Inspiring leaders with passion to serve humanity; strengthening youth for tomorrow's leadership and enhancing lives in our world.
Last Time We Met 8/17/2023
Today our meeting was led by President Debbi Rydberg.We sang and then recited the new pledge: We pledge ourselves to be Hope in the World. We will accomplish this by reaffirming our mission to
inspire leaders with passion and to serve humanity, strengthen youth for tomorrow leadership and dedicate
ourselves to enhancing lives in our world. Before we speak, act, or make decisions, let us pause and ask
ourselves: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be
beneficial to all concerned? These are our compass and will ensure that our actions are filled with integrity
and genuine care. Attending
Terry Bizal, Melanie Clemons, Julie Fish, Neil Gagnon, Katie Harstad, Heather Kliewer, Mark Kuyava, Tove Lichty, Pete Reiner, Debbi Rydberg, Theresa Slominski, Nicole Wojcik, Bill Yueill, David Anderson, Bob Maxwell, John Osterman, Bruce Tyler
Guests Attending
Andy Almos, ISD 728 Executive Director; Theresa’s brother and sisters Wayne, Jen, and Chrissy
Program Our program today was introduced by Terry Bizal. Andy Almos is the ISD 728 Executive Director of Business Services and has been in the position for two years. He is the “money man” for the district, wearing many hats and does a lot of the work behind the scenes. Born and raised in Hinckley, he now lives in Zimmerman with two children ages 14 and 8, and likes to hunt in his free time. He likes to hunt so much that he went on a three week South African Safari two years ago! He talked about funding and the number of kids through the doors is the biggest contributor to their funding. He talked about the construction and that it will all be done before school starts! This year they are completing the promises set forth in the 2019 referendum with the completion of the last of seven projects. The district set a standard in the referendum that every kid has the same school experience regardless of the school they are physically attending. Other responsibilities Andy oversees are custodial services, transportation services, health and safety, and information technology. This year is a record for dollar amounts invested in the schools, partially because it is tied to a 4% inflation rate.
He wanted us to understand that there were a lot of bills passed and it is record funding of $22 million, but it
is also record expenses of $13 million in new mandates. The rest of the funding will likely go to contract
negotiations. There were lots of policy changes and probably the biggest one is free school meals consisting
of a breakfast and a lunch for every child. They are always planning and predicting for the future for capacity and facilities and needed funding for the next ten years - and the district has a really good team for predicting that has been incredibly accurate in the past. He took a few questions from the group and then Debbi thanked him for the presentation.
Rotating Reports Debbi gave an update from the board meeting prior to this meeting. The budget was passed and it is the
earliest the budget has ever been approved! We need a new Service Chair, please talk to Pete Reiner for any interest.
The River Cleanup is scheduled for August 23 at 5:00pm starting at the dam and we will clean up around there. After that, those that can float will get in canoes to clean up along the river, and everyone else will go to Bailey Point to clean up there. Pete has two canoes already so please let him know if you are able to bring any additional canoes. We will have a gathering at Bonnie’s afterwards. A sign-up sheet will be passed around for those able to help. Bags and gloves will be provided.
We are going to Fire Station #3 in two weeks, August 31, for our program and Melanie has a sign-up sheet for ordering subs for lunch there.
Next week we are invited to attend the Chamber picnic at 101 Market, even if you are not a member because Rotary is a member. If you are a member already and able to RSVP on the website, please do so, and if you are not then contact Debbi directly for your RSVP.
***Reminder that we will not be meeting at Rockwoods for the next two weeks.***
Membership Update by Julie Fish is that we have two new members that were voted in at the board meeting, Ashley Schultz and Leah Atkinson. We have one official resignation from Angela Nies, with regrets.
Foundation Minute by Tove Lichty stating that on November 9 she will be having a fall foundation event. The details will be coming later, she just wanted
everyone to get it on their calendars. We will be skipping the regular meeting and just having the evening event. She then talked about the global impacts in communities around the world with foundation dollars, and gave some numbers from our district. Last year our district raised $416,000 for the Rotary Foundation and the money was used for 12 local grants, 3 global grants, scholarships, and $44,000 for Polio Plus. Those district grants are funded by what we give and what Rotarians around the world give. What our district gives to the foundation comes back to our district after it has been there for three years. Tove hopes to find a project and grant to help with next year. If you are interested in helping to plan the November foundation event, let Tove know.
Theresa was then invited up to make a presentation of a Rotary pin that Mary Eberley was supposed to receive.Mary felt she had enough pins and wanted to give it to a fellow Rotarian instead. Mary wanted it to go to Bob Maxwell for all the many hours he gives to Rotary with all the media work he does for our club. Theresa gave it to Bob and he was very thankful and moved for the recognition!
