It was a busy last meeting of 2017 on Dec. 14. The atmosphere was festive as Ms. Claus, Jean Morrison, and her elf helper, Tom Pirsch, rang their bells to promote the Rotary Holiday Giving Program. Our program speaker was Rotary District 5950 Governor Bob Halagan. Past President Ann Platt announced the incoming board directors for the 2018–2019 and future club president. A vote was taken by membership for approval of the new directors.
Longtime Rotarian Don Erickson was honored as a Major Donor, Level 2 to The Rotary Foundation by Past President Jeff Ohe and David Clynes, this year's TRF Director for our club.
Longtime Rotarian Don Erickson was honored as a Major Donor, Level 2 to The Rotary Foundation by Past President Jeff Ohe and David Clynes, this year's TRF Director for our club.
President San Asato called the meeting to order at precisely 12:30 p.m. After review of the agenda, several announcements and review of upcoming events, he acknowledged several members birthdays and anniversaries with the Club. He then reminded everyone that the next Rotary meeting will not be held until Jan. 4.The Invocation was given by Susan Johnson and Mark Stageberg introduced Jason Wang, a personal trainer and a guest of Scott Hawkins. He then introduced Visiting Rotarians Janet Stanzak, a financial planner and wife of Michael Stanzak, who is president of the Chanhassen Rotary Club; and Paul Mork from the Golden Valley Rotary Club. Paul gave a brief highlight about their recently completed meeting facility—Brookview Community Center, and he encouraged Edina Rotary members to join them at a future meeting.
Josh Sprague explained how simple ACH works for the payment of dues and encouraged all members to sign up.
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Next, Jean Morrison encouraged all members to donate to the Rotary Holiday Giving Program, which will this year go to Cornerstone and 66 West, explaining the goal of providing two gift cards to each of the 39 residents of 66 West, all of whom have experienced homelessness. There is one more week to give and Rick Carlson will be handling the final collection of donations at the Rotary Holiday Party Dec. 20.President Asato then acknowledged and thanked Club Administrator Jennifer Garske and the Edina Country Club staff for their incredible service to the Club over the past year. Enthusiastic applause and a standing ovation followed.
John Flynn explained a leadership training “experiment” being tried out in the coming months. He described the goals of the four 90-minute sessions that will take place and explained that Rotary has connected with Giant Worldwide (a leadership training organization) to walk us through a process to help us to develop leadership skills at home and at work. John encouraged members to attend all four sessions.
Past President Ann Platt, who chaired the nominating committee for both the Club Board and the Edina Rotary Foundation, announced the names of the nominees for two-year terms as Club Directors:
Royce Pavelka—Membership Director
Shelly Loberg—International Service Director (second term)
Kenny Smith—Community Service–Local Projects Director
Marty Kupper—Club Service Director (second term)
Shelly Loberg—International Service Director (second term)
Kenny Smith—Community Service–Local Projects Director
Marty Kupper—Club Service Director (second term)
Ann then announced the following three nominees to the Edina Rotary Foundation Board:
Gary Pedersen—Past International Service Director
Jeff Ohe—Director At-Large
Ann Platt—Director At-Large
Jeff Ohe—Director At-Large
Ann Platt—Director At-Large
Additionally, Michael Stanzak has been selected to fill the role as Secretary in the 2018–2019 Rotary year, and serve on the executive team for five years, including President of our club in 2021/–2022.
A motion was made by Gerry Norton and seconded by Jon Barnett to approve the slate of nominees as presented. All members in attendance gave a rousing “aye” in favor of the motion and dead silence occurred when the same sign was requested of anyone opposed. The motion passed unanimously.
Past Presdent Jeff Ohe then recognized Charter Member Don Erickson (a member for 60+ years) as a level 2 Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation. The trustees of the Foundation express appreciation to Don for his substantial $25,000 contribution to the Foundation. Lively applause and a standing ovation to Don followed.
Next, Jeff Ohe introduced the speaker for the day—Rotary District 5950 Governor Bob Halagan. Bob gave a quick overview of our Club, indicating that we have produced five district governors over the years and he explained that his role as Governor is to make our Rotary journey “a better path” and to be a servant to the District this year.
He explained his “story” and why he is willing to commit a year of his life to be DG by describing the life of his role model mother, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who believed in service over self—always serving her neighbors and other people and never with expectation of receiving anything in return. Learning from his mother, Bob spent a good deal of his adult life looking for an opportunity to serve, trying to determine how he could give back for what has been given to him and recognizing that it is service to others that makes us become better/richer and our lives become more complete. Rotary is the platform that has allowed him to reach beyond what he could do on his own. It has been through Rotary that he was able to come full circle and serve. Bob believes that Rotary gives opportunity to reach around the world and that Rotarians see a problem and fix a problem.
Every single year we are part of one of the greatest Rotary Districts in the world, giving $800,000 to The Rotary Foundation. Our goal is a minimum of $365 per Rotarian and additional Paul Harris members are encouraged in our district. He asked each Rotarian in our district to give an extra $50 this year to reach an extra $1,000,000 in giving. He went on to discuss the challenges of Rotary to eliminate polio and how a focus in our district going forward will be to add female members. He described the need to stand for gender equality and the obligation to be an example to all Rotary organizations and the rest of the world at large. He described goals to reach 50.3 percent female membership in District 5950 and to make certain that women not only feel comfortable coming to Rotary, but that they also see it as a women’s organization addressing women’s issues as well as men’s issues.
He closed his presentation by describing how Rotarians talk about what we do and how we stand together. That we believe that service is the key to a rich and fulfilling life. And that we believe in serving without getting anything in return.
Mark Hegman thanked Bob for his heartfelt and informative presentation and President Asato closed the meeting.
