In Review -- March 10, 2020 Meeting

Edina Morningside Rotary Club 2019-2020 President, Doug McElrath

What a beautiful day for a meeting. As we entered ECC, we were greeted by the sound of a robin, either a real one, or one provided by ECC as part of the ambience of the club experience. Also, greeting us were Margaret Johnson, Steve Slyce, and Paul Mooty. Mary Younggren was at the desk helping Becci Michalski. At precisely 7:36 AM, President. Doug McElrath started the meeting reminiscing about when, 30 years ago, the noon Rotary club (the largest in District 5950) helped get the morning club (now the 4^th largest in said district) started. Between the two clubs we have over 260 members!

Josh Sprague was called to the stage to give the “Thought of the Day” which the morning club does in lieu of an invocation. Josh recognized International Women's Day and the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment to the constitution. This amendment passage gave women the right to vote and praised Rotary International for the six years of focus which have helped to expand the rights of women and promote and honor these rights around the globe.

Speaker, Stephanie Urchick

Moving right along, Tom Gump then introduced our Speaker, Stephanie Urchick, who is a Rotary International Director. She talked about what it meant to be a Rotarian, and how important it is for each Rotarian, not just the ones on the membership committees, to share their experiences and invite people to our meetings. She said we have to make Rotary “Simply Irrestible”, at which point, Mark Jessen started humming the Robert Palmer song and said “Rotary used to look good to me, but now I find it Simply Irresistable”! As part of that discussion, Stephnie shared the five Core Values of Rotary: Service, Fellowship, Diversity, Integrity, and Leadership. These are the values that separate us from other organizations. Also, how important it is to live by the 4-way test.

It was then time for questions. Wooj asked about Rotary helping fight the Coronavirus, and Stephanie shared that that was under discussion and someone else asked about how Rotary was organized, and she said that was currently under review also and how the entire Rotary experience was also being talked about. She said that has led to specialized clubs like the Vets Rotary club, and also looking at how we structure things based on longevity and that we may look at skills to begin to discover our new leaders. At that point, Mike Stanzak suggested to me we look at a club made up of mostly insurance, realtors, and financial people, but not printers. Jeff Ohe seconded that motion as did Bob Solheim, Bob Stehlik, and Skip Thomas. Tom Gump asked about innovative groups in Rotary and Stephanie talked about how they were in discussions with Toastmasters about putting together groups focused around professional and personal development.

Rotary Club of Edina, 2019-2020 President Josh Sprague, Rotary International Director, Stephanie Urchick,

Edina Morningside Rotary Club 2019-2020 President, Doug McElrath

Josh Sprague thanked Stephanie. He then closed with a quote from Jon Barnett “Rotary is like a gang or cult, but a good gang!”. The meeting closed at 8:27