Nate Bostrom introduced Duchesne Drew, President of the Minnesota Public Radio as the guest speaker.

 

Duchesne Drew leads strategy, programming, and daily operations serving Minnesota Public Radio’s growing regional audiences through MPR News, Classical MPR, The Current, and MPR’s digital, social and mobile services.

 

Mr. Drew came to MPR from the Bush Foundation in St. Paul, where he served as the Community Network vice president. Prior to his role at Bush Foundation, Mr. Drew was the Managing Editor of Operations at the Star Tribune, where he originally began as a summer intern and eventually rose to one of the most senior roles in the newsroom.

 

Last year he received the “Widening the Circle Award” by ThreeSixty Journalism, which recognizes individuals who have contributed to the next generation of journalists…particularly while promoting inclusion and
diversity.

 

Duchesne Drew is a native of New York and began his journalism career with the Star Tribune. He now calls the Twin Cities his home and began his remarks by saying that it is an exciting time to be in the media business. His work aids in understanding the world of today by being impactful and connecting with the community.

 

MPR has a 46 radio station network that serves Minnesota and parts of surrounding states. It reaches 20 million listeners each week through the programming of American Public Media Group, American Public Media, and Minnesota Public Radio. MPR News, Classical MPR, and The Current produce the programming for radio, digital and live audiences.

 

Mr. Drew noted the high percentage of the financial support of MPR -almost 45% coming from sustainers and memberships. This allows the member dollars to go towards programming. Less than 5% of the funding for MPR comes from government sources mostly in form of grants from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. The vision of MPR is to be the essential facilitator for community connections, enriching both the state and each other. Through the MPR connections, we can reflect more on who we are and encourage conversations through the range of humanity.

 

He also highlighted the opportunities that The Current, Classical MPR, and the MPR news team have to share the power of music with a new generation of fans and the impartial delivery of news. Although COVID impacted the number of live moments, the trend is now beginning to return to live productions.

 

Duchesne Drew expressed his thanks to the Chaska Rotary for the work that we do in our community.

 

Contact Duchesne Drew:

Email: ddrew@mpr.org, Cell: 612-210-0356, Office: 651-290-1207

This past Friday, the Chaska Cares Classic was held at the Town Course. Full of familiar sponsors, the event's proceeds are going to benefit the hoped-for Miracle League Field. For more about the Field: The Miracle League of Chaska (miracleleaguechaska.com)

Club President Gretchen Oppriecht is working on a Grant Submission in
partnership with Chaska Parks and Recreation to support swimming
lessons. She will be on a Zoom meeting with the Rotary District folks on Sept. 16
to gain Grant approval.

Gretchen and our Board of Directors are updating our Bylaws. We received
a printed version of the portion relating to Secretary and Treasurer, and
Gretchen has sent an email copy for our review and voting in one week.

 

Philip Solseng announced that the Rotary Fall social will be held on September 26, 2021 at his barn facility and reminded those that the Art Wander program will also occur on Sept. 24, 25, and 26. He encourages us to visit the artists and then party! Details to follow.

Matt invited us to participate in the rescheduled Christmas in May community workday on Saturday, Sept. 18. Three households needing help from their neighbors have been selected. We will meet at Guardian Angels Catholic Church gymnasium at 7:30 AM. Matt mentioned that sledgehammers might be involved!!!!

 

Fine master John Roebke challenged the members' knowledge of sugar beets with eye catching photos!