President John Flynn started the meeting with a video clip whereby Don Hutchinson and Sam Thompson shared their reasons why they joined and like Rotary. Who among the following are Edina Magazine’s writers/editors: Ann Platt, Kaylin Eidsness, Jeff Ohe? Answer: All of the them.
We were greeted by Will Steinke and John Flynn. Despite his spine injury, Will did a good job greeting everyone with a firm handshake. Front desk was kept by Royce Pavelka and Becci Michalski. Our meeting hosts were Kevin Kalal and Mike Kallas.
Chuck Agan moved us with a very inspiring invocation which was followed by Pledge of Allegiance and Rotary’s Four-Way Test.
Deirdre Kvale introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Val Burke introduced our two Edina High School student guests. Lauren Stone has been busy with swimming, cheerleading and Nordic Track. She wants to study biology and become a physician’s assistant. Jacob Straub was involved in volunteer political campaign, marching band, and debating as well as swimming/diving. He would like to go to West Point.
Kaylin Eidsness was this week’s official photographer for us. She was busy taking photos of members and guests.
Catherine Gump gave her Classification Talk. After a brilliant career with Cargill (she moved all the way up to Vice President in charge of shareholder relations), she retired early. She grew up and now lives in Edina Morningside. One of her biggest achievements was marrying her husband Tom Gump. Her father had a long career at Pillsbury and her mother was a lawyer. (Her mother came to the meeting, to listen to Catherine!) After graduating from Robbinsdale High School, Catherine went to Smith College to study Economics. While working at the Department of Agriculture, she learned about commodity market which led her to pursue a graduate degree at Stanford University. At Cargill, she made many national and international merger/acquisition deals. After living in Gainesville (GA) and San Francisco (CA), she came back home to Edina where she and her husband Tom raised a son and hosted 5 Rotary youth exchange students. After retirement, she has been involved in many non-profit activities. She is glad that she officially became a Rotarian.
The program was introduced to us by Don Hutchinson, who has been involved in many committees in our club.
Our speaker Michael Schroeder is a landscape architect and current Assistant Superintendent for Planning Services at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, where he oversees the planning and design of the MPRB’s 160 neighborhood parks and 19 regional parks and trails. For ten years, he was a member of the Edina Planning Commission and within months of completing his last term he was asked to facilitate a planning process addressing the future of the Greater Southdale District (GSD). Michael showed us some photo images of Southdale since 1937. It was incredible to see Southdale surrounded by cornfield even in 1947. In 1957, a movie theater was added to the shopping mall. The Planning Commission’s effort, driven by many volunteers and consuming more than four years, resulted in the creation of a fifty-year vision for Greater Southdale now embodied in the city’s 2018 Comprehensive Plan. The 12-people committee hired a consultant with only one condition: “Don’t lecture us. Otherwise, you will be fired.” Both the committee and the consultant made herculean efforts the result of which finally met the minds of the city leaders and citizens. As part of the greater plan, the building at 7200 France Avenue will have to go and Edina will eventually see a new chapter in its history, with a lot of landscape changes in the GSD area. |
Fred Sylvester lectured about Rotary and thanked our speaker.
President Flynn closed the meeting with his final thought: “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now,”
Next week’s speaker is Dr. Sean Ewen of Wooden Hill Brewery Edina. If you like beer, you don’t want to miss this meeting! Paul and Jean Mooty will also make a surprise appearance with the theme of “Meeting Herder.” Don’t miss it!
Don't forget the Irish Dinner Event (March 9) is cancelled due to the impending snow storm.
There will be a joint meeting with the Edina Moriningside club on Tuesday, March 26, 7:30 a.m., Edina Country Club. Our regular meeting will NOT be held Thursday, March 28.
There will be Rotary License Plate meeting on March 11, from 9:45 to 11:45 am at #200 State Office Building. If you are interested in owning a Rotary Plate on your vehicle, please show up and show your support!
Life is good in Edina Rotary where members are all above average, happy and generous!
Sean Ewen is co-owner of the first brewery and taproom in the City of Edina, Wooden Hill Brewery. It began with Sean giving his brother, James, a homebrewing kit for his 21st birthday. This sparked a brotherly passion that grew into years of research to write and brew nearly a hundred unique beer recipes. Along the way, James discovered one of his greatest joys in brewing is sharing his beer with others, so he partnered with Sean to bring his dream to reality.
Our Edina Club Rotaract group joined the March Emerging Leaders Wednesday, March 13 at LIV Chiropractic to prepare sandwiches for "The Sandwich Man's" homeless outreach program. Last year, Allan Law distributed over 800,000 sandwiches to the approximately 4,000 homeless and people in need. With the exception of sandwich making, Mr. Law does much of the distribution work alone, cat napping in his van and working 20-hour days. He also distributes bus tokens, hygiene products, winter wear, socks and blankets. Mr. Law personally joined us during our packing session and it was an honor to become a part of his story and mission. For a better understanding of Mr. Law’s dedication and program click “More” and watch the video.
UPDATE: Feb. 28,2019
