Reminder - Due to the present public health concerns, President Stacey Q. cancelled our Wednesday weekly meetings for March 18 and March 25, 2020. Meetings will tentatively return on April 1 (no fooling).Until then, be safe, be well and be helpful. Ed.
March 23, 2020 - President Stacey Q. sent all Minnetonka Rotary members several email updates over the past week. She emphasized communicating with all club members on how to stay connected, sharing member experiences and ideas, continuing Rotary's mission and, most of all staying safe.
For the near future, in the absence of reporting on weekly meetings, The Spoke will instead feature weekly member submitted notes, comments, thoughts, pictures, ideas and other items focused on Rotary ideals, members activities and community issues. This includes Happy Bucks (put your dollar in jar to contribute when we meet again soon), announcements, Rotary Minute and other meeting like thoughts. Please share what you can by sending them to the Spoke editor by email at michaelcglover@comcast.net. You can share anonymously if you like. Let the editor know.
"It's more important to be useful than to be important." Joe Soucheray.
Ed.
From Our Members
MRF Donates additional funds to ICA. See story below.
Rotary members working at ICA March 21, 2020. See story below.
Rotary members working at ICA March 21, 2020.
From the Archives
Chris C.
Jim M.
Jennifer S.
IMPORTANT UPDATE to Upcoming Events Below
Important - Check with meeting leaders to confirm date, time and location information for all events below.
I am happy to report that this week Minnetonka Rotary Foundation responded to the needs of our community as expressed by the ICA Food Shelf and Resource West.
Peg Keenan and her team at ICA are responding to the increased needs of our neighbors via a variety of initiatives. For every $1 donated they are able to purchase up to $10 worth of food from food banks.
Tarrah Palm and her team from Resource West are responding to school closures. Classes will now be held via internet and Comcast can provide internet connection for $10 per month for families that qualify for free and reduced lunch. If families cannot afford that $10, RW will step in.
Empty Bowls, which benefits both ICA and RW, had decreased attendance this year and did not meet their financial goal. They were about $3000 short.
Camp RYLA has been cancelled this year and MRF had allocated $700 for that project.
We all are aware that our club supports ICA and RW with our dollars and our time, but given the recent change in our communities due to the corona virus pandemic, we wanted to do more. I am happy to report that MRF has approved an immediate $3000 donation to ICA Food Shelf and $1000 to Resource West.
Members of MRF - Cathy, Bonnie, Char, Glen, Dale, Terry and me - voted unanimously to approve this action.
Minnetonka Rotary Club not only believes in Service Above Self, we get out there and do it. Thank you to all club members.
MRF Update #2 - Nancy D.
MRF unanimously voted to donate $3000 to our partner, ICA, to cover urgent needs due to the presence of corona virus in our community. On March 19 Foundation President Nancy Davis presented the check to Patti Sinykin at the St. David's office of ICA . Both observed social distancing! Patti expressed her thanks on behalf of Peg Keenan and entire ICA staff. Patti also shared that she has decided to become a member of our club!
Keeping Contact with Relatives - Nancy D.
My 94 year old mom lives in an assisted living facility in Rochester. They are on lock down but my siblings and I continue to visit nearly every day. We stand in the parking lot and wave up to her on the second floor. We can see her in the big bay window waving a white hanky while we talk on the phone."
Since the gym is closed, I'm getting aerobic exercise by walking outside. The distance around Lake Calhoun is 3.2 miles.
ICA Volunteering Under New Circumstances - Mike G.
Four Minnetonka Rotarians (Ron U., Nancy D. Mike G. and Bob F.) and one Rotarian spouse (Cindy Finke) volunteered at the ICA last Saturday, March, 21, 2020. They saw a very different ICA since their last volunteer shift. To keep its services operating in the Coronavirus environment, the ICA modified it's front of house operation. Gone, for now, is the the client self shopping model. In its stead is the client ordering model with ICA volunteers and staff taking shopping need orders, filling the orders and delivering the bagged orders to the client at the ICA's front loading dock. For this morning and early afternoon, the process operated smoothly. The ICA staff continue to show their commitment in keeping this vital operation going by revising its operations as circumstances require. Therefore, expect that ICA's operations will continue to evolve as required. Rotarians will continue to support the ICA's mission financially and with volunteers as long as it can.
