Minnetonka Rotary The Spoke - January 20, 2021 (Jan 25, 2021)

Meeting Minutes - Various

Meeting called to order at 7:30 am by Chris Carr.

Guests

Gena Davis - Speaker

Invocation

Stacey Q.

Pledge

Mark Forsberg

4-Way Test

Lenny N.

Rotary Minute

None this week.

Announcements

Lenny N. - did 4-way test for Ryan Johnson and Ryan gave $20, $5 for each one of the tests, which will be applied to Polio Plus.

Ron U. – Rollout of our fundraising events – Roaring into Winter – Launches Today Patti S., Char M. and Mary T. have created 4 events – roaring through winter – thank you to Patti for setting up events on the website – Launching today- thanks to Alexa for putting the website together – events underwritten 100% by Betsy Weiner and her husband, Patti, Mary and Ron. Thanks to Alexa for putting everything together on the website and for help from Char too. All proceeds go to the club and will go out to the community.

Stevie Rays Improv Comedy Show – 2/11 – 7-8 pm

Magic with Matt Dunn – 3/11 – 7-7:30 pm

Cooking with Chef Al – 4/22 – 7-8 pm

Meditation and Mindfulness with Betsy Weiner – 5/13 - 7-8 pm

Questions can be directed to Betsy W. or Ron U.

Char M. - $2,597 has been donated so far to Polio plus – we have until the end of April to make our $3,000 goal

Happy Bucks

Terry S. – $1 happy for first COVID shot on 1/27

Char M. - $3 happy bucks as she was so excited to go out to a restaurant again – really fun to be able to go out for breakfast with Lenny and felt very safe

Cathy C. - $1 happy buck – feels safer there than she is than at home

Bill S. - $2 – restaurants open again – 2 outings

Jennifer S. – $5 happy bucks – Royal Bash – sold raffle tickets to two club members and Char came to the office with money for her tickets and a sugar free ice coffee. Thank you to both Char and Dale for buying tickets already.

Alexa R. – $2 – $1 to Nate for Pete stopping over with Thanksgiving dinner as he finally has taste buds back – the other for being frequent flyers at the ER – daughter got staples in her head – she did really complain

Lenny N. - $2 – Enjoyable breakfast with Char – lottery tickets – popcorn store – welcome distraction. Next Tuesday he plans to see his Mom and Dad – first time in 60 years they said they miss him!

Ann W. - $1 – Went to Victoria House – I did see Nancy Davis – dropped off package to our new house – nice to see Nancy in person.

Bob H. – $16 – This Christmas his mother would have been 104 – gone for 17 years and with COVID and retirement – Bob wrote a book for his family to tell his mother’s story

Ron U. - $1 – Received final payment from the sale of business from two years – great way to start the year

Chris - C. $4 – Small group of friends did first every winter event with a small group of friends at the cabin – nice and relaxing weekend up north.

Program

Gina Davis – CEO and Co-Founder of Dog Threads with her husband – started in 2014 – Dog Threads makes clothing for dogs and their owners to match, a portion of all proceeds help dogs in need. She went to school for fashion design and they couldn’t find clothes that matched their dogs human-like personality, so her husband had the idea to create a couple shirts for their dog and they went to a 4^th of July party and everyone loved it so it took off from there. Presentation available on website.

Questions

Jerald – I saw you on shark tank – is Mark still involved in business – 80% of deals don’t go through on Shark Tank – as deal was going through, they were lucky – they ended up finding out the deal wasn’t going through 24 hours before they actually went on air – which was good – they weren’t sure they really wanted to do the deal and they took the year to think about it and now they know what they need – he was just too big for them.

Lenny – Gena – great presentation – was Cuban the only one to offer a deal and Mr. Wonderful offered a deal – they were surprised – they had to close door from Mr. Wonderful. These two are actually the best to work with. What is keeping you up at night – putting too much time in business so eventually can sell.

Bob – match up with increase of getting dogs during COVID and the need from shelters for dogs – so many animals 10 of millions that do not have homes in US – so many pets that we have to end their life as they just can’t find homes. Instead of buying – don’t shop/adopt a dog from a shelter. Warmer climate states have more animals for rescue and Minnesota often takes these shelter animals

Ron – dogs’ different sizes – how do you provide clothes for different size dogs – huge issue when they started business – most important thing was fit – drafted patterns based on breeds – made them, tried them on as many dogs as they could – of course, it doesn’t work for all dogs – but for the most part have something that fits up to Great Dane

Cathy – daughter in dog rescue – takes truckloads of dogs from the south – she interviews everyone before letting the dogs go to a family.

Direct to consumer sales – retail is difficult margins are lower – did test on Amazon – not continuing on Amazon – they did find that return rate on Amazon is huge. Returns clearly used and Amazon refunds the customer no matter what.

Betsy thanks – great that you are staying true to your vision authentic and true giving back and using stainable products – inspires me to share your message – grateful to meet you and hear more about your story.

Next Meeting

January 27, 2021 at 7:30 a.m. by Zoom.

Adjournment

The meeting was then adjourned at 8:30 a.m.

Member Submissions

1. From Patti S. and Ron U. - Fundraising - Entertainment Package

Tickets: All links can be found right on the club’s website: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/3776. You just have to scroll down a bit and hit the “read more” button. All the link are then displayed.

Stevie Ray’s Improv Comedy Show

February 11, 2021 | 7-8 pm

A whole hour of interactive family fun and laughter.

https://www.stevierays.org/

Magic with Matt Dunn

March 14, 2021 | 7:00 - 7:30 pm

Join the amazing, and Minnesota based, magician Matt Dunn, for a brilliant half hour show with lots of magic, laughter and mystery!

http://www.magicianmattdunn.com

Cooking Class with Chef Ali

April 22, 2021 | 7-8:00 pm

Chef extraordinaire, Ali from The Caterers Kitchen will present his

"Master Class" while demonstrating one of his favorite dishes!

Watch or cook along. Recipes and ingredient list provided ahead of time.

https://www.thecaterersmn.com/

Meditation and Mindfulness with Betsy Weiner

May 13, 2021 | 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Spend an hour with Certified Meditation and Mindfulness teacher, Betsy Weiner as she guides you to bring more peacefulness, calm, and relaxation to your life.

All levels welcome and no prior experience necessary.

http://www.betsyweiner.com/

The Club for Building Responsible Youth