In exactly 72 days, the Faribault Rotary Club will celebrate its 100-year anniversary on May 1, 2020. This week’s historical highlight is from 2005.
The club moved its meetings from the Elks to Bernie’s Vintage Ballroom.
With the Rotary International Theme, “Celebrate Rotary” the club celebrated the 100-year anniversary of Rotary with a special program.
The Annual Honor’s Banquet was held for BA and FHS seniors.
The Annual Strive Banquet was held with scholarships awarded at the Elks Club.
The club’s 3-year pledge drive for Polio Plus ended with collections exceeding the $7500 goal.
The Club held the annual picnic and silent auction at the Rotary Camp.
The club enjoyed the 66th annual Christmas Concert.
Our club’s 85th president in 2004-05 was Richard Cook. He joined our club in 1997 and has been a member for 23 years.
This was probably Dick’s fondest yet bittersweet memory:
"That has Rotary written all over it", a comment made observing kids playing soccer on our way to a 2004 training session at the Hasting High School. With me that day were Keith Shaffer, president-elect and Angela Storch. Keith wouldn't be president dying prematurely of a heart attack in 2005. Keith was one of those guys to get things done. That comment, that day inspired me. So, we signed a resolution on October 4, 2004 to take a leadership role in creating soccer fields in Faribault by assembling a group of key stakeholders to explore and lead this initiative.
The money piece, as past president Darlene Meillier noted 2 weeks ago, actually took place after her presidency. It was a big deal at the time and she is right the camp did come into play as a revenue source. It was subsequently dropped when Rotarian Wes Bahl talked to his son, Tracy. Wes had cancer at that time and an unknown future. When the Bahl Foundation committed a million dollars other stakeholders, like Faribault Rotary stepped up. Our club raised $50,000 for naming rights on one of the fields by sponsoring a couple of circus fundraisers. The fields and our commitment came to fruition in 2010 with the dedication of Faribault Soccer Complex and Bahl Field. Neither Keith Shaffer or Wes Bahl, both friends and Rotarians, never lived to see this come to pass yet were key inspirations.
Side note:
The 100-year Rotary convention was in Chicago the birth place during my year and I was planning to go. I booked a room way in advance at the upscale Loews House of Blues downtown Chicago. This all changed when one of our sons picked that weekend to get married. The brighter side is that son, Jake, joined Faribault Rotary shortly thereafter.