The Rotary Club of Excelsior’s December 1, 2020 Meeting
The Excelsior Rotary met by Zoom on December 1st for both a Board Meeting and Club Assembly Meeting as stated in our bylaws. Scott Zerby served as Opening Marshal and led the group in the Pledge and the 4 Way Test.  President Kate recapped the actions of the Board of Directors that met prior to the Club Meeting which included the following actions:
  1. We will continue meeting by Zoom and she hoped that we could have a live in-person meeting during her Presidency once everyone gets vaccinated.
  2. Jill Holter was nominated by President Kate to be our new Social Director and also to use her PR and Marketing skills to promote our club in social media and the press and her appointment was confirmed unanimously.
  3. Scott Zerby brought a grant request from the Waconia Rotary Club for solar panels for a hospital in Madagascar.  The Board approved a grant of $1,000.  Waconia Rotary hopes to raise $70,000 and they have raised $35,000 so far and looking for local clubs to get the rest.
  4. Lou Graber noted that our Foundation and Club finances are in excellent shape and monies have been set aside for new Rotary shirts, upcoming scholarships and grants approved up to today’s meeting.
  5. President Kate will send out a Rotary Shirt Survey to get each members desired shirt size and color.  The shirts will display the club’s logos.
  6. Karen requested a grant of $500 for the Salvation Army Northern District to make-up for our Club not being able to ring this year because of Covid and it was approved.
  7. STRIVE will not meet this year and instead the scholarship money will be combined with Make A Difference scholarships for 6 scholarships of $1,500 for a total pf $9,000 and it was approved.
  8. We need speakers for 2021 so get ideas to Jenny Janson or Pres. Kate
Our Program was a Club Assembly and President Kate assigned members to four discussion that included PR/Marketing, Membership, Speakers/Meetings and Service/Social areas.  Each group met and formulated plans for the next 6 months and then reported back their ideas and plans.
                                                        
  1. PR/Marketing/Social led by Jill Holter
    1. Club social New Year’s virtual party where members order dinners from local restaurants and all meet on Zoom to eat and socialize.  More details to come!
    2. Hold an optional Happy Hour and meet at Excelsior Brew or other location.
    3. Kick-off a social media presence and let Jill know your ideas.
    4. “Get to know your Excelsior Rotarians” where members will be asked to list their unique skills and talents for referrals.  The team will contact members by email.
    5. Once everyone has their new Excelsior Rotary shirts we will take a Zoom photo of our entire membership.
    6. Get ideas for press releases for local written media of Rotary events and actions to Jill for write-ups.
  2. Membership led by Tim Litfin & Scott Zerby
    1. Go after local retirement homes for members.
    2. Promote Rotary membership with GenXers (40-50 age group) through retiring PTA/PTO members.
    3. Find a source to identify new residents and invite them to Rotary.
    4. Create a Marketing fund to publicize the club in various media and locations.
  3. Speakers/Meetings led by Jenny Janson
    1. Bring in speakers that have attained or seeking International and State grants in 5950.
    2. Bring in Environmental speakers both international and local relating to conservation and water projects throughout the world.
    3. Keep meeting format and be respectful of giving speakers adequate time for their presentations.
    4. Keep meeting start and ending times respecting member’s other obligations.
    5. Get speaker ideas to Jenny Janson and she will make contact.
    6. Keep Happy Bucks and promote the current plan to add Happy Buck donations to quarterly billing fee.
  4. Service/Social led by Karen & Steve Frazier
    1. Karen introduced a new model of “Service Above Self” during Covid 19 for the Excelsior Rotary Club that replaces group projects with individual actions for others.  The group came up with some 25 actions and acts of kindness that members will be asked to do one or more per week that exemplifies our Service in Motion motto.  Members will receive a fill-in chart with the list of services they can do for others and to do at least one per week from now until the end of the 1st Quarter of 2021.  Members undoubtedly will do more than one per week.  Also take “selfies” in doing these good  acts and send to Steve at sfrazier@usjet.net for use in the bulleting and website. Serve others until it feels good!
    2. Continue to do in-person and virtual Happy Hours.
    3. Set-up small group get togethers for coffee using safe distancing and masking inside at Shorewood Community or Dunn Bros.  or outside weather permitting.
    4. Since the Many Hands Many Meals is not possible for January a club grant will be requested at the January Board Meeting to donate the same level of funding as meals packaged last year.
    5. Continue to do the Highway Clean-up in May either as a group or individually as was done in the fall.
The next meeting on December 15th will be a fun Holiday Meeting and we know Tim will make it great.  Let’s get every member there and celebrate this holiday season!