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At our June 12th meeting, we were at the Fergus Falls Armory and Keith Olson arranged pizza for all of those who did not bring a lunch. Buzz Lundeen offered our invocation. We were reminded to wear Rotary identification if we volunteer at the Salvation Army or at any other club projects. There were many brags, with Wally C. stating he was "offering thankful praise starting June 6" up to our meeting for 1) daughter Natalie and her four children and daughter Jana arriving on that Thursday for a long weekend; 2) their 2005 Buick Park Avenue meeting its demise at the corner of Vine St. and Lincoln Ave.; 3) the fact that when the accident occurred, no one was riding in his passenger seat; 4) the daily medical care Zack has provided since the accident and that he (Wally) is on the mend; and 5) the improved facilities at the Armory. Brian T. reminded us to use up our brag cards by June 30th and then told us they had finished all their plumbing work at home. John M. thanked Keith O. for getting lunch for those assembled. Tim H. was looking forward to picking up his grandson who is coming to work at the farm owned by Tim's nephew. Kaite was happy to announce her daughter got a job working for Albertson's Corp.in Boise, Idaho. President Zack finished off the brags by thanking Mary and the Fergus Falls School of Dance for their most recent performances, with Zack taking in two shows. Our program on June 12th was arranged by Keith O. and he had his son-in-law, Christopher Anderson (son of Jeff and Christy) talk to us about the renovations at the Armory. If I understood correctly, Chris' rank is a private first class, E-7. He told us a mezzanine was added for housing the building's mechanics, freeing up space on the first floor. All new lighting and acoustic panels were installed, as were new bathrooms and a vestibule. The work also included upgrades to the kitchen. Unfortunately, the basketball hoops were removed, but a women's locker room was added to the building and the men's was redone. The Armory is available for rental. There are l70 soldiers that drill in both Fergus and Moorhead, with members coming from numerous states. Our local unit is in charge of mortars, scouts and snipers (it has no women at this time), while the Moorhead unit is made up of staff and medics, including both men and woman. Infantry is out of Detroit Lakes and Bemidji while Wadena houses a tank company. Chris has been in the Guard for 16 years, part- and full-time, and was on one deployment to the Middle East. He has about 12 years left to obtain 20-year full-time status. On the 19th, Katie Johnson spoke to us about the Israel Study Tour she went on this past April. It was organized by Laurie Sey and led by Steve Hudson, with the group consisting of 19 people, three from Fergus, two from Battle Lake and the rest from the Twin Cities, London, Costa Rica, Texas, North Carolina and Texas. She told us that the purpose of the trip was to experience the Fifth Gospel, that being the land of Israel, and to follow and understand Jesus' travels as a disciple-making movement. Participants studied for a year before the trip and by the end of the tour, Katie had walked 86.38 miles, climbed 289 stairs and taken 186,024 steps. Crops grown in Israel include figs, mangoes, olives, banana, and wheat, with a former prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, credited with the vision to turn the Negav Desert into green. New foods experienced included falafel (chickpeas, fresh herbs and spices) and shawarma (lamb, mutton or other meat that is cut into thin slices, stacked in an inverted cone and roasted). Many stores have not reopened since the October 7th attacks. Everyone they met were very thankful for the group's visit. Katie had wonderful pictures of all the destinations visited, too many to mention here. They included a stop at the Jordan River where John the Baptist baptized people and where Katie did a baptism reaffirmation (the water was not clear, but it was cold). Katie's favorite stop on the trip was Mt. Arbel, the tallest mountain around the Sea of Galilee. On April 14th, while still in Israel, Iran launched its attack against the country, so the group returned to the Old City, with their last three days in Israel spanning Palm Sunday and the start of Easter week. A layover in Paris was much appreciated. Katie summed up the trip as bringing the Bible and her faith to life and being very grateful for the opportunity. We postponed our activities that normally occur at the beginning of the meeting on the 19th as Katie had to leave early. Steve Austvold was with us as our only guest. When it came to brags, Deb M. said she had been at the dance recital where Mary P.'s 30 years with the Fergus Falls School of Dance were acknowledged and that almost everyone in the audience was standing up after the presenter went through all of Mary's contributions to our community, asking people to stand if they had been impacted by them. Mary thanked Deb and said that the dancers, including several grandchildren, were great. Wally C. wanted to contribute to our club coffers, so he repeated some of his brags from the prior week and also told us that he and Marci celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on the 13th and that he has spent hours on the phone with insurance company representatives since his car accident. Kathy A. gave us a little preview of some of Katie's plans for our next Rotary year but this writer 3will wait to report on those until Katie has a chance to fill in the details. |
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