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Jamie Larson gave our invocation while Wally Cole was our song leader. President Lori talked about the success of our First Wine Wednesday the prior week and said the next one is planned for October 17th -- possibly a pool party where Rotarians are encouraged to bring their suits or, maybe more likely, children or grandchildren who want to go for a swim. Lori also announced that our Club will be sponsoring a school board candidate forum at the Center for the Arts on October 22, 2018, between 7:00 and 8:30 p.m. When we last tried to figure out whose baby photo we were looking at (two weeks prior), the only correct choice -- Katie Johnson -- was submitted by Keith Olson, who took away a t-shirt in honor of his accomplishment. We were encouraged to sell peaches and told their arrival date had been moved up to the following day. [Last e-mail I saw reported we had about 30 unsold lugs as of Friday morning; not having heard anything more, I suspect Rotarians came through and sold the remainder.] Selling peaches was compared to selling Bibles and the punch line was a good one -- but I can't remember it. Proceeding on to brags and fines, Buzz Lundeen led off by honoring Gene Porter, a former Rotarian, whose funeral had been the previous day. Greg Darling contributed for missing last week's social. Keith Olson reported he and Kim celebrated 36 years of being happily married on the 21st. David Johnson said that he was now into his 21st year of retirement. Mary Pettit also contributed a dollar for leaving early and also to report that a child had returned from abroad and accepted a full-time associate professor position at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in the music department. Wally Cole, John MacFarlane and Ben Durbin all recognized Men of Note, of which our own Keith Olson is a part, for singing at their respective churches the prior Sunday, with John jokingly stating, after Wally's high words of praise, that Wally was more impressed about their performance than John. Kathy Austvold enjoyed her and Steve's trip to Boston and also reported her brother's daughter, with an early childhood education degree just like Kathy's, was just hired as a kindergarten teacher. Finally, Mike Smith contributed Randy Kempfer's scooter buck. The program was about The Rotary Foundation, presented by this writer. Our club was only two clubs during the 2017-18 Rotary year among our District's 66 clubs that received the Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) recognition, signifying total donations to the Annual Program Fund that exceeded, on average, $100 per member, and every member giving at least $25.00. The other club? Fergus Falls Sunrise. Our Club's all-time giving to The Rotary Foundation, through June 30, 2018, amounts to $275,076.25. In its 101 years of existence, The Rotary Foundation has spent over $3 billion for life-changing, sustainable projects. We will be doing Rotary Minute Plus Insurance again this year, and the sign-up sheet was passed around. Don't fear, if you weren't there or missed it, we will pass it around another couple times. |
