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Keith Olson offered our invocation and Mary Jane Pettit was our song leader. Before singing, however, President Lori called our caterers, Deanna and Bill, out so we could congratulate them on the birth of their granddaughter, albeit five weeks early; hopefully mother and daughter are doing well. MaryJane Westra was introduced as our visiting Rotarian, from Sunrise Rotary, and our Exchange Student, Lulie, was with us. MaryJane had a handout/postcard about an upcoming program at Sunrise on Tuesday morning, November 13th, with a visiting Rotarian from the Twin Cities area very involved in international service. (Unfortunately, I am out of the office while I write this and don't have the handout with me and recall few details, only writing in my pocket calendar to not miss their meeting.) A past Rotary Minute was re-inflicted on those gathered, testing our memory on rose trivia since we are in the midst of our best ever Rotary Rose sale (hopefully not just wishful thinking). Alas, five questions asked but no right answers. Maybe we should sell roses twice a year so the time between when we learn the answers and next time we are asked the questions is cut down. All in favor? Anna Walescha was welcomed back from having to be gone for awhile. From two weeks ago, the baby photo was that of Hal Leland's but no one guessed it right, our wrong guesses taking in eight other Rotarians. President Lori was appreciative of our Wine Down Wednesday last week at the AmericInn and the prospective Rotarians who made it to the event. She also stated our next planned Wine Down Wednesday is scheduled for December 12th at 5:00 p.m. in the basement of Mill Street Residence, where we will be joined and entertained by the M State Choir. It has not been decided if we will do a potluck, heavy hors d'oeuvres, and/or Christmas treats. Alcoholic beverages are allowed but no one rose (remember to sell your roses) to the challenge to join this writer in fixing Tom & Jerry's or some other traditional holiday libation for the event. Our School Board Candidate's Forum was attended by about 40 people. Lori looked for a Rotarian to attend the City Council meeting on November 5th at 5:00 p.m., where our support of the library project will be recognized; no one stepped forward at the meeting but hopefully someone will be able to attend. The club was informed about our next literacy project, that being distributing Apple Dumpling books to second graders, which Ben Durbin announced is planned for November 14th. The books are an introduction to The Four Way Test. Greg Darling fined himself for missing the last two meetings. John MacFarlane reported on a dinner the prior week with Michael Larson who is responsible for investing over one hundred million dollars in assets for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aiming for a return of eight percent a year. Mary Pettit encouraged people to come to the YMCA from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 1st to visit with Keller Williams representatives during their "Soup's On" event. We then broke into committee meetings, with each committee giving a short summary of their efforts to others before the meeting was adjourned. |
