President Josh Sprague, potential new member Jim Davis and Bjorn Freudenthal
President Josh Sprague began the meeting with his Rotary Connects the World Video Series which highlights nine of our Community Service Board Members and focuses on how they believe Rotary connects all of those living in the world today. The first two board members featured were Kenny Smith and Fred Sylvester. This week’s focus was Susan Stiles. President Sprague went on to thank all those members that had specific job responsibilities for the club this week. Dan Hallberg came up to lead the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test, Mark Stageberg followed suit and welcomed our guests and visiting Rotarians of which we had quite a few, several of whom plan to or have already submitted membership paperwork for our club.
Next up, Steve Buettner introduced two student guests who were current seniors at Edina High School. Both of these young people shared of their involvement in student life at EHS as well as their post high school plans.
Nate Wenner followed our student guests with a call for more volunteers for the Cornerstone-Serve-A-Meal on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. If you are available, he would love to see you there. Similarly, Ann Platt came forward and shared about the meaning and efforts of the club’s RARE Committee. She expressed a need for a few members to help her out by joining the committee going forward. Scott MacDonald graciously agreed to be one such helper, but Ann would welcome others as well.
Soon thereafter, Susan Stiles informed members and guests again about The Rotary Foundation, where we stand as a club and finally, just how just important our contributions to this organization were to the advancement of the goals of our club locally, nationally and internationally. It was noted that as a club, we give at a very impressive rate and Susan hopes that we all help our club stay at the top in our district and potentially the nation, by giving between now and June 30th, 2020. Socially, Sutton McGraw reminded us all to sign up for the Edina Rotary Noon Club Bowling Event on Saturday, February 22nd, at the Park Tavern in St. Louis Park. She promised that teams would not be stacked and that there would be prizes for the good bowlers as we as for those who bowl for fun.
Additionally, Wooj Byun shared of an amazing opportunity for four members to host an exchange student, one week at a time, during the month of July 2020. Please contact Wooj directly if interested or he may just contact you.
Scott MacDonald introduced our speaker, Lee Schafer of the Star Tribune. Lee shared with his us the effects that the Coronavirus in addition to existing tariffs were having both on United States relations with China as well as the impact of trading between China and other countries in the world as well. He shared with us a brief history of the significant changes in the trade policies and such between our two countries and let us know that China was a major source for many of our country’s supplies. The areas of the auto sector, electronics and textiles were especially concerning to hear. Many workers have been laid off in China as there are not supplies to be shipped, auto plants are idle and shipping dates have all but been removed from Americans seeking supplies from abroad. Hearing this news was not the best for the audience. However, Lee did seem to think that we would eventually adapt to the presence of the virus in our environment and that the goal of building efficient, high quality products and getting them safely to the doorsteps of consumers would continue to be a focus of all countries especially the United States moving forward.
Lee’s ability to state the facts and to his area of expertise to his presentation kept the audience engaged and leaving the meeting more informed about current world and national issues. Once Lee concluded, Ross Peterson thanked him and President Sprague then adjourned the meeting with the following quote from Benjamin S. Bernake, “History has demonstrated time and again the inherent resilience and recuperative powers of the American economy.” It is our hope that this quote rings true as the year continues.
President Elect Sam Thompson and Jennifer Bennerotte, Past President 2015-2016
We recognized Dr. Harold Hanson's 95th birthday and seated to his left Dr. Lloyd Pearson celebrated his