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Paul Hofslien and Jack Haugen served as speakers today. Both are long-time members and past presidents of the Prior Lake Rotary Club. Jack is the Foundation chair for the Prior Lake club, Paul is now serving in that capacity at the district level and this was the subject of their presentation. Paul provided a brief history and overview of the Foundation, stressing the role it plays as the engine for all of Rotary's good works in the world, including local and global grants, projects, Group Study Exchange, Rotary's Peace Scholarship program and the global Polio Plus effort. In the past several years, the giving level within our district has not kept pace with the requests that clubs have been making to receive funding for projects. The total of contributions last year was approximately $350K and the district's goal is to increase that to $500K. Jack spoke to the hope that members will make the RI Foundation their "Charity of Choice", citing the exceptional job the organization has done managing the foundation efficiently. Less than 1% of contributions go to administrative costs, which has resulted in it being named one of the Top 5 Best Charitable organizations in the U.S. by CNBC last year. Our club received an award this past year for being second overall in giving within the 60+ clubs in our district. All members contribute $50/year as part of the quarterly dues paid, but we also had several additional significant member gifts which resulted in the high giving level for the year. We hope other members will consider additional gifts to the foundation this year so that we might help the district reach its goal and provide the funds needed to complete Polio eradication and other good works around the world.