Adam Rees opened the meeting welcoming guests and sharing a prayer. Please save the date for the Rotary 5580 District Conference held on April 11-13 in Fargo. Here's the link for more info. Brainerd noon club members attending may submit their registration fee for reimbursement to Heather Kelm.
Buford Johnson shared the 2024/25 Sustainable Cambodia (SC) trip dates and encouraged us to consider a trip to learn more about the mission our club supports in Cambodia. SC is planning “two and ¾ trips” in the upcoming year. 2024: Sat. Nov 16th to Mon. Nov 25th (Come 2 days early to be part of Cambodia's annual Water Festival!). 2025: Sat. Jan 11th to Mon. Jan 20th. And one shorter trip for those attending the 2024 RI convention in Singapore: Thu. May 30th to Thu. June 6th. Click the link to download the brochures or to register. Trip cost is as low as $995/person (without airfare).
Allie Verchota provided an overview of this years Reverse Raffle. It will take place on May 16th with a goal to sell 300 tickets. Marc Halverson purchased the first ticket.
Speaker: Pete Mohs and Matt Erickson from The Brainerd Dispatch talked about winning the Vance Trophy "Top award for newspaper their size in MN". Matt Erickson has worked at the Brainerd Dispatch for 24 years, starting as a reporter. He has been editor of the newspaper for the past 10 years. As editor he oversees the newsroom staff and directs the content for each day's publications. In September he was also appointed editor of the Wadena Pioneer Journal. Pete Mohs started at Brainerd Dispatch in 1983, and has been the paper’s publisher the past 9 years. He has also been publisher of the Pequot Lakes Echo Journal for the past 20 years. He became Northern Lakes publisher starting last May, a group that includes 8 northern Minnesota newspapers owned by Forum Communications.
The Dispatch received a total of 44 awards, mostly in the 5,001-10,000 circulation category, including 21 first-place finishes to become the smallest newspaper to claim the Vance in the almost 40-year history of the trophy. They shared readership data and explained recent operational decisions such as being the last of 20 papers down to a 2 day printed edition. Overall audience is not down because digital readership has grown. Today they average 8k circulation, about half is a digital/paper combo, and other half is just a digital subscription.
They have mobile apps and added lots of photos, polls and comments to the digital site. Renee Richardson writes the business columns and last year had 965 stories with 152k page views. Election-related letters to the editor advocating for or against a candidate, ballot measure or political party will be considered ads and are subject to a charge.
During the Q and A many members shared their appreciation of the Dispatch service to our community. To learn more about subscriptions use this link.
Adam reminded the group that next weeks meeting will return to the lower level.
Greeters:
4/9/2024: Buford Johnson, Carol Johnson, Heather Kelm
4/16/2024: Matt Kilian, Dan Klement, Annmarie Lacher
4/30/2024: John Landsburg, Mike McConkey, Ed Menk
Upcoming Speakers:
Apr 09, 2024:Karissa Haugen & Tim Johnson - New head coaches for BHS girl’s & Boy’s golf
Apr 16, 2024: Paula Chapulis - Club meeting date/Adam Rees Medical M ission in Cambodia
Apr 23, 2024: Daniel Meyer - Update on Lakes Area Music Festival and what the 2024 season will bring
Apr 30, 2024: Matt Kilian , Paul Augustinak and Leah Boedigheime - Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce- The start of WAVE OR Young Professionals Network
You are invited to visit us at an upcoming meeting.
Brainerd Rotary Club meets on Tuesdays at 12pm at the Northland Arboretum (lower level) - 14250 Conservation Dr, Baxter, MN 56425
Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back. Join us here for updates, announcements, and stories.
To see our schedule of upcoming speakers, click HERE. If you have an idea or question, contact Bob Nystrom at robertnystrom5@gmail.com.
Rotary Youth Exchange
Samanta Candia Aguirre - from Peru arrived this summer. If you’d like to be more involved in our youth exchange program and willing to join our Youth Exchange committee, please contact Jesse Hopkins at 218-515-0821 or jesse.hopkins@hhrarchitecture.com or jesse.david.hopkins@gmail.com.
Rotary International Convention:
May 25-29, 2024, Singapore.
Brainerd Club Board
Meeting occurs at 11am on the Second Tuesday of the month at The Northland Arboretum. Anyone can attend.
Please take and share photos of current rotary club events. Share with Allie Verchota allie.verchota@deerwoodbank.com or Brian Andrews executivedirector@larjp.org so we can keep our website and social media platforms current. Thank you!
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