We are cruising through winter - time to sign up to attend the annual district conference which will be held April 27-29th at the Holiday Inn East in St. Paul! Several of us have made our reservations but we're hoping to be joined by others. These gatherings are always inspiring -- reminding us of all the possible ways for Rotary to make a difference in the world. Our youth exchange students will be in attendance for part of the session and put on a small program - always a highlight of the event. President-Elect Kent Peterson will be attending PETS training in Iowa in March - another sure sign of spring! And while our weather has been almost balmy since mid-January, it's not quite warm enough for me yet, so I will be snow-birding for the month of March down in Sarasota, FL. Thank you in advance to Kent and Ken Hola who will fill in for me during that time.
March is President Elect month in the Rotary year. Our next president, Kent Peterson, will be going to the President Elect training session this month. From personal experience I can tell you it is well worth the trip and expense. I hope Kent has a great time and learns a lot about Rotary. Remember to wear your Rotary pin and be ready with an elevator speech about Rotary when people ask you about the pin.
Thank you to Paul McCreight for arranging a great variety of speakers in February. We’ll have more great speakers in March arranged by Ken Hola. We start on March 7 with Yazdan Bakhsh who tells his story of a courageous young man born into the persecuted and exploited Hazara culture of Afghanistan. Also on the schedule (found in this e-Bulletin) are John Hausladen speaking about the Trucking Industry and Jerry Hromatka, President & CEO of Northeast Youth and Family Services. Want even more variety? We’ll have a meeting out of the Best Western Plus on Tuesday morning, March 14. So, please make special note of this meeting:
March 14 – Ramsey County Library – Shoreview. Starting at our normal 7:15AM, we’ll meet at the newly opened Library, 4560 Victoria Street North. We’ll hear from Carol Jackson, Ramsey County Library Manager and tour the new facility including the interactive preschool equipment purchased through a donation from our Rotary Club and a matching Rotary District Grant.
While our preschool literacy items have yet to be installed in the new Shoreview Library, they have arrived, and the librarian tells me they ought to be in place for our March 14th meeting. The new building is quite impressive; if you haven’t been in it since the grand opening, you owe it to yourself to swing by. Among the differences from other libraries are 3-D printers, bags containing five DVD movies and appropriate treats to binge watch five related movies, and bags containing several copies of a given book along with a 3-ring binder for the facilitator for a group read/discussion. The automatic book return sorter is technology at its best. Looking forward to the 14th!
The guest speaker was Cindy Theis, Associate Vice-President of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, provided background on the College. She indicated that the non-profit art and design school that has been in existence for130 years. They offer 14 undergraduate degrees in fine art and sustainable design. The College has more than 700 students, 95% who receive some level of financial aid. About 60% of the students are from Minnesota and their areas of study include painters, sculptors, furniture makers, comic book design, and photography.
She discussed the College's annual art sale that is held the weekend before Thanksgiving. She indicated that 80% of the proceeds go to the artists. She encouraged Rotarians to attend the sale.
The Club welcomed visiting Rotarian Ron Hughes from Excelsior and guest and prospective club member Shelly Myrland. The guest speaker was Tim Huff who serves as the Executive Director of the Cars for Neighbors program.
Mr. Huff indicated that the program was started in 2000 to help people obtain reliable transportation. This non-profit organization has both a car repair program and a car donation program. Over the years they have helped repair more than 3600 cars for people that could not afford to repair their own vehicles. They work with Meineke Car Care Center and parts suppliers to have cars repaired as inexpensively as possible. They also accepted more than 1000 car donations and have then repaired the vehicles and given them to people in need. Mr. Huff told a few stories about different people that Cars for Neighbors has been able to help over the years and the difference that it made in their lives.
We were fortunate to have our District Governor-Elect Kyle Haugen speak to us today on the subject of the Rotary Foundation. Kyle is with the Prior Lake Club so it made for a long drive on a very foggy morning -- but probably good practice for him before he assumes the very significant role of District Governor on July 1. At that point, his travels will take him to the far corners of our district, including Rice Lake, WI! Kyle began his remarks by noting that for the first time, requests for district grants exceeded the funds available this year. We were already aware of this as our grant request for a matching contribution to the new Ramsey County Library in Shoreview was approved but at a lower-than-requested amount due to their need to ration funds. There are many good reasons to contribute to the RI Foundation but one key reason is the fact that a portion of these contributions come back to the District to be used for local projects such as ours. Another key reason is the possibility to fund larger global grants. Our club has not been involved with a global grant in recent years but about 15 years ago we were leading a very significant global project known as the Russian Farm Project. Then, of course, there is Rotary's Polio Plus program which is funded through the Foundation. Rotary has made a huge difference in the world by partnering with the Gates Foundation to eliminate polio around the world. We are nearly there -- only 1 case has been identified in the world so far in 2017!! We can also feel very good about the efficiency and effectiveness of the Foundation. It has been recognized by many organizations, including CNBC, which rates it as 4th overall in the world in terms of how it operates, with nearly all funds able to be put to direct use in grants rather than being used to run the operation.
We were visited by representatives from the Minnesota Region of American Red Cross today -- CEO Phil Hansen and Board Member Ed Merrit. They gave us an informative overview of the many ways in which this venerable organization serves people both locally and around the world. Phil started with the observation that this is the only charitable organization that asks folks for time, money, AND blood! It serves as the world's largest humanitarian effort, boasting more than 17 million volunteers. Although we are all quite familiar with the "blood and flood" work that they are best known for, many of us probably did not realize their close connection with America's military. They serve as the intermediary between our military branches and the families of those serving, such that, in the face of a medical emergency, families wishing to have their service member come home to attend to a family medical crisis are required to contact the Red Cross. The RC has an exemption from HIPPA data privacy rules and is able to quickly determine the validity of the request and work to facilitate the required travel home. We were also reminded of the ever-present need for blood donation. Only 38% of the population is eligible to donate due to restrictions around health and travel, and within that group, only 9% of the population does come forward to donate. We are fortunate to have a center right in Arden Hills that we can access and learned that we could also organize a blood drive as a community service activity within our club - definitely something we should consider!
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