Dean Monke offered our invocation after and before reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and The Four Way Test respectively. We welcomed as our guests Assistant District Governor Blake Crosby and Past District Governor Keith Brokke and his wife Lynne. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz based on the abbreviated bio of District Governor Peter Nelson that appeared in last week's Rounds. One of three questions were answered correctly (due to President Katie reviewing his bio to introduce him as our program). Brags and fines included Deb Maertens telling us her 11-year-old grandson's travelling baseball team won the Minnesota state tournament and another grandson in North Dakota won the state golf tournament for his age group. Steve Andrews was still bragging (?) about the cat they acquired; Blake Crosby commented on following the District Governor on his trips to clubs in Blake's area; Keith Brokke put in a happy dollar for him and his wife; Dean Monke contributed for missing some meetings and to thank Keith Brokke in assisting on the grant application for the Pioneer Care - Habitat for Humanity build (Keith had shared the good news before the meeting that the grant had been approved); this writer thanked all those who had contributed a lot of time and effort to the peach sale; Ryan Welle bragged about his daughter Morgan successfully testing into the nursing program and son Austin passing his commercial pilot license test; and Ken Harty contributed for having to leave the meeting early. District Governor Peter Nelson was our speaker and he entitled his presentation, "Moving the Needle: Reinvesting in Our Future." He shared a well-thought-out PowerPoint presentation and referenced the five strategic pillars of action in our District: membership, youth, international service, polio eradication and The Rotary Foundation. Noting the steady decline in club membership (with a chart showing it was over 3000 in 2015-16 while during the last Rotary year it was just under 2000), Peter said it was time to reverse the trend, particularly referencing the adverse impact of Covid. The pandemic also negatively affected our Youth Exchange program, cutting the numbers participating by approximately half over the same time period (and with no youth exchange program in the 2020-2022 Rotary years). He also shared a useful youth program matrix, listing Youth Exchange, RYLA, and the Four Way Essay Test, what age group each is designed to attract and the time of year to promote each. From a membership perspective, Peter suggested we do a search of anyone employing more than 25 individuals in Fergus Falls and then reach out to those employers and encourage each to identify and support a prospective member. Internationally we were encouraged to consider doing micro grants for business development, with Peter sharing a "Shark Tank" model for doing so. As to polio, clubs in our and other districts are being encouraged to get involved in the World's Largest Polio Walk, to be held on Saturday, October 24. Every Rotarian Every Year supporting The Rotary Foundation was encouraged, with Peter talking about how each District gets to allocate 50% of funds given to the Foundation to the good works its clubs want to support. Finally, we were encouraged to attend the District Conference that will be held October 2-4 at Cragun's in Brainerd. Registration is on Friday, Oct. 2 from 3-5 p.m., with the conference starting at 4 p.m. and dinner to follow. On Saturday the 3rd, a banquet that evening will follow a full day of programs.
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