APR 30, 2013 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Camp RYLA Redux

President Dan McKeown opened the meeting on a yet another spring day clearly suitable for baseball.  Once again, however, the Twins are out of town (Detroit) which is hopefully not a trend for the summer.  At least there was good weather for Camp RYLA!

A group of RYLA participants performed a patriotic song.  America the Beautiful wrote to say it appreciated getting the week off, and promises to come back next week “feeling rested.” 

RYLA participant Jonathan Yoon gave the Invocation.  There was much to be thankful for, including a hearty fare of mashed potatoes, green beans, fried chicken legs and a particularly well done lasagna kept the hunger away.  (The Scribe skipped desert as his son reports “the extra weight makes you a step slow, Dad.)

President Dan thanked MARY BRITTS (St. Paul YMCA) and JIM FIELD (Minnesota Independent School Forum) for their service as door greeters.  He also thanked JOE BECKMAN (Hellmuth & Johnson, PLLC) for serving as Scribe.  (Methinks Dan’s thanks in that regard reflects a possible failure to read this Scribe’s sophomoric report of the April 9 meeting.)

Event Co-chair CLYDE NELSON reported on the Club’s success with Feed My Starving Children (“FMSC”).  Co-chair DOUG HARTFORD was also on the rostrum. Your Scribe was unable to confirm rumors that Doug was so distraught over his wife’s insistence that he stop wearing his hairnet that he could not bring himself to speak publicly. Roughly 60 Rotarians worked at one point or another over the weekend, which featured 640+ volunteers in total.  Netting out the 85 from Camp RYLA, this means those Rotarians who participated recruited approximately 8 volunteers each.  Talk about viral marketing!

This year the Club set a goal of 150,000 meals.  We packed over 171,000.  That is enough food to feed 469 kids for an entire year, or the Scribe’s two teen age sons for about three weeks .  In our four years with FMSC, the Club has packed over 551,835 meals!

Clyde gave special acknowledgement to SCOTT VAN, MINDEE KASTILEC, DICK WARREN, KATHY WARREN, TRIP LUND, PATRICK BROWN, CARLA HAUGE and BO AYLIN who served as shift leaders.  That’s service above and beyond us mere packers!

He also thanked JIM DELAMETER for the tear down/clean up and to LAURIE MURPHY and Murphy Warehouse for transporting the trailer (“Fancy Nancy”) to and from Summit Brewing.  Finally, Clyde gave a hearty shout out to MARK STUTRUD for donating the use of Summit Brewery’s Pub Room.  (Your Scribe, who served as a “warehouseman” for a Sunday shift, reports the effort clicked out 7,742 steps on his pedometer over 90 minutes.  His Life Scout sons, who took advantage of the opportunity to rack up some service hours, noted wryly, “You need the exercise.”)

Dan McKeown introduced our Masters of Ceremony for the RYLA report.  RYLA campers Sina Kassaw and Carly Johnson did a bang up job!  First, representatives from each team reported not only on the subjective genesis of their team nicknames, but also their objective achievement at Feed My Starving Children.  Representatives from the Orange Team (the “Tigers,” 37 boxes) Blue Team (“Best Looking Underdogs Ever,” 36 boxes), Yellow Team (Sun Devils, 36 boxes), Green Team (“Team Rex,” 34 boxes), Grey Team (“Obey the Grey,” 30 boxes), and Red Team (the [endangered] “Red Wolf Pack,” 37 boxes) all took turns at the microphone.  During their stint, the RYLA campers packed over 41,000 meals, or nearly 24% of the six‑shift total!

Emily Newman, a junior counselor who attended in 2012, provided her perspective on the RYLA experience.  Emily emphasized how the RYLA experience teaches teamwork, communication and just “knowing how to smile” as three of the skills she enhanced each year.  The Scribe’s children reportedly are interested in retaining her services to see if their father might learn any of these skills.  (It is likely too late.) 

RYLA Participant Indi Canales gave an enthusiastic report of her experience as a camper.  She enjoyed the experience so much she indicated she will seek to become a “Junior Counselor” when the opportunity presents itself.  If that is certainly a testament to the power of the program, Carly Bandt , Alex Hansen and Jess McMullen (three young ladies on the Yellow Team) presented next.  They began by noting how they did not know each other before they were “thrown in together.” 

The girls then shared details of a peculiar sounding “egg drop ritual,” followed by presentation of large hand drawn chart that recounted other events of the weekend.  The bottom line: they clearly opened up to each other more than any of them expected, reported they really bonded.  Between Friday and Tuesday they forged what they described as a meaningful new friendships they expect will last. 

Of course this continued friendship assumes none their parents restricts their use of Facebook, Twitter or SnapChat for an extended period of time.  If any of these young ladies has her cell phone privileges suspended . . . well we don’t even want to think about that.

Following this presentation, Sina Kassaw introduced the RYLA slide show for the week.  Eventually, and mercifully, the audio track was routed to the speakers.  Highlights included:

·  Still scenes from a 10’ Egg Drop.  (No video accompanied of the “egg drop report.”  Someone apparently experienced issues attempting to affix the GoPro camera to the eggs.)  Waiting on the World to Change kept President Dan’s toes tapping during this portion of the video.

·  Ropes Course and Climbing Wall, stills and video.  Pounding excerpts of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger accompanied this vignette.  No word on Jim Peterik’s view of the rebirth of his inferior Rocky Anthem on PowerPoint.  Personally, your Scribe retired this track about the same time he traded in his tape player for a CD changer.  From an 80’s movie soundtrack perspective, Axel F (48 Hours) simply had more staying power.

·  Hairnets, Hairnets, Hairnets (Feed My Starving Children photos).  There was a background track, but your Scribe deemed it forgettable. 

Camp Directors Steve Gerber and Kathryn Wyatt, acknowledged the 85 campers signed up to attend RYLA.  There were twelve “Junior Counselors,” who are past RYLA attendees.  RYLA also had 14 adult counselors who gave up their time to assist, and numerous others helping with rides and other logistics. 

The presentation closed with an interpretative dance/break dance to “Keep your Head Up” by Andy Grammar.  Your Scribe, who suffers from a hearing impairment according to his family (“selective hearing” per your Scribe), is pleased to report the audio portion of the presentation was augmented by projecting the lyrics onto the screen.  Club 10’s own 2013 exchange student, Taichi Mizuno from Nagasaki, Japan, led the dance troop.  We imagine Taichi’s parents will be ecstatic to discover that he will be returning home with this new (and perhaps incredibly marketable skill) firmly in place. 

[Dan McKeown thanked nobody in particular, except for EVERYONE who participated a very successful Camp RYLA.  No word on whether a donation was made in EVERYONE’s name to the “Read With Me” program, nor could your Scribe verify if Dan printed a certificate for himself this week to hang over the mantel at home.

Further affiant sayeth not,

Joe Beckman, Scribe

** No word on what happened to George’s “old fiancé,” if anything.