Speakers

DRC Sponsor: Kim Bonnet

Converting our buildings to run on electricity instead of fossil fuels is the most straightforward path to reducing carbon emissions. Paul Cutting from Winneshiek Energy District will present strategies for building electrification, and how these changes can save money and make buildings more liveable and enjoyable. Paul will also present on current happenings at Winneshiek Energy District and share how you can become an active participant in the local energy transition.

Paul has an extensive and unique background in teaching and carpentry. He was formerly a high school industrial tech teacher in Lanesboro, MN where he taught carpentry, cabinetmaking, electricity, engineering design, graphic design, computer aided desigbn, entrepreneurship, and more generally, enjoyed helping youngsters grow into capable and confident young adults. Prior to his teaching experience, he spent several years as a carpenter disassembling and reconstructing 19th century Norwegian-built log buildings for clients. His restoration artistry caught the eye of New York City photographer Angela Cappetta who subsequently published an extensive online interview (<- link) about his work. He also worked several seasons for HistoriCorps, a non-profit that pairs volunteers with hands-on historic preservation projects throughout the mountain west. In addition to his service for the Winneshiek Energy District, he formerly served on the Board of Directors for the Porter House Museum.

In his free time Paul enjoys making furniture, trail running with his dog Bobo, hunting for mushrooms, scheming backpacking trips out west, camping in his homemade teardrop camper, and rehabbing his 170 year old brick house.

For more information on the Winneshiek Energy District vist their website at https://energydistrict.org.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Luther College Professor Emerita Rachel Faldet will join our group to speak about the late Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Family in general, and to reflect on her considerable experiences in Great Britain. Elizabeth II was was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and 15 at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the longest recorded of any female head of state in history, and the second-longest verified reign of any sovereign in history.

An alum of Luther College, Rachel Faldet grew up in small town Wisconsin and holds a degree in what is now the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa. An active essayist, she is editor of the anthology Our Stories of Miscarriage, which helped break the media taboo surrounding the emotional aspects of pregnancy loss and landed her on NBC’s Today show. In one of her favorite freelance projects she worked with Decorah’s Spectrum Network, developing and editing From My Perspective, a collection of essays written by people with disabilities, celebrating their stories, their voices. A three-time co-director of Luther’s year-long Nottingham Program in England and frequent January-term co-leader to the United Kingdom, she has a harmless obsession with the British royals.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

During the recent pandemic, DRC member Gary Mineart developed an affinity and became a student of tenkara, a form of fly fishing originating from Japan. This affinity blossomed into a passion as a result of the superb match between the local trout waters in the Driftless Region and this special fishing technique. Gary will explain the concepts of tenkara, contrast it with traditional western fly fishing, and display some of the associated equipment.

Tenkara (テンカラ釣り, literally: "fishing from heaven", "sky fishing", or "empty sky fishing") is a type of simple rod angling traditionally practiced in Japan since the 1600s. It originated with professional anglers who found it an effective method of catching the local mountain stream fish, yamame, iwana, and amago. Primarily used for mountain stream trout fishing, tenkara is still a fairly rare method even among freshwater anglers in Japan, and little was known about it outside of the country until after 2009.

The appeal of tenkara is its elegant simplicity. There are advantages of using tenkara rods when fishing in small streams, primarily the lightness of the line and delicate presentation. The rod allows for precise placement of the kebari (i.e., artificial fly) on small pools and for holding the kebari in place on the other side of a current. The other main advantage is precise control for manipulation of the kebari. Tenkara fishing can be seen as a streamlined counterpart to western fly-fishing. The equipment is designed to focus on the actual process of fishing and avoid preoccupation with managing the equipment.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

On July 1, 2022, Dr. Herbert Riedel assumed duties as President of Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC). He will be on hand to introduce himself to our membership and provide an update on progress and recent initiatives at the College.

