Meeting Recap - July 7, 2015

MaryAnn Bawden opened the meeting and offered the invocation.

 

Our guests today were Don Craighead from the Roseville Club and Frank Mabley, immediate past president (for about 4 hours) of the Arden Hills Shoreview club.

 

It was announced that Sue Ager's husband, Duane, has been hospitalized with Guillain-Barre Syndrome.   Nils Friberg updated us on his son, Jim, who will have surgery in 2 weeks to repair an aortic aneurysm.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Duane and Jim, and their extended families.

 

Val Johnson was interviewed by WCCO TV at her Village Scoop ice cream shop.  She looked like she survived the ordeal, despite the 3AM start time.

 

President Dana Rebelein attempted, in vain, to celebrate the birthdays of Amy Wakem (absent) and Todd Kruse (actually born on December 5th).  Todd Peck was the actual birthday boy but he was absent as well. 

 

Mary Ann introduced our speaker, Iris McGinnis, a volunteer with the Community Support Center of New Brighton and Mounds View.  The Community Support Center is an off-shoot of CEAP, which has a service area that includes mostly Anoka and Hennepin counties.  Our own Nils Friberg was involved in bringing CEAP services to the New Brighton Mounds View area, and CEAP still provides assistance in our communities in the form of the Community Support Center (CSC).

Iris offered us the opportunity to join other community members in the annual "Walk a Mile for Your Neighbors" event which will again be held at beautiful Silverwood Park on July 26th.  Last year the event raised $12,000 for the CSC, a significant portion of their $75,000 annual budget.  The remainder of the $75,000 is from donations by churches, individuals and groups, like Rotary, who believe in the Community Support Center's mission to combine short-term emergency assistance with long-term financial counseling to promote self-sufficiency for low income families.  CSC's volunteer advocates carefully allocate their limited resources to families who are most likely to become self-sufficient with minimum financial assistance.  CSC also gets help from local businesses that offer employment opportunities to their clients.  Our own Val Johnson did just that by hiring the son of a CEAP client to work at the Village Scoop.

 

Iris introduced Ed Petsche, the outgoing CSC coordinator, who noted some startling statistics from the Federal Reserve Report - 2014.  The report said that 47% of respondents would not be able to cover a $400 emergency expense within one month's time.  The report also indicated a 92% increase in poverty since 2000.  Our own Mounds View School District reports 117 homeless households with 187 homeless students.  These statistics emphasize the need for programs like the CSC.  Iris and Ed thanked NBMV Rotary for our continuing support.  Dana, Ed and Iris are shown below.