Alexs Pate, President & CEO, Innocent Technologies The Innocent Classroom
Alexs Pate founded Innocent Technologies in 2012 with a vision to rebuild the relationship between teachers and children of color. Over his diverse career he has brought his heart and ideas to the areas of education, literature, healthcare, business and race relations. He is the award-winning author of five novels, including Amistad.
Innocent Classroom teacher training rebuilds the relationship between educators and their students, especially students of color. Workshops equip teachers with understanding and practical strategies for connecting with every child — and channeling those relationships into learning and growth. In five years, over 170 schools have been transformed through the initiative.
Reminder for all meetings in July: Bring in cans of chicken for the Chicken Challenge to help PROP feed children and families this summer. Checks also accepted, and qualify for matching funds!
District Governor, Mark Hegstrom - "Great, On Purpose"
Mark, an Edina native who joined the Edina Morningside Club in 2002, is our new District Governor. A dynamic and engaging individual, he described his journey in Rotary—joining to network and discovering how much he loved giving back through the many activities and efforts of Rotary. Mark has observed that clubs that stay healthy and grow their memberships are VIBRANT. They have energy, welcoming visitors with warm hands, and a website that is interesting and exciting. Vibrant clubs do fun things, and they continually satisfy the reasons that people join Rotary in the first place—for networking, to give back, and for fellowship. By being mindful of these things, we should aim for steady growth—this is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes powerful leadership and a commitment to being and staying vibrant to get to the finish line. Mark also shared a great tactic he developed for giving $1000 to the Rotary Foundation every year. He puts $20 of his weekly $100 “allowance” aside to give to the RI Foundation. Before the year is up, he has made his $1000 contribution goal—the Paul Harris Fellow level. Mark closed by reminding the EP AM club of the words of Peter Drucker—“What got you here will not keep you here.” Vibrant clubs attract like-minded people. The more people you have, the more energy you have, the more money you can collect, the more projects you can do, and more of humanity is served. Let’s strive to be VIBRANT and great, on purpose!
New Member Induction
Laurie Pryor, sponsored by Jan Eian, was officially inducted as the newest member of the Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary Club. We will learn more about Laurie at an upcoming meeting when she offers her vocational, but Jan commented that she has known Laurie for many years as someone who has been very involved in her neighborhood, and she will be a great addition to our club. Welcome Laurie!
Announcements
Visiting Rotarian Chris Rosenlund of the Minnetonka Club described their upcoming golf event fundraiser, “Links and Libations” on September 8, 2016 at the Glen Lake Golf Course and offered the opportunity for our club members to buy raffle tickets, be a sponsor, or sign up to golf. Chris said it is a family friendly event and hopes to see some EP Rotarians there.
If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for the committees you would like to serve on for the new year so that the club can begin making progress towards our goals.
July 25-29 is the EP Am Rotary Club’s week to drive for Meals on Wheels.
September 25th will be the fall training meeting for District 5950.
Next week’s meeting, July 26th , is the final day of collection for the Chicken Challenge. Bring in your chicken or cash donations by next Tuesday!
Event and raffle tickets have been distributed for Vino Classico. Please sell, sell, sell, AND think about a donation for the silent auction. Carol Sundet Meeker said that experiences are hot ticket items for auctions, something unique that may be seen as “priceless”.
Happy Birthday on July 25th to Mark Lewis and to Prafulla Vegunta!
Happy Fines
Bob Starr, treasurer of our EP Rotary Foundation, was happy to be able to write checks in support of Move Forward (formerly Teens Alone) in the amount of $1500; $1000 to True Friends; and $1500 each to PROP and the Prop Shop.
Elaine Larabee’s daughter, Andrea, who is working at Camp Courage this summer, got a promotion and has been asked to return next summer. Way to go, Andrea! Elaine also “won” the lottery to run the Twin Cities 10 mile race this fall. Run, Elaine, run!
Yvonne Selcer’s daughter, Danielle, got married on July 10th , to a wonderful young man. Congratulations to the mother of the bride!
Prafulla Vegunta is back from his vacation and enjoyed his trip.
Dick Ward is very happy that our club is contributing all this canned chicken to PROP.
John Crudele was pumped about the speaker’s association meeting in Phoenix where thousands will be in attendance.
Visitors
Visiting Rotarians: District Governor Mark Hegstrom (Edina Morningside); Andy Currie (former St. Paul member -requests transfer to our club; Chris Rosenlund (Minnetonka)
Prospective Members/Guests: Colleen Hegstrom (Mark’s wife); Beth Kreusch – 1st visit as prospective member (Kevin Kraemer)
Students: Bailey DeMets, Parker Hewitt, and Stella Lindberg (interns)
Mark, an Edina native who joined the Edina Morningside Club in 2002, is our new District Governor. A dynamic and engaging individual, he described his journey in Rotary—joining to network and discovering how much he loved giving back through the many activities and efforts of Rotary. Mark has observed that clubs that stay healthy and grow their memberships are VIBRANT. They have energy, welcoming visitors with warm hands, and a website that is interesting and exciting. Vibrant clubs do fun things, and they continually satisfy the reasons that people join Rotary in the first place—for networking, to give back, and for fellowship. By being mindful of these things, we should aim for steady growth—this is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes powerful leadership and a commitment to being and staying vibrant to get to the finish line. Mark also shared a great tactic he developed for giving $1000 to the Rotary Foundation every year. He puts $20 of his weekly $100 “allowance” aside to give to the RI Foundation. Before the year is up, he has made his $1000 contribution goal—the Paul Harris Fellow level. Mark closed by reminding the EP AM club of the words of Peter Drucker—“What got you here will not keep you here.” Vibrant clubs attract like-minded people. The more people you have, the more energy you have, the more money you can collect, the more projects you can do, and more of humanity is served. Let’s strive to be VIBRANT and great, on purpose!
