In Review

A robust assemblage of Edina Noon Rotarians were on hand to celebrate springtime’s arrival in the north—for real this time (right?)! President Jennifer Bennerotte promptly (”promptly” has got to be Jenn’s favorite adverb!) welcomed the attendees, and quickly introduced Tim Murphy, outgoing District 5950 Governor. Tim’s brief remarks highlighted events at the recent District Conference, acknowledged Jody Kern’s outstanding contribution to the best District Conference ever, and concluded by reaffirming that our club is indeed the number one club in the universe. I wonder how the Klingon Morning Club feels about that?

 
Her Bennerotteness acknowledged those helping with the meeting, including greeters Libby Schmit, Frank Cardarelle and Stan Brown, as well as Kevin Kalal and the ever-faithful-to-his-not-inconsiderable-responsibilities Marty Kupper at the front desk.

 

Terry Moore gave the invocation, in which we were reminded of several oft-forgotten manifestations of our prosperity, then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag and the UNITED States of America, followed by the Four-Way Test. Scott Tankenoff introduced our guests:

But wait—there’s more!! Steve Buettner introduced two student guests from Edina High School, Julio Tomas and N'namdi Andersen, each of whom displayed great poise from the podium.

 

Former Edina Youth Exchange student Sarah Aydinalp gave a talk about her experience as an exchange student in Brazil during the 2014–2015 school year. She now lives in Plymouth.

Next, we were invited by Scott MacDonald to attend an Edina Rotary Wine and Appetizer Social from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 2 at Erik’s Retreat in Edina. Erik’s Retreat is a recent recipient of financial support from the Edina Rotary Foundation through our Club’s Community Service—Local Funding outreach. Erik's Retreat was the 2015–2016 Signature Project for Edina Rotary. Aptly described on its webpage as “A solution that was born out of love. And need," Erick's Ranch and Retreats proudly offers a first-of-its kind living, working and social environment for young adults with autism. What sets Erik’s Ranch & Retreats apart is that these young adults themselves operate the boutique-style guest accommodations at two destination locations: the Retreat in Edina, and Erik’s Ranch, in Paradise Valley, Montana. Wine will be available—so who’s not up for that!!? Register online ASAP.

Then John Mazzara gave his classification speech, in which we learned a lot about John. He has an undergraduate degree from St. John’s and an MBA from St. Thomas; he has an adventurous spirit exemplified by a whole bunch of early jobs—caddy, trapline, Byerly’s bag boy and self-proclaimed “disorderly” orderly. And, oh yes, a big career in real estate, finance and mortgage brokerage. And finally, your writer’s favorite vignette from John’s CV: honeymooned hunting and fishing in Alaska—with his wife’s enthusiastic agreement, no less! Must be some kinda woman—welcome to Edina Noon Rotary, John. 

Wayne Harmon introduced our speaker, John Montague, co-founder and Chief Aspiration Officer of Aspire Beverage Company. Shouldn’t we all have an aspiration officer on our team? Last week’s The Barker led off with a long feature about John’s company and an awesome picture. In person, the take-aways from his talk were truly inspirational. 

John explained the genesis of Aspire—a couple of guys sitting around discussing the sorry state of sugary sports drinks, and the inspiration of a young woman they read about who tracked her 50-pound weight gain and pinned it on the outrageous amount of sugar in her favorite sports drinks. So, having identified the problem, John and his pals set about finding a solution. The truly inspirational element of John’s journey was his fearlessness in tackling an area about which he knew nothing (sports drinks manufacturing) and his absolute faith in his team’s ability to bring in the right people with the right knowledge and skills to develop and market a superior product.

 

“People with knowledge are out there”, John said, and despite his characterization of himself and his co-founder as  ”a couple of dumb hockey guys," his message resonates. “You can find people with knowledge you need—if you look.” Aspire to greatness, indeed! Well done, John.

Bob Perkins thanked the speaker, and Her Jenniferness segued beautifully to conclude on message: “Rotary aspires to be a gift to the world.” Meeting adjourned—promptly at 1:30 p.m.