Anthony Nordan offered our invocation, sandwiched between recitation of The Pledge of Allegiance and The Four Way Test. President Ken remarked how quickly the Rotary year has gone by, a year he will highlight in his outgoing program as president of our club on June 28th. He also acknowledged those attending the day’s meeting virtually, Katie Johnson and Lois Josefson. Zack Stach thanked the seven other Rotarians besides himself who did highway clean-up, the best turnout he has seen, accumulating 30 bags off trash, including random pieces of cars, in the process.
A strong word was put in for picking up your Lucky Duck Derby tickets, with the race scheduled for July 13th at 5:00 p.m. promptly. It was noted our goal is to sell 1000 ducks with a chance to win, and that even if every member (there are 31 of us) sold ten (and some in the past have not sold any) that would only result in 310 ducks participating in the event. We don’t want to leave any ducks out this year, so please sell as many raffle tickets as you can. See Bob Russell for tickets.
It was noted that Anthony Nordan’s last day with us will be June 14th and that we will figure out some way to celebrate his departure that day. The six that volunteered to go to kindergarten classes and read/distribute Josh The Otter after our meeting were reminded of that effort; we know Randy Kemper has been out reading by the picture proof below.
Tim Hunt was the first to contribute to the brag/fine bucket for being gone for two weeks to visit family out east, not necessarily fully contrite in reporting he received a warning ticket for going too fast while in New York. Keith Olson thanked Jamie Larson and Tim Hunt for offering invocations at club meetings while he was away, noting he will also be gone camping this coming Wednesday. Mark Bring was proud of son Robert graduating from Fergus Falls High School and joining his sister at Concordia in the fall. Zack Stach contributed ten bucks, eight of which were for those who showed up to clean up the highway ditches, another dollar for missing last week’s meeting to attend a child’s musical concert and the last one for his daughter Lacy graduating from Fergus High as well. Ryan Welle contributed for a few missed meetings and to brag about our local Claybusters (clay pigeon shooting) high school team, with over 1100 students participating statewide; there were 400 at the section’s conference and Ryan’s son placed third and is heading to state! Wally Cole finished off the bragging, noting he too missed last week’s meeting to attend the granddaughter’s concert earlier referenced by Zack.
Steve Andrews introduced our program, Benjamin Velani with Wests Central Initiative (WCI). Ben is a Lead for America Climate Fellow and is serving through AmeriCorps at WCI, taking the lead on a climate action newsletter. He recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from Cornell University. He aims to provide people with easy, gradual lifestyle changes that positively contribute towards making our homes a better place for us, our neighbors and future generations of Minnesotans.
Ben first inquired about our familiarity with WCI and apparently our knowledge of it was a lot more extensive than another service group, which shall remain anonymous, he recently addressed. (Let’s hear the roar!) A couple things he called to our attention included Rick Shara’s efforts with “Live Wide Open,” spotlighting individuals who are contributing to our rural life, and a children’s book recently published highlighting things for children to do in WCI’s nine county area.
He then talked about WCI serving as one of Minnesota’s eleven regional development commissions and how it is starting to take intentional action to address climate change. A survey of those living in west central Minnesota indicated 75% agree that global warming is occurring, but only 33% are talking about it. WCI is working with a consultant to put together a climate action plan for the region, while Ben’s focus will be on encouraging communication about the subject. He referenced a book entitled Climate Action Handbook written by Heidi Roop that sets forth 100 different ways individuals can affect climate change. His objective is to start community dialogue about climate change. To get involved you can contact Ben at benjamin@wcif.org.
.png)
