Meeting Recap - April 7, 2015

Margaret was in San Francisco and Dana was in Italy, so Glenna was conscripted to lead the meeting, which she did with her usual style and grace.

 

Dave reported that Saturday's NBMV Rotary Easter Egg Hunt was a great success.  Dave credited the many Rotarians, spouses and family members who participated in making this 26th annual egg hunt every bit as successful as the 25 that preceded it.  Working like a well-oiled machine, we carefully spread out 6,000 plastic eggs filled with jelly beans and prize slips and watched as every egg was gathered up in just over a minute.  Great weather led to a big turnout (Dave estimated 900 people) but parents and kids remained calm as they waited to redeem their prize slips.  We also collected 163 pounds of food for the Food Shelf.  Thanks again to all those who helped in any way.  Check out the Egg Hunt '15 Photo album here.

 

Gerry had the honor and pleasure to present Sue Ager with a Paul Harris Fellow+2 award, recognizing her total contributions of over $3,000 to the Rotary Foundation.  Way to go, Sue!  Sue and Gerry are shown below.

 

Bev Aplikowski celebrated her 80th birthday this past week, and I couldn't help but think of the positive impact that she has had on her community in those many years.  Thanks, Bev, for all you do!  Bev's birthday photo is shown below.

 

Geoff Hollimon reported that our ECHO grant is almost completed.  We pooled this year's and last year's ECHO budget and got a sizeable contribution from Prior Lake Rotary to enable the purchase of a John Deere Gator and internet video publishing software.  Ed Kiefer would be proud that we have continued to support his beloved ECHO.  Thanks to Geoff for all his hard work on this matching grant.

 

There was an opinion article in the Star Tribune yesterday about how Rotary's Polio Plus program is close to ridding Africa of polio.  You can read it here.

 

Our 3 Irondale Scholarships will be presented at the Senior Recognition Program at 6PM on May 20th.  It would be great if another Rotarian could join Amy at the event to represent our club.  Call Amy if you can join her.

 

Sue Ager reminded us that May 1st is the date for the Benedictine Gala.  See Sue for more information about this fun event.

 

Bob Barmore introduced our speaker, Bob Showers, a baseball historian and independent author.  In 1970, Mr. Showers traveled with his family from his home in Iowa to the Twin Cities for a Twins game, caught Twins Fever and has never recovered.  He later moved to Bloomington and worked in the marketing department for the North Stars, and eventually  wrote a book with Lou Nanne about the North Stars.  That success led him to write a book about the early years of the Twins franchise, from their arrival in 1961 until their last game at Metropolitan Stadium in 1981.  The book includes photos of all 252 players from that era and lots of stories, many of them previously unpublished, that offer a fresh look at the beginnings of professional baseball in Minnesota.  Proceeds from the book go to the Minnesota Twins Charitable Fund.  Glenna, Bob and Bob are pictured below.