Today's Member Minute was provided by Bill Klumpp. He described his worst job as working as a bus boy during college and his best work experience being the 30 years he spent working in the Minnesota Attorney General's office. He served under three different publicly elected attorneys general and yet he felt that he had the freedom to perform his role without "politics" entering into the picture.
Next up was a short presentation by me on the subject of the Rotary Foundation. November is designated as "Foundation Month" by RI, and therefore it is a good opportunity to reflect on all the wonderful projects that clubs in our district have been able to conduct both locally and around the world as a result of district and global level grants. It is member contributions to the Foundation that make this possible.
Our speaker was Annie Nolte-Henning from the Alight organization. Alight, formerly known as The American Refugee Committee, is headquartered here in the Twin Cities and has worked to help people displaced from their homelands for over 45 years. Annie's presentation today focused on Ukranian refugees, some of whom are now hoping to come to the U.S. temporarily. Every refugee must have a sponsor/sponsor group. There is much for sponsor groups to do -- fill out forms, welcome them here, help adults find work, and fundraise to help pay for housing. There is no path to citizenship for these refugees but they will have a 2-year authorization to stay in the U.S. Alight is partnering with Rotary clubs across MN to find sponsors for this group of refugees. Charlie Oltman and his wife have signed up to sponsor a 3-person family and our club has agreed to provide $5,000 to support the effort.