District 5950 Newsletter - June 2025 (Jun 02, 2025)

We asked this year's presidents what their favorite memories of the year has been. Check out what they shared:

Rotary Club of Buffalo - Suzanne O'Dell

Rotary Club of Minneapolis Uptown - Guy Johnson

We continue to support the Joyce Uptown food shelf by serving on the Board, providing volunteers to keep the food shelf open on Thursday evenings for clients who cannot come during the day, and conduct an annual fundraiser lead by Bill Blackburn. This year’s fundraiser netted more than $20,000!
We are building on our relationship with Ella Baker school under Tom Sopoci’s leadership. This year’s activities include literacy programs (e.g., author visit to the school, field trip to Magers and Quin book store), sponsoring 5^th graders to attend Junior Achievement BizTown, and a garden project. We also provide financial support to the school on behalf of people who speak at our club.
We are actively involved in the Rotary Youth Exchange program under the leadership of Mike Benz and Laura Thomas. After sponsoring a full-term student from Sweden last year, we sponsored a student for the Short-Term Exchange Program with the son of one of our members (Stephanie Swanson) and are planning on participating in the program again this year.
We are currently in the process of adopting new Bylaws thanks to President-Elect Charmaine Dwyer!
We started a sub-club dedicated to supporting the Uptown community. Our initial activity is to develop/promote a passport program designed to increase visibility/business at local restaurants. Richard Haglund is leading our sub-club.

Rotary Club of Great River - Jim Wiant

As part of our strategic planning, we set up a projects committee tasked with coming up with more, hands-on projects of the right scale for a small club. Our first new project was a major fall yard and garden cleanup for the Benton County Historical Society’s museum.
For the 35^th year we put on a full Thanksgiving dinner, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, for seniors from the local senior living facilities. We do this in partnership with Sauk Rapids - Rice Schools and with major donations from a local bus company to bring our guests, and many other longstanding donor relationships. This also requires us to mobilize everyone. Plus, this year we had the help of DG Sharon!
One of the goals of our new, small-project strategy is to attract service oriented members who are interested in actively doing things. Our second “small” project this year has been to sew, from scratch, colorful book tote bags for preschoolers which we will give away in March, each with a book. Many Rotarians are learning some new skills. More important, we have attracted three potential new members!
100% EMEY Foundation support.
Working the booth at the Benton County Fair in August selling turkey drumsticks, brats, local sweet corn, etc. This requires all of our members, families and friends to pitch in for the six days of the fair. It’s one big party! (Plus our fundraiser for the year).

Rotary Club of Litchfield - Andrew Letson

The Litchfield Club celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2024. We had a wonderful dinner with current members, charter members, and our spouses, which included a round of Rotary trivia!
We held a very successful rose sale fundraiser, which is our biggest fundraiser each year.
In the past month, we’ve received two applications for new members, ensuring that our club remains strong!
We successfully reviewed and updated our bylaws.
We had two members go on a Rotary trip to South Africa to distribute desks to school children.

Rotary Club of North Minneapolis - Pam Russell Warder

Rotary Club of Chanhassen - Russell St. John

December Breakfast With Santa Event ~500 from community participated for pancakes and sausage...half were kiddies. Very festive and appreciated by the community.
Fourth of July festival event. Massive turnout by the citizens and huge work effort by the Chan Rotarians. A blast!
Leaf Raking for the Elderly in Chanhassen - An enthusiastic team having fun serving others!

Rotary Club of St. Cloud - Ken Bellicot

Rotary Club of Minnetonka - Alissa Silva

Welcoming New Members & Giving Back – Adding Annika, Mikey, Nancy, and Terry to the club, hosting inspiring speakers each week, handing out grant checks to amazing organizations, and seeing members receive awards for their contributions to the Rotary International Foundation—these moments made every meeting special.
Charity Golf Event – This is always a highlight! It’s so much fun seeing our members and the community come together for a great cause, raising funds to give back to organizations doing meaningful work.
Free Bikes 4 Kidz – Volunteering is always rewarding, but getting to ride an awesome mini bike while doing it? That’s next-level fun.
Alexa’s 40th Birthday Party – Bringing together members, friends, and Rotary big shots under one roof to celebrate an incredible person.
Social Outings with Club Members – From breakfast to happy hour, I just love spending time with our members and connecting on a personal level.

Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking

The top experience by far for the Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking was the opportunity for 4 members of the West Africa Branch (our sub-club) group to attend the Ghana District 9104 Special meeting to welcome RI Trustee and former RI President Mark Maloney and his wife Gay. It was a beautiful event and Mr. Maloney even acknowledged the work of the Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking (a club that was chartered during his Presidency). The West Africa Branch is also composed of women who serve in the organization Theodora Africa, an organization that lifts African women out of the sex trade through professional training and employment. They also provide African social impact advocates with a genuine successful alternative. Mr Jonas Ayi, Theodora Board member and member of the Ghana Rotary Club hosted the Branch members. According to all who attended, it was a fabulous evening.

Rotary Club of Eden Prairie Noon - Bill Hooke

We had Pong Fest fundraiser. It raised money but we had NMDP (Be The Match) on Site and they were able to add six new members to the NMDP blood stem cell registry.
EP School Administer for coordinating our main local project “My Book Day” has brought new enthusiasm which is welcomed.
We have the Plymouth Rotary Club planning to come to do CPR Training in March.
Working with Paul Peterson and Bocar Kane has been a high point.
We are also working on new membership campaign.