Plymouth Rotary Club (Feb 05, 2015)

February 5, 2015

Dr. Michael Wirth-Davis

Goodwill - Easter Seals Minnesota

(To Be Introduced by Peter Bartling)

CLUB NEWS:

Last Week's Program - Allen Law, The Sandwich Man, was introduced by Peter Bartling. Allen is a retired school teacher from the Minneapolis School System. Early on he saw the need for a recreation program for inner city youth. That effort has grown into huge program to provide sandwiches to organizations who work with youth and to individuals who are homeless, poor, and disadvantaged. His activity takes place late in the day and overnight as he distributes his sandwiches. He also counsels young people when appropriate. Allen takes no income from his enterprise, but does support his automobile used to make the rounds every night. He maintains he gets very little sleep, as he is busy every night all over the Twin Cities. Peter Bartling and his wife serve has leaders of a Cub Scout Pack, and annually have a project to build sandwiches given to Allen for distribution on his routes.

Alana Erickson, a Plymouth resident, visited the Club to promote the Seven Dreams Education Foundation fundraiser for Robbinsdale Area Schools. Turns out Alana was a Rotary Exchange Student to Brazil in 1992-93. We'll try to have her back to tells us of her exchange student experiences.

EREY Campaign - Chairman Don Weber reported on the campaign winding up soon. He urged our members who have not indicated their decisions about the campaign to get in touch with their team captains. We need to know if you will participate or not. Any amount is appropriate.

Heart Safe Plymouth: As of 1/27/2015 1820 people trained (and counting!). February 26th's entire Rotary meeting will be dedicated to training members who have missed previous trainings at the Club, and to refresh Rotarians who have been trained more than two years ago. Russ and Norm and their team will conduct the effort. Watch for more information.

REMINDER: Please review your member profile on the Club website for accuracy and update any missing data. Contact VP Steve Juetten or Secretary/Club Administrator Joe Thompson with any questions you may have. To assist in updates, Dwain Erickson and Diane Moyer will be shooting photographs of members whose photos are missing from the Club Membership roster.

Important Dates/Events:

American Heart Association has designated February 6th (tomorrow) as Support Day for Women's Heart Health calling it National Wear Red Day! Let's see who shows up for Rotary wearing red!

Grant Management Seminars- We need one or more members of the Club to become certified to write Grants to qualify the Club for any matching grants we might apply for during Rotary Year 2015-16. Last year Peter Bartling qualified our Club, but the certification training must be done annually. If we do not have a certified person, our Club cannot apply for a matching grant. The sessions are four hours and the remaining possibilities this year are scheduled for Thursday, April 9th (4:00pm-8:00pm); Saturday, April 11th (8:30 am - 12:30 pm), both to be held in Golden Valley. Saturday, April 25th (9:00am to 1:00pm) the last session will be help during the District Assembly in Edina. Lunch or dinner will be provided, depending on th meeting times.

We will keep this opportunity open for one more week so we can get you your preference in meeting date. Only 20 per session will be allowed. See Steve Beachler for details. This is critical that we have currently certified, trained members.

Jeff Wosje, ADG for Area 12, is sponsoring a leadership course for all Area 12 Clubs, which will begin on February 6th. The 10-week course will be held Friday mornings, 7:30 am to 8:30 am in the Conference Room of Lund's Grocery Store in Wayzata. The course is be based on the book "The 12 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership," by John Maxwell. Steve Juetten, Peter Bartling, and Steve Beachler will be attending.

Rotary Peace Centers has announced the application for 2016 Rotary Peace Fellowships is now open online. (rotarypeasecenters@rotary.org). Applications are available at the web site along with brochures and program guides. Applicants for these distinguished scholarships must be endorsed at the District level by 31 May 2015, with their results forwarded to RI by 1 July 2015. A Rotary webinar is scheduled for 10 February 2015 to learn how to coach and recruit applicants. Rotary Pace Scholarships formerly were known as Ambassadorial Scholarships. See Steve Beachler for registration details.

Special Olympics - Abby Pearson, daughter of our member Jeff Pearson, is once again raising funds to support Special Olympics, by participating in a Polar Plunge Event in Eden Prairie on March 14th. Anyone interested in contributing can do so through the web site https://reg.plungemn.org/participant/abbypearson. Abby is well known to Plymouth Rotarians, as she often helps with our Highway 6 cleanup, and the Fire & Ice Fishing Contest.

Check out our Facebook page - Thanks to Diane Moyer for keeping up the postings. Contact her if you need to learn how to "be-friend" Rotary so you can keep up from time to time.

Amazon Purchases: Please remember to select RCOP Foundation when you make on-line purchases at Amazon.Smile. The Rotary Club of Plymouth Foundation is registered with Amazon and may be chosen when you make purchases through Amazon.Smile. Amazon will donate .05% of your total purchase to RCOP Foundation. The AmazonSmile web site provides all the same products as the regular site, but in addition allows you to designate a charity which Amazon will support. Please tell your friends and associates who shop through Amazon Smile! The contribution comes out of Amazon's pocket - not yours! Click here to get started:http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-3054927 You Shop/ Amazon Gives!

Margaret Li will soon return to the Club as her new employment will permit her attendance at Rotary, which was not possible with her former job. She is also interested in organizing a Chinese New Year dinner, as she has done in the past. The best Chinese Restuarants are located in Bloomington and Richfield, which would require some travel. If you have interest, please let Steve know so we can determine a group size for arranging reservations. Rotarians and spouses are encouaged to attend. Margaret and her husband provide interesting discussion of Chinese tradition related to the celebration.

Notable Quotes on Beer:

- Leo Durocher: "To some it's a six-pack; to me it's a Support Group. Salvation in a can!"

- Professor Irwin Corey : " Remember, "I" before "E" except in Budweiser"

- Dave Barry: "Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go well with pizza."

- Benjamin Franklin: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!"

Rotary International Theme: Light Up Rotary

Plymouth Rotary Club Theme: Participation Leads to Passion for Rotary

Rotary International Convention June 6-9 , 2015 Sao Paulo, Brazil