We Meet at Noon on Thursday

May 20, 2021

Plated Meal Served

(Zoom Meeting Opens at 11:45)

 

Haley Cope

Chief Executive Officer, Lake Superior Zoo

 

In 2023 the Lake Superior Zoo will celebrate its 100th anniversary!  The Zoo is soon to reopen its Bear Country Exhibit damaged in the great flood of 2012.  Learn how the Lake Superior Zoo has adapted and grown in its service to the Duluth Community.

 

By Darlene Anderson

 

Today's meeting site moved up in the world—from the Holiday Inn Ballroom to the Lyric Center. Conversations included plans for the fishing opener and catching up with members returning from southern climates. All rose when President Dean Casperson rang the Rotary bell to join him in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Rotary Four-Way Test. Jeff Iisakka's Rotary Reflection focused on the invention of the hook and loop fastener called Velcro which reminded him of Rotary and the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation both of which hold communities together.

 

Just one of the many full tables at Rotary!

 

Today's guests were given a warm Rotary welcome: Heather Salfer, President-Elect of Harbortown Rotary, Mike Waldron a prospective new member, and McKenzie MacFarland, District Chair of Rotoract and our much-missed Administrative Assistant who graduates from College of St Scholastica on Saturday. Congratulations!

 

President-Elect Chana Stocke highlighted the upcoming new Rotary Year.  On June 24^th will be the changing of the guard that will highlight the changes to our committee structure.   The work of the Club is done by its committees and all members were encouraged to serve on at least one committee and to contact either herself or President-Elect Nominee Barb Perrella.

 

Grants Committee Chair Jenny Peterson thanked Jim Schwartz for his past service of filling in for her on recent grant presentations. Today she presented $3,000 to Kid's Closet, a grant that continues our Club’s tradition of support. “Coat Lady Extraordinaire” Char Kerelko expressed her thankfulness.  Last year they were able to provide 873 students with a new winter jacket.

 

Jenny Peterson with Char Kerelko of Kids Closet

 

Craig Fellman is heading up the Annual Roadside Cleanup on Thursday, May 27^th.  We will gather at 2:30 at the Clearwater Grill. Safety vests and bags will be provided.  It is suggested you bring a pair of gloves. Once we have finished our part of Highway 61 we will reconvene at the nearby home of Past-President Michelle Buria's for fellowship. 

 

The Rotary Club of Duluth Foundation President Jerry Ostroski announced Westmoreland Crests (for donations of $1,000 or more to the endowment) had been earned by Dale Johnson, Jim Monge, Mike Orman, Bob Reichert, Greg Hanson, Jim Schwartz, and Steve Yorde. A Westmoreland Crest with two rubies (signifying a $10,000 donation) was presented to Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom. The Rotary Club of Duluth Foundation began 29 years ago with a donation of $25,000 and today has a fund balance of $350,000 from which annual grants are made in support of projects adopted by the Rotary Club of Duluth.

 

Foundation President Jerry Ostroski handing out a Westmoreland Crest to Jim Schwartz

 

Joining us via Zoom from chilly South Carolina was Chair of the Day Past-President Holly Sampson. She was pleased to introduce her successor as President and CEO of the Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation, Shaun Floerke. Before joining DSACF Shaun served for 16 years as a Duluth-area judge in Minnesota's Sixth Judicial District. While there he became a national leader in innovative practices such as DWI Court and domestic violence restoration processes. This was his first time since February 2020, that Shaun was able to speak to a live audience and he relished the experience. As a district court judge, he saw a flawed approach to dealing with social problems. The methods did not provide positive change and so he sought other methods. One concept that influenced him was “The Three Sisters Story” in which three sisters observe children drowning in a river. Sister #1 jumps into the river to rescue the children, Sister #2 attempts to teach the children to swim so they can rescue themselves. But, Sister #3 runs away – upstream – to find why the children are in the river. So how does one become a “Third Sister?”

 

Speaker Shaun Florke

 

Shaun found that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) fall into three main categories: Abuse/Neglect/Household Dysfunction that includes 10 types of trauma (see diagram below). If a child experiences four or more ACEs they risk social, emotional, cognitive impairment, health risks and disrupted neurological development. How can our community address these issues? One of those addressing this issue is Dr. Molly Harney from UMD. She has studied people in the Central Hillside of Duluth and found that 53% of adults residing there experienced four or more ACEs. Today a majority live in poverty and face many challenges. To make a difference and become a “Third Sister” Dr. Harney began “Kids Count” and works with the women at the Steve O'Neil Apartments. Together they formed a group called “First Ladies of the Hillside” striving to make positive changes in the lives of the children. To learn more about the programs Dr. Harney has begun go to https://kidscount.d.umn.edu/molly-harney. 

 

 

The types and sources of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

 

The consequences of experiencing Adverse Childhood Experiences

 

Shaun has found we have a generous community and each person has something they can bring to the table to affect positive change. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -- Margaret Mead