Jennifer Ebert, Juli Menk and Amara Robinson
Eden Prairie Community Education
Eden Prairie Community Education has initiated a new, more comprehensive effort to add Eden Prairie volunteers to classrooms, from pre-school to high school, to improve the quality of education provided in our local schools.The Rotary Reads program will be a part of this initiative so, much like STRIVE, an army of Rotary and community members will be helping out – in this case, helping Oak Point School students with their reading. Jennifer Ebert, Juli Menk and Amara Robinson will join us to talk more about this exciting program how Rotarians can take part in it.
Speaker Patrick Donohue - Hill Capital Corporation
An overview of the new Hill Capital Corporation was provided Aug. 9 by Patrick Donohue, an Eden Prairie resident and Hill Capital’s president and CEO.
Hill Capital Corporation was created to carry on the entrepreneurial spirit forged by the late James J. Hill, the Canadian-American railroad executive known as The Empire Builder for creating the privately financed trans-continental Great Northern Railway in the late-1800s. He did it in a way that encouraged industry and diversified farming along the route, ensuring the railroad line’s lasting economic health and vitality.
It’s in that spirit that Hill Capital Corporation, based at the James J. Hill Center in St. Paul, is seeking to create an investment fund that would help businesses gain access to capital – specifically businesses in the region that Hill’s railroad traverses, including western Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Patrick said the firm found a void in financing for business growth roughly in the range of $250,000 to $5 million, and it’s that void which Hill Capital Corporation intends to fill – collaboratively, with banks, foundations, and others.
Hill Capital currently has more than 100 investors, Patrick said, and intends to begin investing in 2017, aiming for businesses that have growth plans but are in that financing void identified by Hill Capital.
For more information, go to www.hillcapitalcorp.com.
Announcements
August is Membership Month, and we’re circling back on previous guests to see if there’s still some interest in joining A.M. Rotary. Please continue to bring guests to meetings.
Our Rotary Youth Exchange student arrives at MSP Airport at 10:59 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15. Please join the contingent of club members greeting her; contact Jane McGinty for more information. Also, second and third host families are needed.
School supplies or cash are being collected by PROP at the Aug. 16 meeting, and there’s also a backpack drive that needs donations and volunteer work. Contact Dick Ward for more information, or visit the PROP website, www.propfood.org.
Please continue to sell tickets to the Oct. 8 Vino Classico event, and keep in mind that additional silent-auction items are needed.
Visitors
Visiting Rotarian: Jack Kuehn (Burnsville) and Paula Schwartz (Edina Morningside)
Prospective member Beth Kreusch (Kevin Kramer) and Kevin Macken (Paula Schwartz)
Student interns: Stella Lindberg
Jennifer Ebert, Juli Menk and Amara Robinson
Sat. Oct. 8, from 6:30-9 pm at Eden Prairie Community Center