Fundraising Opportunities
Delights and Dilemmas (formerly Happy Bucks)! Terry Bizal started and was $3 delighted for Andy attending, school starting back up soon, and sports starting with first soccer game next Thursday and football on August 31. Bob Maxwell was $10 delighted for the pin received. Heather Kliewer was $1 delighted for Bob’s pin, and $1 delighted for Andy’s trip to South Africa. Nicole Wojcik was $10 delighted with her mom’s hip surgery going well but she did develop a DVP so that
was a dilemma, her stepson is back on a leave to celebrate his birthday, and her daughter is a senior this year with all those “senior things” to do and decisions to make. Melanie Clemons was $1 delighted for Katie and her Alaskan trip next week, and $1 delighted for Terry and
ISD 728 taking her kids back to school. She had a shout out to ISD 728 for the amazing teachers and staff! Mark Kuyava was $1 delighted for the rain, his family going to a Twins game, and for an upcoming visit to the
fair. Katie Harstad was $1 delighted for her trip to Alaska with her oldest daughter for her cousin’s wedding, and
$1 for buying a house this week in Elk River and closing in September on ½ acre (with a dog to come!) Guest Jen Thornwall was $20 delighted for Rotary and all the good that they do, for Terry and Andy and all they do for children’s education, and for siblings getting together.
No one won the card draw this week.
Birthdays Birthdays will be handled differently moving forward as some people don’t like to have happy birthday sung
to them. Rotary will be asking for a $10 donation and you can decide to not have it sung or how you want it
done. Terry Bizal had a birthday August 11 and had it sung the regular way. Theresa Slominski has a birthday August 18 and she had it sung like The Emperor’s New Groove.
Pearls of Wisdom
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable but
they’re never a weakness.” –Brene Brown
Last Time We Met 8/10/2023
Today our meeting was led by President Debbi Rydberg. We sang and then recited the new pledge incorporating the four-way test as well as our inherent mission to serve the community.
Attending
Dirk Barrett, Melanie Clemons, Julie Fish, Neil Gagnon, Katie Harstad, Heather Kliewer, Tove Lichty, Laura Mullennex, Cal Portner, Debbi Rydberg, Theresa Slominski, Joe Stremca, Bob Maxwell, John Osterman, Bruce Tyler
Program
Our program today was introduced by Dirk Barret. CAER Food Shelf has seen an incredible increase in demand for services and so he invited the charismatic Executive Director, Heather Kliewer, to speak about the organization. Heather has been the Executive director for six years now in CAER’s mission to provide support and relief of hunger. CAER was founded in 1979 and moved into their current building in 1996. They were started by local churches and now are supported by civic organizations and businesses in the community. Heather is very grateful for a strong board that is involved. The services they provide are more than just the food shelf; they also provide financial assistance, car repair, senior delivery, and youth outreach. Families can come twice a month to shop and each shopper usually leaves with 100-120 pounds of food. CAER is now recognized as a “Super shelf” which is making the healthy choice the easy choice and having those healthy options available. They have a free farmers market now that was developed out of COVID and has become very popular. Shoppers are great about sharing recipes for some of the more unique produce and CAER shares recipes as well. CAER also provides “Kids Kits” where kids can pick up a weekend package every week to take home that provides good food for the weekend including meat, produce, cereal, etc.; enough for two breakfasts and two lunches. It is available for kids K-12 and there is no appointment necessary to pick up. Sometimes this is the first introduction of a family to CAER. Another service CAER provides is school supplies and winter outerwear. They have combined that with the farmers market and will have Johnny Pops available and sometimes the County Health bus onsite. Senior meals are provided to Guardian Angels once a month. Orders are placed on Monday and are delivered later in the week with some extra “goodies”. Youth Outreach is provided to Thumbs Up, ISD 728 Health Offices, and the Elk River high school. Sometimes families don’t want to come to CAER but the youth are willing to accept the services and bring home to the families. Currently, CAER works with the county to have a food bag available to distribute to families as soon as they are approved for services since they are only open twice a month and that might be a long wait for families with immediate need. Most of the food is donated to CAER via food rescue (50%, 531,000 pounds in 2022), a partnership where businesses are moving food off their shelves but it is still good food and so it is donated rather than being thrown out. They have these partnerships with Aldi, Coborns, Target, Walmart, Cub, and Kwik Trip. Some food is purchased by CAER, and they also have a grant for milk. This allows them to offer not only non-perishable food but meats, produce, special flours, frozen items, etc. and have if feel like a real shopping experience! They have done many upgrades to make it a great experience. Volunteers for CAER help with the food shelf, farmers market, outreach, and special events. Heather showed a video of a “day in the life” of CAER volunteers on shopping day - demonstrating it takes many hands and the dedicated volunteers they are grateful to have! CAER by the numbers depicted that while the increase in visits has doubled since 2020, the food donations have been going down. She encouraged everyone to bring a food item next week! Items for families to cook at home are needed like sugar and oils, in addition to canned items. The staff and volunteers at CAER like to have fun while they work and they receive many letters from clients that tell of how welcome and “non-judged” they felt coming to CAER, allowing them to feel dignified in the process.
Rotating Reports
A service recap of the lithium ion battery collection event shared that seven volunteers donated sixteen hours and they collected three boxes of batteries. Thanks to all who helped out!
The River Cleanup is scheduled for August 23 at 5:00pm starting at the dam.
