President Dennis Connolly began the meeting by announcing that the Thursday morning meetings have been discontinued due to low attendance.  Other options for flexible meeting times may be considered.  Dennis also noted that we will be evaluating our meal payment system.  A discussion ensued with Rotarians expressing varied opinions about the best method and the implications for membership, attendance and fiscal stability.  Your feedback is welcomed by the President and Board of Directors.

 

Cindy Carlson reported on this morning’s Gold Plate Dinner Gala planning meeting.  The committee has selected CPY Summer Camperships as the Fund-a-Cause for this year’s event.  Jed Hamoud is handling the tickets this year so see him if you have not received your ticket or need more tickets.  It goes without saying that we should all be looking for potential attendees and donors for the Gala.  Click these links to download the Invitation Brochure and the Sponsor Brochure.  All club members are expected to help in some way to make the Gala a success.

 

Jennifer Fink announced that there will be an opportunity to meet the finalists for the New Brighton City Manager position on March 18^th, 5-7 PM, at City Hall.  Mark your calendars now and stay tuned for more details.

 

Today’s presenter was our own Jed Hamoud.  His topic was “The Middle East in a Nutshell”.  Jed’s explanation for the current situation in the Middle East is that the lack of education, industry, immigration, development and employment opportunities combined with a high birthrate have led to poverty for the vast majority of people there.  Jed described the “Arab Spring” of 2010 as a reaction to the disparities between the Middle East and more developed countries.  Jed believes that the cell phone increased Middle Easterner’s awareness of these disparities, contributing to the unrest.  The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and rapidly spread to other Muslim countries, leading to full-fledged civil war in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iraq and Yemen as well as civil unrest and protests in all other Middle Eastern countries.  Jed said that there are three common factors in all of these Arab Spring related events: Corruption, Poverty and Islam.  The unrest began as anti government dissent but Middle Easterners are now realizing that the Islamic leaders are the root cause.  Jed suggested that an article by Kim Ghattas provides an excellent overview of the situation.  You can download it by clicking here.

Our guests today were:  Fridley Rotarian Gordy Backlund, New Brighton City Recreation Coordinator Ali Luken and Charlie Longbella’s new salesperson, Wren Jacobs.

 

Our presenters today were Beth Wiggins, Director of Caregiving and Aging Services and Jenny West, Community Educator for Caregiving and Aging Services at Family Means. Founded in 1963, Family Means is a non-profit helping individuals and families through challenges in all of life’s stages.  Beth and Jenny were here to give us a preview of a new virtual reality tool that helps caregivers and others view the world through the perspective of a person living with dementia.  This immersive sensory experience gives the user a firsthand experience of the short term memory loss, spatial distortion, disorientation, visual disturbances, communication problems, and cognitive difficulties experienced by those who have Alzheimer’s Disease.  Virtual reality simulation of these Alzheimer’s symptoms helps caregivers to better understand, create empathy and learn to be better caregivers.  Charlie Longbella agreed to wear the VR goggles for the demonstration and we were able to experience it with him on the big screen.  The software simulates the sensory distortions experienced by Alzheimer’s sufferers and we all shared Charlie’s frustration with trying to accomplish even simple tasks.   Jenny Beth and Dennis, and are shown below.

 

President Dennis Connolly reminded us that the Gold Plate Dinner Planning Committee with meet at 11AM on Tuesday the 18^th at the Exchange.  All are encouraged to attend.  Cindy Carlson noted that we need several more GPD sponsors to equal our 2019 sponsorship total.

 

GPD ticket guru, Jed Hamoud, began distributing tickets to members at today’s meeting.  PLEASE return the completed stubs to Jed ASAP and start looking for friends, family and business associates that might like to join you at the Gala.  Let Jed know if you need more tickets.

 

Dennis also noted that the District 5960 Grants Management Seminar will be held in Rochester on May 14^th, from 5:30-8:30PM

 

Check your email today for a complete list of upcoming activities.

 

It was Charlie Longbella’s 33^rd birthday this week so he was roped into wearing the infamous birthday hat while we serenaded him with the birthday song (see photo below).