Steve Austvold offered our invocation while Cody Odland greeted us, as did Cody's young nephew Bennett. David Johnson introduced our Student Guests from the High School: Josh Horgen is the son of Lindsey and Christy and he is the kicker and punter for the football team, also plays baseball and is a National Honor Society student; John Abrahams is the son of Derik and Elizabeth, plays defensive back and receiver for the football team, also plays basketball and golf and is president of the National Honor Society at the school, with plans to attend UND next year; last but not least, Cooper Miller is the son of Chad and Heather, captains the soccer team, also participates in track and fishing, is a NHS student and plans on attending M State next year.
Ryan Welle circulated a sign-up sheet to distribute Andy & Elmer books to the second graders after tomorrow's meeting, following closely (by two weeks) our successful distribution of dictionaries to third graders. Bob Russell passed out Rotary Rose sale sheets with the distribution date set for Thursday, November 12th.
Steve Austvold led off the bragging and self-inflicted fining, reporting he was going to Florida with 11 others to assist with hurricane relief in the Fort Myers area. Keith Olson reported brother Guy had surgery the prior week to remove some cancer that the doctor reported was completely isolated, with a follow-up meeting with the oncologist this week. John MacFarland said that 35 trees have been planted at the golf course through the Pete's Trees fundraiser but the t-shirts for donors have not yet been printed. Kathy Auistvold congratulated the newspaper for the prior Saturday's "Kid Scoop" page which was all about Rotary, including our effort to wipe out polio, the Rotary emblem, a special quiz on the Four Way Test, a word search puzzle and another puzzler reproduced below for you to complete. Wally Cole had Ken Harty tell us about the new editor at The Daily Journal, Mary Olson (Dan is her spouse), and Ken also mentioned a new hire for their advertising department. This writer paid for having to leave early.
Our speaker was Connie Graff who arrived in Fergus Falls six years ago to attend M State and ended up marrying another student and staying here to raise their three children. She is a member of PEO, a philanthropic education organization where women motivate, educate and celebrate women. It has three chapters in Fergus Falls and was started in Iowa over 150 years ago. PEO and M State are putting on Tunes for Tuition on Saturday, October 24th, from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at Legacy Hall. There will be 25 musicians performing, with the performers ranging in age from 25 to 80; the vocalists will be Laura Oden from the college and two high school music teachers. M State saw a 29% increase in student enrollment this year, believed to be primarily due to the Blue and Gold scholarship program we heard about sometime back. The goal is to raise $10,000 and, toward that end, they have sold 20 table sponsorships. The funds will be split 50/50 between M State and PEO for scholarships. The tickets are $50 each, which includes the event, complimentary appetizers and a beverage. They are available from PEO members, at Lundeens, Service Food, The Market, online at facfmstate.org/events or at the door.
