The Rotary Program for September 17th was a marathon meeting covering the Rotary Golf Classic and Fundraiser final report, Paul Harris Awards and future fundraising of the Club. President Michelle started the program by introducing Jim Cada and Bob Boyer and thanking them for chairing this year’s golf fundraiser. Jim summarize
d the final financials listing the Gross as $45,371.00 with a net amount of $31,195.00 of which our club will receive $19,107.00. Then Bob proceeded to introduce his guest Kristin Bender who made and donated the heirloom quilt and as she works with Boyer Building she also handled much of the clerical entries of golfer, sponsors and other data. Bob also introduced the Golf Committee from our club and recognized them by name - Mike Dinndorf, Randy Schumacher, Tim Litfin (Auctioneer), Nick Roehl (M.C), Michelle Seets, Lou Graber, Jenny Janson, Scott Zerby, John Fern and Karen and Steve Frazier. The AM club was represented by Mike Meander and Austin Kraft. Bob commented that “the real heroes of the fundraiser were the major sponsors and hole sponsors and the merchants that donated.” The volunteers received Rotary gift items and Michelle again thanked Bob and Jim for the leadership. Michelle then narrated the Golf Classic and Auction Power Point by Steve Frazier from photos taken by Greg Hayek and Jenny Janson. Mike Dinndorf announced that he would be transferring to the AM Club because of our meeting time but will act as a liaison between the two clubs and glad to work on the golf committee for both clubs.
d the final financials listing the Gross as $45,371.00 with a net amount of $31,195.00 of which our club will receive $19,107.00. Then Bob proceeded to introduce his guest Kristin Bender who made and donated the heirloom quilt and as she works with Boyer Building she also handled much of the clerical entries of golfer, sponsors and other data. Bob also introduced the Golf Committee from our club and recognized them by name - Mike Dinndorf, Randy Schumacher, Tim Litfin (Auctioneer), Nick Roehl (M.C), Michelle Seets, Lou Graber, Jenny Janson, Scott Zerby, John Fern and Karen and Steve Frazier. The AM club was represented by Mike Meander and Austin Kraft. Bob commented that “the real heroes of the fundraiser were the major sponsors and hole sponsors and the merchants that donated.” The volunteers received Rotary gift items and Michelle again thanked Bob and Jim for the leadership. Michelle then narrated the Golf Classic and Auction Power Point by Steve Frazier from photos taken by Greg Hayek and Jenny Janson. Mike Dinndorf announced that he would be transferring to the AM Club because of our meeting time but will act as a liaison between the two clubs and glad to work on the golf committee for both clubs.Michelle then presented three Paul Harris Awards. The first went to Dick Glover for attaining $4,000 in donations to Rotary International. Nick Wegleitner received a Paul Harris Award for his year as President and Kristen Bender received a Community Service PH Award for her work on the Golf fundraiser.
The final part of the marathon program was President-elect Kate Wilinski giving a presentation on future fundraising that includes our current contribution sources and what some other Rotary Clubs are doing around the nation. Her analysis included what we are currently raising and our charitable disbursements. She also outlined our own club’s challenges. Kate then invited everyone to a special fundraising meeting on September 24th to discuss a SWOT Analysis (i.e., Strengths/Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). The meeting will be at 12:00 PM at the International Pancake House on Highway 7 and 101.
STRIVE – Student & Parent Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 2nd at MHS in the Port (old library) at 7:00 PM. Dick Glover – STRIVE Coordinator requests all Mentors and presenter attend and meet and talk with parents and perspective STRIVE members.
October Speakers for October:
October 1st – Superintendent Dr. Dennis Peterson on Minnetonka Schools Update. October 8th – Kathy Knutson of Pique Travel on “Travel Tips and Tricks”.
