April is Rotary Magazine Month. I would encourage you to read your month copy of the Rotarian. There are great and inspiring articles about what Rotary is doing abroad and in the US. The April edition deals with climate change an important issue for all of us.
We have some interesting programs in April, including hearing about Engineers Without Borders. Please note that for the last two meetings of the month, (April 23 and 30) we will not be meeting at Shore 96. April 23 we will meet at the new Loden Shoreview apartment complex and on April 30 we will be doing a service project for Feed My Starving Children at Incarnation Lutheran Church.
April is a month with five Tuesdays. The first three Tuesday meetings will be at Shore 96 and the last two will be off-site. Newer member Stephanie Cosgrose will kick off April with her classification talk on April 2. That same day members will get a short tutorial on packing food for Feed My Starving Children, a service project set for April 30. On April 9 the District 5960 Ethics Team will make a presentation on the Four-Way Test and personal ethics as guided by Rotary principles. Vini Taguchi will make a presentation April 16 about the group Engineers Without Borders.
April 23 the club will meet at 1005 Gramsie Rd. in Shoreview at 7:15 am for a presentation and tour by Josh Brandsted at the New Loden SV Apartments. They are across the road from the Green Mill. On April 30 we will meet at 9 am at Incarnation Lutheran Church, 4880 Hodgson Rd in Shoreview to pack food for Feed My Starving Children. Having a service project in place of the usual breakfast meeting was a suggestion made by several members. Thanks to Kent Peterson for arranging the programs and service project for April.
Ken Hola was responsible for our March programs which featured Marvin Sims talking about the STRIPES Program, Navy CPT Kay Bauer recounting her year in Viet Nam as a nurse, Terry Schwerm giving us a tour of the remodeled Shoreview Community Center and Davod Zarghami talking about and providing samples of Northern Soda Company's 1950's style soda pop.
Looking for ways to get more out or your Rotary experience? Consider joining a Rotary Fellowship. Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience. Some Rotary Fellowships are associated with professions such as
Educators
Lawyers
Police and Law Enforcement
Then there are the more traditional hobbies such as
Bowling
Canoeing
Cycling
Fishing
Old and Rare Books
Railroads
Scouting
Tennis
If your tastes are more eclectic, there might even be a Rotary Fellowship designed for you, such as the Metalhead Rotary Fellowship. Fellowships are open to Rotarians and family members. Go to https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/more-fellowships and explore. You might find something that touches your interests. Oh yes, I am a lifetime member of the Beer Fellowship, the Whisky Fellowship, and the Wine Fellowship. Have fun.
UPDATE Re: New Sewing School Established by Arden Hills Based NGO PUSHPA in
Amaravathi, India Sponsored by Rotary Grant obtained by
Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club
The Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club has obtained a Rotary Grant to sponsor the establishment of a sewing school to train poor young women in Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh, India. Amaravathi is a small village of about 15,000 people in the State of Andhra Pradesh, in southeastern India. This area is primarily agricultural and the majority of the people are very poor. The project is designed to provide an opportunity for underprivileged young women to improve their circumstances.
Our local Rotary club has partnered with Pushpa, an experienced, Arden Hills based non-profit organization and its India-based NGO also called PUSHPA, organized by Gummadi Franklin and his wife Shirley, long time residents of Arden Hills. Franklin, as Gummadi is called, was born in India and then worked for 30 years for Maplewood based 3M Corporation before retiring some years ago. Since retiring, Franklin and Shirley have dedicated themselves to helping poor people in India … help themselves.
The Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club is lead sponsor in a $16,550 grant to establish the sewing school and support operations for the first two years while it becomes self-supporting. Funds are from the Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club and nine other Rotary Clubs in the St. Paul district and matching funds from Rotary District 5960. The project is being spearheaded in Amaravathi by Pushpa’s Indian NGO with the assistance of a cooperating Rotary Service Trust Organization in India.
The goal of the school is to teach sewing skills to young women that are generally unable to obtain such vocational education and provide them with an opportunity to improve their circumstances. The literacy rate in this area of India is less than about 65% and poor children, especially girls, have very few educational opportunities. This school is modeled after another sewing school that has successfully operated by the Pushpa NGO in another village in Andhra Pradesh.
Rotary is an international service club with 1.2 million members who take action to create lasting change across the globe and in our communities. The Arden Hills Shoreview Rotary Club also sponsors community service programs, scholarships and youth development activities in our area. For more information, go to www. ardenhillsshoreviewrotary.org
The Arden Hills/Shoreview Rotary Club's on the road tour traveled to the Shoreview Community Center to view the recent expansion and renovation of the Community Center. City Manager Terry Schwerm showed a brief power point presentation which showed different elements of the expansion and also briefly discussed the improvement plans for the Shoreview Commons area. He indicated that the Shoreview Commons project is scheduled to start this summer. He then led a tour of the Community Center and showed Rotary members the new Activity Rooms, the expanded Tropical Adventure Indoor Playground, new fitness studios, the renovated fitness center, new family changing areas, and Bamboo Bay. He noted that Bamboo Bay was the first expansion to the Tropics Indoor Water Park since the Community Center opened in 1990. He also indicated that since Bamboo Bay opened in mid-December the Community Center has been extremely busy often hitting the 500 person capacity in the pool area on Saturdays and holidays.
Mark Stange brought a guest with him and told an interesting story about how they had met when he found the guest's wife cell phone on the street when he was biking. The guest speaker was Davod Zarghami, one of the founders of the Northern Soda Company in Arden Hills. Northern Soda Company is based in Arden Hills and they make craft sodas in 12 signature flavors. There Arden Hills facility is where the make and can the craft soda's. They have a partnership of five people that are involved in the business and many of them met at the Heritage E-STEM Magnet School in St. Paul. He noted that he and his partner Jesse Hopkins are the only full-time staff at the facility. They handle everything from manufacturing, sales, and delivery. Some of their signature flavors include Cream Soda, Strawberry, Black Cherry, Ginger Pop, Root Beer, and Sunday Purple. The Great Northern Soda Company was formed about a year ago in 2018 and can be found at Kowalski's Stores, Cellars Wine and Spirits, some Hy-Vee Stores. It is also sold in many brewhouses and some restaurants in the area. The Factory Store in Arden Hills is open to the public every Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm where people can visit the factory and also purchase soda. The soda and logo are designed as 1950's style craft soda with real sugar. Their advertising and catch phrase is "Catch a Northern". Davod also passed out cans of different flavors of Northern Soda to club members.
.JPG?_=636901822363055068)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG?_=636901822363055068)