President Tricia Bunten presided while Past President John Baumgarten opened our gathering with the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.  Beth Storaasli provided an invocation to challenge the members to contemplate the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. who stated “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is:  what are you doing for others?” Rotary answers that question. 

Fellowship Reporter Gary Bubalo remarked that the recent cold weather may have reduced fines for the Golden Can.  That story did not hold up as he launched into a rapid fire announcement of combination fines, work zone fines, and regular volunteer fines of active fellow Rotarians.  Ryan Johnson recently joined Symphonic Financial Advisors.  With linked ownership between RBC and Symphonic, Gary Bubalo also paid a work zone fine.  Deb Medlin has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Generations Heath Care Initiative, a private Duluth based Foundation led by Jenny Peterson.  Proud employees Roni Salo and Paul Helstrom paid work zone fines for Minnesota Power receiving the Edison Electric Institutes Emergency Assistance Award for the assistance provided to restore power to Miami following the devastation of hurricane Irma.  Sheryl Homan assisted Equilibrium3 to acquire a vacant building in the Lincoln Park business district for rehabilitation into affordable housing as part of a VISTA project.  There was more about this project during the program.  And the last play of the Vikings and Saints game was celebrated as Dave Gaddie was fined for having the good fortune of being at the game to witness the miracle.  With C. J. Ham being a Denfeld graduate, Superintendent Bill Gronseth and others were proud to contribute.  From fellowship reporter to auctioneer, Gary Bubalo attempted a career change to auction off two tickets, donated by Steve Hadley, to the Friday night UMD hockey game.  After general confusion as to whether the winning bid was $20 or $50, some thought it was $40, John Foucault won, yelling “Charge My Account.” Gary plans to keep his day job.

Sheryl Homan served as Chair of the Day and introduced our speakers Zach Shears and Maddy Wegener.  These two young people are volunteers with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), a program within AmeriCorps.  VISTA was established by President Johnson in 1964 as a domestic reflection of the Peace Corps. 

Those who volunteer for the VISTA program are assigned to specific organizations to strengthen their ability to provide services including disaster relief, education, economic opportunity, and service to veterans in an effort to assist low income individuals and communities out of poverty.  Currently there are 12 volunteers at eight different sites in the Duluth area.  Service is full-time for one year with a modest stipend of $450 every two weeks.  Zach Shears is posted to Equilibrium3 and Maddy Wegener is posted to Zeitgeist.

In an effort to increase available affordable housing, a vacant condemned building in the Lincoln Park Business District at 2114 West Third Street was acquired in October of 2017 by Equlibrium3 for renovation and conversion to housing.  There is acute need for housing in Duluth for those who are at or below the poverty line, including VISTA volunteers. The collaborative project between VISTA and community supporters will create a four bedroom cooperative living space scheduled to be available in June of 2018.        

The Rotary Large Club Conference was a fount of information and new ideas hosted by the Rotary Club of Little Rock– Club 99. President– Elect Steve Yorde and Bri Braaten attended the conference with meetings and an opening dinner at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library with Arkansas Representative French Hill and entertainment from a local performer. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, began with a visit to the historic Central High School, the home of the Little Rock Nine who had a major impact on the Civil Rights Movement. During the day Elizabeth Eckford, one the Nine, visited the group, shared her story and signed copies of her book. The topic of the day was communication styles which were determined by the Process Communication Model and used throughout the conference. That evening the group visited the Museum of Discovery. On Tuesday, Little Rock had a storm of ice and less than an inch of snow. To us, this seemed like a light dusting, but for the residents of Little Rock it shut down the city for two days. The day was packed with breakout sessions and attending Club 99’s weekly meeting. Unfortunately due to impending bad weather on the East Coast, Steve and Bri spent part of Tuesday attempting to fly out of Little Rock. However, all Delta flights were cancelled for Tuesday and into Wednesday. Tuesday evening, the group visited Heifer International for an amazing dinner and to learn about the non-profit’s work to end world hunger and poverty. The knowledge gained by attending this conference is invaluable to our Club and offers a connection with other large clubs.  As ideas on recruitment, fundraising, structure, policy and so much more are shared among the more than 150 people in attendance, the unity of Rotary is apparent. Thank you to Club 25 for continuing to support attendance to the Large Club Conference! 

 

The Club 25 Grants Committee is accepting applications to provide funding to qualifying organizations in the Spring, 2017. For more information on the criteria for receiving funding from Club 25, review the Grant Guidelines. To apply for funding, the organization should complete the Grant Application Form. All applications are due to Bri, bri@duluthrotary.org, by February 15th. If the organization received a grant from Club 25 last year, a Final Report must be  completed prior to being considered for further  funding.

 

The Fellowship Breakfast will be on Friday, January 26th at Valentini’s starting at 7:30 a.m. This is a great time to meet other Rotarians and catch up with those you already know. This is also is a fantastic way to introduce guests or prospective new members to Rotary. Encourage other Rotarians to join you for an informal breakfast and think about bringing a guest. We hope to see you there!