Notes from the Meeting November 30, 2017

The Great Lakes Ballroom at the Holiday Inn was filled to capacity with Rotarians enjoying fellowship and a lovely lunch, when President-Elect Steve Yorde rung the bell to convene today’s meeting with welcoming comments.  Past President John Baumgarten accompanied the gathering with a rendition of “America the Beautiful”  followed by a thoughtful invocation, provided by Darlene Anderson, recognizing Duluth Rotary’s commitment to International Service and the sponsorship of youth.  Past President Bill Gravelle stepped to the podium for the Fellowship Report.  Steve Burgess, in his role as President at NBC, paid a work zone fine for his article in the DNT on budgeting tips for the Holiday Season.  Also in the news was an article about salvaging trees to be cut for lumber.  The logs are being hauled by McCabe Forest Products, which is Tom McCabe’s former company, now owned by his son.  Since Tom is retired and reports to be on a “fixed income”, the Club went easy on him, levying a fine of only $2.  Chana Stocke paid the full $4 work zone fine, however, in recognition once again by the Minnesota Housing Association, as a top producing mortgage loan officer.  Elizabeth Simonson has accepted a position to lead the Cloquet Memorial Hospital Foundation, and paid a work zone fine for her recognition.  She will be moving her Rotary membership to the Cloquet Club, and received a warm round of appreciative applause for the fellowship we have enjoyed with her membership in Club 25 and service on the Board.  P.P. Gravelle wrapped up the Fellowship Report with a call to this year’s successful deer hunters to hit the Golden Can.

Club 25 welcomed its newest members: Justin Terch, a Human Resources specialist with "Terch and Associates," and a partner of former Rotarian Ken Buck.  Justin will serve in the classification of "Human Resources," and is sponsored by Steve Yorde and Greg Hansen.

Also welcomed was Lt. Colonel Bryan Graddy, a 21-year veteran of the USAF, currently serving as the Director of the Airforce ROTC Program at UMD.    Bryan  looks forward to service opportunities in the classification of "Universities– Air Science". He is sponsored by Past President Dave Allison and Rob Hoffman.

Jim Landwehr, committee chair of the RI Foundation committee, came to the mic with recognition level pins for Rotarians:  Natalie Zeleznikar, John Foucault, Jeff Bradt, Tom Young, Steve Yorde, Jeff Fifield, Geiger Yount, and Assistant District Governor Al Makynen.  Each of the bejeweled pins represented multi-level donations by the respective Rotarians, and Landwehr observed that in aggregate, these donations could vaccinate 17,000 children with the polio vaccine!  Next came a brief announcement by yours truly,  asking for aspiring singers to join the reconstituted “Rotary Singers,” for a rehearsal of Holiday season music, after next week’s meeting.

Grants Committee Chair Catherine Carter Huber  made grant presentations, first to Patra Sevastiades, on behalf of the Duluth Library Foundation’s pre-school preparatory program (Patra is the wife of Dean Casperson) and to Jody Peck, who received our grant on behalf of the Laura MacArthur Elementary theatre program.

Geiger Yount was called to the microphone to introduce today’s program; “Duluth Sister Cities International, Building Hope and Making Connections” . Wendy Ruhnke is the President of the very successful program. We were  brought up to date on the mission and work of the Sister Cities Commission and reminded that the idea of “citizen to citizen diplomacy” was first introduced nationally after WWII by President Dwight Eisenhower as a means of promoting peace through understanding, and as a step of prevention of future wars.  Wendy recognized Jon Helstrom for his design and creation of a cart for the storied “Japanese Peace Bell” that graces our community with its rich history.   In addition to Ohara, Japan, the Sister Cities Commission recognizes official relations with Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada; Petrozavodsk, Russia; Ranya, Iraqi Kurdistan; and Vaxo, Sweden.

The Ohara, Japan Peace Bell and the cart designed by Jon Helstrom will soon be displayed at the DECC. The cart was built by Jon and former Club 25ers Gene Cotton and Past President Bruce von Reidel. This Peace Bell (above) complements the Peace Bell on display outdoors at Enger Park. A little known fact: this Enger Park Peace Bell is positioned so that when it is rung, the sound waves are directed toward Ohara, Japan’s Peace Bell. Similarly, when the Japanese Peace Bell is rung, the sound waves are directed toward Duluth.