Learn about upcoming speakers, events, last meeting's presentation, and other club updates.
Upcoming Speakers
Meetings will be at Crown of Glory church, unless noted
December 2025
Dec 18 – Start time: 07:15 AM Holiday auction (Sheryl Hough)
Dec 25 – Christmas, no meeting
January 2026
Jan 1 – Happy New Year! no meeting
Jan 8 – Sue Valiton, Overture International, Haiti (Pat Schaffron)
Jan 15 – Club Committee meetings, Music Fest Recap
Jan 22 – Youth Exchange Program – Erin Kerber + Ane Otsby
Jan 29 – To be determined (Jim Bach)
February 2026
Feb 5 – To be determined (Gary Hardel)
Feb 12 – To be determined (Kevin Eide)
Feb 19 - To be determined (Greg Anderson)
Feb 26 – To be determined (Robin Nesburg)
Upcoming Events
Dec 13 – Heroes + Helpers, 9AM – noon, Chaska Target store
Dec 18 – Chaska Rotary Club Holiday Auction
Jan 20 – Book labeling party, Chaska Family Learning Center
Feb 21 - Hooked on Books, Chanhassen High School
Feb 23 – Rotary Awareness Day at State Capitol
Link to District 5950 Calendar of Events This includes Dec – May activities and meetings related to Rotary Foundation, Polio Plus, President-elect Education, activities of other clubs, special events. Note: Awareness Day 2/23/26. Incoming President Learning Seminar 3/12-14/26.
Link to Carver County Local News Community Events This includes events and activities such as the Landscape Arboretum, local entertainment, church events and the cities’ winter events. Chess Camp 12/22/25.
Sheryl Hough kept up her enthusiasm promoting our Auction at our Dec. 18 meeting. Bring a wrapped present, let everyone guess who brought it, write a witty note that should invite curiosity and the willingness to spend money to open it.
Ken Hiller asked us to consider participating in a Rotary service project in Nepal, in November 2026. Our club contributed $1,000 to the project grant last year.
Matt Podhradsky encouraged only two of us to participate in the Heroes and Helpers wrapping event on Dec. 13. We responded with silence and many questioning looks. Luckily, Sheryl Hough represented us. She joined Chaska Lions, Latino Voices, Bountiful Basket and Chaska Human Rights in this bright spot of community service. Photo includes former Police Explorer who has turned into Officer Hunter Panning.
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
Robin Nesburg presented the Rotary flag from Västerås Sweden and added details gleaned from their web page and Wikipedia LINK. It is a city with a population of about 128,000 in central Sweden 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Stockholm. To amaze friends and family, you can tell them that in the 18th and 19th centuries, the growing of cucumbers became popular, and Västerås received the nickname Gurkstaden (the Cucumber City), which it still retains today.
The club flag features the city’s coat of arms. To continue amazing everyone at your holiday gatherings, you may want to note there is a web page dedicated coats of arms and heraldry: Västerås (Vapen - Coat of arms - crest).
YOUTH EXCHANGE STUDENT: Ane Otsby
Ane continued to show photos of her adventures during the past week. She was wearing her sweatshirt proclaiming her as a member of the Academic Team. Ane also was a Rotary student ambassador for Sweden at the Country Fair, a beginner bowler, and attended a choir concert.
Intern: Gonzalo Romero
Gonzalo missed a few of our meetings while recovering from tonsilitis and subsequent surgery. He is not recommending this as a way to lose 15 pounds, as he did.
Presentation: Maddy Wegner – Rotary’s Ripples
Peter Ivy introduced Maddy Wegner, our speaker and a neighbor of his. Maddy is a member of Human Rights Educators USA, LINK.
Maddy immediately impressed us with her research about Rotary and our club in Chaska. The mission, principles and goals of her organization are very similar to those that guide Rotarians. Maddy pointed out our club’s visibility and efforts within the community that follow Rotary’s areas of Focus: Promoting peace; Fighting disease; Providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene; Improving maternal and child health; Supporting education; Growing local economies; and Protecting the environment. LINK to Rotary’s causes.
Human rights education includes “service learning” as an instructional strategy. It connects students’ academic interests to real community needs. A goal is for students to answer the questions:
· What are the needs in my community?
· What are the root causes of these needs?
· How, where, and from whom can I learn more?
· How can I contribute to a solution?
Maddy showed videos and described nearby efforts at Bluff Creek Elementary, Carver, Jordan, Minneapolis, and School District 112 that reflect those human rights objectives. She introduced the issue of Child Rights and Child-friendly Cities. Apparently, the United States is one of the few countries that has not legislated the rights of children. UNICEF is the leading organization that promotes children’s rights.
LINK to learn more about UNICEF. Originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
LINK to Human Rights Educators Mission, Principles and Goals.
Erin Kerber and Ken Hiller performed the weekly flag-raising ceremony that is usually only seen by early birds. Gingerbread houses provided by the Crown of Glory church membership and a beautiful sunrise brightened our morning.
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.
