Michael-Jon Pease – our District Governor with inspiring words about where the District and Rotary International is going – and some challenges for our local club.
Tom Murray – Shoreview author shared about his book “Sons & the Holy Ghost” and gave an interesting talk about writing a book and challenged us to ‘write our stories’.
Vince Darling – Our member/financial planner spoke Retirement and Tax implications of all those acronyms we try to remember. I think everyone came away with something to think about.
We ended the month strong with a 5th Tuesday Happy Hour at The Green Mill on the 29th and an Amazing Amazon tour on Wednesday the 30th.
Club members volunteered on the 12th and 26th at Floral Park in Arden Hills.
In the past month (or so) we have had members travel to Alaska, Argentina, and Brazil to visit Rotary clubs and experience other cultures.
Yes, we have a LOT going on. I’m looking forward to another active month in October and to hear stories about faraway lands...make to as many meetings as possible – hope to see you there in person or on zoom!
Today's speaker was Paul Krueger, President/CEO of Make-A-Wish Minnesota. He was accompanied by Sarah Kasner, a Minneapolis parent of two children who have been granted wishes. The mission of Make-A-Wish is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illness. Research shows that wishes can give kids the strength to fight against, and even overcome, a critical illness. Their detailed eligibility criteria specify that a child must be diagnosed with a critical illness, not necessarily a terminal condition. While Make-A-Wish is a national organization, our Minnesota chapter is one of the top Minnesota children's charities, with a staff of 20 and a core of about 450 dedicated volunteers. Currently about 250 wishes are granted annually in MN. But 300 children are waiting. The cost of a wish is about $12,000 on average. It was very meaningful to hear from Sarah Kasner. She and her husband have 4 children, the youngest two of which were born with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and became wheel-chair bound by the age of 9. The older of the two wished for a gaming room within their home and the younger wished for a trip to Disney. Both were extremely well done and very meaningful for this family. Doctors are involved in determining a child's eligibility and also helping judge the specific fitness of a child's wish, given their medical situation. Doctors agree that a gift often helps provide trauma relief, strength to fight and help with emotional well-being. "Hope Changes Everything!"
Today's speaker was our very own Anoop Mathur who gave us an overview of his professional career in the area of energy storage and the exciting work he is currently doing through his company Terrafore Technologies. Prior to starting this development company, Anoop had a long career at Honeywell, Inc. working in the field of solar energy storage. Terrafore is developing the technology to enable thermal energy storage for use in concentrating solar thermal power as well as fossil and nuclear power and other industrial processes. Between 2000 and 2025, America's electricity demands were fairly constant. Energy efficient appliances, etc. helped balance out other growth. But now the needs for electricity are growing rapidly due to the need for large data centers, power for electric vehicles and other changes. The Department of Energy is very interested in the company's designs for a 1,000 megawatt thermal battery which can capture and store enough solar energy to power about 10,000 homes a day. Storage does not create energy but it makes it available at the right time, which is where nearly all the value is. Thank you Anoop, for this fascinating presentation!
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