Hey! We don’t need no stinking speakers!  Ok, the Lloyds please don’t take that seriously, of course we need speakers, but we proved we are such a tight knit group we can improvise if needed.  So, for anyone that didn’t join us on Wednesday…our speaker was M.I.A.!  However, the Downtown Rotary handled it with true “Is It Good for All Concerned” aplomb!  We had great discussions among ourselves about many important issues.  One of our topics had to do with a young lady who was a scholarship recipient last year and sadly had posted on her social media sites awful racial comments and racial epithets regarding black people specifically.  This was brought to our attention by WOWT which covers our Honor Roll Luncheon event.  I made the decision to have a disclaimer issued per our social media declaring we are not in any way condoning this behavior and although she was a scholarship recipient, we cannot take the money back however we vehemently denounce this behavior.  Obviously, this was a situation that I personally would never tolerate, and I was pleased that our social media team alerted us to this right away.  Thank you so much Sean Olson and Lisa Toniges Moritz.  So, after I got off my high horse of feeling personally offended, John Mock and Lindy Hoyer stepped up with a great suggestion.   They suggested we have a diversity speaker come to the club and invite the young lady (who by the way has apologized for her comments) to the meeting in an effort to teach her and improve her thoughts and actions.  Having been a former Family Teacher at Boys town and a current employee of Youth Care & Beyond I was definitely in favor of teaching and learning. 

Code: we don’t need no stinking speaker.
 

Another topic of conversation was the question of when we can get back to the Field Club to have our meetings in person.  I, along with Aileen Warren and Leigh, put together a survey that also has the Field Club guidelines for safety, for you to fill out so I can get an idea of what everyone is thinking.  You should have received that in your email by now…please respond.  Francis Lajba (a name I have never pronounced correctly in 9 years) also suggested one of our speakers be a medical expert that will review the guidelines and tell us how safe we will be if we gather together.  Our wonderful Dr. Donny Suh has arranged for Dr. Gold to speak to us on July 1.  We are looking at the possibility of doing a hybrid version of Rotary.   Some of us meeting in person at the Field Club and others who are not comfortable yet having the opportunity to participate online.  Sean Olson has volunteered to put a team together to see if that is an option.  Thanks Sean!
 

Speaking of Dr. Suh, he received the Suburban Rotary Omahan of the Year Award for his services as an Ophthalmologist celebrating his work around the world.  I hope you were able to tune in to his talk…it was very inspirational. How blessed are we to have him, not only in Omaha but a part of Downtown Rotary.  Yay us!
 

Deb Skinner and I are figuring out a fun way to do the changing of the guard which will occur on June 24^th.  Brad Burklund had the Reign of Terror because we had so many deaths that year and I have had the Reign of What the Heck is Going On?  John Sullivan will have a wonderfully smooth perfect year and I’ll be happy to be a part of it.  Okay guys, don’t forget to fill out your survey please and be safe, take care and I’m sending you much love!