This Week at Rotary
We meet at Noon on Thursday
October 13, 2022
IN PERSON & ZOOM
For Those Attending in Person
Buffet Meal
(Zoom Meeting Opens at 11:45)
(Link Sent Thursday Morning)
At
Holiday Inn Downtown
Collaborative Caretaking of Spaces and Neighbors
The City of Duluth received one of eight Love Your Block grants from the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation to support collaboration and caretaking in neighborhoods. This includes repairing structures, nurturing relationships, addressing solid waste, and centering resident voices to identify solutions for blighted spaces. In 2022, the Love Your Block team collaborated with residents on thirteen projects across Central Hillside and Lincoln Park. Heading into 2023, there are opportunities to further the impact and investment in our community. Join us to explore causes, symptoms, and impacts of blight – along with opportunities to improve our community block by block.
Chair of the Day – Past President Chana Stocke
Highlights from Last Week’s Meeting
By Patra Sevastiades
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there - noted humorist Will Rogers.
This week, Rotary Club 25 gathered for lunch at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum (LSRRM) in the Depot. Filtered light streamed from skylights onto the platform where we sat, near where the railroad tracks begin. Massive historic locomotives quietly looked on as Ken Buehler, Executive Director of the museum, moved from table to table, giving everyone a ticket stub and a welcoming smile.
President Barb Perrella took the podium and welcomed the large crowd. She led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and reciting the Rotary 4-Way Test, then introduced Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom, who gave a combination Fellowship Report and Reflection. He observed that progress on eradicating polio from the earth had reversed because of covid-19.
Past Assistant Governor Phil Strom
President Barb Perrella introduced our guests: visiting Rotarian Craig Carlson, from Harbortown; Chelsea Harder, who recently returned from a Peace Corps assignment in Micronesia; Chris Pelofske, wife of Jerry Pelofske; Jessica Peterson, Development Director of the Depot Foundation; Past District Governor and an honorary member of Club 25 Earl Rogers and his wife Judy Rogers; and the Junior Rotarians.
Allen Anway
Past President Dean Casperson
Jack Seiler
Next, Allen Anway self-reported that he is a charter member and recording secretary of the Lake Superior Transportation Club, which notably predates the Lake Superior Railroad Museum! Past President Dean Casperson celebrated his and Patra Sevastiades’s 10th wedding anniversary. Jack Seiler gratefully acknowledged the teamwork of the Grants Committee he chairs and identified its members: Catherine Carter-Huber, Dean Casperson, Bill Gravelle, Steve Hadley, Renee Mattson, Stacy Oltmanns, Jerry Pelofske, President Barb Perrella, Jim Schwartz, Ruth Westra, and Geiger Yount. He also gave a special Grants Committee shout-out to Past President Elaine Hansen for her financial expertise and Brian Fulda for his technological know-how.
Rotary Liaisons with Junior Rotarians
Rob Hofmann with Reeva of Marshall School
The Junior Rotarians were welcomed to the podium and introductions were made:
Denfeld High School: Maxine, a senior; East High School: Jackson, a senior; Harbor City International School: Olivia, a junior; Hermantown High School: Renee, a senior; Marshall School: Reeva a junior; Proctor High School: Zach, a senior. Thanks to all of our Liaisons: Holly Mirau, Jena Evans, Jeff Fifield, Rob Hofmann, Stacy Oltmanns, JR Chair, President Barb Perrella, Geiger Yount, and Tom Young, for making this work possible
President elect Gary Melander, co-chair of the Rose Sale Committee, reminded everyone to keep selling roses for one more week and to turn in their tickets. “And money!” added Past President Elaine Hansen. Volunteers are still needed to hand out rose bouquets on October 14 and 15. Note: Vinod Gupta has done a yeoman’s job of organizing sponsor participation and producing the 2022 Rose Sale coupon book.
President Barb Perrella reminded all to attend the next Fellowship Breakfast on Friday, October 21, 8:00 am, at the Kitchi Gammi Club, $9/person. Food, fun, and fellowship each month. She also said, “October is Membership Month, so invite people to join us!”
President Barb Perrella then introduced speaker Ken Buehler, Executive Director, LSRRM.
Buehler noted that, historically, most museums are full of items stolen from others, notably: Egyptian treasures, the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, and treasures plundered by the Nazis with an aim of opening a Fuhrer Museum. He noted that the St. Louis County Historical Society is repatriating Ojibwe objects in partnership with the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.
Ken Buehler executive director for the Lake Superior Railroad Museum
Then he said that the
LSRRM—named “Best Transportation Museum in America” by USA Today — has its own history of wheeling, dealing, and
stealing to obtain locomotives. He related these colorful tales and added another: the U.S. Steel plant in Morgan Park was built so that U.S. Steel could avoid paying Minnesota taxes on iron ore being transported out of state. “They didn’t want the mill, they didn’t need the mill, and they began tearing it down the day they opened it,” Buehler said. This was the source of the
stolen Seven Spot train. All applauded.
The winning ticket was drawn. Jackson Carlson, the Junior Rotarian from East High School, was the winner of two tickets for a “Class Under the Glass” evening on the LSRRM’s dome car.
President Barb Perrella adjourned the meeting.