District Conference - Awards Program

 

 

 

This year we also narrowed the categories to four, presented third, second and first place awards, and showed a short video of each of the four winners.   The committee especially took note of projects that were innovative and collaborative. Here were the clubs and projects awarded prizes by our awards committee:

 

Third Place:  Monticello for their lead in working with Cokato, Alexandria, Buffalo and St. Michael-Albertville Clubs on phase one of a natural playground at Bertram Chain of Lakes, focused on providing experiences with the sights, smells, textures and sounds that many kids currently lack in the area.

 

Second Place:  Minneapolis City of Lakes for leading the coalition with North Minneapolis, Minneapolis South, Minneapolis University, Minneapolis Uptown and Minneapolis #9 in an Area 10 – all Minneapolis Rotary Clubs – literacy initiative to provide 1,844 dictionaries to adult education centers, 1,000 distributed through the corrections system providing an immediate resource for learning.

 

AND THE WINNER:  Rogers Rotary and Maple Grove Rotary, who engaged in a “food fight” for hunger.  This innovative approach to highlighting the issue of hunger in their communities spurred an unique idea – a challenge to collect food in a friendly competition for a food shelf serving families in the northwest suburbs who are struggling with basic needs. The two clubs set out to out-donate each other and what transpired was the 2^nd largest donation in the organization's history! One club went to far as to purchase more than 100 crock-pots and 100 pounds of meat. They created a crock-pot recipe book and delivered the “full meal deal” to food shelf and recipient families as part of the their donation. Not only did the challenge raise 30,000 pounds of food and $2,000 for community members in need, but also created motivation among Rotarians, fellowship between clubs and press coverage. Next year, there could be plans to grow the event next year to challenge the #1 donor.  Congratulations to these two great clubs!

 

Third Place: Alexandria, Eden Prairie AM, Buffalo, Monticello and St. Michael-Albertville for their unique shared lead concept to provide adequate bathroom facilities for 3 elementary schools, repair a leaky roof and improve the workable water system in Olanchito, Honduras.

 

Second Place:  Minneapolis Rotary #9 for their One Woman, One Goat project in Tanzania. This social enterprise development project is providing 200 women with sustainable income and nutrition.

 

AND THE WINNER:  Brooklyn Park Rotary, Maple Grove Rotary, and North Minneapolis Rotary.  Partnerships with these three clubs and other community and international organizations led to the creation and donation of hundreds of feminine hygiene kits that have been distributed to remote corners of the world. Working through international organization, Days for Girls, kits are being sewn by volunteers of Rotarians, firefighters, church members, Junior Rotarians, professionals, seniors, homeless women and city workers. Through these partnerships hundreds of kits are being distributed to girls and women in Bangladesh, Kenya and Guatemala. One project led by one club working with many is effecting real lives around the world. In addition to the feminine hygiene kits comes education of female biology for these girls and women. In this way, the girls and women are learning, provided with resources to make a difference, and in the end provide the opportunity to continue their education and jobs and break the cycle of poverty. Maple Grove Rotary club has worked with Brooklyn Park and North Minneapolis Rotary clubs in sew-a-thon events to create the kits. And working with other community organizations making change in the world.  Congratulations!

 

Third Place:    South Minneapolis Rotary.  This “small but mighty” club of 14 members has figured out how to support 5 outbound Youth Exchange Students this year and preparing to host 4 inbound students next year. Through relationships with area high schools and motivation to provide these extraordinary experiences, they have created a model to continue the moment and impact students’ lives here and abroad.

 

Second Place:  Brooklyn Center Rotary for their support of the  Brooklyn Center High School band program, engaging with low income students of color in an activity that would otherwise be financially impossible as 82% of the high school students are on free/reduced lunch program. For more than 10 years, Brooklyn Center Rotarians have funded the purchase and use of musical instruments for over half of the band.

 

AND THE WINNER:  Edina Morningside Rotary and Edina Noon Rotary for their work with Camp nterprise.  Camp Enterprise is a long standing project that received a bit of revamping this year. This leadership development project brought together a record number of high school junior and seniors in an extensive three-day camp focused on the Free Enterprise System. After redesigning the website to be mobile-friendly, creating a new logo, and changing the mentoring component to include college credit, Camp Enterprise welcomed 110 students represented 58 high schools in Minnesota and Wisconsin. These students were sponsored by 61 Rotary clubs across two Districts, which represents more clubs than ever working to identify students ready for this challenging opportunity. After three days, the students walk away educated in business concepts and negotiation skills. They made presentations on the Private Enterprise System, developed teamwork skills, participated in panel discussions, heard from today's business leaders and six lucky students walked away with $1,000 each post-secondary scholarships. Together, the Rotary clubs of Edina Morningside and Edina Noon produced Camp Enterprise and November 2014 as a smashing success.  Great work, Edina Rotarians.

 

Those of you who heard my “official” talk at your club know that I spoke about the Rotary core values, values that bring us together with like-minded Rotarians all over the world.  Those five identified core values are fellowship, leadership, integrity, diversity and service. 

 

This year I instituted an award to highlight one of those core values.  Hopefully there will be subsequent awards emphasizing all of the core values of Rotary, but that is up to my successors.  This year the District Governors Rotary Values in Action Award was awarded to the Rotary Club of Eagan, for their outstanding High School Ethics Workshop.  program began 22 years ago when Eagan’s Rotary Club led an all-day ethics workshop for juniors and seniors at Eagan High School. This day-long, immersion into the world of ethics brings awareness of ethical behavior to tomorrow's leaders. Through lectures, videos, small group discussions and roll-playing, the students are confronted with complex ethical situations then come to consensus and make a presentation. Throughout the day, the learn-by-doing workshop consistently aligns with Rotary's 4-Way test.  At the end of the day, the students have a deeper understanding of identifying the right thing to do and a grasp of the bigger picture of the world around them – vital to tomorrow's leaders. Today, Eagan conducts the entire workshop program in collaboration with Rotarians in Apple Valley, Bloomington, Burnsville, Duluth, Eden Prairie, Grand Rapids, Hutchinson, Lakeville, Madelia, Maple Grove, New Ulm, Osseo, Plymouth, Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope, Rogers, St. James, Shakopee, West St. Paul and Willmar, and the club is looking to grow from here. Thousands of students across Minnesota have benefited from this Ethics Workshop through their high schools.   Congratulations to the club for this well-deserved recognition.