Our Program on Tuesday, January 7th was the incredible Martha Brannon and her associate Theresa and spoke about the great work of the His House Foundation in our community. Martha is well known to many of our Rotarians for her selfless work on behalf of those that are in need, homeless and those in crisis not served by other agency services. His House use to be in Minnetonka but has now moved to
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.
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. Martha educated and amazed us with the depth of services available to these vulnerable people and families. Part of their program includes Families Moving Forward where homeless families sleep in the evenings at participating churches and then work or seek employment during the day. Once they have employment then they are helped to find housing and rent assistance. His House supplies them with beds, mattresses, dressers, tables and basic necessities such as pots and pans, dishes, silverware and other household items to help them establish a functional home for their families. Beyond some rent assistance they also help in car repair costs so that they can keep transportation to their jobs. His House works with other community agencies and churches and also provides active case management to help people in transition to find their way.
Martha urged Rotarians to help by contributing diapers and pullups, basic housewares of dishes, silverware, pots and pans, clothing – sweatpants, yoga pants, t-shirts, and sweatshirts, towels and shower supplies, laundry detergents and quarters, gift cards of any denomination for gas and groceries. Members can physically help to move families and to help as special events. Martha also reminded us that these people are truly in need and trying to get their lives back together and not taking advantage of these systems. Our club needs to get behind the Martha and the fine work of His House
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.
Our Program on Tuesday, November 5th was Darel Leipold speaking about “Our Club in Past Days” and delivered in the form of a poem about the club’s beginnings, its founding members and the Excelsior Rotary in those early years. Our Club was founded in 1949. For Club historians the 1st organizational meeting was held on Monday, April 19, 1949 in Superintendent Bill Neilson’s office with Mpls. #9 Club sponsors. Then on April 25th 11 men signed the charter with 7 names added prior to submitting application to charter. The charter was issued on June 30, 1949 and the Charter Night and Dinner was held on August 22nd at the Sampson House with 124 people in attendance. The new Excelsior Rotary started with 31 members. Darel’s fun poem listed many of the founders’ names and their business classifications. The first president was Ray Johnson (NSP) and the other charter mem
bers were the who’s who of the City of Excelsior. Along with Ray Johnson were Art Anderson (Finance), Vic Arnold (Clothing), Archie Cochrane (Const./boats), Joe Colihan (Amusement Park), Pat Cunningham (electrical Repair), O’Neil Grathwol (Lawyer), Norbert Grathwol (Liquor Retail), Ralph Kueken (NW Bell), Harold Larson (Principal), Maurice Leach (Retail Hardware), Bud Long (Accounting), Don Lyman (Retail Lumber), Anson Mase (Construction), Ray Mason (Auto Retail), Bill Nilsen (Education), Red Smith (Retail Shoes), and Howard Wendt (Dry Cleaning).following Darel’s poem he spoke about his connections with the founders and club members also added their stories about various early members of the club.
ated from Minneapolis Roosevelt High School in 1951 and then attended the University of Minnesota. He faithfully served his country in the United States Navy during the Korean Conflict. A Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, October 17, 2019, 11:00 AM with family receiving friends 10 - 11 AM all at Guardian Angels Catholic Church, 218 West Second Street, Chaska. There will be a private family inurnment at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN. Survivors include his wife, Diane; daughters, Cheryl (Lyle) O'Bannon of Shorewood, Lori (Gary) Berg of Elk River, Darcey (LuVerne) Seifert of St. Anthony; stepchildren, Jennifer (Matt) Evjen of Edina, William Shaw of Florida; 7 grandchildren, Dain (Niki), Christopher, Stephanie, Corey, Brady, Severin and Simon; 2 great grandchildren, Henry and Leo; brother, Larry (Patti) Engen of Lakeville; sister, Connie (Andy) Elasky of Apple Valley; other relatives and many friends. Thursday, October 17, 2019 11:00 AM Guardian Angels Catholic Church 218 W 2nd St Chaska, MN 55318 Family will receive friends 10 - 11 AM at the church on Thursday.-300dpi-(780-x-1200pix)-web-raster-online-use-(not-print)/ExcRotaryLogo-WEB-RGB.jpg){kind=link}
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