Our guest today was Mary Jo McGuire.
 
Watch for an email from President Ed James listing upcoming Rotary events.  Note that August 18 at noon marks our second face-to-face Rotary meeting (with social distancing and masks).  The meeting will be held in the pavilion at Silverview Park on County Rd I just east of Silver Lake Rd.
 
Cindy Carlson reported that we have received $4,000 (40%) of our goal of $10,000 in donations for our No-Plate Dinner fundraiser.  President Ed will forward Treasurer John Ordway’s summary of donations so far.  We all need to do our part by asking family, friends and co-workers to contribute.
 
Geoff Hollimon updated us on the North Suburban Emergency Coalition’s fundraising efforts.  Donations to date total $65,241 toward a goal of $150,000. Five grants have been made so far and more are in the pipeline.  The Coalition’s Three Mile Community Virtual Run/Walk is going on this week and has so far raised $12,695.  At today’s meeting it was revealed that you can still sign up for the run/walk.  Just click the link above to register.   Don’t forget that you can also support the work of the Suburban Ramsey Emergency Coalition by writing a check in any amount to the Suburban Ramsey Covid-19 Response Fund and mailing it to:
       Suburban Ramsey Covid-19
       Response Fund
       C/o Carol Brown-Mills
       5845 St. Albans Court
       Shoreview, MN 55126
Carol is a board member of Shoreview Community Foundation and she’ll forward donations to The St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation each day. You will still get your tax receipt from the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation with tax ID # 41-6031510.
Recent improvements to the Coalition’s website include a “Donate” button if you prefer the convenience of online donations.  The Coalition’s Facebook page can be accessed by clicking here.  An update to the Coalition's member Rotary Clubs can be downloaded here.
 
Geoff also reported on the 8th Annual CPY Golf Ball Drop which was held at Brightwood Hills Golf Course.  In the biggest ball drop to date, so many balls were dropped that it disrupted the mechanism for determining the winner.  Instead of one ball in the cup there were three.  A quick phone call to the three potential winners resulted in all three agreeing to split the $1,800 pot.  The event grossed over $9,000!
 
Nyle Zikmund introduced our speaker, Tara Jebens-Singh, the new Executive Director of Northeast Youth and Family Services (NYFS).  Tara began her employment at NYFS just as the pandemic hit but she appears to have hit the ground running.  Many NYFS programs are heavily dependent on face to face interaction with their clients, so these COVID times have made creativity and collaboration essential.  NYFS is a mental health and social service agency serving people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds in the northeastern metropolitan area of the Twin Cities.  On the mental health services side, NYFS provides services in 17 schools in the Roseville, Mounds View and White Bear Lake Districts as well as providing tele-health services, home visits, clinic-based services and day treatment programs.  On the social services side, NYFS provides senior chore services, tele-reassurance calls and youth diversion programs.  In conjunction with area police departments, the community advocacy program is also just restarting.