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Bring a Guest to April 28 Edina Rotary Meeting
The Rotary Club of Edina will hold a Prospective Member Day Thursday, April 28. Rotarians are encouraged to bring friends or colleagues that are interested in learning more about Rotary and our club. Lunch is on the club for all prospective members April 28!
 
The program speaker at the meeting will be Rob Zeaske, CEO of Second Harvest Heartland. He will speak about "Feeding Our Hungry Neighbors." 
 
Zeaske has been CEO since 2008. He has overall responsibility for leadership, planning and management of Second Harvest Heartland. Under his direction, the food bank has not only grown in size and scale, but also has earned a reputation as an innovator and national thought leader in hunger relief. Zeaske is helping change the conversation about hunger relief by bringing together partners from private and public organizations that have a stake in closing the missing meal gap.

He is a hopeful voice intent on finding more efficient and innovative ways to help neighbors in need.
 
“Of the many problems our community faces, hunger is one that we can solve,” he says. “There is more than enough food in the heartland to feed everyone. By constantly looking for new ways to work with each other and with our partners, we can help put that food on the table for hundreds of thousands of hungry families.”

Prior to joining Second Harvest Heartland, Zeaske led fundraising and government relations for Boston-based Jumpstart, which is nationally recognized for preparing schoolchildren for success, and served as a Harvard Business School Service Leadership Fellow for Mercy Corps. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BA in political science from Stanford University.
 
Rotarian Mike Sitek will give his classification talk at the meeting.
In Review ...
The April 21 meeting was the ninth-annual Vocational Ethics Day and was sponsored not only by our Rotary Club, but also the following clubs: Bloomington Daymakers, Bloomington Noon, Eden Prairie AM, Eden Prairie Noon, Edina Morningside and Richfield.
 
The gathered were welcomed by John Crudele of the Eden Prairie AM Rotary Club. We were greeted by Brad Beard, new member Bjorn Freudenthal, and Mayor Jim Hovland from the Edina Morningside Rotary Club. Providing front desk administration were Marty Kupper and Deirdre Kvale, with help from Joel Jennings. Our Invocation was performed by Edina Rotarian Pastor Arthur Rouner.

Our guests included students from the following high schools: Bloomington Jefferson, Bloomington Kennedy, Eden Prairie, Edina and Richfield. Each school's presence was determined by a shout-out from the respective students. In addition we had the following guests:
 
  • Eden Prairie Superintendent Dr. Curt Tryggestad
  • Assistant Superintendent Josh Swanson
  • Jon Ortner
  • Andre Brewer
  • Mike Vacanti
Paul Nelson of EMRC made an announcement about Camp Enterprise, which will be Oct. 27 through 29. Camp E is an extensive three-day camp offering students the opportunity to participate in leadership activities focusing on the free enterprise system. For more information, see their website at www.campenterprise.org.
 
Jean Fox of the Richfield Rotary Club announced the Fight Back Project, which will be Tuesday, May 3, at the Richfield Middle School auditorium at 6:30 p.m. and is  free. The Fight Back Project recounts the experience of Angela Champagne  and her "Mission: To Educate & Empower Women & Children to Fight Back" against potential assaults. More information can be found on their website, http://thefightbackproject.weebly.com.
 
District Governor Tim Murphy announced the District 5950/5960 Joint Conference, which will be May 12 and 13 at Mystic Lake Conference Center. This year's theme is "Celebrate our Gifts to the World." More information can be found on the conference website at http://www.rotary5960.org/dc2016/.
 
The Edina Prairie AM Rotary Club sponsored Youth Exchange student Art Matanboon from Thailand, and he talked about his experience as an exchange student. He has had an incredible year and will take home some great memories and experiences.

Our keynote speaker, David Irvin, was introduced. David’s presentation was titled "Living Your Values, Taking Out the Grey Areas." David grew up in the Twin Cities, attended  Cooper High School in New Hope and lives in Bloomington. He had a very successful professional, personal and community life, including coaching his children’s sports clubs.
 
As a human resources director he often had to make decision a person's employment based on bad decisions, including drug use. Dave proceeded to share how a decision during one of his birthday parties to try drugs lead to additional bad decisions, ultimately leading to his arrest and an end to his lifestyle. Though this decision had dire consequences, Dave took responsibility for these decisions. And though his life is different, his relationship with his wife, faith and perspective has grown from the experience.
 
His message is that though making a bad choice can seem insignificant, especially while drinking or having a good time, but a bad choice can alter the rest of your life.
 
He ended his presentation with this plea: “Put some thought about if you are ready to lose. What is important to you for bad decisions? Think about what you believe in and how you would like to have others think of you. And how valuable that is to you. And how a bad choice can put all that in jeopardy.”
 
Edina Noon Rotary President Jennifer Bennerotte thanked the speaker and adjourned the meeting.
Proposed for Membership
The Rotary Club of Edina’s Board of Directors at its meeting April 21 approved the applicants below for membership:
 
Jack Atnip
Classification: Business Law
Sponsor: Leann Stessman
 
Ian Colville
Classification: Real Estate Investment
Sponsor: Josh Sprague
 
Written objections to the applications must be submitted before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 11, to Rotary Club of Edina, 4801 W. 50th St., Edina, MN  55424.
Meeting Responsibilities
Front Desk
Jessen, Mark
 
Front Desk 2
Kupper, Marty
 
Front Desk—Prospective Member check-in
Born, Barbara
 
Greeter 1
Benson, Keith
 
Greeter 2
Boockmeier, Matt
 
Greeter 3 (new member)
Smith, Katie
 
Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance/Four-Way Test
McReavy, Bill
 
Introduce Guests
Bennerotte, Jennifer
 
The Barker writer
Burke, Valerie
 
Introduce the Speaker
Hanks, Greg
 
Thank the Speaker
Peterson, Kip
 
Upcoming Events
Prospective Member Day
Edina Country Club
Apr 28, 2016
12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
 
Rotary Happy Hour/Vocational Development Group
The Mezz, Byerly's
May 04, 2016
5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
 
Rotary District 5950/5960 2016 Conference
Mystic Lake Conference Center
May 12, 2016 – May 13, 2016
 
Rotary Board training
Southdale YMCA
May 18, 2016 5:30 PM
 
Feed My Starving Children
Feed My Starving Children
May 21, 2016
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
 
Rotary Club of Edina Family Picnic
Bryant Lake Regional Park
Jun 14, 2016
5:45 PM – 8:00 PM
 
Executives & Directors
President
 
President Elect
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Past President
 
Club Service (Administration) Director
 
Community Service—Local Funding Director
 
Community Service—Programs Director
 
International Service Director
 
Membership—Recruitment Director
 
Membership—Retention Director
 
Public Image Director
 
The Rotary Foundation Director
 
Youth Service Director
 
Club Administrator
 
Photo Albums
April 7, 2016 Meeting
March 10, 2016 Meeting
Skate to End Polio
Feb. 11, 2016 Meeting
Feb. 4, 2016 Meeting
2016 Bowling Party
Jan. 21, 2016 Meeting

The Edina Country Club will serve members and guests Orange-Glazed Salmon or Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad at the Rotary Club of Edina's April 28 meeting. 

The Rotary Club of Edina's Administrator, Jennifer Garske, works part-time Tuesday through Friday. To contact her, call 612-875-3109 or write to jgarske@EdinaRotary.org.