falls, offered by Patrick Hollister (employed by the Partnership of Health), ably assisted by Scott Schwandt. Patrick talked about Peddle Fergus Falls, which was formed and is thriving under the able leadership of Dave Sanderson and Wayne Hurley. He went through all the things they are involved in: 1) making Fergus Falls biking friendly; 2) promoting bike events, including 30 days of biking in April (80 signed up this year, second only in raw numbers to Minneapolis and first based on number of riders per capita), the bike rodeo, and Helmits for Kids; 3) the upcoming fifth annual Mayor's Ride, at which time the new artistic bike racks designed and built by Naomi Schlessman and Carl Zachman will be unveiled; 4) the Affinity Plus Lake Alice 100, scheduled for May 25th (but this year it will be held at M State because of the poor condition of the road around Lake Alice); 5) the introduction of the Pedal Cab that was purchased (for approximately $18,000) by Pioneer Care for the community on July 11, 2019, at Shop, Move & Groove (training to take people around on the bike is scheduled for May 15th at 5:00 p.m. at Pioneer Care); 6) supporting people from all over the world to bike through Fergus Falls; and 7) promoting winter biking. Patrick also talked further about the bike stand sculptures, indicating they will be placed outside the library, our art institutions, the museum and the Kaddatz, and will be owned by the city. The newly named Ferber Park has a mountain bike trail, and Patrick also talked about the new swing set at the head of the DNR trail which was funded with $50,000 received from the 1918 Super Bowl Host Committee to address childhood obesity. There was also recently recognized seven new bicycle friendly businesses in town, bringing the total to 16. For further information, Patrick suggested we contact Wayne Hurley at (800)735-2239 or by e-mailing him at wayne@wcif.org. |
