Minnetonka Rotary Club had a year for the books, 2018-2019 was led by Nancy Davis, a president whose attention to detail allowed the club to capture policy and procedures not previously memorialized, and successfully build responsible youth through our foundation and community service. The club updated chair and committee descriptions, amended the Minnetonka Rotary Foundation bylaws, completed a Global Grant, and kept detailed weekly records through the weekly The Spoke. In partnership with the Visioning Committee, the club held a visioning session to help guide our future.
During the last meeting of the Rotary year, President Davis took some time to share the State of the Club. Nancy has worked hard to help members understand that their membership and our club is part of a much larger global organization doing good all over the world. Her shared experiences traveling with Rotary for a WASH project and to India to provide Polio vaccines proved to be an inspiration to the club. Minnetonka Rotary has 100% participation of members donating to the Rotary International Foundation totaling over $34,000, making our club one of the top givers in District 5950. With 19 members in the Paul Harris Society, the club was highlighted in the District 5950 Newsletter.
The club believes that Rotary, with our partners, has the ability to eradicate Polio; each meeting the “Polio Jug” rounds the tables, collecting loose change and donations, this year collected $3,672. In three years, the club has almost tripled their contributions, again being highlighted in the District 5950 newsletter.
Our foundation donated over $28,000 within the local community and internationally; an article recapping the Minnetonka Rotary Foundation year can be found here. Through three fundraisers the club raised $40,339 to be distributed by our foundation in three years.
Minnetonka Rotary has several monthly service opportunities for member participation. 43 events were available to members this year, totaling over 533 volunteer hours. Twice, the club covered the cost of Loaves and Fishes and served dinner; next year they will participate four times. Highway 7 in Minnetonka is cleaner because of the club’s efforts twice this year to meet early on a Saturday and spend a couple hours picking up trash; this is the highest attended community service project. The club recognizes the battle against child hunger as an integral part of the mission of “Building Responsible Youth”; the club has a bi-monthly commitment to serve at the ICA food shelf and participates in Empty Bowls as a major sponsor, along with the US Mail food drive. A long-standing tradition of sorting books at Books for Africa continues attracting kids and adults of all ages. The opportunities to work at Resource West sorting school supplies and working at the Toy Chest are club favorites. A new community service opportunity to sew dignity packs for women was a partnership with Days for Girls, in which the club and family members came to the Eisenhower Community Center to sew and assemble.
Members of Minnetonka Rotary continue to be involved in District 5950 events from trainings to celebrations. Our President-Elect Stacey Quinn attended the North Central President Elect Training Seminar in Ames, Iowa and the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg, Germany.
Two North Star Youth Exchange students were hosted by the club – Mayuka from Japan and Freja from Denmark. Members Carolyn Anderson and Ryan Johnson each hosted a student for three months. Many members took the opportunity to involve the students in activities or make sure they were able to cross items off their “must see and do in Minnesota” list.
On June 27th, an official celebration of Nancy’s presidential year and a passing of the gavel took place at a rooftop party at the Moline in Downtown Hopkins. Nancy led the club reminding us each week to “Be the Inspiration” and now Stacey’s leadership shows us how “Rotary Connects the World”.