Meeting Recap - June 21, 2106

John Marg-Patton led us in the Pledge and gave the invocation.

Our guests today were: New Brighton Public Safety Director Bob Jacobson Marika (Smiley) Rebelein and Marika's friend, Michael Baker.

Dana was back at the helm today after recent back surgery. Welcome back, Dana!

 

Outgoing, incoming and continuing Board members are strongly encouraged to attend the Board meeting next Tuesday, June 28th at 11 AM.

 

Next week's program will be the transition of the club presidency from Dana Rebelein to Co-Presidents Paul Fournier and John Risdall. The transition will be followed by a club assembly dedicated to discussion of issues and plans for the coming Rotary year. Dana, John, Paul and the Board welcome your ideas for discussion at the club assembly. Please forward your ideas to Dana.

 

Mark your calendars right now for an extremely important club visioning event from 4:45-9:00PM on Tuesday, September 13th. The meeting will be in lieu of our Tuesday noon meeting. For the visioning to be effective, the entire membership should be present; so please put it on your calendars now to reserve the time.

 

If you haven't signed up yet, we are having a gourmet appetizer party at John and Marla Ordway's home on White Bear Lake on Friday July 8th. We're raising funds for a Matching Grant to provide education for Syrian refugee children, in conjunction with Kids Alive International. Chef George, of Table Top Catering has agreed to donate top-shelf appetizers so the proceeds can all go toward the grant.  Contact Linda LaFond (763-571-6937) to reserve your spot.

 

Gerry Tietz announced that the US Bank stadium tour is back on. It has been rescheduled for August 30th and will serve as our regular club meeting. We'll meet our bus at Beisswenger's Hardware parking lot around 11:15AM and the bus will leave for the stadium at 11:30AM. Box lunches from Green Mill will be served on the bus. The cost is $30 per person. Sign up on our website (click the stadium tour link in the Upcoming Events section on the home page) or call Gerry at 651-324-6761 or email him at gerry.tietz@comcast.net.

 

Gerry also announced that Paul now has a total of 10 cardiac stents! His new heart valve should be placed in about 6 weeks.

 

Jeff Benson had the pleasure of inducting Michelle Caron as the newest member of our Rotary club. Michelle is an independent insurance broker with Anchor Insurance Agency in Plymouth. Michelle will be a great addition to the club. Please take a moment to welcome her. Jeff and Michelle are shown below.

 

Dana read thank you cards from children who received tree saplings in our 4th Grade Foresters tree give-away for Arbor Day.

 

Geoff Hollimon read a thank you from ECHO for the farm equipment we provided via a Matching Grant.  Geoff also mentioned that he has 500 "pollinator" seed packets to distribute.

 

Some Rotarians have been unable or, perhaps, unwilling to attend Rotary during their birthday week. As a result, we had to play catch-up today with three Rotarians fighting for the honor of wearing our two birthday hats. The photo below shows Feng-Ling and Cindy sharing a hat while Mark has one all to himself!

 

Cindy Carlson announced that our Grant request to provide education for Syrian refugee children has been approved by the Matching Grants Committee. Let's all participate in the appetizer party at Ordway's the help raise the money for our club's contribution to the grant.

 

Murmurs of conspiracy were heard as Smiley Rebelein's raffle ticket was drawn by her friend, Michael Baker. A special investigator is being appointed as I write this.

 

Bob Jacobson announced that he is retiring as Public Safety Director, effective July 13th, after 32 years with the Department. The city has benefitted tremendously from Bob's leadership and we will miss him. We hope that the culture that Bob and his officers have created will be preserved by whomever is selected to replace him. The city has some big shoes to fill.

 

Today's program was Jason Slama, presenting his new member classification talk.  Jason's heritage is split between German, Bohemian, English, Irish and Native American ancestors. He grew up in Pine County with a sister who was 6 years older and a brother who was 12 years older. He got his first job cleaning barns and mowing lawns at age 10. By age 12 he was working 35-45 hours a week at a tree farm, riding his bike 5 miles to work and 5 miles home each day. His father introduced him to the idea of community service at the age of ten by engaging him in sportsman's club service projects and taking him along to several benefit events he organized for his neighbors who needed help. After high school he joined the Army reserves for 4 years and, after leaving the Reserves, he had a variety of jobs including welder, mechanic, motor rebuilder and semi-trailer repair. During this time he was pursuing his undergraduate degree and, finally, his graduate degree in Health Fitness Management from Globe College. He started out as a trainer at Lifetime Fitness and, after earning his certification in Muscle Activation Technique, set up an independent business with a home base at Minnesota Muscle just Northwest of Long Lake Rd. on County Highway 10. Jason describes Muscle Activation Technique (M.A.T.) as a systematic approach to assessing, identifying and correcting muscle imbalances. He said that pain is a symptom of dysfunction, not unlike the check engine light in your car. Jason made it clear that he doesn't treat the pain, but rather the muscle imbalances that create the pain. The hands-on technique focuses on improving the contractile ability and range of motion of the involved muscles. Jason sees clients at Minnesota Muscle as well as in their homes. Jason and Dana are shown below.