President Ed James Quote of the Day:
“Don’t find fault. Find a remedy.” -  Henry Ford
 
Our guest today was Jeff Ozanne, Lead Pastor at Faith United Methodist Church in St. Anthony.
 
Important Rotary Dates and Events can be accessed by clicking here.
 
Upcoming Speakers:
- September 08 - Bill Strusinski - Care Under Fire - 365 days in Vietnam
- September 15, 2020 - Garry Johanson -State of Emergency Management
 
Although it wasn’t presented at the club meeting, Geoff Hollimon provided me with a Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition Weekly Report, which I have included below:
 
Subject: Weekly Highlights from Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition - August 24
 
This past week total donations to the Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition reached $85,716. After deducting $55,000 for the 9 grants awarded, the balance is $30,716. We are assessing how the nature of the upcoming school year and current CARES Act resources impact needs for food and housing assistance. Meanwhile there are three current activities.
1.       Review of Letters of Interest for Donor Designated Housing Assistance for families who identify as Black or African American.
The Grants Committee is reviewing three letters of interest (LOI) in grants from the donor designated fund. The LOIs are from AEON, Solid Ground and Keystone Community Services. After review of the LOI, applications will be sought and final decision will be by the Steering Committee.
2.      Collector Car Raffle.
We continue to wait for the fiscal agent agreement from CLIMB Theater for raffle of the 1973 Ford Mustang. Two appraisals have been completed and the photo shoot was done by a local professional photographer who donated his services. We want to get the agreement to the Steering Committee for approval as soon as possible so that we and CLIMB’s charitable gambling partners can start selling tickets.
3.      Bike/Drive Event to see Roseville in Bloom art in partnership with Visit Roseville.
We are planning a family friendly Bike/Drive event to encourage people to safely get outside this fall to visit Roseville in Bloom art in 20 locations in Roseville. The Roseville in Bloom website will add biking and driving and in-kind sponsors who will provide incentives such as free appetizers and 2 for 1 specials for people to go to our Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition to register for this FREE event. We hope that the in-kind sponsors will also promote the event to their clients. The goal is to increase visibility of our Coalition and to encourage people to naturally donate to the Coalition. This event would be open September and October and we may be able to co-promote this with showing of the collector car for raffle sales.
There will be a Steering Committee meeting this Thursday, August 27 if there is need for decisions or significant discussion. 
 
Nyle Zikmund introduced our speaker, Tyler Ahnemann, from the Minnesota Zoo.  Tyler said that the Minnesota Zoo is 42 years old and is the 5th oldest zoo in the country.  The Zoo is a trusted conservation leader and adheres to the highest standards of wildlife preservation and care, as evidenced by its accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  In the years before Covid-19, the Zoo entertained over 1.3 million guests, including over 500,000 environmental program participants, each year.  Pandemic concerns led the Zoo to close on March 14th but it reopened at limited capacity on July 24th.  Reservations to visit the Zoo can be made online by clicking here.
 
The Zoo is also known for its adult programming.  Tyler mentioned several adult oriented opportunities including: Wellness/Special Interest Program, Backwoods Camping, Backstage Passes and Travel Ed-Ventures.  He talked at length about the Travel Ed-Ventures program, which offers groups of 8-16 adventure travelers environmental trips to locations around the globe.  If you are interested, contact Tyler at TylerAhnemann@state.mn.us.
 
President Ed noted that our next face-to-face Rotary meeting will be on September 22nd at Silverview park on Co Rd I near Silver Lake Road at 12:00 Noon.  Bring your own food and beverage.  The meeting will also be available on ZOOM.
 
Cindy Carlson presided over the culmination of our No-Plate dinner fundraiser.  Our 19th annual Gold Plate Dinner fundraiser was cancelled this year due to Covid-19, so we needed to find a way to raise funds for the myriad of charitable causes that our club supports.  Since the Gold Plate Dinner raises over $20,000 each year, we had our hands full trying, on short notice, to recover the lost revenue.  The No-Plate Dinner was like a dinner fundraiser without the dinner.  We had already raised $7,400 prior to the cancellation of the Gold Plate Dinner and we have raised an additional $6,500 since then, so the response has been heartwarming.  The No-Plate donations will help us to continue to fund and participate in programs like these:
 
Harvest Pack Food Packing
Feed My Starving Children
Stockyard Days Parade Hot Dog Feed
Cultural Exchange to Lebanon
Adopt a Home Program
Community Support Center
Rotary Youth Exchange Program
Rotary Global Scholar Program
Rotary Easter Egg Hunt
4th Grade Foresters Tree Giveaway
Three $1,500 College Scholarships
Community Partners with Youth
Mounds View Festival in the Park
Mounds View Police Federation
Ralph Reeder Food Shelf
New Brighton Historical Society
Northeast Youth and Family Services
Peacemaker Minnesota
Stamp Out Hunger
Camp RYLA
Camp Enterprise
Irondale Choir
Remember Niger Child Sponsorships
Guatemala Literacy Project
 
Major sponsors were:
Bell Lumber and Pole
Western Bank
Smith Schaeffer and Associates
Mountaintop International
Pratt-Ordway Properties
Our sincere thanks to all who contributed to this event.
 
The $250 raffle winner was Jay Ariyo in London, England.  Charity really is a global effort!