Ringing the bell, President Michelle Buria welcomed Rotarians and guests to the weekly meeting and led us in reciting the Rotary Four-Way Test. This was followed by a Rotary Reflection by Darlene Anderson as she shared that part of Rotary is the friendships. This was shown this week when she returned from her sister's memorial service to find a card signed by many of her fellow Rotarians. These relationships and the opportunities to serve on projects such as the Rose Sale are what make Rotary meaningful.

 

Fellowship Reporter and Past President Bob Bennett introduced the visiting Rotarians and guests including District Governor Rick Bricker and his wife Susan (also a Rotarian) and our Assistant Governor Kay Biga. Bob then went to work to fill the Golden Can. Seen in the Duluth News Tribune was Pat Pfahl's son with the Marshall soccer team. In an interview on Fox21 was John Foucault promoting the Rotary Rose Sale. With a chuckle, Dave Nolle paid a Work Zone Fine for all the times he has been in the news in the past week as he campaigns for Mayor.

 

It was with sadness that President Michelle shared the news of the passing of long-time Rotarian Dan Mundt on September 2. There will be a memorial service on Saturday, September 14 at 2:00 p.m. at Glen Avon Presbyterian Church with visitation one hour prior to the service.

 

Asking for no formal introduction, District Governor Rick Bricker came forward and told of how he became involved in Rotary. It was when he had moved to Brainerd, purchasing a dry cleaning business that a customer came in and invited him to a Rotary meeting. Rick attended and was immediately intrigued by the “Service Above Self” motto. When he learned of all the service projects and signed up to participate, he was hooked. And now he has taken on the role of District Governor and is visiting all 66 clubs in District 5580. He also attended the Rotary Convention in Hamburg, Germany and shared that Rotarians have volunteered more than 40 million hours and contributed 850 million dollars impacting communities world-wide. He highlighted two projects. Project Africa was a micro-loan project where one example was of a woman caught in human trafficking able to secure a loan allowing her to start a small business so she could support her family. In Haiti, Rotarian dollars were used by a community to build a chicken coop and purchase 1,000 baby chicks. The Haitians raised the chicks losing only 14 of them. Then they sold 600 grown chickens for meat and kept 400 as laying hens providing eggs both for food and some to sell. The community now has a stable means of support.

 

An invitation was extended to attend the District Conference to be held at Madden's Resort on Gull Lake April 23-26, 2020. There will be the usual meetings and workshops but also time for fellowship, family fun, plus golf tournaments with the proceeds going to the Rotary Foundation. Mark your calendars now.