We were joined today by District Governor Dayle Quigley from the St. Paul Rotary Club. Dayle took a few minutes at the start of the meeting to congratulate our club on the high level of support we provided in response to our District's push late in the Rotary fiscal year to bring total District giving to the RI Foundation up to $400,000. The following members answered this call and donated $365 or more, which helped our district well exceed the stated goal: Mike Anuta, Bill Klumpp, Frank Mabley, Anoop Mathur, Charlie Oltman, Jerry Peterson, Kent Peterson, Mike Spellman, Peggy Strom, Dennis Erno, and Mark Stange.
Speaker for the day was Allison Alstrin, representing the MN Military and Veteran Exchange. This organization represents a coalition of other organizations with the single goal of creating a rallying point for all things related to creating healthy military and veteran communities. It provides a means of connecting government, community and non-profit sectors that make up the 3-legged stool of support for these individuals and families. There are hundreds of tools and organizations created to support those currently serving, prior service members, their families, and caregivers. So many, in fact, that it can be hard to know where to start looking. MNme raises awareness and provides organized, effective access to the resources available to the Minnesota military and veteran community.