Next week’s program by Terry Bizal will be Andy Almos, ISD 728 Business Director.
Bruce Tyler is back! The 18 hour flight each way was challenging but he had a great time with tons of family while in Taiwan. He said they have a train there that travels 200 mph and you don’t even feel like you are moving. He brought in some old Taste glasses that he would like to have members purchase for $1 and the proceeds go to Rotary.
***Due to a lack of program, there will be no meeting August 24. Rotarians are encouraged to attend the August 24 Chamber Membership Appreciation Picnic at 101 Market, 8980 Quantrelle Ave NE, Otsego, MN 55330. RSVP by August 21 via the Chamber’s website.***
There is a board meeting next week, August 17, 11:00am at Rockwoods.
Fundraising Opportunities
Tove won the card draw this week for $3 and donated it back to the club.
Delights and Dilemmas (formerly Happy Bucks)!
Julie Fish was $5 happy to be the winner of the most fish caught for the 5th year in her girl family fishing trip. She caught 39 sunnies in an hour!
Bob Maxwell was $1 happy for fishing on Eagle Lake.
Tove Lichty was $2 happy for a camping trip with her nieces ages 3, 4, 5, and 6, and going back to IA for a family reunion.
John Osterman gave a $10 fine for missing his volunteer time at the battery recycle event last Saturday. Then Bob Maxwell gave a $10 fine for also missing his volunteer time at the battery recycle event.
Cal Portner was $7 happy for golfing recently, going to a Twins game with his parents, Saturday having kids over, attending a wedding in North Carolina next week, and a 40th class reunion in New Ulm.
Theresa Slominski was $1 happy for her sibling get-together next week.
Debbi Rydberg was $1 happy for a gathering with family and the stories shared.
Announcements
August 31 we will be meeting at Fire Station 3 for our meeting. The address is 9921 191st Ave NW and is by the Twin Lakes School. Subs and beverages will be available for $15. A sign up sheet will be distributed next week.
Laura Mullenex paid money not to have the birthday song sung to her!
Pearls of Wisdom
“Mental health is everything – prioritize it. Make the time like your life depends on it, because it does.” – Mel Robbins
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Last Time We Met - August 3. 2023
Today our meeting was led by President Debbi Rydberg. We recited the new pledge incorporating the four-way test as well as our inherent mission to serve the community.
Attending
Dirk Barrett, Melanie Clemons, Julie Fish, Neil Gagnon, Molly Hanson, Katie Harstad, Heather Kliewer, Bonnie Koste, Mark Kuyava, Tove Lichty, Pete Reiner, Debbi Rydberg, Theresa Slominski, Marvin Sorvala, Joe Stremca, Dave Anderson, Stewart Wilson
Guests
Alan Sakry, former member; Leah Atkinson, prospective member; Molly’s niece Bree; and Mike Spellman, Assistant District Governor
Program
Our program today was Mike Spellman presenting his power point presentation on Making Peace Visible. He wanted to present to our group and have us critique it for him as he prepares to present to other clubs. The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is an international think tank out of Syndey Australia and they embarked on the study of peace with such questions as “How can anybody know about peace? Does it exist? How can it be quantified?” Most people define peace as negative peace, the absence of bullets and war. Positive peace is the intentional creation and maintenance of conditions that result in peace. This begs the question, what are the conditions and how do we get them? Science tells us that if we can’t measure it, we can’t understand it, and so first we need to know what it is made of. They arrived at eight “Pillars of Peace”, each with three “indicators” that can be used to measure if the pillar exists. The eight pillars are all interconnected as a system of interdependent subsystems. One of the eight pillars is a Well-Functioning Government, and the three indicators for measuring it are transparency, effective public services, and rule of law. Rotary International has partnered with IEP and has a Rotary Positive Peace Academy available to educate on this information. And it’s a lot of information: 8 pillars x 3 indicators = 24 variables x 163 countries = 3,900 data points to be researched! Where does the research come from? There are 24,700 data sets from such organizations as United Nations, World Bank, World Health Organization, as well as government statistics, non-profit studies, and original IEP research. They produced a report with a Global Peace Index assigned and presented a snapshot color-coded map of all 163 countries. The United States is listed as marginally peaceful. The 163 countries are ranked each year from 1-163, best to worst, and the US has declined in its ranking in each of the last ten years. Other outputs from the research is an Ecological Threat Registry (identifying one billion people in threat of being displaced), Global Terrorism Index, and Covid-19 Pandemic research. Rotary’s impact can be seen in aligning the Seven Areas of Focus with the Eight Pillars of Peace. Our projects can relieve pressures to make better neighbors of people and promote peace. Any Rotary project should be considered in context of the project area’s pillars of peace system (domestic and international). All projects can be designed to impact some or all of the pillars and make peace more possible. In our clubs, our service projects, our social activities, district and global grants, we are challenged to “Make Peace Visible”……wherever you are!
To enroll in the Rotary Positive Peace Academy, go to www.positivepeace.academy . It takes a couple of hours to complete.
Rotating Reports
Debbi asked board member, Molly Hanson, Youth Services, to report on her goals for the year to the group. Molly’s goal is to bring back the Student of the Month program.
