Our Program on February 4th was “Community for the Commons” presented by Eric Snyder. Community for the Com
mons is a 501c3 conservancy working towards the renovation of the Excelsior Commons area. The non-profit conservancy is working with the City Of Excelsior to support the up-keep and renovation to raise a new Band-Shell, a City Square and a Boardwalk along the lake while still preserving historic parts of the park. After two years of gathering information the conservancy has a master plan that has been accepted by the city council and can now start fundraising for Phase #1 which is the Band-Shell and plaza adjacent to it. The City of Excelsior is contributing $1.5 million of the $2 million and the Conservancy is raising the other $500,000 from individuals and groups. Other funding going to the project is the $100,000 in dock fees and local sales tax on common area events. They are also receiving funding from the morning Rotary Club from the summer concert concessions sales. Public fundraising is already on its way and the conservancy intends to start construction on the Band Shell and Plaza in September 2020 after the summer concert series are completed. Members had many comments and comments all praised the work of the Conservancy and the great presentation by Eric Snyder.
mons is a 501c3 conservancy working towards the renovation of the Excelsior Commons area. The non-profit conservancy is working with the City Of Excelsior to support the up-keep and renovation to raise a new Band-Shell, a City Square and a Boardwalk along the lake while still preserving historic parts of the park. After two years of gathering information the conservancy has a master plan that has been accepted by the city council and can now start fundraising for Phase #1 which is the Band-Shell and plaza adjacent to it. The City of Excelsior is contributing $1.5 million of the $2 million and the Conservancy is raising the other $500,000 from individuals and groups. Other funding going to the project is the $100,000 in dock fees and local sales tax on common area events. They are also receiving funding from the morning Rotary Club from the summer concert concessions sales. Public fundraising is already on its way and the conservancy intends to start construction on the Band Shell and Plaza in September 2020 after the summer concert series are completed. Members had many comments and comments all praised the work of the Conservancy and the great presentation by Eric Snyder.
e non-profit foundation Recycling Across America to seek a common labeling solution through standardizing the labeling of recyclables. According to Aimee the good news is that the non-profit society-wide standardized labels for bins are the #1 solution to help people recycle properly and therefore the standardized labels are the #1 solution to fix U.S. recycling. The standardized labels are proven to increase recycling levels 50-400%. Without exception, recycling is the top action society can do to simultaneously improve: the environment, the economy, sustainable manufacturing and to prevent waste from going into oceans.
the Moravian Church in Chaska. His House provides free services, clothing, household items, food and furniture to families in transition from homelessness. His House is a non-profit 501c3 and receives its funding through donations with all volunteer workers. Their Main programs are: STARTER KITS for families transitioning out of homelessness, ABUNDANCE FOOD SHARING to distribute food people in transition, and SLEEP-OUT to create awareness of homelessness.
nomination of the President Elect for 2021-22, the mid-year Financial Report, Adoption of a new Club Constitution and Bylaws, and committee meetings to play for the remainder of the Rotary Year. The first order of business was the Nominations Committee’s report nominating Lewis Graber to be our President in 2021-22. Lou is an engineer by trade and has been a member for 6 years. Currently Lou serves as the President of our Excelsior Rotary Foundation and STRIVE Mentor and active volunteer on club service projects. Lou was elected by unanimous vote of the club.
dation investment fund from Lee Parris of $75K corpus has now grown to $105 and a disbursement will be made to Seets’ Presidency for use for the remainder of this Rotary Year.
Our Program on December 3rd was the Reel Hope Project presented by founder and Director Kaycee Stanley and accompanied by staff member Molly Barr. The program was introduced by Steve Frazier who shared that he was a foster child and his parents became his Mom and Dad for life and did so for 50 foster kids. Kaycee and Molly are both adoptive parents and committed to the Reel Hope Project’s goal to help find forever families for every waiting kid. Their method is to make videos for the 1,000 kids waiting to be adopted that cannot return to the natural parents. The videos tell each kid’s story in their own words. Currently there are 10,000 kids in the foster home situation and the 1,000 kids who’s parents have lost their parental rights. The statistics she presented about foster kids was astounding; 80% of prison inmates are foster kids and 80% of sex –trafficking females and 2/3rd of female foster girls get pregnant out of wedlock. To impact these statistics Reel Hope circulates these videos to churches and social service clubs to hunt for potential adoptive parents and also fundraising. Of the 100-115 reels they have circulated, 65 have been placed in adoptive homes with 250 more awaiting placement. Kaycee ended by saying that Rotarian can get involved by (1) inviting Reel Hope to their churches, (2) connecting their staff to potential adoptive parents, and (3) giving generously to help in the production of videos and placement costs. At the end of the program President Michelle presented the Reel Hope Project with a $600 grant which was matched with a $600 donation from Steve and Karen Frazier.
s been in existence since 1973 providing good service to the area. Mike’s last appeared at our Rotary Club a couple of years ago when body cams were just being added to the force. Currently all vehicles and officers have body cams that are synced-in with the police vehicle’s video cam and audio system. The SLMPSD appreciates the investments the community has made and all officers have them to engage when making an active call at their discretion. Thus far all officer complaints have supported the officers’ conduct in making calls in active situations.-300dpi-(780-x-1200pix)-web-raster-online-use-(not-print)/ExcRotaryLogo-WEB-RGB.jpg){kind=link}
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