At 5:14 on October 15, 2024, Shelly Rucks, the St Paul Rotary President, called the meeting to order at the University Club. Shelly Rucks thanked the volunteers helping at the meeting, Patrick Brault - greeter, Susan Schuster - Inspirational Minute and the Four Way Test, Al Zdrazil introducing guests, our tech team of Ken Crabb and Matt Magers and Ken Schaefer - the scribe and our club administrator Amanda Mai. And Shelly led Four Way Test and the Pledge of Allegiance.
The speaker was Josh Sprague, a Past President of the Rotary Club of Edina. Introduced by Ellen Kennedy.
Since 2017, Josh has traveled every 2 years to the Coban region of Guatemala to work on water service projects. First with a team from St. Patrick’s of Edina followed by Rotary affiliated trips. In 2019, he led the first Rotary-sponsored water service trip with 32 participants from 6 different District 5950 clubs. The group assembled and delivered 659 household water purifiers (funded through a District grant) to remote mountainous villages, or aldeas. In 2021 and 2023, Josh returned with Rotarians to complete two more cycles of this project, again delivering 650+ purifier units each time and impacting thousands of households in need. 2025 marks the fourth bi-annual cycle for this project and will involve assembly and delivery of 654 purifiers to a new cluster of villages. 2025 project funding comes from District 5950 and the Rotary Clubs of Edina, Edina Morningside, St Paul, Lakeville, Maple Grove, and Buffalo.
Michael Olesen presented a magic moment. He described a school in rural Guatemala. There is also a woodworking business in the community that brings jobs to the area. The next step is establishing a permanent solar power system.
Shelly noted upcoming meetings, events and service opportunities:
- October 22 – Polio Plus.
- October 29 – Center for School Change.
- November 5 – No meeting as its election day.
Announcements:
- Winter Magic invitations mailed out. Online registration is encouraged.
- The club’s files containing the club’s history are stored at the Midway YMCA and Van Paper. Need club volunteers to assist collecting items. Please reach out to Shelly to help.
- If you are interested in a club activity or service project, please contact Shelly. Also, provide her general feedback. Shelly@Rotary.org.
The meeting ended at 6:25 pm.
Ken Schaefer, Scribe.