Detective Jacob Wenmark, Minnetonka Police Department, guest of Mary Tamborino.
Tim, guest of Mary T.
Laura from the Sojourner Project, guest of Jacob Milner.
Mayuka, our exchange student.
Jacob present a grant to Laura from the Sojourner Project in Minnetonka to serve domestic abuse victims in five school districts in the west Metro. Laura thanked the Foundation for its continued support of Sojourner's day to day mission, including meals and processing orders for protection for abused women.
- Reminder to sign up for the June 22 Minnetonka Summerfest.
- Progressive Dinner June 6
- Tree Planting service project, led by the city of Minnetonka on June 1 from 9 AM to noon.
- At the recent district conference, attendees packed 1000 party bags (including cake mix, candles, and paper goods) to distribute through local food shelves for clients to celebrate family events. 30 of those bags will go to ICA in Minnetonka. Thanks to General Mills for donating the cake mix.
- Update on the Nibakure project in Rwanda: a sun shade area is complete, bus repairs are underway, and green house repairs continue.
- Mayuka gave a presentation about her experience in the US at the recent Rotary district conference.
- Mayuka also presented club members with pins from her home Rotary Club in Japan and announced she would be returning home on June 10. She thanked the club for its hospitality and friendship.
Nate Rundquist gave a brief Rotary bio and hsi vision for the club (Carolyn Anderson and Ron Usem gave theirs last week).
Voting will be via Survey Monkey and will end Saturday evening.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner for Lenny!
He'll enjoy many chicken dinners with his $83.
- Char - arranging trip to Stillwater, including trolly car tour, with Mayuka.
- Chrstine - enjoyed the recent lawn bowling event.
- Tony - Thankful for his son's recent college graduation in Michigan.
- Regina - Recommended her favorite author's book about the black members of Congress and local state legislatures in the years immediately following the Civil War. You will need to contact her for the name of the book.
- Pete - Happy about the fishing opener.
- Nate - Thanks for his recent wedding anniversary.
- Alexa - She's also happy about her recent anniversary, and attending the District conference.
- Dr. Bob - Described a story about attending a conference about an eye disease and on the same day buying shoes from a sales person with that very disease and, getting the sales person introduced to an organization who can help him pay for the treatment of that disease.
- Frank - Described and recommended a recent WSJ article about the history of polio in the US including children living in an iron lung.
- Nancy - reported that with her brother's help, her mother is fully moved into an assisted living facility in Rochester.
Det. Wenmark reviewed his history growing up in the Lake Minnetonka area, involvement with the police explorer program and eventually working for the Minnetonka police dept. He then discussed his involvement, as a law enforcement officer, in investigating human trafficking, involving primarily underage girls, and to a lesser extent underage boys. He described his involvement in the Ricky Turner case, the 494 Task Force, and the Super Bowl Task Force. The work is time consuming but rewarding.
The focus is on both the supply (the traffickers) and the deman (the 'johns'). Modern investigation treats the trafficked youth as victims, not criminals.
He emphasized that the traffickers are not easy to identify, not the typical 'creeper' but more like a suburban neighbor. The traffickers are typically well educated, charming, yet controlling and brutal to the girls they organize. Most use tactics to exploit weaknesses of the victims including a need for money, substance abuse and poor family histories. The victims come from the suburbs too, including those he worked with who were recruited at local upscale to fast food restaurants in the Minnetonka area.
He urged club members to be watchful, immediately report through 911 any suspicious activities and obtain license plates. He described victim conduct which might be suspicious to include multiple cell phones, inappropriate dress for the weather, poor hygiene, lack of eye contact, and nervousness.
