Dyanne Ross-Hanson is President and Founder of Exit Planning Strategies, LLC in Oakdale, MN. EPS is a financial-based consulting firm focused on helping company owners develop intentional ownership/exit plans for their businesses. She is a frequent presenter and author on topics ranging from succession planning to selective benefit planning to business continuity strategies. Her topic for this meeting will be: Indispensable: How to Keep and Incentivize Key Employees.
ATTENTION! MEETING BEGINS AT 11:30 am ENDS at 1:00 pm
Edina Mayor James B. Hovland and Edina Public Schools Superintendent John Schultz will present the “2021 State of the Community” Thursday, Feb. 25. The pair will speak about Edina’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The presentation will be emceed by City Manager Scott Neal and is co-sponsored by the Rotary Club of Edina, Rotary Club of Edina Morningside and Edina Chamber of Commerce. It will be presented as part of the Rotary Club of Edina’s weekly meeting at the Edina Country Club, 5100 Wooddale Ave.
REGISTER HERE, seating will be limited due to this being a shared and promoted event with the City of Edina, Edina Rotary Morningside, and Edina Chamber of Commerce. Please see the event site for cost information and Edina Country Club safe meeting guidelines.
Join the Rotary Club of Edina Interact club for their annual Skate to End Polio event this Friday, Feb. 26 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. at Braemar Arena's Backyard Rink. Tickets will be available at Thursday's meeting with all donations and proceeds going to Rotary International's End Polio Now campaign. To buy your tickets you can pay with cash or through Venmo at @interactskatetoendpolio. Click HERE for a the details, flyer and Venmo payment code.
To help keep our members engaged and enhancing a way to introduce and develop fellowship between our members, virtual Fireside Chats will start on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with Susan Johnson at 11:30 a.m. These weekly chats will be hosted by Rotary Club of Edina members throughout February, March and April with a total of 11 dates and various times of day are now scheduled. Please use the Fireside links at the top of the page to register.
Click on the date you'd like to go and registered via ZOOM. In the spirit of creating an gathering that can more closely connect, we are limiting registration to 8 people per date. An email with a complete list of dates, times and hosts as well as Zoom registration guidelines will be sent soon. Please contact Susan Johnson at 612-718-6303 or susan@fidelitybankmn.com with any question regarding registration or attendance.
The Rotary Club of Edina Race & Equity Committee has announced the book club dates. They will be meeting via ZOOM at 5:15 p.m to 6:15 p.m. for five Wednesdays starting February 17, and continuing on March 3, March 17, March 31 and April 7. Please contact committee member, Jennifer Bennerotte at jbennerotte@EdinaRotary.org for Zoom link information.
Several organizations and groups across the country are reading White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism. The New York Times best-selling book explores the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality. Read More for additional details.
Our club has a new maternal and child health Global Grant project that has begun in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe at United Bulawayo Hospitals in partnership with local NGO MATTER, and the Bulawayo Rotary Club. It will provide much needed medical equipment and supplies to the maternal and pediatric wards of the hospital as well an on-site nutrition garden and egg production that will help feed and nourish patients. Recently, members of the Bulawayo Rotary Club and MATTER staff, gathered to plant over 1000 Chaya trees in the nutrition garden area. Chaya foliage is similar to spinach and is one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world. They are easily added to other foods like soup, beans, rice and eggs and are rich in protein, calcium, iron and Vitamins A and C.
Edina Mayor, Rotary Club Challenge Residents to 2,021Acts of Kindness
Mayor Jim Hovland and the Rotary Club of Edina challenge residents to complete 2,021 acts of kindness.
During this difficult time, it is more important than ever to support one another and give back to our community. For this reason, Hovland has launched the 2,021 Acts of Kindness Challenge.
Submit your act of kindness or nominate someone online at betterTogetherEdina.org/KindnessChallenge. The name of each resident who is nominated will go into a monthly drawing to receive a gift card to a local restaurant from the Rotary Club of Edina to thank them for their kindness and support local restaurants.
“Rotary’s motto is ‘Service above Self.’ The Kindness Challenge supports our desire to put others ahead of ourselves while at the same time helping the restaurants in our community,” said Rotary Club of Edina President Sam Thompson about the group’s support of the project.
For suggested acts of kindness, click "Read More".
