Here's What's Happening at East Polk Rotary

At our last gathering Eric Borseth as Rotarian of the Day introduced us to Mark Nelson and Shannon Delouis of the non-profit Freedom for Youth.  Mark is the founder and Director and Shannon oversees the Mitchellville center.  Freedom for Youth is a mission outreach for inner city kids from age 5 to 22.  Mark took us on a journey from the very beginning of the organization to a heartfelt story of one girl who he discovered living outside on the streets, and through ministry and mentoring helped to not only get off the streets and drugs, but he also witnessed her own transition to a married woman with two kids of her own.  Freedom for Youth has grown exponentially through Iowa and now has a group home for boys and another one for girls and is now beginning down the road of vocational training.  The hope is that they can break the cycle of poverty that many of these kids find encircles them.  We wish Mark and his staff the best in continuing their good works.

 

Tomorrow Tom Downs will be serving as Rotarian of the Day as part of a switch with Melissa Horton.  Tom is planning a presentation on Polio Plus with Ed Arnold and Kyle Davy, VP of Ticket Sales for the Iowa Energy.  Mike Hartwig will take his place as Sergeant at Arms tomorrow.

 

Also, last Saturday about 10 members of the club participated in a session on strategic planning (visioning) for the club and Marti Kline may be sharing some thoughts about that meeting.  Otherwise, keep your Snuggies handy as the cold weather appears to be sticking around for a while.  It's a good thing natural gas prices are still near record low prices.  That should help our winter heating costs stay reasonable.  We'll see everyone tomorrow at 7:00.