|
Tim Hunt offered our invocation. President Zack called on Jamie to exhort us to sell peaches and then Zack told us a little bit more about the movie fundraiser we are planning for this year. Each team will be responsible for one movie and will work with our local athletic sports boosters to promote it. A list of movies that are available can be found at the Swank website, and each team will be responsible for finding a sponsor to the tune of about $500.00 We are also looking for one major sponsor for the entire series. Our money will be made off of concessions, which we will serve. An e-mail from Zack will be out soon with further details. This writer administered a Rotary quiz which involved only two questions of which one was answered correctly if you ignore the first two choices incorrectly made from a multiple-choice question with four possible answers -- or maybe that should be counted as only half-right. There was a lot of bragging going on with Steve A. leading things off with a report that his wife has arrived for a three-week stay. Wally told us that he and Marcy made a day-trip to Brainerd and visited The Notch, located in Brainerd's old railway station, which has been converted into a business development center. They went there with a 90-year-old friend visiting from Rapid City, North Dakota, who came to celebrate his birthday. Wally also said that after being passed by a person going approximately 110 miles per hour on the way home, they came across his car rolled over and Wally was a first responder. Keith told us that his much younger looking wife was celebrating her birthday that day and that he almost wasn't there to celebrate it after attending his son's church softball league game in a lightning storm the previous night. John MacFarlane lauded Otter Tail Power for its utility leading lowest rates last year and told us that while you could buy its stock at $52 a share in the spring, the stock is now within 40 cents of $90 per share. Ryan Welle crossed out five spots on his brag card for forgetting to show up to work at Salvation Army on a Thursday he had signed up to cover. Jamie talked about the friendships made through Rotary, noting how one member had listened to his remarks about wanting to clean-up the grave marker for his wife's daughter that was still borne some years ago and when they went to visit it the work had been done, bringing Angie to tears. Nice work Ryan! Our newest member, Deb Maertens, gave her classification talk and we learned she owns a motorcycle (actually two), has paraglided off the Himalayas, and that she has six sisters and no brothers. Deb and her husband have four children, all with spouses, and 11 grandchildren. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, Morris, going on to get her Masters from NDSU. Deb's career started out in restaurants at NDSU and then she got involved in handling immigration issues for students there, ultimately also teaching some classes at NDSU. She now is teaching Spanish at OLV to preschoolers through sixth grade. She described immigration as a "completely broken system." Deb's daughter was an outbound exchange student sponsored by our club in 2004-05 and since then she has always wanted to give back to Rotary. That opportunity came her way in 2012 when a happy hour club was formed in Fargo that fit her work schedule and that she described as loosely organized but with lots of service and fun. She was one of 25 charter members, only two of which were men. The club's main fundraiser is serving beer at the Red River Valley Fair during concerts. She has gone through two visioning sessions with that club, with the results of the first one resulting in the club's service efforts emphasizing international youth and education. She worked with CHARISM in Fargo in its services to immigrant families in the area (including distributing Andy & Elmer's Apple Dumpling Gang to teach The Four Way Test) and became very involved in Rotary Youth Exchange. She identified her "Rotary Moment," as Past District Governor Deb Warner described someone who has drank the Rotary Kool-Aid, as occurring when she entered a room where gathered children recited The Four Way Test by memory. She has served as President of her former Rotary club, during which time they applied for a grant (much to Deb's initial hesitancy) and raised funds to donate a van to CHARISM. Deb retired from NDSU two years ago but kept on attending her club meetings virtually since she lives here in Fergus. She described her membership as "languishing" for awhile but that definitely changed when she went on a service project to Guatemala this past month. She is excited about the opportunity to be a member of our club, and we are certainly glad to have her. |
.png)
