The month of August brought us our annual Taste of Hops & Vines fundraising event and boy did it not disappoint! Each and every one of you should be incredibly proud of your efforts. Even with a lighter slate of vendors and lower than expected ticket sales, your efforts saw us to our most successful monetary event to date. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
We heard from the Sheriff's department and the owner of Dependable Solutions on the topic of fraud and scams this past month. There was lots of great information and ways to best protect ourselves from bad actors trying to access our information and take what they can. Reflecting on the information presented, I can't help but think how great it is organizations like Rotary exist. It's so, so easy to get caught up in all the 'bad' we hear on a daily basis, but it sure is nice to belong to a group of people doing good.
If you know of someone who you think would bring good information to the club, be a dynamic and thought-provoking speaker or have an interesting topic to share, there is room on the speaker list. Please just let me know if you do fill a speaking slot.
Bill Klump and Kyle Sorenson are showing some of the inventory from our tour at Solid Ground. Our Rotary has always participated in the Christmas stocking program at the center. Each child gets a stocking filled with candy, games and books each holiday season. Solid Ground provides supportive housing for families experiencing homelessness or those at imminent risk to be without shelter. This program combines affordable housing with services that help individuals and the whole family, achieve housing and economic stability, advance their education, improve their health and create community connections. It's an award-winning nonprofit whose proven, holistic approach helps families build the strong foundations they need to emerge from homelessness into a brighter future.
The International Service Team provides a forum for our members to learn more about the international impact of Rotary. We are the collecting point for grant submissions from other Rotary Clubs. Last Rotary year, we evaluated 12 proposals and funded 7 with a total of $3,550. In addition, Dave Newman led a district grant for support of work in Nicaragua and Don Martin gained approval for a Global Grant for Ear & Hearing Care for Liberia. So far this year we have received 8 requests from other clubs for funding and the work on the Global Grant continues.
If you would like to join the International Service Team, you can be a part of evaluating the grants from other clubs and see the incredible reach of Rotary. If you would like to initiate a District or Global Grant, you can learn the ropes before you dive in.
The Global Grant has funding of at about $60,000 from many Rotary clubs and about $20,000 from Rotary International. Two-thirds ($40,000) of the funding is for equipment for trained nurses at 7 hospitals across the country of Liberia in West Africa. Most of the equipment has arrived here in Minnesota and before long we will have a “packing session” at one of our weekly Rotary meetings. We will pack each of the “kits” into its case for delivery to the trained nurses.
Here is a photo of much of the equipment on the day it arrived from Italy.
We hope to ship the equipment to The Rotary Club of Monrovia, Liberia before the end of August.
MVHS Principal Rob Reetz was our featured speaker today. Rob has been honored for his effective leadership of the school which continues to be rated in the Top 10 in our state. He was recently nominated for Principal of The Year. He has been a leader in coming up with an effective cell phone policy, which schools everywhere are grappling with. He acknowledges that the high performance standards at MVHS create a challenging environment for students and he has made it a recent priority to focus on improving the high school experience for 9th graders - to help ensure a successful high school experience. This initiative has included a revised grading system to clarify what it takes to demonstrate proficiency. There was marked improvement in student passing rates this year with the new system in place.
We also heard from the two students we sponsored for this year's Rotary Camp RYLA. Both students shared their initial hesitancy about attending due to fears of not knowing other attendees and not being sure what the weekend would be like. But both raved about the experience and the insights it provided for their future endeavors. We have heard reports such as this many times in the past when we have sponsored students to both Camp RYLA and Camp Enterprise, but it is always reassuring to hear how worthwhile these experiences are.
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