MARCH 14, ROTARY IN REVIEW: John Andrews and John Overland
Posted by Pamela Chandler on Mar 20, 2017
President Chuck called the meeting to order at 12:15. Joe Kovarik lead the club in song with Doug Hartford on the piano. Michael-jon Pease shared the story of his Irish immigrant great, great grandmother to mark St. Patrick’s Day for the Inspirational Minute. Sherry Howe introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. Thursday’s fellowship breakfast will feature John Chandler, who will talk about Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center. Founded in 1971, Wolf Ridge was the first environmental learning center in the nation to be accredited as a K-12 school. The main campus is located in Finland, MN on 2000+ acres, and soon 68 acres on Lake Superior shoreline as part of a $9.4M campaign.
Next week Rotarian Larry Morgan will follow-up on his successful presentation last year on the St. Paul Cathedral.
Dan McKeown recognized Elmer Anderson fellows Linda Mulhern and Bill Collins. Bill and Linda were recognized for giving more than $1000 to the St. Paul Rotary Foundation. Thank you, Bill and Linda, for your wonderful support! Dan also distributed the 2015-16 annual report. If you would like a copy, contact Dan.
Steve Gerber provided a Camp RYLA update, and promoted a planning meeting held March 19 at Bonfire. If you would like more information about Camp RYLA, contact Steve directly or send an email to info@campryla.com.
Rotary night at the Wild is April 14. Tickets are around $100 a piece and $15-$25 per ticket comes back to the club. Go Wild!
During Happy Dollars, Jason Bradshaw reminded everyone to sign up for service teams. There are many ways to serve and your involvement makes our meetings run smoothly.
John Guthman introduced the program featuring Rotarians John Andrews and John Overland from the Northern Star Council, Boy Scouts of America. They told us about the new building project they have going on at their Fort Snelling property. They gave us the history of the property, which started in 2001 with a strategic vision to bring an urban camp to the Twin Cities. The Fort Snelling property was purchased in 2007 for $4.25M and features an urban camp facility that serves both Scouts and non-Scouting organizations in the community. More than 300,000 kids have benefitted from the facility since it opened.
The new 42,000 square foot building will supplement the existing Base Camp building and will serve as the headquarters for the Northern Star Council. It will also have ample meeting space for community and scouting groups, a courtyard, ropes courses, and a climbing tower. Groundbreaking is May 17 and they expect construction to take a little over a year. The Council will move in during the summer of 2018. John Overland shared the plans and the space looks fantastic!
Respectfully submitted,
Pam Chandler