April 19 2022 Meeting Report

Meetings

April 19, 2022 Meeting Report

We welcome Jennifer Estrada, the Executive Director of Crusaders of Justicia and much more!

April is Maternal and Child Health Month

Announcements

Our self-described "obtuse" leader, Steve, provided today's welcome and announcements.
 
The Van der Brohe Arboretum Annual Tree Sale is happening now. Receive a 20% discount on nursery stock with proceeds benefiting the arboretum. Check out their website for ordering details.
 
Manitowoc Rotarian Barry Nelson is at the Polish/Ukrainian border helping refugees.  He is being supported by a GoFundMe effort “War Uber.”  This war is real and this is a place to connect with what is happening there.

Today's Program

Program Chair Stanley Palmer invited Jennifer Estrada, Executive Director of Crusaders of Justicia.
 
Jennifer began with her personal story and the profound effects of deportation, providing the motivation to support those on the margins of society.
   
Out of this personal trauma, Crusaders of Justicia was formed to fight for justice for the rapidly increasing number of exploited families in our area. Their mission is to mobilize exploited families and their allies to fight for justice.  Conceived as a “peoples rights organization,” they target fundamental issues impacting our communities, including:
  • food insecurity
  • legal support
  • community outreach.  
They work in concert with a number of partners. To name just a few examples:
  • Wisconsin Hunger Task Force
  • Dairy Recovery Program
  • Grow It Forward 
Together they form an umbrella that fills gaps in coverage.
 
With the phrase, “Your fight is my fight – together it’s our fight,” they work to help our residents stay and thrive in our neighborhoods, weaving a community tapestry that makes us all stronger.
 

Club Operations

📰  Check the program schedule for your next chance to contribute to meeting programming. You can find the program schedule on the home page of the website in the downloads section toward the bottom of the page.

📀 Rotary Club digital storage. Options for centralizing the storage of/access to Club documents are being explored, archiving the collective wisdom and experience of our members! These range from simple “document stuffing” ideas to full shared workspace platforms fostering greater collaboration. Todd N., working with Brenda G. will spearhead the project. Input is already being received for consideration.

🗣 Annual Dinner Auction 2022. This week’s edition of “Dinner Details” with a report/impressions of the event!  A final meeting of the planning workgroup is planned for the 19th (today).

  • An estimated net of close to $22,000 was disclosed making this the most successful single fundraising effort in our history.
  • This fundraising total, when combined with previous funding pledges, is getting us close to the $65,000 commitment for the park project.
  • This progress is well-aligned with the project’s total with $1.3 million of the projected $1.8 million cost already in hand.
Keep your eyes on the prize…
 
Winter ice skating pond and loop, south half of park (pond overlays splash pad area)—planned for artificial ice
 
Club Secretary opportunity. After many years of service as Club Secretary, Colleen Inman has announced plans to step down from this role. Detailed instructions and mentorship is available. If you are interested, please let Steve D. know. A “divide and conquer” option is available with a division of tasks among a couple of members to make the opportunity more palatable.
 
Please consider the opportunity to express the Rotary ideal of service in the above role.

Club Events / Service Opportunities

🍽 🚗  Meals on Wheels. This Week! April 18 – 22. All dates were filled in time for a final report to the program coordinator. Thanks for all those who take the opportunity to help our community’s most vulnerable.  
 
💰 District Grant (2022-23) Support is building for a Sensory Trauma Room for Kids to be located in the Aurora Emergency area. The need for such an area was raised by Lakeshore Foster Families to help already traumatized youth in our area. Partnerships have already been formed with LFF to advance the project. An April 20th meeting at 5:30pm, 1011 Washington St, Manitowoc, will move the project ahead. Interested members are encouraged to attend!
 
(Diane J.) Get the Community Back in our Schools. (Diane J.) This is an opportunity for our Club to build student connections.
  • The Raider Reporter serves to shine a spotlight on positive aspects of our schools in the community.  Contributions from community partners are welcomed for inclusion in the quarterly publication.  Chris E-R. has offered to contribute a piece from our Club for the June edition.
🎸 🏖 Bands on the Beach 2022 will be using a new concession format. Now under control of the Two Rivers Parks and Recreation staff, the revenue will be shared with area organizations at a much reduced level (10% of the take). As such, the opportunity will not provide nearly the same “bang for the buck” as in the past. The Club expressed support for participating at just one (1) event, choosing to explore other revenue opportunities.  
 
🍎 Applefest 2022 and beyond. The TRivers Lions Club wishes to transfer “ownership” and control of this annual event to another community organization. Recognizing the learning curve needed to conduct this event, our Club would like to partner with the Lions Club leadership this year to be followed by full Rotary ownership going forward. The annual event is an important fixture of our community and offers opportunities to build on its history while providing needed Club revenue to support its program. Stay tuned for more information.

Looking Ahead...

World Affairs Seminar Reimagining Global Health and Wellness: Contagious Ideas will be held on Saturday, June 18 – Friday, June 24, 2022  Promote World Affairs Seminar information at the high school. There is one student with interest at this time. A members suggested that we reach out to the returning Europe trip kids as a natural fit for this Seminar.
 
Promote the Rotary Club of Two Rivers Scholarship at the high school.  Our intent is to offer multiple scholarships for technical college education to phase out this program’s funding. The apparent lack of student interest was disappointing. However, Stanley provided a historical review of the program’s impact over the past 5 years. The seven (7) worthy recipients over this time were excellent stewards of these funds pursuing careers in firefighting, criminal justice, accounting, nursing and physical therapy.  Going forward, the Club will reassess the purpose of and strategy for the remaining funds.
 
And, looking way ahead. Interest was expressed in resurrecting the idea of a Rotary Float as a highlight of the 2022 Christmas Parade. This would be a fine idea to kick off our Club’s Centennial Year! We can check and see if the Rotary Rose Parade float is available for our local use 🎅🏻 🎄
 

District Activities

⚙️  TriCon 2022 in Elkhart Lake April 29-30. Still Time to Sign Up and Join Fellow Rotarians. Learn all you need to know about TriCon 2022 at rotarytricon.com
  • Lisa V. offered interested (female) members a "suite deal" 🍬 to share her two bedroom suite at the Oosthoff.
  • Michael D. will be our Club’s designated voter at the business session.
💵. Happy Bucks gives us the opportunity for each member to share their personal “quips and quotes” of experiences over the past week. This week's highlights included:
  • Today’s program clearly touched our members with many of them contributing funds in support of Crusaders of Justicia.
Birthday and Anniversary Report
Michael Ditmer (4/12)  🎂
Keith Lyons (3 years) ⚙️
Lori Zimney (3 years) ⚙️
 
⏭ Next week’s program is our Club Assembly, an opportunity to provide programmatic updates, assess our progress, and catch our breath.