Caitlin Cullen is the Head Chef and Owner of the Tandem Restaurant in Milwaukee. Caitlin was a speaker at the World Affairs Seminar for young people, which was held virtually this spring. She spoke about the restaurant's direction in reaction to COVID-19.

 

When the stay-at-home orders were issued in March, Caitlin realized that her restaurant may close. So, she started looking at what she could do to help her community...how she could do the most while she had the chance. She decided to make "tv dinners" out of the ingredients she had at the restaurant. The first day, she assembled 85 dinners she thought may last for a few weeks. After promoting the meals to her community, response was overwhelming and the meals were gone in two hours! The second day, she assembled 150 meals and they were also gone in two hours! Since March, the Tandem has distributed 50,000 free meals to the community. 

 

 At this point, the restaurant began operating on donations. The largest donation received was $430,000 from World Central Kitchen, a non-profit dedicated to finding creative solutions to hunger and poverty. In Milwaukee, with a population of 600,000, over 20,000 residents are employed in the restaurant industry. The money from World Central Kitchen was directed to eight restaurants in the Milwaukee area, and the residual funds will be used to tutor students to keep them in school.

 

Caitlin realized the importance of keeping people employed and developed a program to employ young, black youth and give them a chance to get a job. She has targeted two populations: youth who need a job to get experience and youth who have been released from incarceration. These entry level jobs are meant to be a stepping stone for the youth.

The Rotary District 5450 Annual Conference is scheduled for Saturday, August 29th and will be a Virtual on-line event.  It’s a great chance to learn from other district clubs and share ideas.  The cost for the event is $22, with $20 donated to Polio Plus in the registrant's name.

 

Speakers include Jake Norton, official National Geographic expedition photographer, NASA Flight Director Jeff Radigan and Eric Weihenmayer, the first person wihout sight to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. For registration, click here.  

Dan Gust - 1/8

Alissa Jeffery - 1/11

John Caldwell - 1/14

Raeann Larsen - 1/18

Rose Crispin - 1/22

Debby Paris - 1/31

 

Clay Douglas - 1/1 - 29 years

Ron Lichter - 1/1 - 28 years

Jack Cletcher - 1/8 - 36 years

John Mees - 1/8- 36 years

Chris McVay - 1/15 - 8 years

David Wright - 1/17 - 9 years

Ken Cline - 1/18 - 10 years

Ryan Mason - 1/19 - 11 years

Les Wright - 1/20 - 12 years

Linda Snyder-Crockett - 1/28 - 24 years

Roger Jurgens - 1/29 - 36 years

Brian Coats - 1/31 - 26 years

 

 

Our Family of Rotary Chair, Diane Stow is available to members during this challenging time.  We want to serve and support one another.  If you have needs or know of a club member in need, please reach out to Diane Stow.  You can email Diane or contact her at 303-775-3338.  



Hello Everyone,

 

The Rotary theme for 2020-21 is Rotary Opens Opportunities.. A key goal for the upcoming Rotary year will be how do we maintain and continue all that the club has built over the last 100+ years?  What do we need to do to maintain the club as a cohesive unit?  How do we continue to support our community through local grants and projects?  How do we continue to support Rotary International, the Foundation, and Polio plus?  Also, how do we prepare for the day when programs like RYLA are able to resume?  

 

A friend of mine is a multiple time cancer survivor.  He always says that tough times mean that better ones are in the future.  With that in mind, my focus will be on how we maintain what we have today, and how we prepare to transition to the other side of our current paradigm.  Longmont Rotary has a great tradition and a great group of people.  Like everything else these days, things will be a little more difficult than usual, but we can and will succeed.

 

Thanks

Dave