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We were at Bethel Church for the first time and Anthony Nordan offered our invocation via Zoom. Guests included Dan and Rachel Venberg; Dan works in missions for the Church of the Lutheran Brethren and spearheaded our effort to construct water wells in Chad through a Rotary Foundation grant, which project was a joint partnership with the Rotary Clubs in Fargo-Moorhead that District Governor Keith Brokke led. Also with us was Assistant District Governor Blake Crosby, a member of the Bismarck Far West Club, and the aforementioned Keith Brokke and his wife, Lynne. We welcomed back Deanna and Bill Aasness as well, serving our first hot meal in some time. Randy Kempfer and Brian Tjaden presented checks to Charlie Kempfer and Ryon Kilde (standing in for his wife, Laurel), for having the second and first fastest ducks, respectively, in last week's Duck Derby. Also recognized were our big sellers of the raffle tickets: Greg Darling, Mary Pettit and Pete Wasberg for selling 50 each, Brian Tjaden for selling 120 and Buzz Lundeen for selling an astounding 263 raffle tickets. Rotarians at the event were Wally Cole, Lois Josefson Russell, Randy Kempfer, Jamie Larson, Steve Leitte, Hal Leland, Buzz Lundeen, John MacFarlane, Anthony Nordan, Bob Russell, Zach Stach, Brian Tjaden and Pete Wasberg. Club Secretary Kathy Austvold recognized members who had perfect or nearly perfect attendance during the 20-21 Rotary year. Those that didn't miss a meeting, either by being at our club or doing a make-up, included Steve Andrews, Wally Cole, Keith Olson and Bob Russell. Other members that made at least 92% of our meetings during the year included Kathy Austvold, Steve Leitte, Buzz Lundeen, Anthony Nordan, Zach Stach and Brian Tjaden. Everyone appreciates your attendance! Zach Stach announced on August 2 there will be an effort to clean-up the area where the Splash Pad will ultimately be built and Jamie Larson encouraged us to sell peaches. We only had one self-imposed fine during our Brag & Fine segment, that being Wally Cole for not bringing his badge. Before introducing our speaker, the presiding officer administered a Rotary Minute Quiz based on the bio that appeared in last week's e-Rounds. Let's just say we would have scored a perfect three out of three anyway even if one had not read the bulletin. District Governor Keith Brokke began his remarks with comments on Rotary's two mottos - One Profits Most Who Serves Best, which dates back to 1911, and Service Above Self, which originated in 1948. He then spoke of RI President Shekhar Mehta's goal of "Each One Bring One," meaning every Rotarian commit to recruiting someone into their club, with the ultimate objective of growing Rotary worldwide by 100,000 this year. That translates into "Grow More to Do More." Another goal set by Mehta is to assist in empowering girls and young women. A challenge has also been issued for each club to organize and have a Rotary Day of Service. We were given eight yard signs, four reading "Women in Rotary" and four reading "A Proud Rotarian Lives Here." (This writer has posted the latter sign in our yard and is looking for other Rotarians to ask for a sign to do likewise.) Keith went on to talk about various projects District 5580 clubs have completed with the assistance of funds from The Rotary Foundation. They range from the water wells in Chad previously referenced, to a handicapped accessible baseball "miracle" field in Moorhead, park benches in Ely and Crookston, a community kitchen in International Falls, an outdoor classroom and gazebo in Detroit Lakes, etc. Through our World Community Service donations (each member pays $15 to the District to fund worthy projects worldwide which may include brick and mortar construction) we have built a medical clinic and pharmacy in Guatemala, clinics in Bolivia, etc. Our polio initiative started in 1985 when 125 countries were endemic and the international health organizations (WHO and UNICEF) doubted we could rid the world of polio. But ten years into the project the number of countries in which polio was endemic had been reduced to nine and at that point WHO and UNICEF joined in the effort, believing we can in fact eradicate polio. From 350,000 children inflicted with the crippling disease in 1985 we are now down to only two this year, yet until fully eliminated there is much more work to be done. Every club is being asked to donate $1,500 to PolioPlus this year to insure success in our efforts. Keith also promoted the District Conference that will be held in St. Cloud next year from April 21st to the 23rd. It will be a joint effort with Districts 5950 (clubs south of us in central and western Minnesota and Minneapolis) and 5960 (clubs in western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and St. Paul). The event center contains Minnesota's baseball hall of fame and it is hoped a Twins executive and former star player will be able to be part of the festivities. Find your baseball jerseys! |
