Club members, besides our regular Tuesday morning meetings we have a lot going on in April! Hopefully you can participate in one or more of these activities.
Our club will be participating in the 2023 Taste of Shoreview at the Shoreview Community Center on Thursday, April 20th 5-8pm! We will have a table with information about our club including who we are, service events, club events and fundraisers etc. In exchange for a free community table we are asked to help at the event such as setup or cleanup. Contact Chharlie Oltman for details.
Elinor is leading an Earth Day April 22’nd project in conjunction with the Friends of the Mississippi at 44th Street and West River Parkway, Minneapolis from 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM. Contact Elinor Jackson for details and invite your friends and neighbors.
We have a Feed My Starving Children Club Service project on April 27 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Incarnation Lutheran Church. Contact Dennis Erno for details.
For our Club Activity on Apr 29, 2023 we have Summit Brewery Tour at 2PPM. Contact Bill Clump for details.
Also on Saturday April 29 is the 2023 Tri-District Conference at Maddens on Gull Lake, Brainerd. We've organized a top-quality conference with a shared vision to bring together welcoming, engaged, and involved Rotarians and their guests. See weekly emails from Kathy Hughitt for details.
At the last Club Assembly thoughts were shared about how to improve meetings, especially the lack on in-person attendance. A small group was formed to look at alternate sites now that additional options may have opened up post COVID closings. If you have any ideas please contact Charlie Oltman.
I don’t have any pictures to share from our last club activity to the Shoreview Water Treatment plant but I will for the next newsletter. Each month we have visited interesting places in our community.
We have seen more and more adverse weather effects in the world and on February 6, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria killed tens of thousands of people.
R. I President Jenny Jones activated Rotary’s and the Rotary Foundation trustees, and directed donations to the earthquake relief fund. If you would like to donate as well to the fund, go to rotary.org/donate.
April 17 - One of the most FUN community Service activities: Joining up with several other service organizations at Incarnation Lutheran Church, we’ll once again pack emergency food packets for both domestic and international needs. The team comradery and frenzied pace makes it a very enjoyable two hours.Friends and relatives are welcome to join in. Sign up on our portal.
One of the great things about Rotary is what one learns from our weekly speakers and local site visits makes us “GREAT AT COCKTAIL CONVERSATION.” Indeed, the knowledge we gain generally finds its way to others we come in contact with, and spreading that knowledge is really a service to the community, as a more knowledgeable community is a stronger community.
Earlier this Rotary year, we contributed $300 towards The Rotary Club of New Brighton/Moundsview’s District Grant for the construction of living quarters for essential medical staff in rural Central African Republic. The purpose of the project was to construct modest dormitory style living quarters for medical staff who work at the primary health care facility operated by Senitizo, a 501c3 organization. This project was recently completed A five-room “dormitory” was built near the Senitizo medical facility. The project also included funds for furnishings (beds).
Senitizo’s doctor, nurses, and midwife are the only medically certified staff in the entire district of over 100,000 people where the clinic is located. Previously, they lived in small mud huts. Senitizo wanted to be able to give them more acceptable living quarters to ensure they can retain the highest qualified staff. There are also security and continuity of care advantages to having our staff all in one place.
Senitizo operates a clinic which is two hours from the capital city of Bangui. People travel to the clinic from up to 40 miles away, mostly on foot, for medical treatment. The cost for a visit is just one dollar, which includes examination by a doctor and any medications needed.
Senitizo was given operational control over an existing health structure by this community so that primary health care services would be available in the surrounding area. The services include consultation, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases such as malaria, acute respiratory infections, treatment of severe diarrhea, pre/post prenatal care and safe delivery for women. They also have community health workers that go out into the surrounding villages to educate the population on the services that Senitizo provides and how to prevent common disease spread.
Today's speaker was newly elected Shoreview Mayor Sue Denkinger. Sue grew up in St. Paul and received both an undergraduate degree in communication and a masters degree in business administration from Augsburg University. Sue replaces Sandy Martin who retired last year after serving as mayor for over 20 years. Sue had been on the Shoreview City Council prior to being endorsed by Mayor Martin as a highly qualified successor. Sue retired a few years ago from her long career at Thompson Reuters, where she held leadership roles in manufacturing, customer service and project management. Sue shared results from the 2022 Community Survey which continues to show a very high (95%) level of citizen satisfaction with Shoreview's quality of life. The Community Center has bounced back from the pandemic and both playgrounds and pool are operating at capacity. A strategic priority for the city continues to be the creation of more affordable housing units, which requires funding from outside sources. Several large road projects led by Ramsey County are still underway within the city. The improvements to Lexington Avenue are finally mostly complete but work on Hodgson Road between Gramsie Road and Hwy. 96 is just beginning.
Today we were fortunate to be joined by Caroline Montessori, who joined remotely from her home in Amsterdam. Caroline is the great-granddaughter of Italian physician Dr. Maria Montessori, who created the Montessori approach to education early in the 20th century. The Montessori method of education involves children's natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching methods. A Montessori classroom places an emphasis on hands-on learning and developing real-world skills. It emphasizes independence and it views children as naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a sufficiently supportive and well-prepared learning environment. Its methods are used around the world, including at Oak Hill Montessori school in Shoreview. Caroline was never able to meet her great grandmother who passed away in 1952 but she has gone on to become the Archivist for The Association of Montessori International which is located in Amsterdam. She has collected and archived many documents, letters, and other items of family history to safeguard the legacy of her great grand-mother. A big thanks to Anoop who was able to arrange this unique and interesting presentation, thanks to a family connection!
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