We were warmly greeted by Wally Cole manning the front desk and a firm handshake by Dave Johnson as the greeter. President Steve, standing behind a table full of garbage, rang the bell to announce the start of the meeting. After the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four Way Test, Keith Olson blessed us with a prayer. We were short some young people from M-State and the High School so our average age for those assembled was up a bit. We did have one young man from the High School attend, Pepe, our exchange student. There was a Rotarian from the Sunrise Club also with us, Guy Olson, and he brought with him some interesting news, prodded out by Bob Russell. Guy mentioned that they have a faithful membership of 30 Paul Harris Fellows, the club was formed 26 years ago and that it just added 2 new members.
Some announcements commenced after the pleasantries were concluded. President Steve announced that the Bio-Girls sent a letter to thank the Rotarians for their past and continuous support of their program. Katie Johnson announced that there is a planned “Fireside Chat” the evening on April 11th at M-State in the “fireside lounge.” She reminded us to bring friends and family as well as potential members. Arbor day trees were also discussed. Rotary will be planting trees on April 27th near the water tower off of Highway 27, help is needed, and these will be REAL shovel ready jobs. Bob reminded us of the upcoming District Conference/party in Thunder Bay, Ontario and also made a plea for people to sign up to help write the Rounds; the sign-up sheet was passed around, if you did not make the meeting please contact Bob to add your name to the list on a date that will work for you.
Brags/Fines: Tim Hunt bragged about his granddaughter, who is going to the University of Iowa, and briefly visited Grandma and Grandpa before heading down to do some partying of her own for Spring Break in Florida; Grandpa Tim kept his own escapades to himself regarding Florida partying -- good thinking! That’s a story for when she is much older! Tim will also be absent for parts of March and April because he is making the rounds to visit family out East. Randy Kempfer put in $5 – four of which were for his wife for each decade of her life and one for the time he got to spend with his family on the beach in Florida. Bob hit us with a bombshell, if the chance to party is not enough to motivate one to get to the District Conference, we learned that our very own Pepe was going to be one of the emcees during the youth exchange presentation. Kathy Austvold and her husband Steve applied to aid hurricane victims in Cuba. Her husband is there now under a religious visa but Kathy was denied along with two others; what’s a person gotta do to help out these days? Wally Cole went to lobby in Washington D.C. two weeks ago and is going to be lobbying on Minnesota issues next and will keep us informed. Guy Olson returned from a trip with his daughter and son-in-law to North Carolina. He mentioned they got to tour the stadiums of UNC and Duke on their visit. He also urged us , if we ever get to Charlotte, to take in the Aviation Museum -- sounds like a must see.
Our program focused on recycling and reducing waste. Our speakers were Shanon Terry – OTC Public Info Officer and Aaron Head. This past October most of us, in the city limits, noticed that recycling as we knew it had changed as we no longer had to sort our recycling. Since this change there had been a 60% increase in family’s recycling and business participation has tripled. They are working to expand service beyond the city's limits into surrounding areas. Fergus Falls needs new equipment for recycling as current methods and equipment are over 20 years old. The proposal for the equipment includes buying used equipment form Fosston, Minnesota that would greatly help the sorting process. We were told that recycling is not sustainable because of the immense resources it take to get the waste to and from different locations. The waste challenge focuses on “reduce, reuse and recycle”. Reusing is the best way to reduce the demand on our recycling centers and landfill. Disposable diapers are causing problems and moving to a reusable diaper would make a very large impact on the landfills, as well as the recycling centers; they clog up the equipment so often that they shut down three times a day to remove diapers from the conveyers.
Aaron mentioned that he will be putting on an Earth Day event at the Certer for the Arts on April 20th. Right now we use recycled shingles on roadsides and glass in roadways, in Europe they have moved to recycled plastic roads. Shanon and Aaron had us come up to the table and grab a piece of trash and place what we picked up in the proper bin (trash or recycle). We found out many of the things we think are recyclable are really not, so when in doubt look for the recycle triangle or “please recycle” written on the item. If you are unsure, throw it in the trash to save time for the men and women who have to sort the recyclables.
President Steve presented our speakers with a book and announced , Meeting Adjourned
