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.
Our Club’s August service project centered on the Kids In Need Foundation in Roseville.On August 28 eleven of our members helped the Foundation fulfill its mission by assembling school supplies for children in need and by stocking a school supply center for under-resourced teachers.
Over a two hour span our entourage began by packing backpacks with school supplies, and then shifted to creating several hundred individual packets of different colored magic markers for the teacher supply room.Our shift ended by making up large individual packets of pencils for the teacher supply center.
The Kids in Need Foundation strives to empower under-resource strapped teachers and students by providing them with the school supplies they need to succeed in the classroom.This, in turn, helps create an equitable learning environment in more impoverished communities.
The Foundation is the only national nonprofit focusing on the nation’s most under-resourced schools: those where 70 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals.
With fantastic weather, participants were able to enjoy beer, wine and food at the 2024 Taste of the Hops and Vines. Thanks to the beer, wine, soft drink and food vendors for providing their wares. Ticket sales, sponsorships, and the auction resulted in our raising about $10,000. These funds will be used to fund community service projects, scholarships, and international projects.
Dave Newman is working on a District Grant “LIFT – processing center update and rent” for supporting a community in Nicaragua that is paired with a Global Grant that Stillwater Sunrise is working on for the same community. There has been a significant development related to the government of Nicaragua requiring Rotary International to work with the Department of Interior. Rotary International will not agree to those terms. In addition, Rotary International has decided in order to comply with sanctions applied by the U.S. Government to Nicaragua it is not possible for The Rotary Foundation funds to be sent to Nicaragua. Our district and our club are in the midst of figuring out what these means to the overall LIFT project, projects that are supporting other efforts in Nicaragua and to the folks in Nicaragua that are relying on commitments we have made.
Don Martin is working on a Global Grant “Ear & Hearing Care (EHC) for Liberia” which will provide instruments for 7 hospitals in Liberia for hearing testing. The fundraising portion of the Global Grant was met in October! That is a milestone! We can thank 20 clubs that pitched in from $100 to $5,000 in support of this grant. The next step is authorizations by the presidents of the Host club in Liberia, and the International club (us), as well as DDF authorization from the districts. Once that is accomplished, (finally) The Rotary Foundation will review the proposal that was approved by our district back in August.
We continue to evaluate requests for funding. At our meeting in October, we considered:
A water project in Kenya from Forest Lake
Additional funding for an ESL project from Columbia Heights – Fridley
The Guatemala Literacy project from Rice Lake (Wisconsin) for $500
The first 2 projects were already fully funded by the time we offered support, so we have withdrawn our offer of support.
Remember Gavin Wilson, the young man who told us about his experience at a one week summer film school some of us helped finance? Well, it was because of him (sort of) that the MVHS DECA Club may now collaborate with our Rotary Club on a Human Trafficking project.
"Say what?"
Stephanie, Mike, Anoop and I staffed a Rotary table during the MVHS open house for students and parents, during which we were promoting NYFS and student mental health services. When Gavin and his parents saw us, they came over to the table to chat. Gavin mentioned his teacher,
Becky Allard, who happens to be our primary resource to find students to attend Camp Enterprise, sponsored by the Edina Rotary and to which we provide four scholarships.
Gavin didn’t know about Camp Enterprise, but he did know that Becky Allard was only 50 feet away.
I found Becky Allard and we chatted about the deadline for finding students to attend Camp Enterprise. She then pointed out that Thaniska, who attended last year, is now president of the DECA Club.
Thaniska recognized me and repeated what a valuable experience Camp Enterprise had been for her. She also asked if our Rotary Club would consider collaborating with DECA on a project.
As soon as I retrieved my jaw from my chest, I dragged her to the Rotary table to meet Stephanie. For now let it suffice to say that they had a valuable conversation and we may finally have the connection we need to do more at MVHS. Stay tuned.
Our speaker today was consultant Michael Gregory who spoke about "The Collaboration Effect". He is an expert in conflict resolution, including working working as a qualified mediator with the Minnesota Supreme Court. He provided information on how to connect relationships, listen actively and educate honestly and concretely. His conflict resolution work as even involved arbitrating issues between street gangs. He has written and published 12 books and over 35 articles on this subject.
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