Mental Health in Minnesota: Current State - "Health, Hope, Dignity for All"
Guild serves individuals 16 and older who live and cope with serious mental illness. Many face other barriers to health, including medical conditions, isolation, chronic homelessness, poverty, and substance abuse and often a combination of several of these issues. Julie will share details of the state of mental health in Minnesota and her organizational vision of "Seeing Strengths, Creating Solutions and Restoring Health."
Please join us on March 17 at 7:15 a.m. for a joint meeting of the Eden Prairie Rotary Clubs welcoming David Schultz, Professor at Hamline University. Professor Schultz will share insights on national and local elections as a nationally recognized election law expert and author. He is regularly interviewed and quoted in local, national, and international media.
This event is open to the public and we encourage you to sign up to attend and learn more about the linchpin of our democracy!
Eden Prairie City Manager Rick Getschow: State of the City
Our featured speaker Rick Getschow has been Eden Prairie’s city manager since 2011 and his annual “State of the City” talks typically have a unique theme. This year it’s “State of the City Bingo”: Each square on the bingo card is a city topic that Rick may or may not mention during his talk.
Describing Eden Prairie’s current condition would be incomplete if one didn’t mention the numerous construction cranes dotting the landscape. These have been or still are for projects such as the new Scheels store, the Elevate at Southwest Station apartment complex, the new Hampton Inn hotel, major housing complexes where Resurrection Life Church and Broadmoor Apartments used to be, and of course the light-rail transit project from Eden Prairie to Minneapolis. A lot of these projects are in the “redevelopment” category, as not much vacant land remains.
Other topics touched on by Rick include road construction, the city’s sustainable-energy effort, a new affordable-housing task force, scores from the every-other-year Quality of Life Survey, and a soon-to-be-opened drop-off site for certain yard waste.
Announcements
Upcoming A.M. Rotary programs include packing meals March 3 at Feed My Starving Children in Chanhassen; Julie Bluhm on “Mental Health in Minnesota: Current State” on March 10; and Hamline professor and author David Schultz talking politics on March 17.
Our inbound Rotary Youth Exchange students for the next school year will be from Austria and Italy. Stay tuned for details.
Spotlight on Josh Swanson
Club member Josh Swanson is known to us as the superintendent of Eden Prairie Schools, but he actually started out working for a Fortune 500 company, then pivoted to a career in education that also included stops in the Wayzata and Buffalo/Montrose areas. He and his wife Stephanie and two children enjoy a wide range of outdoor activities, and his ongoing search for adventure includes SCUBA diving and piloting aircraft. Thanks, Josh, for being an active part of A.M. Rotary.
Happy Fives
We’re happy and we’ll happily pay $5 to share our stories, because doing so also helps The Rotary Foundation eradicate polio worldwide. Kevin Kraemer is happy to have our exchange students attending, even though there’s no school today. Jon Melander is happy about a 20th wedding anniversary and a long, celebratory weekend in Scottsdale. Glenn Olson is happy to have attended a grandson’s hockey tournament in Fargo. Roger Jorgensen is happy to be heading south to see his 4½-month-old grandson. PG Narayanan is happy to be celebrating a 36th wedding anniversary later this month. Holly Link is happy to announce she’ll be seeking Republican endorsement for the 48B House seat. Andrea Jamison is happy about a recent gun-range outing that included John Crudele and also happy about a cute grandson story. Jenifer Loon is happy about Holly Link’s big news.
Eden Prairie Rotarians Pack Food for Feed My Starving Children
32 members and guests assembled at Feed My Starving Children in Chanhassen to pack meals for undernourished youth around the world. Prior to packing we watched a video showing Risen Savior Missions and their efforts to provide nutrition to children and lactating mothers in the Philippines. Our own John Crudele has traveled with Risen Savior to deliver meals and added his reflections on the importance of the mission to feed the malnourished. In 45 minutes, we packed 29 boxes which equates to 6,264 meals. The ingredients used in this packing session cost $1,503.36. The EPAM Rotary Foundation and Club donated $2,000 and individual members provided additional contributions. A good time was had by all!
Guild serves individuals 16 and older who live and cope with serious mental illness. Many face other barriers to health, including medical conditions, isolation, chronic homelessness, poverty, and substance abuse and often a combination of several of these issues. Julie will share details of the state of mental health in Minnesota and her organizational vision of "Seeing Strengths, Creating Solutions and Restoring Health."
Please join us on March 17 at 7:15 a.m. for a joint meeting of the Eden Prairie Rotary Clubs welcoming David Schultz, Professor at Hamline University. Professor Schultz will share insights on national and local elections as a nationally recognized election law expert and author. He is regularly interviewed and quoted in local, national, and international media.
Our featured speaker Rick Getschow has been Eden Prairie’s city manager since 2011 and his annual “State of the City” talks typically have a unique theme. This year it’s “State of the City Bingo”: Each square on the bingo card is a city topic that Rick may or may not mention during his talk.
Club member Josh Swanson is known to us as the superintendent of Eden Prairie Schools, but he actually started out working for a Fortune 500 company, then pivoted to a career in education that also included stops in the Wayzata and Buffalo/Montrose areas. He and his wife Stephanie and two children enjoy a wide range of outdoor activities, and his ongoing search for adventure includes SCUBA diving and piloting aircraft. Thanks, Josh, for being an active part of A.M. Rotary.
32 members and guests assembled at Feed My Starving Children in Chanhassen to pack meals for undernourished youth around the world. Prior to packing we watched a video showing Risen Savior Missions and their efforts to provide nutrition to children and lactating mothers in the Philippines. Our own John Crudele has traveled with Risen Savior to deliver meals and added his reflections on the importance of the mission to feed the malnourished. In 45 minutes, we packed 29 boxes which equates to 6,264 meals. The ingredients used in this packing session cost $1,503.36. The EPAM Rotary Foundation and Club donated $2,000 and individual members provided additional contributions. A good time was had by all!
