Local author Greg Yoch will be the featured speaker at the Rotary Club of Edina's meeting Thursday, Feb. 18. Yoch's book, Becoming George Washington, was released in September 2015.

 

Yoch, a highly rated and dynamic speaker, will discuss how a fatherlesss boy rose to become an indispensible founding father of our country. A far cry from the powder-haired general and or president discussed in most biographies, the book reveals young George Washington as an "action hero" at the epicenter of the French and Indian wars.

 

At 12:30 p.m., President Jennifer Bennerotte promptly opened the meeting with a talk about how our club is a family, and that there are many former and current parent-child members, e.g., Joel & Jodie Jennings, Les and Katie Wanniger, Mick and John Flynn.

 

She announced that today’s meeting is being assisted by Greeters Lisa Walker (new member), Steve Veker, John Mazzara (new member), Kenny Smith (new member), at the Front Desk Bob Harvey, Invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance Jody Kern, Guest Introductions Sandy Schley, Barker yours truly San Asato, Introduce The Speaker Andy Finsness, and Thank The Speaker Scott Neal.

 

Sandy Schley led the club with a rousing three-clap welcoming of guests she experienced while traveling in Germany.  With Sandy’s coaching and a couple of practice runs with Gordy Lewis by Sandy’s side, membership got the idea.  We had a number of guests: Visiting Rotarian Robin Edgar from the Mason City Sunrise Rotary Club; Youth Exchange Students Jein Im (South Korea) and Tina Sletten (Norway);  Member Guests Camille Cohen (Jon Barnett’s daughter and former member), Pastor Tom Cook of St. Stephen’s (David Clynes), David Peterson (David Clynes’ cousin), Eric Fahrendorf (Dr. Tim Fargo), Alli Zomer (Marty Kupper’s niece), Matthew Fitzgerald (Deirdre Kvale’s nephew), Rae Thompson (Sam Thompson’s daughter), and Toni Gerard (Josh Sprague’s guest and a prospective member).

 

Hugh Hadlund followed with his Classification Talk.  Hugh first joined Rotary back in 2003 (I can’t remember where) and became a member of our club in May of last year.  Hugh went to Shattuck-St. Mary’s School and was on its hockey team during the 1970s (many years before Shattuck became a powerhouse).  He then went to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and received his MBA from St. Thomas University.  He started his career as a bank examiner, moved to residential mortgage, before settling down as a commercial banker, presently with Citizens Independence Bank in St. Louis Park.  He and Ruth, his wife, live in St. Louis Park.  (None of our members gave Hugh a hard time, but we did notice that he sported a handsome Valentine’s necktie with huge red hearts.)  Hugh has active hobbies: plays guitar, volunteers with Rock Camp for Dads (if you are interested, please ask Hugh), bikes (he’s crossed Iowa 10 times!!), and sails on Lake Superior.

 

Our club’s Membership Chair and incoming Secretary Josh Sprague announced that our membership goal is 170 (he’s doing a gangbuster job!), and that there’s a Rotary-Chamber Mixer on Feb. 17, 5-7 p.m., at the Edina Country Club.

Our club’s Membership Retention Chair, Ken Andersen, announced that next member social event is cooking, Cooks of Crocus Hill in Edina on April 1, 6-8:30 p.m.  The cost is $75 per person.

Check your club calendar online or in the Barker!

 

Jennifer Bennerotte then introduced Andy Finsness.  According to Jennnifer’s background check, Andy skateboards to work when weather is nice, water skis barefoot (according to Andy, he slalom skis), and his favorite beer is Surly Hell.

 

Andy Finsness did a nice job of introducing our program speaker, one of our own, District Governor Tim Murphy.  Andy dug up Tim’s secret habits from a little birdie: only eats apples in kitchen, goes ape when his phone doesn’t work, and shares his ice cream with his dogs.

 

DG Tim Murphy talked about “What A Great Rotary Club Looks Like” (a hint, the No. 1 Club in Universe).  World-wide, Rotary International annually gains and loses 100,000 members, as a result membership has been static at 1.2 million.  The marks of a great club are: (1) Fellowship - our club boasts the highest number of members with perfect attendance in District 5950, (2) High Ethics and Service – our club has them in spades, e.g., Camp E, Youth Exchange, STRIVE, Leadership Ethics, Vocational Ethics, (3) Serving In Community – our club engaged in sponsoring Fairview Southdale’s ER, Erik’s Ranch, Rotary Happy Hour, Legacy Fund, etc., and (4) International Service – Tim shared his Rotary Story, his experience of “joining Rotary” and through international projects (e.g., Rotoplast, SafeWater in Kenya and Uganda) how “Rotary became him.”  Tim mentioned that our club is the top giving club in dollars and per capita in District 5950 and Zones 28 and 29.  Last fiscal year, our club gave $91,000, or 12 percent of the District’s donations.  Our club has the District record, holding 35 Paul Harris Society members, 134 Paul Harris members, 157 Sustaining members, and 31 Major Donors.  With a generous gift from Tom and Roberta McNellis, our club donated $27,000 to Polio Plus (so far this year, there are ZERO reported case of polio anywhere in the world).  Our club members have always been well represented in District leadership, too many to mention, e.g., Jeff Ohe is Assistant District Governor and John Flynn and Jody Kern are chairs of the upcoming District Conference.  For Tim, joining Rotary was life changing.