Bob Barmore opened the meeting with the Pledge and Nils Friberg offered the invocation.
Dana passed the hat for the Ralph Reeder Food Shelf. Our cash contributions allow the Food Shelf to get $8 worth of food for each dollar contributed. Last week we collected $181, allowing the food shelf to buy $1448 worth of groceries. We’ll pass the hat one more time next week.
President Gerry Tietz announced that the Board is working on updating the By-Laws to reflect the addition of the Breakfast meetings. Gerry said that Michelle Caron has stepped up to be the champion of the development of the Breakfast Club. Michelle said that the October 26th breakfast meeting will be held at Limu Coffee, in the same complex as the Exchange.
Gerry announced some additional membership categories to promote membership growth. We have added a corporate membership and a household membership. Stay tuned for more details.
Cindy Carlson said that the Board has approved a $500 contribution to a Rochester Rotary Global Grant which will total 95 thousand dollars. Cindy said it was one of the best written grant proposals she has seen as a member of the district’s grant committee. Cindy also updated us on Remember Niger, saying that they have not been directly affected by the violence in Niger. Cindy further reminded us that there will be a Sponsor Appreciation Social for those of us who are sponsoring Remember Niger students. The social is on Friday, November 3rd, 7-8:15 AM at Boutswells Landing, 5450 Nolan Parkway in Oak Park Heights (near Stillwater). Cindy would love to have some other sponsors join her.
Geoff Hollimon thanked Mary Stewart for merging four contact lists to come up with a mailing list of 460 households to which we can send a postcard inviting civic minded people to visit either our morning or noon Rotary club meetings.
Mark Lampman has planned an off-site club meeting on November 7th. He has arranged a tour of Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore at 510 County Rd D West in New Brighton. A sign-up sheet was passed around today and will be available next week if you missed it today.
Remember that we will once again be offering double Foundation Points for contributions to Polio Plus during November and December of this year. Points available for the match are limited, so get your contribution in soon. Make your checks out to The Rotary Foundation (Memo: Polio Plus) and give them to John Ordway. You may also contribute online, but be sure to notify John that you’ve made the donation to ensure that you get your matching points. Ed James provided the Polio Plus photo below.
Cindy Carlson reminded us of the annual District 5960 Foundation Dinner on November 4th at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club, 17976 Judicial Rd in Lakeville. The fun starts at 5:30 and ends around 9:00. The keynote speaker will be Ed Futa, past General Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. This event has always been fun and informative and we have always had a big contingent of NBMV Rotarians in attendance. Let’s make this year the biggest showing yet! The registration fee is waived for our club members and the cost for guests is $60. Register here for the event.
Cindy also noted that she and Ed James are interested in attending the Sunday matinee performance of Shen Yun on February 18th. Let’s get a group together to take advantage of the group discount.
Jason Slama invited all who are interested to attend an organizational meeting for our Harvest Pack joint project with Irondale, NB Lions and NB Eagles. The meeting is Wednesday, October 25, 6:30PM at the Mermaid.
Jim Kadechka passed out applications for Packers fans to join the Vikings fan base. Gerry appeared fearful that he might burst into flames if he even touched the application. Other Packer backers had similar reactions.
Bob Barmore introduced our speaker, Bob Oehrig, executive director of Arrive Ministries. Arrive Ministries is a Christian non-profit organization dedicated to the cause of refugees and immigrants. Arrive works with local churches to welcome and serve displaced refugees who resettle in Minnesota. Bob described the situation in Syria as an example of the need for refugee resettlement. The civil war in Syria has displaced over half of its population. Of Syria’s population of 26 million, 5 million have fled the country and 8 million are internally displaced within Syria. Of the 5 million who left Syria, 5,000 have drowned while crossing the Mediterranean. Syria is just one example of many refugee crises around the world. Bob said “If you ask refugees where they would prefer to live, almost all say they would prefer to go back to their home country” but the reality is that it just is not possible for most refugees. Bob said that the U.S. (citing the economic burden) has decreased its refugee quota from 85,000 to 45,000 under the Trump administration. Bob countered that the ratio of refugees to total population in the U.S. is one of the lowest among developed nations at one refugee per 7,000 in population. He noted that Minnesota has been much more welcoming to refugees than the U.S. average. Bob admitted that it takes 6-7 years for refugees to be net contributors to the economy, but said that most refugees work very hard to become self-sufficient. In closing Bob pointed to multiple biblical references about treating strangers and refugees with compassion as brothers and sisters. Bob and Bob are pictured below.