A Service Opportunity Moment was presented by Pete Reiner with the River Cleanup planned for August 23 at 5pm. Meet at the dam on Main Street, bring kayaks and canoes as they can be used to help with the cleanup, and there will be a social gathering after. Gloves and trash bags are provided. Pete shared that Tom McNair started the cleanup project many years ago and it was tied to conservation projects. Pete has been doing it for about 12-13 years and every year the river seems cleaner and cleaner. He estimates that there has been a ton of trash that has been removed over the years since Rotary started doing it. There have been some interesting things found over the years! Bonnie Koste offered to host the social afterwards again – thank you Bonnie!
The battery collection event is Saturday, August 5, from 10am to 2pm.
Next week CAER will be presenting the program.
Fundraising Opportunities
The raffle for the Rotary socks was drawn and Melanie won!
Delights and Dilemmas (formerly Happy Bucks)!
Tove Lichty shared that she visited with Mary Eberley and told her that she would be stating her happy buck was that she was able to visit with her, and Mary told her it needed to be $10!
Molly Hanson was $5 delighted that she was back after travelling, and she has accepted a new position as YMCA North VP for New Business Development! She starts after Labor Day and will be based out of her home.
Heather Kliewer was $2 delighted Dirk was here this week, she had a successful golf tournament and raised $39k for CAER, her son was home for a quick visit, and her son was excited for our battery collection event!
Bonnie Koste was $20 delighted that she was here and her super busy time is over! She was out of the country three times, had a retirement party, a graduation party, and was recognized in Kauai, Hawaii for 25 years with American Family!
Julie Fish was delighted that Heather helped her with some membership items and she was thankful!
Mike Spellman was delighted that he had a good presentation!
Marv Sorvala was delighted for having attended the St Paul Rotary Cruise!
Melanie Clemons won the card draw this week on the second draw!
Birthdays
There were no birthdays present to be celebrated today.
Pearls of Wisdom
“Mental Health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive and not where you are going.” – Noam Shpancer, Phd
Thursday July 27, 2023
Today our meeting was led by President Debbi Rydberg. She created a power point presentation to run the meeting and she also created a new pledge for us to recite at every meeting. The pledge incorporates the four-way test as well as our inherent mission to serve the community.
Attending
Melanie Clemons, Julie Fish, Katie Harstad, Heather Kliewer, Tove Lichty, Cal Portner, Debbi Rydberg, Theresa Slominski, Marvin Sorvala, Joe Stremca, Nicole Wojcik, Bill Yueill, Dave Anderson, Glen Ertel, Robert Maxwell, John Osterman, Stewart Wilson
Guests
Alan Sakry, former member, and Ashley Schultz, prospective member
Program
Our program today was brought to us by Bill Yueill. Bill stated the brochure that was distributed he created just for programs like this! Bill has been a board member since the 90s and Treasurer since December 2007. There is a (lengthy) quote on the brochure that talks about all there is to learn and how important it is to keep learning, and he stated this is what keeps him going. The Institute offers programs covering a variety of topics: AI, Water, Virtues, Recovering Roots, etc and he distributed two scrapbooks of programs since 1996. The fall program starts in November and the brochure has a sign up form, as well as an opportunity to donate. You can also email your information to register@astonishme.comto sign up. He stated the Institute will continue because of people like us. He introduced Reverand Alan James, Executive Director of The Institute of Theological and Interdisciplinary Studies.
The Reverand stated life is best when we look for the wonder and awe in it - and education accomplishes that. He spoke of Bonhoeffer, a man that was principle in the resistance to Hitler, and also spoke of Auschwitz and the Nuremberg Trials. The people that were against these atrocities of the day were educated, and artistic and he had many examples of their accomplishments as teachers, musicians, and lovers of art. He distributed several pictures of art and stated Bonhoeffer believed our ethics emanate from our art. The question gets asked, “How can so many be ok with the horrible acts being done? Where did the ethics go?” The Reverand has a presentation on this available, if interested. Bonhoeffer was an example of “university” and education and we should strive to be educated as well.
Questions from the group: 1) How did he begin? The Reverand’s background was that he obtained a graduate degree from Maple Plain and after serving for 12 years as a preacher he was asked to go to Jamaica to teach at a college. He took his three sons then ages 6, 8, and 10 and they learned the Jamaican ways and language. He commented that he didn’t know what a story was until there, and he learned how to tell a story from them. Then he was looking for “a place” and ended up as the director of education for a Presbyterian church, and at age 60 set up the institute. He calls is a stroke of misfortune! 2) What is the institute’s religious focus? It is an independent 501(c)3, doctrinally anchored in reform. He stated there are no bishops, kings, or princes – meaning decisions are made by the people and there are no favorites. 3) Any children? Three sons. He is very proud of their accomplishments and shared that they are students of education and passed the Cambridge entrance exams to get past the first two years of college basics. 4) What was it like in Jamaica? 82 degrees during the day and 68 degrees at night. It would take them 1 ½ hours to drive 24 miles to the beach due to the rugged terrain so they didn’t go to the beach much.
