BRAINERD ROTARY Paula Persons  2005-2006

(85) Paula Persons
  2005-2006

Service Above Self was the International theme for the 2005/2006 year.  On June 28th seven members of Brainerd Rotary left to celebrate 100 years of Rotary at the Rotary International Convention in Chicago.  What an experience! 

Brainerd Rotary had a great leadership team consisting of Dave Johnson as Vice President, Terri Monroe as Secretary, and  Mary Scott as Treasurer.  The Board of Directors included Linda Hanson, Dan Hegstad, Jill Carlson-Ferrie, Rick Bricker and Bob Musielewicz.  Kevin Thesing from Lakes Printing did a wonderful job as Sergeant at Arms.  He used a positive approach for “happy fines” which the club enjoyed.  Money raised was sent to the Festival of Trees, a Paul Harris donation for Bill Blum, and the remainder to Habitat for Humanity.  

Bill Bloom was forced to retire as chair of our RI Foundation so Rick Bricker took over the task.  As a thank-you, the club made a surprise donation to RI in Bill’s name. 

During the year we focused on what it means to be a Rotarian and to be proud to be a Rotarian.   Thanks to Dave Reed at each meeting, we had a brief history lesson about our club’s past.  We sang the Canadian National Anthem weekly because our District Governor, Paula Timmins, is from Nipigon.  Many thanks to Peter Nelson and the membership committee for educating the membership on what it means to be a member and how to propose a member.  We now have badges recognizing Past Presidents of our club.  Proposed members also met with Past Presidents and learned about Rotary prior to joining the club.  In April, the committee did a survey of the members to get club input.

Our foreign exchange student, Paloma from Chile, was a joy.  She taught us some Spanish, in December told us how she celebrated Christmas in Temuco, and in May gave a program on her family and country. 

We started the year with 134 members and ended with 128.  During the year we added six new members and gained five new Paul Harris Fellows.

During the year we raised over $33,000 through various activities such as the Relay for Life, Dragon Boat Races, Walk to Williston, Festival of Trees, Reverse Raffle, as well as Auction and Wine Tasting.  The club also donated school supplies to the Salvation Army, donated Christmas gifts for Hurricane Katrina victims, adopted a family of six by purchasing gifts and Christmas dinner through the Salvation Army, along with ringing bells 82.25 hours.  In addition, the club finished third in district for Foundation giving. 

Peter Nelson and his wife Bonnie hosted the club at a Christmas sing-along at their home.  The Tom and Jerry Party was revived for the meeting between Christmas and New Years.  Both the spring and fall Roadside Pickup had more than 40 in attendance.  John and Arlene Fitzpatrick even hosted the club after the spring pickup. 

The Reverse Raffle held in October raised $18,000 with 311 tickets sold.  We had our first Health Screening.  For $30 you could have your blood tested at a savings of over $200.00. 

On September 17th, Past Presidents met at my home to visit and help with visioning for the club.  Out of that came a change to the weekly drawing.  $25 is now given to the weekly winner and the remainder goes into the Paul Harris Fund.  Of the weekly winners, one name was drawn from the hat at the Change of Gavel, Don Rasmussen won this year and received a Paul Harris award.

Eleven Rotarians and guests, along with 15 Rotarians from other clubs, attended the Winnipeg Goodwill Weekend.  You had to be there to experience the fun of our great hospitality room with a roaring 20’s theme.  There were gangsters, flappers, raids, and bathtub gin. 

The second Camp Journey was held with over 30 Rotarians helping.  Children who have lost a parent or sibling were invited to spend a weekend with others their own age who have had the same experience.  Counselors, doctors and clergy were available.  There was no cost to participants.  Don Ryan and the committee did an outstanding job.       

We had some great programs.  We learned about the Rotary Friendship Exchange from Don Rasmussen and John Swanson.  We got to know Mike Hamad from his Rotary Knowtary talk.  Who will forget our Valentines Day meeting when Kevin Thesing arranged for Elvis to come and sing for us.  Linda Marden giving a talk about her trip to Singida, Tanzania.

At the Change of Gavel held at Cragun’s Resort on June 27th, Terri Monroe received the Rotarian of the Year award.  She did a wonderful job unexpectedly taking over the job as Secretary of the club, participated in many club activities, and truly showed the club members “Service Above Self”.  The club also surprised me with a picture of a Canadian Mountie,  which is proudly hanging in our home to remind me of my Winnipeg friend and club friends. 

I would like to take this time to say thank you to all the club members for this wonderful experience.  What surprised me most about the year was the support I received as President and the dedication of many members to make this the great club it is.  Thank you for allowing me the privilege of serving as President of such a group of great, hard-working individuals. It was fun.  A quote while summarizes this year “Rotary takes ordinary men and gives them extraordinary opportunities to do more with their lives than they ever dreamed possible.”— Acceptance Address, 1977 Rotary Convention, San Francisco, California, USA

                                                                 Respectively Submitted
                                                                 Paula Persons
                                                                 2005-2006 Brainerd Rotary President

07/03/2008