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Western Communities Action Network, Inc.) that provides services and network for struggling families in the west metro. Associate Director Sami said that the Mission Statement of WeCan is “a community nonprofit that empowers and equips individuals and families to reach stability and self-sufficiency.” She told us a story about “Jessica” who WeCAN helped provide services including transportation, food and clothing, housing and employment counselling and is now back on her feet again. Sami explained the four core services programs: 1. Emergency assistance to keep families and individuals in their homes and stable with rent and or mortgage assistance and utility payments. 2. Food support programs like Meals on Wheels that support 8,000 hot meals per month and distribute over 72,000 pounds of food delivered to homes in need. 3. Employment counseling and financial literacy classes to help adults in jobs search skills, identify personal capabilities and employment opportunities. 4. Family support programs to help clients make ends meet by stretching their budget to help pay for necessities. .JPG)
Star Award program on feminine hygiene products entitled “Don’t Miss A Day”. The Silver Star Award requires that the scouts identify a problem and to come up with a sustainable solution to solve the problem and then to develop a program to solve the problem. The Girl Scouts became aware of a problem girls in all over the world would miss a week a week of school each month because due to the lack of feminine products. To solve the problem they decided to make up feminine hygiene kits. The kits include reusable hygiene pads, panties, washcloths, soap and other feminine products. The kits can be used for up to two years. 
To finance the project they received funding from the Rotary Club of Excelsior ($245) and Thrident Financial ($250). To raise awareness and additional money they sol
d candles, bath salts and sugar scrubs at the Farmers Market in excelsior. Working with the “Days for Girls” program they have raised enough money to send 125 kits to Malawi in Africa and an addition 25-50 kits to a new school in Kenya. The Girl Scouts Kat, Mary, Mia and Hope showed the packet and its contents and circulated among or members to view the contents. They also distributed “Don’t Miss a Day” wrist bracelets as a thank you to our club..JPG)
Member Survey results and divided into brainstorming groups to discuss the results and make suggestions for improving our current programs. President Michelle gave the Executive Summary and then the club members divided members into the five breakout sessions. 
volunteered to become part of the PR Committee (now called Pubic Image) with the challenge to do more and on a more timely basis. (3) Local service projects where 14 members urged the club to do more but keep many of the projects that we are currently doing and to do a service project every month on the third Tuesday. Amazingly by the end of the breakout session the committee had the 12 month calendar filled! (4) Meeting programs was the next area of highest interest with nine members suggesting how we can improve our meetings and the process in which to engage and recommend speakers to be invited to our club. (5)The final breakout area for discussion was our club’s social calendar and how to involve members in fun parties and events.
Out and Read. Tim and his staff challenged the Club with Tour de Tonka trivia and presented prizes to the winners. Tour de Tonka has grown from 819 riders in 2006 to nearly 3,500 riders annually. Riders from more than 166 Minnesota cities and 42 states have participated in the event. Tim had all of the volunteers from our club stand (eight!) and said that they have need for more volunteers. The event draws all kinds of Riders that can choose between eight distances from 16 to 100 miles. There are 12 rest stops along the routes, where riders enjoy food, l
ive music, rest and conversation. Tour de Tonka’s routes move through 24 west metro communities– all of which showcase beautiful roads, trails, and scenic views of farms, lakes, and rivers. A portion of the proceeds goes to help the ICA Food Shelf. This is a great community event and we are proud of the work of our own member Tim Litfin for his enthusiasm and dedication to making this event such a great success!
and Read Grant and Dr. Don Draayer’s tenacious work in raising $44,490 for the project. Our club also collected over 2,000 recycled books in partnering with Scenic Heights Elementary. The Minnesota Legislature also became involved and dedicated $150,00 to ROR over the next two years to encourage children’s literacy. On hand for the honors and cake were ROR’s Director Kris Hopin and Dr. Sylvia Sekhon..JPG)
ibed the STRIVE Program and highlighted the litany of topics and presenters of the program that met bi-weekly throughout the year. Notable this year was the commitment that the STRIVE students made to be at all the meetings and their attentiveness and curtesy to presenters. The students also showed great interest in improving their academic performance and planning for their future schooling and professional goals. Glover also outlined our scholarship program and also that is based purely on academic improvement and regular attendance at STRIVE meetings. He also noted that Normandale College, Dunwoody and Hennepin Tech Schools match our scholarships..png)
New Member Tyronne Carter (Dr. Science) was welcomed into our club also on May 21st and received his membership packet. There will be two additional members joining our club on June 4th and they are Bob Carlson and Linda Gustafson. We all look forward to getting to know them in the coming months and hear each of their bios. 
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