Day Meeting Minutes - 03/07/2023

 

Lake Mills Rotary Meeting Agenda:

3/7/2023, Pyramid 

Good Afternoon and Welcome to Rotary

Pledge of allegiance and 4 way test

Introductions: 

1. Visiting Rotarians, Guests / Speaker, Zoomer

   1. Nathan Liepert - Jen Ulrich

 

Happy Bucks and Fines

• Tara just got back from a trip from North Carolina. She also went to Palm Springs for the Women in Auto Care Conference. It was chilly, but very fun!

• Tom just got back from a ski trip! He has never seen so much snow!

• Jenny took part in president elect training for Rotary! She is feeling excited for the future. 

• Raina is excited that the previously vacant Commons Park Kiosk now has a public walking tour that covers historical buildings and public art. This was a collaboration with the Arts Alliance of Greater Lake Mills. 

 

Student Rotarians

2. February

   1. Ava Heckman LS

   2. Avery Wolfram  LS 

 

Birthdays / Anniversaries

3. March Birthdays

   1. Lewis, Rob March 2

   2. Renz, Greg March 17

   3. Wilke, Steven March 17

   4. Stetson, Kenneth March 21

   5. Chavez, Jack March 21

   6. Vinz, Thomas March 23

   7. Garnell, Wayne March 24

   8. Lins, Debb March 28

   9. Benisch, Brian March 30

4. Anniversaries 

   1. Ginger Ramsey - 1 year 

Kyler Kabat - 7 years 

 

Committee Reports or Announcements

• Calendar Raffle Tickets are ready to be picked up for sale. This fundraiser is very important as we no longer do the Beer and Wine Tasting. Please pick some up! 

 

Club Business

5. New Member Applications

   1. Second Reading for Janelle. 

6. Steve Wilke received a Paul Harris Award. This is his 4th time receiving the award. 

7. There is a conference in April at LaCrosse. If you are interested in attending, our club will pay for participation. It is Friday, April 28th through Saturday, April 29th https://www.rotarywglconf.org/schedule/ 

8. Emily Watson has planned a club social with other local clubs. This will be Wednesday, March 29th from 5:30 - 7:30pm at the Fharmacy Public House. This is the week of assembly, so it will be our nightly assembly meeting. 

9. Meal ordering coordinator is still needed. This takes about 20 minutes per week, and requires some spreadsheet work. 

Upcoming Dates

1. 03/07/2023 Ken Stenson talks about his Australia and New Zealand trip! 

 

Ken retired in 1992. His wife Dixie had just gotten a new job facilitating care at 7 facilities. She lived in Florida, and he lived with her for part of the year. She retired in 1998 and they moved to Lake Mills. This is when they got active in Rotary! She sold more tickets than anyone in Rotary history! 

 

After retiring Dixie wanted to go somewhere exotic. They chose Australia. They went for many weeks, with accommodation and two rental cars it was $2,500. Nowadays it’s around $27,000. 

 

They visited the famous Sydney Opera Hall! It was beautiful and the acoustics were spectacular. Something else to note is that the Sydney Bridge. In person it is spectacular. It cost $200 to walk over the TOP of the bridge for the views. They opted not to do that as it was SCARY! 

 

They went to a Kangaroo Park. Something you may not know is that you have to keep your distance from kangaroos as they are dangerous. Their kick can kill you! He also saw koalas. They sleep a lot and eat eucalyptus that has no nutritional value at all. He loved the emus and the bats that have a wingspan of 5 feet. Another animal were the penguins that follow the same path to the ocean every single day. 

 

 

If you ever have the chance to visit Australia go to Alice Springs. It’s the largest monolith in the world. It can be described as a volcano that has fallen over. It’s the only thing within 500 miles as it does not have the ability to support life. This really is the outback desert. 

 

The Great Barrier Reef is endangered because of the water temperature. If you touch the reef, it dies. They were happy to visit it when they got the chance via catamaran. They have a shark net around it for obvious reasons. Sharks don’t really populate reefs as they like sand, so it is more for ease of mind. 

Ken and Dixie also went to Queensland in Australia. There were great views and lots of glaciers to hike. They were melting a lot in 2000, but even more so today. They saw seals basking in the sun, and they had the option to fly via helicopter over the glacier. They did not as they did not think it would be environmentally friendly. While there they saw sheep shearing demonstrations. They were way larger than you would expect! 

 

 

This trip was without a doubt the best trip they had ever taken together! It was very interesting and exotic. The trip was a result of him and his wife retiring. It was the perfect way to celebrate.