There were two Rotarians viewing the meeting on-line, those being Lisa and Zach, and we had 18 Rotarians in attendance. Thanks for your special effort to meet with us no matter the location. President Ryan led us for the day, and Jamie L. gave our invocation.
We had two student guests from M-State with us, Kaitlyn Olson from the Warroad area and Kaylee Robinson from the Cass Lake area. Both of these gals make up two of the seven women’s basketball players on the Spartan team this year.
Some general announcements included a report on the Otter Orations Speech Meet this last Saturday - special thanks to anyone that helped out at the event. They managed to raise over $950 in gross sales on Saturday. Laly will be making the dreaded polar plunge in a couple of weeks to benefit the Special Olympics of Otter Tail County. Any members that are interested in donating to this cause please see Pres. Ryan and the Club has agreed to match all individual donations for this very good cause.
Brags and Fines were as follows: Steve Austvold took a recent trip to the Fort Myers area and worked on five different homes as part of a church mission trip. Keith Olson said it was his last in person meeting for a couple of months as he relocates to warmer weather in Arizona. He will look to join us on-line. Ken H. talked about the recent purchase of the local newspaper by the Forum company; this could mean less travel for Ken and more meetings that he is able to attend. Steve Andrews bragged up Keith Olson for covering the student guests today, and he is also leaving for New York and excited to get his wife packing for a retirement trip to Fergus Falls in June. Cody B. bragged about Deb Maertens and her willingness to take the Rotary exchange students to Deep Portage this past weekend and survive the cold! He also reminded us that we are able to donate coffee mugs to the public library if anyone wants to clear some shelving at home. Mary P. had the Dancers last Friday dance for the area nursing homes and offer some wonderful time to these senior residents.
Ryan introduced our program for today which included Jan Urtel who is the current Chair of the Friends of the Library Board. She is a retired English and ESL teacher from southern Minnesota but was born here in Fergus Falls and now has moved back with her husband and lives in a family home on Jewett Lake. During the Covid years Jan was drawn to the Public Library for the chance to volunteer and quickly became more than just a little involved. The Friends of the Library raise over 40,000 dollars a year and donate every dollar to the library for all sorts of programs. These funds go to support a small bookstore as you enter the library and pay for free bus rides to the library as needed. They also look to support the library staff in various in-service sessions and continuing education programs. They have bought many large print books for the library and run silent auctions each year for books and artwork. Again, all funds raised going back to the library.
Of course, if you wish to become a member of the Friends of the Library your membership fee will all go to support our own public library. This group also looks to sponsor author visits and the purchase of foreign language books. If you are wondering how you can help, feel free to check out the bookshelves in your home and weed through those books and donate as many as you like to our own public library. Each book will be checked and maybe placed on the shelves or at least look to be sold in the bookstore and those funds used for the work of the library as well.
Here are just a few numbers for you. Our library offers over 11,000 Wi-Fi sessions each year, has over 14,000 library card holders, and 1,300 of those were new last year. The library has over 94,000 children’s books and has over 1,900 summer children readers signed up. The library is a VERY busy place, and a wonderful asset for the Fergus Falls area. And they have plenty of volunteer opportunities if you want to get involved.
Well enough for now - hope to see everyone at Rotary soon!
