This Week at Rotary
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Lunch Buffet
11:30AM START
At
Kitchi Gammi Club
Public Affairs Coordinator at Minnesota Department of Transportation
This program will provide an update of state transportation work happening in and around the Duluth area. Upcoming projects including the Blatnik Bridge and general information about MnDOT District 1 will also be highlighted.
Margie Nelson has been with MnDOT since March 2020 working in communications. Prior to that she worked at Life House for 4 years in marketing and fundraising. She has an undergraduate degree from the College of St. Scholastica and a Masters of Advocacy and Political Leadership from UMD. She serves on several boards and committees in the Duluth area and is an avid birder in her free time.
Upcoming Club #25 Events:
Rotary Gala and Auction
Kitchi Gammi Club
May 8
5:00 p.m.
Highlights from Last Week’s Meeting
By Anthony Nordan
President Elizabeth Simonson rang the Rotary Bell. As our weekly tradition, we proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the Rotary 4-Way test.
President Elizabeth Simonson
Stepping in at the very last minute, Vinod Gupta delivered our reflection today. Thank you, Vinod! He reminded us of a previous reflection he did a couple of years ago on happiness. There are two aspects of happiness: Gratitude and doing something fulfilling. He shared two stories about happiness.
- He was a graduate school immigrant who had to choose between books or food. He didn’t buy books but used the library every day. He would get up early to study in the library. Graduating in the top 10% of his class.
- In his second year of college, Vinod didn’t have enough money to complete his Ph.D. Knowing what an extraordinary student Vinod was, the Vice President of the college said he would take care of him. A General Manager of a local mill received a phone call from the VP of the college. In short order, Vinod was provided a temporary job that later became permanent.
Vinod finished his story that we all get somewhere by helping somebody. This invocation would become very poignant when we discussed committees.
Vinod Gupta
Our guests today are Judy Sage, visiting Rotarian Bob McClellan, and Giselle Jenkins.
Dr. Bob McClellan is from the Superior Rotary. He brought us an announcement from Superior Rotary about a fundraising event they have coming up on March 26th. It will be at Barkers Island Inn from 6-9 pm. They have an online auction that runs from March 24th-30th. The money raised goes towards 2 organizations’ rescue fund.
Dr. Bob McClellan
The Golden Can didn’t have any donations today. There were a couple of jokes cracked about the Golden Can and the donations made to it. On a serious note, the money put into this can is given to the grants committee. It is then given to people and organizations that need it.
Three schools sent students to be Junior Rotarians today. We had one student from Denfeld, and two from Proctor and Harbor City. The student from Denfeld is starting a mental health podcast with her mom. A Junior Rotarians from Proctor and Harbor City came with the current month’s Junior Rotarians from each location.
Jeff Fifield introduces our March Junior Rotarians
President Elizabeth Simonson then turned us to the purpose of our meeting: Duluth Rotary 25 is moving through a strategic review process and have identified two topics for deeper consideration.
- Priority for good speakers/programs – highly rated by Rotarians!
- Speakers are being locked in for the next 3 months.
- Committee assignments – our opportunity to be more involved with Club #25
- A select number of committees spoke during the meeting. (Writer’s Note: Of course, the Gimlet Committee had the best presentation, and you should absolutely consider joining us!)
Members were asked to listen to the presentation and afterwards pick their top three committee choices. The system would be that of ranked choice voting. If your first committee choice is full, then you would be put down for your next choice, and the process continues until an opening is found. The goal is to fill all the committees and have them operational before the end of this Rotary year in June.
The select committees that presented were:
- Club Service – Jeff Fifield, Chair
- Club service primarily focuses several aspects of the meeting that are more behind the scenes.
- Set-up and tear down.
- Greeter
- 50/50
- Reflection
- The request is that they have 12 members that way each member would be requested to lead once every 3 months.
- 4 people in total are needed to do set-up and tear down.
Club Services: Jeff Fifield
- Fundraising – Jon Ohman, Chair
- There are 3 commitments of fundraising
- John wanted to emphasize that it is all about having fun, and raising money. Money having fun.
- They are looking for new members with new ideas.
- Also, ask John about his Duck.
FUNdraising: Jon “The Duck” Ohman
- Foundations – Past President Dean Casperson, Chair
- Rotary has 2 foundations
- Becoming a Paul Harris fellow is the best way to help Rotary Internation projects
- The second, Rotary of Duluth Foundation was started with a $5,000 donation
- It is up to $400,000!!
- The endowment is used in many ways
- Earnings go towards RYLA scholarships – and bus transportation
- Vinod Gupta mentioned local college scholarships too!
Past President Dean Casperson
- New Generation – Tom Young and Rob Hofmann, Co-Chairs
- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
- Camp RYLA
- Junior Rotarian Program – Jeff Fifield, Chair
- Rotarian Liaisons coordinate with school counselors
- Youth Exchange Officers – Rob Hofmann
- Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
- Gimlet – Rob Hofmann, editor
- We need a few writers… Join us in the fun!
- We are a way that the club can record and revisit its history
- The Gimlet has changed quite a bit over the years…
- No longer in printed format (Greener!)
- Each writer brings their own flavor to how the Gimlet is written.
- Writers have until Noon each Saturday to turn in their articles!
- Membership – President Elect Zach Walters
- According to Zach it is the most exciting to be on
- Help people in their growth in Rotary
- Creating the Rotary you want to see
- Connecting and mentoring new members
President Elect Zach Walters
- Local Service – Dan Maki, Chair
- Service Above Self
- Second Harvest
- Spirit Hiking Trail
- Starting on new projects
- Those on this committee are not required to be at all the service opportunities
- Committee members need to help find opportunities to be of service in our community
There was not enough time for all committees presented. Please reference the sheet passed out during the club meeting. If not present, please request one.
The 50/50 winner was Past President Barb Perella with the winning number of 8209515. $48 was today’s winnings.
