This Week at Rotary
We Meet at Noon on Thursday
November 4, 2021
HOLIDAY CENTER BALLROOM
(Also Via Zoom)
Plated Meal Served
(Zoom Meeting Opens at 11:45)
Lee Stuart, Assistant Professor and Director
Masters in Nonprofit Leadership – The College of St. Scholastica
The Best of a Northland Tradition
In the early days of COVID-19 there was great fear of a disproportionate impact on the homeless community at the CHUM Shelter. Without fanfare, the public, private, and healthcare sectors rallied behind CHUM. What happened then is a testimony to the best of a Northland tradition to care for the most vulnerable among us.
Highlights from Last Week’s Meeting
By Rob Hofmann
With just three days before
Halloween, Rotarians and guests found themselves
HEARING TALES OF SPIRITS within the
Spooky confines of the Holiday Inn & Suites Ballroom. Following a
mysterious meal (did we
really consume Egg Fu-Yung and Egg Roll?) Or was it something else - maybe
Jeno Paulucci was paying us a visit???
I’m not afraid of ghosts….
The late-great Jeno Paulucci
President Chana Stocke rang the bell to bring us to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the recitation of Rotary’s Four-Way Test. Dave Fulda in his Rotary Reflection spoke about his wife’s reaction to the beauty of this year’s Rotary Roses. Connecting us to our program, Dave Fulda admiringly spoke about the courage our speaker and her husband exhibited in taking a wild idea and turning it into a great success with a motto of A rigid stand on being flexible while keeping the main thing – the main thing!
Who’s face-bombing Dave Fulda?
The Pledge of Allegiance
We welcomed some old Rotary friends, some new faces, and future Rotarians. From the Skyline Rotary Club, Bob Sherman shared a moment of reflection about the good work Club #25 had done in Russia by helping Russian youth learn the English language. Once again, your humble Gimlet reporter Rob Hofmann was host to Jessica Lind Petersen, Development Director for the Depot Foundation. Past President Bill Gravelle attended to future Club #25 member Vinod Gupta of Ameriprise, and Karol Sowers hosted future member Kevin Hagen of North Shore Bank. And once again Steve LaFlamme brought Patty McGaffey of Oneida.
Chair of the Day Jack Seiler, speaker Emily Vikre, President Chana Stocke
Roxanna Esguerra of the Special Events Committee announced a tour and sampling at Bent Paddle Brewing Co. on Wednesday, November 10
th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Please RSVP to
Mary Niemeyer. Are you considering getting involved with international programs?
Paul Helstrom, chair of the International Service Committee, invites all to attend a Zoom meeting of the Committee on November 9
th at 6:00 PM. A Rotary Rose update by veteran Rose Committee member
Gary Melander announced that 1,688 dozen roses were sold by Rotarians. A special shout-out went to
Patra Sevastiades and her successful efforts to sell 29 coupons generating $7,970. An additional $6,750 was raised through contributions. Bulk sales were made to Valentini’s, The Rose Man, and Engwall’s, with the remaining roses distributed to happy residents of Saint Anne’s, Bayshore, and Beehive.
Jerry Pelofske made a call for Rotarians to sign up for our annual Salvation Army Bell Ringing at all five SuperOne locations from Noon to 2:00 p.m. on Friday, December 10
th and 17
th.
Self-Reports were few but memorable! President-Elect Barb Perrella kicked the Golden Can in celebration of her 29th wedding anniversary. David Holappa paid a triple work-zone fine for his real estate transactions involving our speaker’s Canal Park location, the new Costco, and the sale of The Hills to Stella Maris Academy.
Chair of the Day
Jack Seiler introduced our speaker Emily Vikre who shared her and husband Joel’s entrepreneurial journey. Ms. Vikre is a Duluth native who lived for a time in Boston, MA writing and teaching about nutrition. While attending a spirits tasting event with Emily’s parents at Duluth’s Kitchi Gammi Club the discussion turned to the making of spirits – and the importance of the water. With water from Lake Superior combined with locally sourced Minnesota grains, it seemed obvious to two people who knew nothing about the distillery business, that Duluth was the perfect location to create a distillery. Utilizing space in Jeno Paulucci’s Canal Park building, Emily and Joel built Vikre Distillery from scratch. It was hard work involving selling the idea to investors, loan officers, spirit distributors and countless others to believe in their vision of a distillery that would use locally sourced organic ingredients. What was initially a small band of merry distillers has evolved into a business that employs 37 people in nine states! Some of the products Vikre Distillery now produces include:
Gin,
Aquavits,
Vodka and
Whiskey. The Special Events Committee has scheduled a tour of the Vikre Distillery with a special stop in the Cocktail Room for January 19, 2022. We will find out then what’s happening in the SPIRIT WORLD at Vikre Distillery.