Rotating Reports
Another change instituted by Debbi is the Rotating Reports. She began by asking Heather to share her goals for the next year as the President Elect since she was not here last week. She stated that being President Elect was a big enough goal! She shared that as we are a growing club and adjusting to all the changes Debbi is introducing, what she can continue into the future is one goal. Also, she would like to adapt “the box” into something more portable for the meetings. Tove was also absent and she asked her to share her goals as Foundation Chair. She would like bring more life to the foundation aspect of the club. She’d like to have another fundraiser for the foundation, marry the fall event with a spring grant, and report more frequently on the foundation.
Debbi asked Tove to share a Foundation Minute. She shared how Rotary can advocate for global peace with our dollar impacts: $.60 can provide a child polio protection, $50 can provide clean water, and $500 can provide an anti-bullying campaign in our schools.
Service Opportunities are next weekend, August 5 at the Furniture and Things Event Center for the lithium ion batteries collection. She thanked the volunteers who had signed up: Cal Portner, Neil Gagnon, Bob Maxwell, Mark Kuyava, John Osterman, and Julie Fish. The River Cleanup will be coming up soon and more information will be coming on that event and the social to follow.
Michael Spellman, Assistant District Governor, will be the program next week. Patricia McCleese, District Governor, will be at our board meeting in August.
Birthdays
There were no birthdays present to be celebrated today.
Fundraising Opportunities
Delights and Dilemmas (formerly Happy Bucks)!
Melanie Clemons was delighted her 2 teenagers will be coming back home after being away with dad!
Joel Stremcha was delighted his dog is celebrating its second birthday!
Julie Fish was delighted she ran into Marv and Diane in Waconia when visiting a bakery with her cousin, and also that she is not taking notes as the secretary today!
Alan Sakry was delighted for the Ducks Unlimited Banquet to be held at Rockwoods August 10, and that he found a townhouse in Rogers!
Heather Kliewer was delighted there is a Venmo account available for IOUs now! (Neil has more to share at a later meeting.) She was also delighted for her Care Classic golf tournament tomorrow and the cooler weather that should be here for it, and the signs she just picked up from Julie!
Nicole Wojcik was delighted she survived her camping trip with the black flies and wasps, she bought a boat (a blow-up one), and her mom’s upcoming hip surgery!
Katie Harstad has a dilemma with losing her Event Center Director and the double responsibilities she will now have, and a delight for an interview for the position that went well! She also was delighted that she will be going to Alaska for her cousin’s wedding just before her birthday and taking her 12 year old daughter while the boyfriend watches the other kids!
Tove was delighted for the bike ride she participated in for two half days across IA. She and her husband did about 30 miles each day. Her husband wants to do it every year now with her brother but Tove is good with just the one year experience! Fun fact about the ride is that random farms along the way have parties and they stopped at the one with 20 kegs of beer just in time to tap the last keg!
Theresa Slominski was delighted for the success of her mom’s hip surgery. (IOU)
Debbi Rydberg was delighted that her daughter successfully travelled back to Delhi India after leaving her documents in Chicago but they forwarded them to the gate for her!
There was no winner for the card drawn. Debbi says we are drawing until there is a winner next week!
Pearls of Wisdom
Another change by Debbi, she will provide a quote every week. Our Rotary International President, R. Gordon McInally, has asked all Rotary members to become champions in our effort to illuminate mental health needs near and far. This includes helping one another feel more supported and advocating for mental health services and building bridge with experts in the field. So, each week, she will end our meetings with a supportive quote in an effort to support all of us.
“Happiness in a choice, not a result. Nothing outside of you will make you happy. You must choose to be happy, feel grateful and then share that with the world.”
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Thursday July 20, 2023
Today our meeting was started by President Theresa Slominski, and then the gavel was passed to the new President, Debbi Rydberg, who finished the meeting.
New members Melanie Clemons and Joe Stremca were officially inducted!
Attending
Melanie Clemons, Julie Fish, Neil Gagnon, Katie Harstad, Mark Kuyava, Cal Portner, Pete Reiner, Debbi Rydberg, Theresa Slominski, Marvin Sorvala, Joe Stremca, Nicole Wojcik, Bill Yueill, Dave Anderson, Glen Ertel, Robert Maxwell, John Osterman
Guests
Diane Sorvala, wife of Marvin Sorvala (celebrating 40th anniversary next week); Rob Rydberg, husband of Debbi Rydberg; Mike Spellman, Assistant District Governor; Ashley Schultz, prospective member
Program
Our program today was the passing of the gavel. Theresa Slominski recapped her year with the volunteer events the club participated in: River Cleanup, Mock Interviews at Elk River high school, serving hot chocolate at the United We Shiver event, Reality Fair at Rogers high school, The Taste of Elk River, and purchasing books to be distributed to classrooms (replacing the distribution of dictionaries.) We moved locations twice, we revised the By-Laws, honored Heather and Casey for their grant work at the District Gala, distributed $15,000 to 12 local non-profits, and had a wonderful holiday party. In serving as president in only her third year in Rotary she thanked the Board of Directors for their help and support. She then called up Debbi Rydberg, passed the gavel, and presented her with the president pin.
