Meeting Recap - May 9, 2017
Cindy Carlson opened the meeting with the Pledge and MaryAnn Bawden offered the invocation.
Dean Lotter graced us with his presence and introduced us to his new Assistant City Manager, Devin Massopust. When Dave Hoel attempted (unsuccessfully) to speak with food in his mouth, Dean wisely observed that “Dave is always better with his mouth full”.
Many thanks to Jason Slama for organizing and implementing (with the help of many Rotarians) the give-away of 600 Spruce saplings to area fourth graders. What a great opportunity to provide community service while increasing our visibility.
Cindy Carlson said that there is still an opportunity to contribute toward continuing sponsorships for Maman and Sharifa, the Remember Niger students many of us helped sponsor last year. Contact Cindy if you would like to participate this year.
Paul Fournier presented the club with a certificate from the Community Support Center identifying us as a Founding Organization. Paul is our representative on the CSC Board. Paul is pictured between MaryAnn, Cindy Nils and John.
Jason Slama reminded us of the opportunity to participate in the Stamp Out Hunger food drive on May 13th at the Cub Foods just off Hwy. 36 on Rice St. in Little Canada. Jim O’Brien will serve as site leader, but we need volunteers from 2:30 ‘til about 5:00 to load the food into a semi trailer. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Contact Jason or Jim if you can help.
Mike Neeley is mostly settled in his new home west of the Silver Lake Road McDonalds.
Cor Wilson was happy to be able to visit her 91 year old mother who has suffered a few falls recently. She was also happy to report that her mom is improving steadily.
Cindy Carlson took a cruise to Cuba, Belize and Mexico with her girlfriends recently.
John Risdall said that his backyard is blessed with 126 different species of birds, most of them fed by Beisswenger bird feed.
Cindy Carlson introduced our Speaker, Ed Marek. Ed is a 22 year Rotarian and is the current president of the Saint Paul Sunrise Club. Ed’s topic was Fast for Hope’s Nicaragua Initiative.
Fast for Hope had its beginning in 1982 when clubs would forego their regular meal in favor of a lower cost meal and donate the difference to Fast for Hope, which would funnel that money toward a charitable purpose. In 2008, Fast for Hope targeted Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Central America. Ten communities were considered and eventually El Corozo was selected. The goals of Fast for Hope’s partnership with El Corozo were: sustainability, community self sufficiency, quality, community determination of its own needs, active Rotary support and, more recently, replicability in other future communities. The process of discovering their own needs can be difficult and time consuming in poor communities but, in time, discussion leads to hope and hope leads to grass roots action. Once the needs are determined, Rotary can support the locally driven improvements by providing volunteers on the ground, promoting the use of local materials and labor, identifying and quantifying results, and building relationships.
The El Corozo community identified four areas of focus. The “Educational” focus was on providing books and other reading materials. The “Health” focus was to establish a local pharmacy and train health care workers. The “Water” focus was to minimize the 1-4 hours spent daily on hauling water from a spring in a neighboring village. The “Road” focus was to improve a 6 kilometer road which is very difficult to travel in the dry season and virtually impossible in the rainy season. You can download a Nicaragua Initiative brochure or apply to be a part of our next cultural delegation to El Corozo. If you have questions about the initiative, contact District 5960 Fast for Hope chair Dave Newman at dave@bancorgroup.com. Please note that the date for the Fall delegation to Nicaragua will be determined by the delegation. Once people sign up, they will determine the date. If the date doesn't work out for someone, they are free to withdraw. John, Ed and Cindy are shown below.