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP) has continued to provide weekend meals for children in need with assistance from area Rotary clubs.
For several years, Area 3 Rotarians have packaged food for children in need of food on the weekend or when school is not in session. The food had been discretely distributed to the children at their schools on Fridays.
The need for such meals did not go away with the pandemic and, in fact, increased. The schools got creative and found ways to pick up the packages from VEAP and deliver the bags to the students or arrange pickup times at the schools.
Adhering to proper social distancing and other safety guidelines, Rotarians now pack meals just once a month in two 90-minute shifts with four volunteers each. Regular volunteers from the Rotary Club of Edina are Don Hutchison, Mike Kallas and Michael Stanzak. Jody Kern fills in when a volunteer has to cancel due to unforeseen conflicts.
The Rotary Club of Edina has also donated $1,000 to VEAP for this program.
Rotarians will package meals three more times this school year. If you are interested in serving as a substitute like Kern, contact Jennifer Bennerotte, jbennerotte@EdinaRotary.org.
In the spirit of Rotary, I send thanks and appreciation to all of you who have reached out to share your love, caring, concern, and sympathy following the passing of my husband, Duane. You are the friends I have been able to count on for more than 20 years.
Although he was not a member of Rotary, Duane loved to participate in the activities of our club and described himself as having “the heart of a Rotarian”. This was surely true when he supported me in local and international service projects, including being a Dad to young Moses Mwaura.
If you did not see the tribute (beginning and end) and service honoring Duane and are interested, the following link is still available:
Back to the hybrid version of your choice to attend club meeting via IN-PERSON or ZOOM platforms. The continued excellent editing talents of C-Vision Productions (Chris Laskowski) is allowing us to make better use of the taped and edited meetings posted weekly to You Tube and use them as our new "In Review" format. This will eliminate the duty of "The Barker" note taker/writer and we will, for the time being, no longer publish written reviews. In-person meeting photos will resume. Keep in mind watching the You Tube video counts as a make-up. Let Becci know what meeting dates you watched and she will mark you as attended.
We will post the link to the last meeting video taped (see above) and photos from the meeting.
Basil Pesto Chicken on Toasted Orzo-Rice Pilaf and Steamed Broccoli
Thursday, February 25, 2021 there will be the hybrid version with in-person meeting at the Edina Country Club with doors open at 11:15 p.m. and ZOOM meeting beginning at 11:30. Please see our club web page and watch your email for meeting place updates.
The Rotary Club of Edina's Administrator, Becci Michalski, works part time and will respond to your inquiries within 24 hours. Contact her at rmichalski@EdinaRotary.org or voicemail /text message at 612-234-7390.
Dyanne Ross-Hanson is President and Founder of Exit Planning Strategies, LLC in Oakdale, MN. EPS is a financial-based consulting firm focused on helping company owners develop intentional ownership/exit plans for their businesses. She is a frequent presenter and author on topics ranging from succession planning to selective benefit planning to business continuity strategies. Her topic for this meeting will be: Indispensable: How to Keep and Incentivize Key Employees..jpg)
Join the Rotary Club of Edina Interact club for their annual Skate to End Polio event this Friday, Feb. 26 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. at Braemar Arena's Backyard Rink. Tickets will be available at Thursday's meeting with all donations and proceeds going to Rotary International's End Polio Now campaign. To buy your tickets you can pay with cash or through Venmo at @interactskatetoendpolio. Click 
To help keep our members engaged and enhancing a way to introduce and develop fellowship between our members, virtual Fireside Chats will start on Wednesday, Feb. 15 with Susan Johnson at 11:30 a.m. These weekly chats will be hosted by Rotary Club of Edina members throughout February, March and April with a total of 11 dates and various times of day are now scheduled. Please use the Fireside links at the top of the page to register.
The Rotary Club of Edina Race & Equity Committee has announced the book club dates. They will be meeting via ZOOM at 5:15 p.m to 6:15 p.m. for five Wednesdays starting February 17, and continuing on March 3, March 17, March 31 and April 7. Please contact committee member, Jennifer Bennerotte at 
Mayor Jim Hovland and the Rotary Club of Edina challenge residents to complete 2,021 acts of kindness.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People (VEAP) has continued to provide weekend meals for children in need with assistance from area Rotary clubs.
Dear Friends,
