BRAINERD ROTARY John Luce 1997-1998

(77)    John L. Luce
1997 – 98

The 77th year of the Brainerd Rotary Club (noon) was marked by many club accomplishments, awards, and rewards.    
Club leadership from the Board of Directors included:  Bill Wrigley; Darrell Schneider; Cheryl Gelbmann; Kevin Thesing; Ruth Gmeinder; and John Forrest; Vice President Wayne Little, Secretary/Treasurer Don Rasmussen, and Past President Mike Moran; this proved to be a winning team.  The board took many actions during the year with one of the most exciting being the nomination of Jack Ruttger to become District 5580 Governor for the 2000-1 Rotary year.  Jack follows some other outstanding Brainerd Rotarians, Carl Zapffe, Sr., Ed Tom O’Brien, and most recently Hanspeter Borgwarth, 1995-6.

Many significant events occurred during the year.  Some of the highlights were:

• Bill Blum promoted the Rotary Foundation getting more folks involved than in recent years with his 5-Grand Club;

• Hanspeter Borgwarth represented District 5580, our club, and the USA, by leading a five-member GSE team to Macau/Hong Kong, in the spring.

• John Forrest coordinated our Outbound Youth Exchange which involved Ben Bedard going to Venezuela followed by his brother Sam Bedard who went to Denmark in July.  Sue Seep coordinated the Inbound student Lili Bonilla from Venezuela.  Host families and the club enjoyed her stay this year.  District 5580 got a new YEO this year, Brian and Jenny Phillips from Thunder Bay, Ont., who took over after many years of excellent service by Don Rasmussen and his wife Christine.

• Peter Johnson continued to promote and attend the model UN program at Winnipeg, which engaged high school students in international learning skills.

• Ruth Gmeinder gave tirelessly of her organizational and motivational talents in support of the club’s ongoing efforts in the mountain village of Pignon, Haiti.  Our international club service project was to help finish a dormitory for teams going there to help villagers with infrastructure and medical service at the hospital.  It lead to much more due in no small part of Ruth’s ability to raise funds, motivate club Rotarian’s participation, and bring about a high level of community awareness through publicity and dedicated programs in every Brainerd school building.  As a direct result of her efforts many others participated directly, Brian Thuringer, shoes, bikes and beds; Glen Cook, food and funds; and Mark Erickson, school desks, carpentry.  She also inspired many others to go to Haiti some for their 2 and 3rd trips to share their most precious gifts of time and talent.  (When are you going, Ruth?)  

• Ruth Gmeinder also organized and directed a very effective project that included Mike Overton and Chris Ruttger in the development of a Peer Mediation program launched in and for mid-level school aged children.  This program trains school faculty and teenagers in the art of settling disputes by talking-out their differences in a pre-agreed to format.  Teachers and administrators from the two mid-level schools reported successes with the program.  

• Weekly programs were terrific with our own members doing nearly half of them.  Ruth Gmeinder and Frank Ball did a memorable “auction” to raise money for Project Haiti.  Others remembered were:  Alan Cibuzar on water quality; Mike Sands telling members “tax tips”; a demonstration of a Toastmasters Meeting was done by Larry Foote, Dan Hegstad and Jim Bedard.  Dan also demonstrated Full Circle Tai –Chi; Slide Shows were a big hit with Jim Roelof’s African trip and Mark Erickson’s Haiti trip; and everyone, bird lover or not, will not forget Bill Blum’s program about birds; Blue Birds particularly and those poor sparrows caught in Bill’s nets!  

• Annual activity that everyone looks forward to included the Garage Sale which continued to set records for receipts, Ed Fox and Harry Nysather continued on as hard as ever but clearly succeeded in bringing Eric Davidge into a leadership role.  And again the Rotary partners gave tremendously of their time to make the sale a resounding success.  John Fitzpatrick ran the Roadside Pickup out on Highway 371.  He managed to get an excellent turn out without “Arlene’s sticky buns” as an incentive.  Gary Kurilla and John Gaffney each did a great job with the Salvation Army’s bell ringing (our club set another record, again, topping all other service clubs with one-day donations).  John also put together a great fishing trip on Mille Lacs Lake.  Jan Moran organized the annual honor of the Volunteer of the Year.  Kathy Trees of Pequot Lakes and Howie Person coordinated the 4-Way Test Essay contest.  The club saw a new look in its bulletin thanks to the unending efforts of Kevin Thesing who added photographs and color.  He had very able helpers, Paula Persons, Dan Hegstad, and Maury Halvorson.  

•  The District Conference was held in Minot, ND; Governor Bob Peterson honored the club 4 times with the following awards:  Outstanding International Service Project for Project Haiti; Inter-club Service Award to us in cooperation with Duluth Harbortown for Project Haiti; Attendance Award for the highest percentage of attendance; and, to top it off the Best Club in the District Award.  

07/03/2008