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Lisa M. offered our invocation and President Katie welcomed Will Holz to our meeting as a prospective member. Hal L. introduced our Student Guests from M State. Katie Hess is from Underwood and her parents are Paul and Dawn; she played on the college's volleyball team, is in her freshman year and is intending to pursue a career in nursing. Brooklyn Christianson is also from Underwood, in her first year at the school and also played volleyball, with plans to attend Ridgewater next year; her parents are Chad and Kristi. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz based on the November Rotary Magazine with two of three questions answered correctly. Everyone who volunteered to read Andy & Elmer books to second graders were reminded that they would be going to Adams and McKinley after the meeting; Randy K. has already been to OLV and Hillcrest. Katie told us that Brian T. will have tickets for our February show, The Magic of Rotary, at next week's meeting for distribution. A sign-up sheet is being e-mailed out for Rotarians to ring Salvation Army bells on Wednesday, November 27th, at either Service or Walmart, which will be in lieu of a meeting that day. We are going to have a club social for members starting at 5:30 on December 18th at the Steel Wheel with plans on exchanging white elephant gifts; that will be in lieu of a meeting that day and, because of space limitations, spouses will not be able to attend. John M. told us that he attended the M State scholarship program, and two students received the Wesley A. Waage Rotary Memorial Scholarship. They were Brayden Arndt from Lake Mills, Iowa and T.J. Caouette from Elk River. John told us about another scholarship recipient who is a native of Kenya and came out of a refugee camp where she was caring for her younger sister who ultimately died. Steve L. led off the bragging, saying that his hunting party shot eight deer, with his grandson (who had a bonus permit) shooting two around 4:00 p.m. one day. Lisa M. was still excited about a trip she and her daughter took to Indianapolis on November 3rd to attend a Taylor Swift concert. Mary P. paid for missing some meetings, celebrated her son's birthday the day of our meeting and also told us that he played with the FM Symphony the prior weekend; she also let us know that the Fergus Falls School of Dance's Dance & Dessert performances are coming up on December 7 and 8. Holly W. also contributed for missing some meetings while she was helping out with her father who had a heart attack. Dean M. acknowledged he has missed some meetings as he has been working on a construction crew adding an addition to his daughter's home. Will Holz told us he got engaged two weeks ago so John M. is stuck with him and that last year his college fraternity raised $113,000 for St. Jude and he was heading off to Duluth this weekend to help it reach this year's goal of $115,000. Cody O. introduced Gina Tiffany, his next-door neighbor, who talked to us about a mission trip she and five others took to Guatemala to help at an after-school tutoring program. Three of the six volunteers were teenagers, and they were very impacted by what they saw. A friend of Gina's, Lois Seinogel, also attended the meeting to offer her moral support to her. The community they went to, an arduous three-hour journey over rugged roads from where they flew in, is on the east side of the county. The Spanish word for the name of the community translates to "the line," which reflects the garbage/recycling dump for which it is named. There is no electricity or running water and the sewage simply trickles along the ground. A woman from Minneapolis went to Guatemala 22 years ago, married a very caring husband and they started the program at which they volunteered. Corn is a common staple but what is grown is stunted and yields few kernels; most people are still grinding it by hand to make tortillas. Those that went down brought school supplies, toys and some solar lanterns to distribute. While there they did various things, including some painting. The people cannot rely on their government which Gina said is corrupt, attributing it to those in charge not knowing God. She described both a financial poverty and a poverty of the spirit, causing the people to have low self-esteem. A lot of the young boys' work 6½ days a week and take drugs to deal with the very physical demands of what they do. Each family has many children, and the families run out of space because they keep having children, so the older kids get kicked out. This makes them very ripe for trafficking or, in the case of a 14-year-old who just had a baby, means they have to find someone to care for them. We were also told that refugees are pouring into Guatemala to then try to come to our country. |
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