Frank Mabley provided a lively "Member Minute", recounting the time he and a childhood friend broke into Arthur Godfrey's hunting cabin in Virginia. When asked to speak to his best and worst jobs, Frank noted his worst job was time he spent as an apprentice crane operator.  The pay was great but there was nothing for him to do, as his apprentice status did not permit him to actually operate a crane.  His best job was the period of time he worked as an attorney in small claims court in Ramsey County.  In this situation the work was rewarding but the pay was lousy!

 

Todays speakers were Jason Martin and Kaycee Stanley from The Reel Hope Project.  This organization, which started in 2016, has a unique mission -- to create a video for every child in foster care in MN who is waiting to be adopted.  They work with each youth to create a compelling video that celebrates that child's personality and unique qualities. They take the reels to faith communities and events every week, introducing as many people as possible to these kids. Their mission is urgent, given that 80% of kids who age out of foster care at 18 end up becoming incarcerated or becoming sex workers.  Currently there are 1,000 kids in foster care waiting for adoption.  The Reel Hope Project has made reels for 316 kids and 147 kids have been matched with a forever home.  

Today's Member Minute was provided by Bill Klumpp.  He described his worst job as working as a bus boy during college and his best work experience being the 30 years he spent working in the Minnesota Attorney General's office.  He served under three different publicly elected attorneys general and yet he felt that he had the freedom to perform his role without "politics" entering into the picture.  

 

Next up was a short presentation by me on the subject of the Rotary Foundation.  November is designated as "Foundation Month" by RI, and therefore it is a good opportunity to reflect on all the wonderful projects that clubs in our district have been able to conduct both locally and around the world as a result of district and global level grants.  It is member contributions to the Foundation that make this possible.  

 

Our speaker was Annie Nolte-Henning from the Alight organization.  Alight, formerly known as The American Refugee Committee, is headquartered here in the Twin Cities and has worked to help people displaced from their homelands for over 45 years.  Annie's presentation today focused on Ukranian refugees, some of whom are now hoping to come to the U.S. temporarily.  Every refugee must have a sponsor/sponsor group.  There is much for sponsor groups to do -- fill out forms, welcome them here, help adults find work, and fundraise to help pay for housing.  There is no path to citizenship for these refugees but they will have a 2-year authorization to stay in the U.S.  Alight is partnering with Rotary clubs across MN to find sponsors for this group of refugees.  Charlie Oltman and his wife have signed up to sponsor a 3-person family and our club has agreed to provide $5,000 to support the effort.  

Bill Kiehnbaum provided today's member minute.  Bill grew up in Winona, MN and shared that his first job was also his worst job.  It involved checking the town's very tall sand bag dike on the Mississippi River for leaks.  At night in the dark and cold!  His best job was the 30 years he spent working as an auditor for the Farm Credit System.  He traveled a bit but noted that this was "back in the day" when travel, especially air travel, was not as stressful as it now is.  

 

Our speaker was Kara Ries, mayor of North Oaks.  Kara described North Oaks' system of government, which is unique.  The City owns nothing -- neither buildings nor roads.  Each homeowner's property line extends to the middle of the street, making all roads privately owned.  The North Oaks Homeowners Association has responsibility for managing all trails and roads whereas the City is responsible for things like negotiating fire and police protection agreements.  It works jointly with neighboring communities to secure these services.  Another unique aspect of North Oaks is the involvement of the North Oaks Company.  The NO Company represents the James J. Hill Family which originally owned the property and has continued to work with the City to oversee development of new housing on the land.  One such example is the addition of Waverly Gardens about 20 years ago.  There are still homes being built but that phase is coming to an end and new development will cease. Kara has lived in N.O. for 13 years with her family.  She grew up in Shoreview, went to Hill Murray High School and went on to engineering, then law school.  She has been an attorney for over 20 years, including the last 10 years as a Patent Law specialist.  

Today's meeting included a visit from two of three MVHS students we sponsored for Rotary's Camp Enterprise earlier this month.  This long-standing weekend event, a signature project of the Rotary Club of Edina, consistently gets high marks from students, and these young women were no exception.  They spoke about how little they knew about it before attending and wondered what they had gotten themselves into, but then went on to speak in glowing terms of all they learned about leadership, business and themselves in the process.  

 

District Governor Dayle Quigley also visited today and spoke about her own Rotary journey as well as what our District has planned for the remainder of this Rotary year.  Dayle first learned of Rotary when she and her husband were looking for an international exchange program for their then high-school aged daughter.  They ended up choosing Rotary because of the structure and safety nets it provides, as well as the history of great host parents.  This ended up being a fantastic experience for their daughter and family and it launched Dayle into her Rotary journey.  Dayle is an Emergency Room Physician, currently working in Little Falls, MN.  After medical school, her first work as a physician was with the U.S. Military, where she spend 4 years stationed in Japan.  After the military, her family moved to Hayward, WI where she joined Rotary and served as President after only two years with the club.  After 24 years, she and her family moved to St. Paul and she joined that club.  She quickly moved through a number of District Level committees and now serves as our DG.  Dayle is an energetic optimist and her comments today invigorated us all to remembering why we joined Rotary and why we stay.  Her "elevator speech" when asked what Rotary is, is the following:  "We are 1.4 million dreamers that do!"