Team 1 (July, November, March): Deb Maertens, Steve Andrews, Keith Olson, Cody Odland, Steve Austvold, Zack Stach and Lois Josefson-Russell.
Team 2 (August, December, April): Mark Bring, Joshua Bowyer, Katie Johnson, David Lindgren, Dean Monke, and Steve Leitte.
Team 3 (September, January, May): Wally Cole, Buzz Lundeen, Jamie Larson, John MacFarland, Ken Harty, and Mary Pettit.
Team 4 (October, February, June): Stephanie Grow, Dave Johnson, Ryan Welle, Bob Russell, Hal Leland, Tim Hunt and Bonnie Denzel.
These teams are responsible for arranging programs for the months indicated. If a team has not already done so, it should identify a leader of its group and let Kathy know, also informing her who is going to present the program and when so it can be posted on ClubRunner.
President Katie Johnson called on Tim Hunt to offer our invocation. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz based on the July Rotary Magazine with two of three questions answered correctly. A thank you note from the Fergus Falls Public Library was circulated for the children's books donated to it. Deb Maertens was just back from the Central Lakes Rotary Youth Exchange gathering with news that the 15-year-old student from Guatemala will not be our exchange student (Central States felt she was too young) and that instead we will share Sara, an Italian student, with Sunrise Rotary; she is into math, science and music. President Katie announced the resignation of Randy Kempfer from the Club. She also told us that at a Board meeting the previous Monday a decision was made to support Pete's Trees, an effort to add trees to our golf course in memory of long-time member Peter Wasberg, with each dollar given by a member matched by the club (up to $2,500), hopefully reaching a total of $5,000. Checks should be made payable to "Pete's Trees" and given to Brian Tjaden before the end of this month. For brags and fines, Steve Austvold said that within 30 minutes of the end of our last meeting he talked to two people about possibly joining our club; Tim Hunt contributed for missing a couple meetings; Keith Olson talked about his youngest son turning 30, planning to host cousin camp at the end of the month for his and Kim's children's children, and the group Men of Note getting back together; this writer used his brag card to say he appreciated the fact Steve Andrew's wife was coming home for good, thinking that may help to get Steve to smile a bit more; Brian Tjaden said he was out fishing and caught a four pound walleye and then, just the prior Monday, his pontoon was flipped in a storm but there was only damage to the motor; and John MacFarland thanked the club for its support of Pete's Trees.
Our program was Brian Tjaden who gave a thorough and well-supported PowerPoint on our club's finances. Two of his slides laying out this past Rotary year's operating and fundraising budget are shown below; if you want to review the full presentation it has been saved on this ClubRunner site. Our budget for the 2026-27 year is going from an average of $480 a member to $532, with total revenues expected to be 61% from dues, 29% from meals and 10% from brags. A big thanks to Brian for all the time and effort he continues to put in as Treasurer of our club.
Jamie Larson offered our invocation and also told us we have 704 lugs of peaches ordered and his count indicates members have only sold about 200 so far. It was also noted that an ad for a 20-pound box of peaches at $60 from another seller has been seen, so at $50 we are not overpriced. When turning in our record of sales we were asked to keep our personal deliveries separate from those customers that will be coming to the trailer to pick up their own. Buzz's 90th birthday party last Friday was anticipated and, in retrospect, appeared to be a rousing, well-attended and well-deserved celebration. We were reminded to get any contribution to Pete's Trees to Brian by the end of this month. Both questions administered as our Rotary Minute Plus Quiz were answered correctly, with the third question held in abeyance until this week based on the smaller number of Rotarians present to correctly answer (guess?). We were told we still need programs for the 19th and 26th of August. Brags and fines included Wally Cole reminding us of the upcoming primary election on August 14th and of the ability to learn more about the candidates at candidate forums being held. Steve Andrews happily reported he picked up his wife at the airport the prior day and she is now in decompression mode. Keith Olson also reported the sad news that former member Jodi Sjolie's husband had died.
Steve Austvold introduced our program, Tausha Person, who spoke about Barbara's House, which she manages. It is a non-profit that was formed in 2008, and Tausha has been with it since 2021. The mission is to offer a safe space where women can connect with others who have faced similar challenges, fostering mutual understanding, accountability and encouragement. The house, located on Cavour Ave., opened in 2023, and to date has provided a place for 23 women in recovery. Tausha has completed her education to become a therapist and, in that process, learned that 92% of people suffering an addiction experienced a childhood trauma; as a result, Barbara's House focuses on trauma informed cases, considering the trauma as the first thing to treat. They apparently do a very good job as Tausha learned that a state inspector had told the manager of Matthew's House to run like Barbara's House, because the latter does everything perfectly. They prefer women entering their facility to be 30, 60 or 90 days into treatment before doing so and usually work with them on education or employment goals. Preferential consideration is given to women working on a reunification with their children and the effort has seen 11 mothers get back with their children to date. While there is room in the house to host 13, the City only allows 5 residents because there is no sprinkler system installed; Tausha thought an ideal number of occupants would be 10. Stabilization usually occurs between 6 to 18 months from the beginning of residency. Tausha also said her Board is the strength of the organization, with Wendy Erlandson its President. Most of the funding comes from the Thrift Store and the gross sales have risen from $91,000 in 2021 to $300,000 in 2025. The key to a person's success is the relationships they form while at Barbara's House.
