April 26, 2022 Meeting Report
Today's meeting was our Club Assembly, an opportunity to provide programmatic updates and assess our progress.
April is Maternal and Child Health Month
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.
The Manitowoc Sunrise Club hosted a Zoom meeting on Friday, April 22nd with Ukrainian Rotarians. The meeting will be recorded to allow for future viewing by our Club.
Today's Program
Today's program was a Club Assembly held in a "round robin" format to provide programmatic updates and assess our progress.
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. (Direct link to the program schedule)
📀 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! A report out from last Friday’s Zoom meeting included four options brought to the discussion table. These ranged from a simple data dump and storage to full online collaboration. The “simple” option of using Google Drive bubbled to the top pending board action for presentation to the membership. Thanks to Todd N., Brenda G. and all of those that contributed their thoughts to finding the most appropriate fit for our Club’s needs.
🗣 Annual Dinner Auction 2022. This week’s edition of “Dinner Details” with a report/impressions of the event! A report out from the final meeting of the planning group will be presented at the upcoming board meeting and then shared with Club membership at the next meeting.
- An estimated net of close to $22,000 was disclosed making this the most successful single fundraising effort in our history.
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. Update: Deb B. has declared her intent to partner with another member in this role.
Please consider the opportunity to express the Rotary ideal of service in the above role.
Club Events / Service Opportunities
🍽 🚗 Meals on Wheels. Next up is May 16-20! Thanks for all those who helped with last week’s deliveries. Expect to see an invitation for help later this week.
💰 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.
- The need for such an area was validated by the two area health systems in the report out from the April 20 planning meeting. When kiddos are removed from their homes, they are received in an area Emergency Department holding area. The current areas are quite institutional/sterile and add to the trauma burden.
- The proposed Sensory Trauma Room(s) will be designed to soften this transition trauma. The startup costs have been estimated at $7K with an annual cost of $20K to sustain them.
- Since district grants capped at $3K per Club as well as the area wide impact of this project, it was recommended that a joint application with the Manitowoc Rotary Clubs be pursued. The clock is ticking, however, with applications due by June 1st.
- The next planning meeting is scheduled for May 10th at 5:30pm.
(Diane J.) Get the Community Back in our Schools. (Diane J.) This is an opportunity for our Club to build student connections. Diane J. (in between sniffles) shared a full agenda of school activities with our Club.
- Among those highlighted was a “Grandfriends Day.” This rebranding of the traditional Grandparents Day reflects societal changes and expands community engagement.
- A shout out was extended to Todd N. for his recent donation of a MINI Cooper to the high school’s automotive department. Indeed, it takes a community to support a student.
🎸 🏖 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). The Club will therefore participate at just one event and will instead 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.
- The TRivers Lions Club is receptive to working with us in transitioning the event to Rotary control.
- Construction on the Central Park West project will have an impact on Applefest logistics. The City has indicated that construction will commence this fall. However, access to Central Park East (the City Hall side) is planned, along with use of the Community House.
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. Breaking news: One (1) application has now been received with two (2) more in the hopper from current LTC students. Hope springs eternal for a positive awarding of these funds. 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. 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.
- With five members in attendance, our club will be well represented.
💵. 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:
- 🌸 🥶 Several members chirped up and chipped in for our lovely spring weather…
Birthday and Anniversary Report
Michael Ditmer (4/12) 🎂
Keith Lyons (3 years) ⚙️
Lori Zimney (3 years) ⚙️
⏭ Next week’s program will be presented by TRivers Public Schools. Diane J. will share results of the recent community survey along with a primer on how our schools are funded.