BRAINERD ROTARY Mike Moran  1996-1997

(76)  Mike Moran
        1996 – 1997 

The year of 1996-97 was a fun and eventful time for myself and our club.  I would like to present the highlights of this year in terms of my vocation (Transportation), and recap the year as if it were a bus trip.  So with one foot on the gas, the other on the brakes, and both hands locked on the steering wheel, here we go… 

The Rotary bus, now fully seventy-five years old, received its pre-trip inspection in March of 1996 at the President Elect Training Seminar (PETS).  The bus had its final tune-up in Calgary, Alberta Canada at the International Convention in mid June 1996.  On July 2nd, 1996, I received the keys (gavel) to the bus from Past President Doug Dahlquist at our 75th Anniversary/Change of Gavel Party at Grandview Lodge. 

Travel planners (Club Officers) for the year long trip did an outstanding job of keeping the bus on schedule, and planning for the many stops along the way.  Many thanks to VP John Luce, Secretary/Treasurer Don Rasmussen, and Past Presidents Doug Dahlquist, Dennis Doucette, and Jack Ruttger for giving directions to the driver when he needed them.  Charting the course for the bus was the responsibility of our Dispatchers (Directors), and they did a fantastic job of keeping the driver under control.  Thanks to Wayne Little, Bill Wrigley, Bob Meyer, Bob Nystrom, Cheryl Gelbmann and Kevin Thesing for keeping the bus on the road.  A special thanks needs to go to Paula Persons who filled in as Secretary/Treasurer from January though June and did a great job. 

122 Rotarians started the journey, 116 finished.  New Rotarians joining the trip were:  Dale Spaulding, Mark Oradnik, Donna Bjorklund, John Tachney, Maury Halverson and Michael McConkey. 

Thirteen Rotarians achieved perfect attendance during this trip!  Peter Johnson led the way with 23 years and received the diamond studded attendance pin for having the most consecutive years of perfect attendance.  Also noteworthy were:  Jim Weigel, 18 years; Jay Simon, 13 years; Dennis Doucette, 12 years; Hanspeter Borgwarth, 11 years; and Terry Skone, 9 years.

The Rotary Foundation and the Brainerd Rotary Foundation are the engines that drive the bus.  Both Foundations were well fueled and running on all cylinders.  Bill Blum did a fantastic job as Chairman of the Rotary Foundation Committee with club donations of over $11,800.  The Brainerd Rotary Foundation was well supported by our annual Garage Sale.  Ed Fox, Harry Nysather and Eric Davidge were in charge of this sale that netted the Brainerd Foundation nearly $7,500. – Great job!  The Brainerd Foundation also received a SUBSTANTIAL endowment from Hanspeter and Gisela Borgwarth for a yearly $1,000.00 scholarship to a Brainerd High School student with a strong background in Community Service.  Mat Brastrup was the first recipient of the Hanspeter and Gisela Borgwarth Award.  Congratulations Mat, and thank you Hans and Gisela.

This year’s trip had an International flavor with our youth exchange students along for the ride.  Patricia Pizarro from Chile finished up her stay with us and Unnur Simonardottir (Bob) from Iceland completed the trip with us.  Our club also hosted all the inbound District 5580 Youth exchange Students for a weekend at Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge.  Thanks to Sue Seep and John Forrest for making this happen.  Besides Calgary, the Rotary Bus made stops in Winnipeg for the Goodwill meeting (thanks to Rick Bricker), hosted a GSE team from Argentina, hosted visitors from Canada (District Governor David Murray was among them), Germany, Iceland, Chile and thee couples from England visiting under the Friendship Exchange Program.  Eight of our Rotarians visited Haiti with the intent of starting an international project there, and Hanspeter Borgwarth participated in the District’s project in Honduras.  The bus also stopped in Red Lake for the Charter Night of The Rotary Club of the Red Lake Nation – the flags of thee nations now fly over District 5580, the United States, Canada, and the Red Lake Nation.

I am very proud of the stops that the bus made in our community, The Immunization Station, Volunteer of the Year, Highway Cleanup, RYLA, Water Watch, 4-Way Test Essay Contest, Kids Voting, Bell Ringing and Organ Donor Program (to name a few), truly helped to make this a better community.  Our club’s participation with other service clubs helped get projects like Harbor Home and We Care-Flood Relief off the ground.  One of the goals of this trip was to get the club more involved in community matters, and I think we succeeded – the club was recognized the at the District Conference in Bemidji with the “Community Service Award” and the “Interclub Service Award”.

We enjoyed excellent programs throughout the trip thanks to Mike Sands.  Co-Sergeant-at Arms Don Ryan and Bob Nystrom did a  “fine” job of attempting to keep the passengers in line.  With RI President Luis Giay’s theme of “Build the Future with Action and Vision” in mind, Ruth Gmeinder, Mike Overton and Chris Ruttger set out to find the hopes, concerns and problems facing our area’s youth.  Thanks to this committee’s hard work, career counseling is now available to all area students and we hope to start a peer mediation program in the near future.

Besides the above-mentioned awards, our club also received a Presidential Citation, and most importantly, the “Best in District Award”, an achievement that this club can be very proud of.

Thank you for letting me drive the bus this year!  There were a few bumps and some nasty curves, but mostly an enjoyable ride!

07/03/2008