Debbi thanked Theresa for stepping up as president in her third year as a Rotarian, and presented her with the past president pin and a gift of appreciation. It was a beautiful crystal glass globe with an inscription on the base “President 2022-2023”. Debbispoke about a robust future for Rotary and our club and asked each of the directors to tell us one goal they had for the next year. Theresa Slominski, Secretary, shared she would like to see us participate in an international project. Neil Gagnon, Treasurer, said he would like to be more transparent in communication with the club finances in having financial information current and presented more often. Julie Fish, Membership, said she wants to focus on fun, and retention and recruitment of members. She has new membership packets that Tove created to share with new members. Molly Hanson, Youth Services, was unable to attend but Debbi shared that she wants to bring back student of the month visits to the club. Tove Lichty, Foundation, was also unable to attend but Debbi shared she hopes to have on additional small fundraiser like the bowling event. Pete Reiner, Service Projects, shared he hopes to have four projects, including the river clean-up and books plus two more. Cal Portner, Public Image and Communications, shared he would like to see improved visibility of the club in the community to be the best club by far in the community. Katie Harstad, Taste of Elk River Chair, shared she would like to maintain the integrity of the heart and soul of the event with changes that are like a bridge forward to be able to raise more money for the community. Debbi thanked the Board of Directors.
Debbi then talked about her goals for the next year, she would like to amp up the fun, have more engagement at the district level, and even the international level. We are more than a lunch club, we are serving the community. In a very informal club survey she did, everyone stated that they are a part of Rotary because they want to give back to the community. She stated to attract new members we have to toot our own horn about what we do and what benefits the greater good. She would like to implement “vocational minutes” where members talk about themselves and what they do. She is working on a pledge to recite each week to make us more united in our mission. She talked about the upcoming lithium battery recycle project and how it is a “project in a box” and would like to have more things like this that are easy to implement. She wants to encourage fellowship, to have fun, and celebrate success. She would like each board member to attend a district training, either in person or online. Ultimately, she wants everyone to be fulfilled in Rotary. She closed with a quote from Arch Klump, founder of the Rotary Foundation, “Rotary’s tomorrow depends on clubs today.”
Debbi showed a power point presentation on the lithium battery collection and recycle project (this fits well with the environmental focus of Rotary.) This is a Rotary District project in a box and we are the first to do it so are helping tweak the details as we go. There are so many lithium batteries in people’s junk drawers or in home devices that have not yet reached their end of life. It is estimated there were 500,000 in 2020 and will be 2 million by 2030. As electric vehicles and devices grow, so will the need for the materials to make new batteries and the collection of old batteries that much more important. This project event is August 5 from 10am to 2pm. If anyone additional can help from noon to 2pm that would be appreciated.
Mike Spellman showed off his Rotary T-shirt and socks, and presented Debbi with a tiny pair of tennis shoes to “hit the ground running!” He will be at our club in a couple of weeks with a power point presentation on the Rotary Positive Peace Academy. He would like us to be the first to see the presentation and provide him feedback for future presentations to the rest of the district.
We sang Happy Birthday to Pete Reiner the regular way, and Cal Portner backwards. (At the end of the meeting it was realized we forgot Glen Ertel and so we sang to him the regular way as well!)
Happy Bucks!
Nicole was happy her campground meeting went well, happy she had a great weekend with her former Bemidji State University friends, and happy for an upcoming camping trip to Savannah Portage.
Bill was happy to be the presider for his grandson’s wedding this afternoon and gave a preview of his marriage advice he’ll be sharing.
Glen was happy to attend his granddaughter’s soccer tournament where she got a hat trick!
Cal was happy to give a fine to Nicole since Bill’s happy buck presentation was longer than hers today! He was also happy for recent trading and firing activity of the Twins, and an upcoming celebration in New Ulm with beer and golf.
Marv was happy to attend the Blaine soccer tournament for this grandchildren, happy to attend the Sherburne County Fair and the Alex Miller show. He also shared that he will be attending the St. Paul Rotary Cruise and encouraged others to attend as well; it’s $25 August 1.
Bob was happy to have completed several successful doctor appointments.
Mike was happy to be here on Debbi’s first day of office and hopes to be here her last day of office and many visits in between. He met her at PETS and thinks she will do a great job!
There was no winner for the card drawn.
Together we recited the 4 Way Test of the things we think, say, and do!
Thursday July 13, 2023
Today, our meeting was led by 2022-23 President, Theresa Slominski! She will be passing the gavel to Debbi Rydberg next week, so be sure to attend the meeting to witness the great event as we review the past and look forward to the future!
