Reminder - Due to the present public health concerns and Governor Walz Executive Orders regarding social distancing, President Stacey Q. cancelled our in person Wednesday morning weekly meetings until further notice. Ed.
Next Meeting May 27, 2020 - President Stacey Q. called the next weekly meeting by Zoom video conference for May 27, 2020 at 7:30 a.m. Ed.
Please see Stacey Q.'s upcoming email with the dial in / login instructions and links. Ed.
Pictures - Thank you to several of you sending in pictures of local landmarks and, of course, your kids. If something finds its way onto your phone you think would interest the rest of us, please end it to michaelcglover@comcast.net. Ed.
"It's more important to be useful than to be important." Joe Soucheray.
Ed.
From the Members
Eve Clarkson - 2020 Minnetonka Rotary Scholarship recipient from Hopkins High School. See comments below in Member Submissions.
Meeting called to order by Pres Stacey at 7:30 a.m.
A high tech Bell, Flag, and 4-Way test today.
Invocation
Mark Magney - A prayer for the Pandemic. May we who have many things in our favor, remember and pray for those who do not.
Pledge
All.
4-Way Test
All
Guests
None.
New Members
Our frequent visitors of the last few weeks are now OFFICIALLY
new Minnetonka Rotarians. A big Rotary welcome to Patty Sinykin with ICA,
and Betsy Weiner, Ron Usem's daughter.
Announcements
Scott J. and Chris Carr - will have a Zoom Fundraiser meeting today at 5:00 PM
Be sure to ask for the sign-in link if you haven't gotten it yet.
Mark Marlin - 2020 will be a challenging year for fundraising; activities and probably donations will be down. One more reason to log in to the 5:00 meeting today for your input.
Terry S. - Small businesses are struggling. He has some ideas on promoting gift certificates with a portion going back to our club.
Nancy D. - We will be awarding Hopkins and Mtka HS's scholarships tonight, and May 26. Our scholars are Eve Clarkson (HHS) and Elizabeth Holm (MHS) There will also be one for our sponsorship of the GED program. The Foundation also gave money to ICA, and one other. We are also taking part in a District Global Scholarship; $30,000 for a Masters Degree.
Mark Magney - Our Hwy 7 Clean-Up was postponed, but now back on. We are looking at Saturday, June 6 at 8:30. There will be some extra spacing of arrival times this year.
Terry S. -- mentioned we gave money for RELATE, for Mental Health Awareness
Patty S. - She appreciates the donation for ICA, which by the way, ties into RELATE
Alexa; Jerald's, Betsy's, Patty's children and Char's granddaughter are all HS Graduates this year.
Alexa R. - asks us all to send in content for events like this, and more, for our website.
Stacey Q. -Re the open position for club leadership, send in names of all nominees by May 28. We will have a special election shortly after that date.
Rotary Minute
Cathy C. - This is Part II of the Gates Foundation message from last week. They have extended the 2:1 Matching Grant, and have added another $150 million. Gates helps more than just Polio; Bed nets, clean water, other immunizations. Gates is very inspired by Rotary and our 30 Years of Polio work. The final steps are the hardest. A terrific partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates.
Cathy C.'s Comments - "Today I would like to share a second half of the Bill Gates interview from March’s Rotarian because I really feel it is relative to what is ahead of us and how the Gates Foundation is helping Rotary do even more in the world.
Bill was asked by the Gates Foundation was extending the 2 to 1 funding match with Rotary. He explained that the Gates Foundation’s long-standing partnership with Rotary has been a critical in the fight against polio. He states that through extending their funding match, together we can raise $150 million every year – money that is essential to the eradication effort.
But, he added that there is another thing about the funding match, which people don’t often know. The money helps us fight more than polio. At the same time, we are delivering the polio vaccine to communities, we are also bringing them bed nets to protect against malaria, improving access to clean drinking water, and helping immunize kids against other vaccine-preventable diseases.
Bill was also asked what message he would like to share with Rotarians as we confront the final challenges to eradicate polio. He said that everyone at the Gates Foundation is very inspired by Rotary and they are very proud to work alongside us.
Remember Rotary was the first organization to push for a polio-free world. And for the past 30 years so many Rotarians have been a huge part of fundraising, vaccination, and advocacy efforts that have brought to so close to the end of polio.
He says the final steps to a polio-free world are the hardest – and we will need the help of every Rotarian to get there. He believes with confidence that we will end polio together.
This interview was published in March, so transpired well before we got to the current level we are experiencing with the COVID -19 pandemic. Without a doubt, Rotarians will adjust, step up to the plate and use the tools we’ve shaped since 1905. And what a great partnership we have with the Gates Foundation."
Happy Bucks
Bill S. - $5 for 5 days at his cabin this weekend.
Stacey Q. - her vacation will be close to home.
Char M. - $5 for crashing at Cathy and Chuck's home this weekend. Invited or not, here I come!
Nancy D. - for Ron Usem's suggestion to visit the Arboretum, with her mother.
Terry;S. - a big hole is missing from his life. The Center Point dig in his front yard is repaired.
Tony N. - a new hire will help with his workload, and for $185 this week, and $1200 total for donations from customers to ICA and Resource West.
Mark F. - $35 for 35 years of being cancer free. We're all very happy with you, Mark
Ron; for only being mildly depressed after a round of golf; sounds normal to this reporter
Patty S. - $2 for joining our club, and especially as her Dad was a long-time Rotarian. Also, her 18th Anniversary.
