Nov 14 – Celebrate India, Chaska Event Center, 5:30 to 8:30 PM LINK
Nov 23 – Chaska Tree Lighting, Firemen's Park, 6 to 7:30 PM LINK
Dec 5 – Board Meeting via Zoom Workplace app LINK. Meeting ID 873 4149 5653
Passcode: chaska
Link to District 5950 Calendar of Events This includes activities and meetings related to Rotary Foundation, Polio Plus, President-elect Education, Camp Enterprise for high school juniors + seniors, Rotary Women happy hour, and Veterans Day.
Link to Carver County Local News Community Events This includes events and activities such as the Landscape Arboretum, Communities of Belonging, school activities, church events and the cities’ winter events.
Link to Southwest Chamber of Commerce Events Calendar This includes business ribbon-cuttings, Carver County Family Resource Center opening, Southwest Christian High School Theatre, group coffee meetings and holiday events and markets.
INVOCATION: Peter Ivy
ANNOUNCEMENTS
· Gretchen Oppriecht and Cindy Anderson need our support at the Holiday Market at the SunMeadow Farm. Our club will be raising funds by selling beverages to benefit our International Exchange and Scholarship programs.
· Vic Benetti reflected his volunteer hours with Martha Brannon’s His House Foundation and Hy-Vee market in Shakopee by giving credit to the grocery store for offering $3 meals LINK.
· Bob Chinnock will bring nine presenters to the STRIVE meeting so they can talk about their professions.
· Dan Keyport offered membership in the Chaska 100 group to help sponsor the city’s holiday decorations and tree lighting on Nov. 23.
· Erin Kerber said that it would please her if we would Répondez S’il Vous Plaît (respond if it pleases you) for our George Klein breakfast on Nov. 20.
· Matt Podhradsky hoped that we could focus on bringing guests to our March 2026 meetings to grow our membership.
· Ryan Seibert wished happy birthdays to those who are now older and wiser. He also thanked the continued membership of Ken Hiller (21 y), Dan Keyport (20 y) and Lindsey Hagan (1 y).
HAPPY DOLLARS
Donating this morning must have been inspired by the beautiful sunrise that greeted early arrivals. Today our contributors included Gary Hardel, Lindsey Hagen, Greg Anderson, Gretchen Oppriecht, Peter Ivy and our speaker Don Stiles.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL Flag Presentation
Ken Hiller brought us to Germany without the pain of jetlag while introducing us to the Rotary Club of Heidenheim-Aalen LINK. Heidenheim is 17 km south of Aalen and 33 km north of Ulm (the original, not the new Minnesota version). If you use Wikipedia to research the club’s flag, you’ll dive into the coat of arms for each city. In a typical web-based maze of links you will learn about red-hatted pagans, imperial eagles, silver eels, the Holy Roman Empire and the Swabian dialect of the German language. Plus, you get to learn a slice of the multi-millennial history of this central European area.
YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT – Ane Otsby
Ane updated our awareness of what it’s like to be her, and today she showed photos that helped! Below is her Senior photo and a selfie with her host-brother Jordan Busch. Halloween was spent with school friends, neighborhood walking was a homework assignment, joining the Quiz Bowl teams brought her into contact with another portion of the student population, and a close encounter with a white-tailed deer enabled us to share some laughter.
YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT – Ane Otsby
Ane updated our awareness of what it’s like to be her, and today she showed photos that helped! Below is her Senior photo and a selfie with her host-brother Jordan Busch. Halloween was spent with school friends, neighborhood walking was a homework assignment, joining the Quiz Bowl teams brought her into contact with another portion of the student population, and a close encounter with a white-tailed deer enabled us to share some laughter.
STUDENT INTERN – Gonzalo Romero
Gonzalo has completed his college applications, experienced the agony of the school’s football loss to Chanhassen, but enjoyed his 3rd Halloween in the USA dressed as an orange Ninja Turtle (Michelangelo.)
PRESENTATION: Don Stiles, Rotary District 5950 Foundation Chair
Introduced Neil Wingert, our club’s Rotary Foundation Director, Don Stiles provided an overview of the Foundation and details about the flow of donations and how they multiply into Grants. Don helps everyone in District 5950 with their Foundation programs and has worked in many Grant projects here and abroad.
Don led us through the Grant pathways that can occur so that small and large, near and far improvements can be funded. Partnering between clubs, focusing on Rotary goals, and hands-on participation are hallmarks of successful endeavors and grant applications. Don suggested that we make The Rotary Foundation our “charity of choice” and encouraged all members to donate every year, regardless of the amount contributed. He noted that our % participation is much less than it used to be and not on par with others in the district. He sent in a correction to the TRF Annual Fund total for our club’s 2024-25 fiscal year (ending in June) - $2,862.75, and a summary of our club’s grants, shown below.
Invocations can be a faith traditional prayer, or a meditation, or inspirational verse or quote. Brief 20 – 30 seconds. Light-hearted is okay. Option: focus on our Mission of Service Above Self. Need an idea – Google Rotary Invocations.
