Start at 12:20 pm—
- Good Afternoon and Happy Tuesday!
- Welcome to Rotary-Pledge of allegiance and 4-way test
- Welcome all Visiting Rotarians, Guests, Zoomers
- District Governor, Michelle
- Jack - Zoom
- Happy Bucks and fines
- Sad news—Honorary member, John Bauman passed away on Sunday 1/14 at age of 88. Please keep his family in your thoughts. Rotarian since 2001. He was a retired pastor and enjoyed sports, outdoor activities, woodworking, and was involved in many mission projects throughout his life. He participated and medaled in the Senior Olympics in swimming! May he rest in peace.
- Ed Heimstreet mentioned that he is giving an honorary buck for John. The honors choir was in Appleton, and 9 students from Lake Mills performed.
- Raina Severson gave a happy buck for the lake freezing as it is very important to the Knickerbocker Ice Festival that occurs the first weekend in February. She gave an additional happy buck towards the snowplow drivers who worked very hard plowing the roads with all of the snow.
- This week’s Birthdays—Gerard Saylor, Denny Hawkes (yesterday)
- Birthday raffle-buy ticket for $1 or use signup sheet to win a Birthday Gift.
- This week’s Anniversaries
- 1 yr. Anta Martin, Dan McCabe, Rob Lewis, Abby Hale, today Janine Fixmer 6 years
- New Member Induction-Will Gruber
- New Member classification-Brionne Davel
- Brionee is Eli’s Brother-in-Law as he is married to Charlie Wedal, now Charlie Deval. Brionne lived for 25 years in California and LA. He acted, produced, and directed. Google him and you can watch some of his work. He was introduced to Rotary young when his school choir performed at local clubs. He made a promise to Eli that he would join the Rotary Club and is so happy he did. It reminds him of his upbringing in Texas where he was a Boy Scout and Cross Country. He went to college in Arkansas, and he had a secret, and that secret was that he was gay. He felt very alone in that experience. They offered him a scholarship to perform in West Side Story which resonated with him. “Once you’re a jet, you’re a jet all the way”. That started his journey to New York City and auditioned and play. He moved to LA after 9/11. He acted in a movie called “Embrace the Serpent” in the rain forest. This movie was nominated for an Oscar and was a huge moment for Brionne. He is now in Lake Mills, and he wants to contribute in many ways. He loves the charms, and the small community. This is his first time in a long time living in a smaller town. In Lake Mills he has formed a free acting class provided at Pyramid Event Venue. He advocates for looking at things with curiosity. He left us with lovely quotes, one of which in a foreign language from his film “Embrace the Serpent”. The quote was about remembering your home and where you came from.
- Student Rotarians: February
- Four-way tests – Lake Mills.
- Introduction – Lakeside Lutheran.
- Club Business, Committee Reports or Announcements
- Thank you, Jen Korz of the Heartland Farm Sanctuary
- We need a chair of the Rotary Club Calendar Raffle. Jenn Christian is stepping down, and we need this filled ASAP. This would be a Co-Chair position with Barb. Please reach out to Jenny or Jenn if you are interested.
- Ken Stenson received a pin for the Paul Harris Award.
- Registration is open for Tri-Con April 18-20th in Green Bay. Sign up by following this link: https://www.rotarywglconf.org/
- Program Speaker: District Governor Michelle McGrath
Michelle is a proud member of the Madison Downtown Club, and very involved in Rotary Club. She is from Waunakee. Her work is centered around mental health and drug prevention in a coalition stemming from a grant received federally.
Michelle discussed her family, because she wouldn’t be where she is with you. She has a daughter who will be studying abroad in Florence, her son just graduated from aviation school and will be flying for American Airlines, her youngest son is graduating this year from High School and will be heading to college in the fall.
As District Governor Elect, all join at a conference and put together goals and strategy for Rotary Clubs. When she went, she saw a speaker, President Gordan, who discussed “hope in the world”. The purpose of District Governor is to inspire rotary clubs and districts to bring hope to the world. A large focus this year is on mental health.
When President Gordon discussed mental health, he was passionate about this as he lost his brother to suicide. You can see has impact as there have many rotary events that focus on mental health. At tri-con in Green Bay a top mental health doctor for the Green Bay Packers will be speaking at Tri-con. There will be a lot to unpack after the conference.
Michelle had 5 stand up in the group to show that’s how many people have committed suicide in America within the last 20 minutes, since the meeting has started. She then had 10 stand to show that’s how many have googled the word depression in America. This shows how large of a crisis mental health is in our country.
As far as mental health think about the following
- Serve yourself, and others.
- Be mindful who is “sitting at your table”. Be around supportive, and positive people.
Michelle attended a Board Meeting where she learned about RYLA, the youth version of Rotary Club. She was so happy that she attended, as if she hadn’t, she would not have been voted in as RYLA President. She was inspired by an experience she had when she spoke on the same stage as Brinae Brown, a Ted Talk speaker who preaches “sitting at the table” and being involved.
Serve yourself and serve others. Michelle asked why people join rotary – responses were friendships and service. That is exactly right! Rotary Club has the “secret sauce” so to speak. Like minded, serve forward individuals, who have FUN.
Next Speaker:
Warren Krueger-history w/the school district in "Tech Ed" and how he established a scholarship fund within the LM Area Comm. Fdtn. For HS grads going to 2-year Tech schools.
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