March was incredibly productive for our club. We successfully approved changes to our by-laws. We had an enlightening discussion on the Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP), a large Rotary global grant project that has had a profound impact on literacy improvement thanks to the collective efforts of 800 Rotary clubs and 90 districts over the twenty-seven years. (www.guatemalliteracy.org). Emily Swisher, the GLP presenter sends this note,” Feeling grateful to Arden Hills-Shoreview club for such a warm welcome, important questions, and thoughtful discussion. It was an honor to present our project”. Her email describes how you can sponsor a student. I will share this email separately.
Excitingly, our club is poised to proposed TWO significant grant projects: 1) a global grant (~$60K) championed by Rotarian Don Martin for Liberia for providing necessary medical equipment and training for nurses to improve Ear and Hearing care, and 2) a district international grant ($28K) led by Rotarian Dave Newman for farmers in a Nicaragua community, that will directly connect small agriculture farmers with market, eliminate the middleman and thus realize the added value to their product, while potentially exporting a significant portion of their crops. The club will support both these projects by contributing the $3000 each, the remainder to be raised from other clubs and Rotary match grants.
What is commendable about these two proposals is that their potential to foster systemic and sustainable change with the respective communities. Reviewing the proposals, I couldn’t help but recall the teachings during my executive MBA of Prof Marshall Ganz of Harvard University. He emphasized that social change is catalyzed by purposeful individuals or organizations who respond to challenges, cultivate new relationships, and harness economic and cultural influence to drive action.
In the upcoming meeting, I will allocate time for Don and Dave to present their international projects. Thanks to Glenn Bower to encourage his committee members to think differently and propose these impactful projects.
As we continue to invite speakers to our club who shed light on pressing community needs like hunger, homelessness, literacy, and mental health, it is imperative that we delve deeper into the root causes of these issues. Our committees should serve as platforms for identifying these key issues, strategic planning, fostering collaboration, engaging community, and maximizing the potential of grants to enact lasting change.
We will be looking forward to a busy April planning and executing the Taste of Shoreview event, a fundraiser that will support the Slice of Shoreview event during summer. Please help Ken Hola by volunteering to help him conduct this event.
A heartfelt thank you to each of you for your unwavering efforts.
Our Club’s February service project focused on the Kids In Need Foundation in Roseville.On February 13 six of our members and three of their guests helped the Foundation fulfill its mission by assembling school supplies for children in need and by stocking a school supply center for under-resourced teachers.
Over a two hour span our group packed 288 individual student school pouches with pens, pencils, boxes of crayons, glue sticks, erasers, and paper scissors.In addition the group packed 63,000 pencils into class room size packets for the teacher supply center.
The Foundation strives to empower under-resource strapped teachers and students by providing them with the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom.This, in turn, helps creates an equitable learning environment in more impoverished communities.
The Kids in Need Foundation is the only national nonprofit focusing on the nation’s most under-sourced schools: those where 70 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals.
Rotarians and Youth Exchange Students from Districts 5580, 5950, and 5960 participated in events at the Minnesota State Capital on February 19, 2024. The purpose of this visit was to create awareness of Rotary amongst our representatives and to promote the creation of a Rotary license plate.
Our Club’s February service project focused on the Kids In Need Foundation in Roseville. On February 13 six of our members and three of their guests helped the Foundation fulfill its mission by assembling school supplies for children in need and by stocking a school supply center for under-resourced teachers.
Over a two hour span our group packed 288 individual student school pouches with pens, pencils, boxes of crayons, glue sticks, erasers, and paper scissors. In addition, the group packed 63,000 pencils into class room size packets for the teacher supply center.
The Foundation strives to empower under-resource strapped teachers and students by providing them with the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom. This, in turn, helps create an equitable learning environment in more impoverished communities.
The Kids in Need Foundation is the only national nonprofit focusing on the nation’s most under-sourced schools: those where 70 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals.
Today's speakers were Past District Governor Ed Marek and Bruce Morlan, who are co-leading the "Braver Angels" team in our area. Bruce was born in MN but spent most of his career as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Braver Angels is a New York-based organization dedicated to political depolarization. Braver Angels runs workshops, debates, and other events where "red" (conservative) and "blue" (liberal) participants attempt to better understand one another's positions and discover their shared values It was founded following the contentious presidential election of 2016. Abraham Lincoln was an inspiration for this effort, because of his well-documented openness to working with people whose views differed from his own, as shown by the famous quote: "I do not like that man. I must get to know him." as well as his appointment of a "team of rivals" (former rivals for public office) to his presidential cabinet. Braver Angels does not attempt to change the minds of others in terms of political views. Its intent is to reduce the "demonization" of people whose views differ from our own - by helping people understand that we have more in common than we think. This thinking fits well with Rotarian values and the desire to bring about peace in the world.
We also heard from visiting Rotarian Cindy Carlson from the New Brighton-Mounds View Club who shared the work they have undertaken in the Central African Republic by way of a Foundation grant to fund its Senitizo Project. Senitizo provides free, life-saving health services to people without access to healthcare in this area - a great example of Rotarians doing good in the world.
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