President's Message for meeting of Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend despite the rain. Looks like the weather this week will be dry and nice temps so, a good week to enjoy the fall colors I think.
Last week we had a wonderful opportunity to get to know our inbound exchange student Valerie Huber of Switzerland. Kathy Busch introduced Valerie and we got a chance to hear more about her town, family, and what she is interested in for hobbies, etc. She comes from a much smaller town than Shakopee (750 people) and of course, we don't have the Alps to climb like she does in her country. However, she seems to be really settling in very nicely to her life in Minnesota. We also were introduced to Jenny Ames her host mother and both Jenny and Valerie agree that they are getting along very well. She loves living here and they love having her live in their home as well. I want to remind all of the Rotarians of Shakopee that Valerie is here to experience as much as possible about life in the U.S. She would welcome the opportunity to an invitation to spend time with any of you with your families doing activities, visiting places or just coming to your home for dinner. She is really delightful, speaks English quite well, and I think you would get as much or more out of an opportunity to spend time with her. Please see Kathy Busch if you would like to make arrangements to spend time with Valerie this year. She will be leaving us in June of 2014 but the time will go by fast, so don't wait too long to get her on your schedule.
This week we will be featuring our own Art Quinn who will talk about the Rotary Foundation annual campaign. Please consider a donation to the Rotary Foundation of Shakopee this year. In the past, we have not had full participation and it would be nice to showcase our club as one that can get full support of this very worthwhile endeavor. Remember, no donation is too small and the importance is that we all contribute. I will be talking a bit more about this at the meeting as well. In addition, we will be starting a new program. I have accepted an opportunity for our club to continue its mission of helping recognize the positive things our youth do in our community. We will be starting a "Student of the Month" recognition for the Takota Learning Center of Shakopee. This high school is an alternative setting where students with other challenges for learning are given an opportunity to demonstrate excellence in school and celebrate success. Nell Bury is our liaison for this program and each month she will bring to us a new student and one educator whom the student chooses to attend our Rotary meeting. The student and their guest will be our guests for lunch and the student will have an opportunity to briefly tell us why they won the recognition and why they chose their guest to attend. We will have our first student at this week's meeting. Please be sure to give them both a warm Rotary welcome when you meet them on Tuesday. Thanks to Nell for bringing this program to our club.
Our Songmaster this week is the lovable "Mr Ed" Shukle and our Finemaster is Doug Schlief. Our Greeters Table changes this week. Angie Whitcomb and Barb Danielson will greet you with their smiling faces and take your cash this week.
REMINDER: Mark your calendars the Ethics Workshop is Tuesday, November 19. Barb Danielson is looking for 5 more table leaders from our club. This is a great program. Please check your calendar and see Barb if you can volunteer some time on Nov. 19.
Also, thanks to Linda Plum who delivered an adorable hand crafted "Diaper Cake" to Jim Conway and his wife who had a baby girl (Lucy). We are waiting to hear more details from Jim when he gets back from his paternity leave.
In Rotary Service and Peace,
Sheila McNeill
President 2013-14
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