Attending
Terry Bizal, Julie Fish, Neil Gagnon, Heather Kliewer, Mark Kuyava, Tove Lichty, Dr. Laura Mullennex, Theresa Slominski, Marv Sorvala, Nicole Wojcik, Bill Yueill, honoraries David Anderson, Glen Ertel, Bob Maxwell, John Osterman, Bruce Tyler
Guests
-Ed Boeve, Assistant District Governor
-Ashley Schultz, prospective member with application turned in
Program
Our program today was arranged by Nicole Wojcik and she was the program! She told us how she visited the Hallway Café at Elk River High School and wanted to have a teacher or student from the culinary arts department to come and speak to us. Well, it is summer and they are not available so a Plan B was needed. She came up with some FUN for us for our program! She handed out sheets for a game we would play using our phones to gather answers. It was super fun and Bob Maxwell turned out to be the cell phone hoarder, so to speak! Lol! He won the game by a landslide, due to having 95 contacts starting with the letter R. He was the game winner with 229 points! He won a free lunch, compliments of Nicole! (Which He Declined) Theresa Slominski came in second with a score of 194! Thank you Nicole for a fun program!
Announcements
-Tuesday, July 18th at 5:30 pm, there will be a Taste of Elk River meeting at Furniture and Things Community Event Center. Please plan to attend this and help plan our 2024 event!
-Thursday, July 20th at our regular Rotary Meeting, we will pass the gavel from Theresa Slominski to Debbi Rydberg. Please join in on the fun celebration!
-Saturday, August 5th - -Debbi Rydberg is looking for volunteers from 10 am to 2 pm. She is in need of 4 to 5 volunteers, can be rotarians and their family or friends! We need help to host a table and collect lithium batteries during the EV event. The event is called Elk River ElectriFUNCATION & EV Test Drive Event. It is an educational event sponsored by the Initiative Foundation, City of Elk River, Sherburne County and the Elk River Area Chamber of Commerce. A sign up sheet will be sent around!
-Card Draw was a six of diamonds and no one had the match!
Happy Bucks!
-Theresa Slominski was happy for some travels to North Dakota to their family farm to help with clearing some things out, then to upstate New York to help her daughter move there from Mankato! She was grateful to have been able to help out. She is also happy that her rotary presidential term is ending and she was happy for all of the support she received over the past year!
-Heather Kliewer was happy for her grandson, Henry’s 4th birthday! She was also happy to tell us that Henry will be having a new sibling in February!
-Nicole Rasmussen was happy to tell us that her friend, now a breast cancer survivor, is hosting a dinner party tonight in Bemidji that Nicole is going to attend. She and Marc will also visit his parents while in Bemidji. She also had a asking for a prayer buck as her happy camper place is currently in turmoil with their leadership and the place is in a big riff and she is on the leading team to try to straighten things out. Prayers needed this Saturday morning for the meeting!
-Tove Lichty was sad to be missing the gavel passing next week. She will be traveling to South Dakota to see her brother who is moving to New Orleans soon. They will then travel to Iowa to her parents lake condo and will be participating for a couple of days in the RAGBRAI which is a bicycle ride across the state of Iowa. It is the 50th year of this event. The ride is a total of 500 miles!
-Marv Sorvala was happy to have spent eleven day sin the Rocky Mountains with is wife’s family!
-Julie Fish was happy to tell us that her next Great Niece/Nephew, #29, will arrive in January 2024! She was also happy to have sat by Ashley Schultz, newly applied member! She is amazing!
Together we recited the 4 Way Test of the things we think, say and do!
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Our program today was introduced by Terry Bizal. Andy Almos is the ISD 728 Executive Director of Business Services and has been in the position for two years. He is the “money man” for the district, wearing many hats and does a lot of the work behind the scenes. Born and raised in Hinckley, he now lives in Zimmerman with two children ages 14 and 8, and likes to hunt in his free time. He likes to hunt so much that he went on a three week South African Safari two years ago! He talked about funding and the number of kids through the doors is the biggest contributor to their funding. He talked about the construction and that it will all be done before school starts! This year they are completing the promises set forth in the 2019 referendum with the completion of the last of seven projects. The district set a standard in the referendum that every kid has the same school experience regardless of the school they are physically attending. Other responsibilities Andy oversees are custodial services, transportation services, health and safety, and information technology. This year is a record for dollar amounts invested in the schools, partially because it is tied to a 4% inflation rate.
presentation of a Rotary pin that Mary Eberley was supposed to receive. Mary felt she had enough pins and wanted to give it to a fellow Rotarian instead. Mary wanted it to go to Bob Maxwell for all the many hours 
he gives to Rotary with all the media work he does for our club.