Lenny N: $5 for Ron and Mary's work with trafficking. Watching the Bulls with a 3-peat.
Program
Mark F. introduced our own members, Ron U. and Mary T., for today's Sex Traffic
work and their long history of community public service. Their hearts are in the right place.
Mary T. : She mentioned a Rotary committee of Lenny, Ann, and Stacey as well. (Others?). RI has also taken on this huge problem, of Sex and Labor Trafficking.
Sex traffic is a crime, and has much exploitation, brutality, and violence.
Victims are as young as 12-14 years of age, up to 14,000 girls, and boys, per year.
It goes on 365 days per year, and in every Zip Code in the US
They are easy actual and on-line targets, made worse now with so many at home.
The (men) perpetrators cross all age and classes, often in respectable positions.
MN is 13th largest state for Sex Traffic. Duluth and our 2 Interstates are easy access.
The purpose of her committee is to inform the community, make changes.
Ron U. : There are 16 or more local groups all involved with Trafficking, including RI
He discussed some examples of Federal and State courts, sting operations, convictions.
Sometimes the Johns are merely considered 'consumers', or 'patrons", not criminals. They are usually middle aged white men, daytime crime, back home at night.
MN Women's Foundation; "MN Girls are Not For Sale"
Penalties can be 10 years in jail, $25K, or more, in fines. Being charged does not always lead to conviction. The crime is both for using and trafficking; Johns and Pimps are both criminals. If victim is 18 or older, it can be only a misdemeanor.
What can we do?
Be vocal and active, watch for signs of unusual behavior. Call 911 if you see something. Support legal change, get the attorneys talking.
Police Departments have posted the perps names on their websites.
There will be a Zoom session on this on June 28. Ask for the link.
Thank you, Mary and Ron, for your long commitment and work on Sex Trafficking
What you do makes a difference
Submitted by Bob Hersman
Member Submissions
From Char M. - regarding the graduation of her granddaughter Keeley:
"Cathy surprised me with a wonderful poster for Keeley (her honorary granddaughter); I brought Keeley to Restwell under the pretense she was going to help me and Cathy with something for Rotary where Cathy surprised her with the poster.
Keeley is a Hopkins High School graduate.
Represented our club at RYLA in 2018 and Camp Enterprise in 2019 where her team won an honor.
Currently finishing up at Hopkins High School and attending a culinary class at Eden Prairie Technical College.
I have asked Keeley to write a brief note to the club highlighting her experiences at RYLA, Camp Enterprise, working at Kids N Company while attending Hopkins High School.
Thank you for this chance for myself and other club members to honor our family seniors who really have been "short changed" with traditional senior activities due to Covid 19."
From Nancy D. - written comments on Minnetonka Rotary's Scholarship to Eve Clarkson, 2020 Hopkins High School Graduate presented on May 20, 2020:
"Good evening, students, families, friends, teachers, and distinguished guests. My name is Nancy Davis, and I am the President of the Minnetonka Rotary Club Foundation. Since I am unable to be present in person, I have asked that my remarks be read aloud to those in attendance on this special night. My thanks go out to Denise Colicchia who has helped coordinate our efforts.
On behalf of the Minnetonka Rotary Club Foundation, I offer sincere congratulations to our Hopkins HS 2019-2020 scholarship recipient, Eve Clarkson. The Minnetonka Rotary Club Foundation awards two high school scholarships annually – one to a graduating senior at Hopkins HS and the other to a graduating senior at Minnetonka HS. This makes sense because our club was formerly known as the Hopkins-Minnetonka Rotary Club. In 1990 the group divided into two separate clubs. Our club has a long history of supporting youth in the local community and in fact, our motto is “Building Responsible Youth.” We not only support students with scholarships but also support incoming exchange students every year. This year our exchange student from Barcelona, Spain, Pau (pronounced “Pah’ Oh” - one syllable), was required to urgently return home after the COVID 19 pandemic was declared. Hopefully, our exchange student for 2020-2021 who lives in Taiwan, will be able to come to MN in time for the start of the fall semester.
Tonight’s recipient, Eve Clarkson has a high school record to be celebrated! She has contributed to the school newspaper, the Royal Page, first as a staff reporter in her sophomore year, a copy editor as a junior, and currently the news editor, which she finds rewarding. She has been inducted into the National Honor Society. She was the recipient of the 2018 YMCA Youth Thrive Award and the 2018 Caring Youth Award. Her community service includes the Golden Valley Human Rights Commission, the YMCA Leader’s Club, the Minnesota Curvy Girls for girls getting spinal fusion surgery, and Camp Christmas Tree as a junior counselor in the summer of 2018. In between all those activities, she has been employed by Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar and currently works 16 hours per week at Five Below.
Her future education plans include a 4 year university degree with a major in English. I believe she has been accepted to the University of Minnesota here in the Twin Cities. There is no doubt that she is up to the challenge and we wish her well.
It is with great pleasure that I present – remotely to be sure – Minnetonka Rotary’s Hopkins High School Scholarship Award of $2000 to Eve Clarkson. Please accept our heartfelt congratulations!"
Club Information
Minnetonka Rotary Club
The Club for Building Responsible Youth
We meet Wednesdays at 7:15 AM
Eisenhower Community Center
1001 Highway 7 in Room 233
( above portico entrance )
Hopkins,
MN 55305 United States of America
