President Ryan called on Wally Cole to give the invocation and Mary Pettit to lead us in song. Steve Austvold had as his guest Nathan Larson, also involved with Habitat for Humanity and a member of Steve's and Kathy's church. There was a Rotary Minute Plus Quiz after the quizzer encouraged the quizzees to make New Year's resolutions to read the Rotary magazine more, hoping we can increase our average correct answers during the year to over 50%. We got off to a good start as three of four questions based on the January edition were answered correctly.
Announcements included Ryan thanking Keith Olson for hosting us at his shop the last meeting of the 2025 year and thanking those who arranged, hosted or attended our social at Mabel Murphy's on December 18th, the arranger and hostess being Lisa McFarland and Kathy Austvold respectively. Pictured below are some of the Rotarians/spouses in attendance, our emcee for the night who handled her duties adroitly, and Laly Parent who seemed to really like her White Elephant gift.
For brags and fines, this writer checked off a box on his brag and fine card for the applause received after administering the Rotary Minute Quiz, albeit it may not have been spontaneous and only offered under duress. Cody Odland encouraged Rotarians to sign-up to help sell concessions at the Otter Oration Speech Tournament on January 24th, wearing Rotary garb if you can. Laly was present and asked anyone interested to support the Otter Nordic Ski Team Raffle, with the drawing to be held on January 16th, and tickets costing $5 each. With respect to Laly, Deb Maertens is looking for someone to drive her to Detroit Lakes on Friday January 23rd, in the 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. time frame, and to pick her up there sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 on Sunday the 25th.
Our program was offered by Paul Shol, Operations Manager for the Fergus Falls Area Habitat for Humanity. Paul is a former high school math teacher, was in the military for six years and has now been with Habitat for eight years; as a teacher, he saw firsthand how children who do not have a permanent home are adversely affected in their studies. Habitat creates an affordable mortgage and a place to live, providing a sense of hope and empowerment to those chosen to participate in its program. He talked about driving by the six homes Habitat built out by E. Fir Ave. leading up to Lakeway Market and witnessing the interaction between the children that has developed there. Since the Fergus Falls chapter was formed, it has built 68 homes. It serves mostly western Otter Tail County, with homes having been built in Pelican Rapids, Ottertail, Breckenridge and Elbow Lake, besides Fergus Falls. Initially it was building one home a year but that has now reached two a year and the feeling is they are ready to expand, ultimately, to five homes a year. Paul talked about how excited the current family is to move into their house in March, noting that the recipient, Jessica, works at Fergus Falls Monument Co., Inc.; Ryan confirmed Paul's description. Habitat is also working on a home in Ottertail, where the now defunct Wadena chapter had previously built one. Battle Lake and Underwood high school students have built homes at their school site that have then been moved to Habitat property for finishing and sale. A family is being sought for a home right now that is on Donald Lake and it has a basement, which isn't usually the case for Habitat builds. The criteria a prospective homeowner must meet are 1) a need for housing; 2) an ability to repay; 3) a willingness to partner or help out in the build; and 4) having lived or worked ion Otter Tail County for at least the 12 months prior to applying. The mortgages are written through a U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program, which Paul confirmed after the meeting provide a much lower interest rate than available through normal financing. All homes are appraised and sold for their appraised value.
Habitat's involvement with building day care homes in conjunction with Pioneer Care will result in the first day care facilities being built by the organization in our country. Paul handed out information on the Minnesota Housing Tax Credit, which in 2025 provided $257,000 in support to Fergus Falls Area Habitat builds (second only to the Twin Cities chapter). This year the goal is to receive $450,000 locally, with the application period opening February 16th. Basically, for any contribution of $1,000 or greater to a local Habitat project that is approved, you can receive an 85% tax credit toward your Minnesota state tax liability. The program sunsets in 2028; when it was first offered in 2024, the funds ran out in 10 months but last year it took only six weeks, any they are expecting the budgeted funds to be committed even faster this year. You should let the Fergus Falls Habitat know if you are interested, as it needs to provide you with project information so you can support one of its builds. Learn more at www.ffhabitat.org/tax-creidt. There is an interest form available on that website. E-mail Habitat at info@ffhabitat.org or call it at (218) 736-2905 to get more information or to find out how you can volunteer to support its efforts.