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founded in 1979 and moved into their current building in 1996. They were started by local churches and now are supported by civic organizations and businesses in the community. Heather is very grateful for a strong board that is involved. The services they provide are more than just the food shelf; they also provide financial assistance, car repair, senior delivery, and youth outreach. Families can come twice a month to shop and each shopper usually leaves with 100-120 pounds of food. CAER is now recognized as a “Super shelf” which is making the healthy choice the easy choice and having those healthy options available. They have a free farmers market now that was developed out of COVID and has become very popular. Shoppers are great about sharing recipes for some of the more unique produce and CAER shares recipes as well. CAER also provides “Kids Kits” where kids can pick up a weekend package every week to take home that provides good food for the weekend including meat, produce, cereal, etc.; enough for two breakfasts and two lunches. It is available for kids K-12 and there is no appointment necessary to pick up. Sometimes this is the first introduction of a family to CAER. Another service CAER provides is school supplies and winter outerwear. They have combined that with the farmers market and will have Johnny Pops available and sometimes the County Health bus onsite. Senior meals are provided to Guardian Angels once a month. Orders are placed on Monday and are delivered later in the week with some extra “goodies”. Youth Outreach is provided to Thumbs Up, ISD 728 Health Offices, and the Elk River high school. Sometimes families don’t want to come to CAER but the youth are willing to accept the services and bring home to the families. Currently, CAER works with the county to have a food bag available to distribute to families as soon as they are approved for services since they are only open twice a month and that might be a long wait for families with immediate need. Most of the food is donated to CAER via food rescue (50%, 531,000 pounds in 2022), a partnership where businesses are moving food off their shelves but it is still good food and so it is donated rather than being thrown out. They have these partnerships with Aldi, Coborns, Target, Walmart, Cub, and Kwik Trip. Some food is purchased by CAER, and they also have a grant for milk. This allows them to offer not only non-perishable food but meats, produce, special flours, frozen items, etc. and have if feel like a real shopping experience! They have done many upgrades to make it a great experience. Volunteers for CAER help with the food shelf, farmers market, outreach, and special events. Heather showed a video of a “day in the life” of CAER volunteers on shopping day - demonstrating it takes many hands and the dedicated volunteers they are grateful to have! CAER by the numbers depicted that while the increase in visits has doubled since 2020, the food donations have been going down. She encouraged everyone to bring a food item next week! Items for families to cook at home are needed like sugar and oils, in addition to canned items. The staff and volunteers at CAER like to have fun while they work and they receive many letters from clients that tell of how welcome and “non-judged” they felt coming to CAER, allowing them to feel dignified in the process.
Our program today was Mike Spellman presenting his power point presentation on Making Peace Visible. He wanted to present to our group and have us critique it for him as he prepares to present to other clubs. The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is an international think tank out of Syndey Australia and they embarked on the study of peace with such questions as “How can anybody know about peace? Does it exist? How can it be quantified?” Most people define peace as negative peace, the absence of bullets and war. Positive peace is the intentional creation and maintenance of conditions that result in peace. This begs the question, what are the conditions and how do we get them? Science tells us that if we can’t measure it, we can’t understand it, and so first we need to know what it is made of. They arrived at eight “Pillars of Peace”, each with three “indicators” that can be used to measure if the pillar exists. The eight pillars are all interconnected as a system of interdependent subsystems. One of the eight pillars is a Well-Functioning Government, and the three indicators for measuring it are transparency, effective public services, and rule of law. Rotary International has partnered with IEP and has a Rotary Positive Peace Academy available to educate on this information. And it’s a lot of information: 8 pillars x 3 indicators = 24 variables x 163 countries = 3,900 data points to be researched! Where does the research come from? There are 24,700 data sets from such organizations as United Nations, World Bank, World Health Organization, as well as government statistics, non-profit studies, and original IEP research. They produced a report with a Global Peace Index assigned and presented a snapshot color-coded map of all 163 countries. The United States is listed as marginally peaceful. The 163 countries are ranked each year from 1-163, best to worst, and the US has declined in its ranking in each of the last ten years. Other outputs from the research is an Ecological Threat Registry (identifying one billion people in threat of being displaced), Global Terrorism Index, and Covid-19 Pandemic research. Rotary’s impact can be seen in aligning the Seven Areas of Focus with the Eight Pillars of Peace. Our projects can relieve pressures to make better neighbors of people and promote peace. Any Rotary project should be considered in context of the project area’s pillars of peace system (domestic and international). All projects can be designed to impact some or all of the pillars and make peace more possible. In our clubs, our service projects, our social activities, district and global grants, we are challenged to “Make Peace Visible”……wherever you are!
just for programs like this! Bill has been a board member since the 90s and Treasurer since December 2007. There is a (lengthy) quote on the brochure that talks about all there is to learn and how important it is to keep learning, and he stated this is what keeps him going. The Institute offers programs covering a variety of topics: AI, Water, Virtues, Recovering Roots, etc and he distributed two scrapbooks of programs since 1996. The fall program starts in November and the brochure has a sign up form, as well as an opportunity to donate. You can also email your information to 
Today our meeting was started by President Theresa Slominski, and then the gavel was passed to the new President, Debbi Rydberg, who finished the meeting. 
Clemons and Joe Stremca were officially inducted!
Debbi showed a power point presentation on the lithium battery collection and recycle project (this fits well with the environmental focus of Rotary.) This is a Rotary District project in a box and we are the first to do it so are helping tweak the details as we go. There are so many lithium batteries in people’s junk drawers or in home devices that have not yet reached their end of life. It is estimated there were 500,000 in 2020 and will be 2 million by 2030. As electric vehicles and devices grow, so will the need for the materials to make new batteries and the collection of old batteries that much more important. This project event is August 5 from 10am to 2pm. If anyone additional can help from noon to 2pm that would be appreciated.
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