Dr. Riedel previously served at President of Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Andalusia, Alabama, where he introduced program offerings in advanced manufacturing, healthcare and short-term skills training, as well as an honor's program and the College's first student housing complex. Prior to that, he served as Vice President for Instruction and Student Development for Northeast Texas Community College in Mt. Pleasant, Texas. Dr. Riedel is internationally educated, having attended six schools on four continents. He earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Pretoria, in Pretoria, South Africa. He is knowledgeable in six languages, being fluent in German and conversational in Spanish. Dr. Riedel and his spouse Lisa have two grown children.

NICC serves eight counties in northeast Iowa and surrounding areas. Offering academic programs of study in a variety of disciplines, in addition to online and blended learning, customized business and industry training, short-term certification options and adult education and literacy, the College is committed to affordable, high-quality education and training to ensure the growth and vitality of northeast Iowa.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Mike Bollinger was recently named as the new Executive Director of Seed Savers Exchange. Decorah Rotarians may be familiar with Mike, his River Root Farm certified organic family farm business, and co-owner Katie Prochaska from their visit to our club in September 2018. Mike will join us to provide unique insights into the Seed Savers Exchange organization and operations.

Seed Savers Exchange conserves biodiversity by maintaining a collection of over 20,000 different varieties of heirloom and open-pollinated plants, varieties with the ability to regenerate themselves year after year. These seeds (and tissue cultures or other plant materials, depending on how a plant reproduces) have the power to withstand unforeseen pestilence and plant disease, climate change, and limited habitat, and to stop dinnertime boredom forever. The Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm, located near Decorah, serves as the headquarters of Seed Savers Exchange. This facility includes the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center and Gift and Garden Store, miles of hiking trails, a trout stream, display gardens and a historic orchard. The Heritage Farm serves as the principal location for housing the extensive seed collection and for hosting special events. The entire Seed Savers Exchange team (including preservation and education staff, donor and member services, the garden crew, and order fulfillment team) is also based at their Decorah location.

For more information on Seed Savers Exchange visit https://www.seedsavers.org/.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

**Please note the special meeting location for this day will be the Decorah Municipal Airport**

In late Spring of 2023, Rotarian pilots Peter Teahen from Cedar Rapids and John Ockenfels from Shueyville will climb into Teahan's 1978 PA-32RT-300 Piper Lance. They will depart Cedar Rapids and head east on an amazing, seven week, 20,000 mile around-the-world flight to raise awareness for Rotary International's polio eradication campaign. Our club is fortunate to host these action minded, courageous, and philanthropic Rotarians in order to learn more about the details and plans for this incredible journey.

As members of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, Teahen and Ockenfels hatched the idea of using the global flight as a fundraiser for Rotary's three-decade quest to finally eradicate polio. The two pilots set a goal to raise $1 million with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Rotary International’s “Polio Plus” program. All flight expenses will be paid by Teahen and Ockenfels. When the two-man crew takes off from Cedar Rapids, it will become the “Flight to End Polio.” At each of the 29 stops in 17 countries, the pilots will raise awareness by meeting with other Rotary members, humanitarian workers, and government officials to discuss the progress of polio eradication and the ongoing need for assistance for families still affected by the devastating disease.

Peter Teahen is president of Teahen Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an author, and a mental health professional. He serves on the faculty at the University of Iowa and is the founder of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival. He has served in leadership roles on 67 major disasters throughout the world. He is recognized for his work on aviation disasters and is internationally known for his work in critical incident stress management and the psycho-social impact of disasters. He has served for 19 years as a national media spokesperson for the American Red Cross.

John Ockenfels maintains World War II aircraft, including his own North American Aviation T-6, a Boeing Stearman, and a Cessna 182 Skylane. Prior to his retirement, he served as the chief executive officer of City Carton Recycling, based in Iowa City, Iowa. He attended the University of Iowa and served in the United States Air Force from 1972 to 1976. For two of his four years in the Air Force, he was a crewmember onboard an AC-130 Hercules in Thailand.

To learn more about this epic journey, visit their website at https://www.flighttoendpolio.com/home.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Two Luther College students, Linh Do '22 and Sloan Clemens '24, created the winning production for ASIANetwork's 2022 Student Video Challenge. The film, The Flashback of Covid-19: A Story from a Vietnamese Mother to Her COVID Baby, follows a Vietnamese mother telling her child the story of how he was born during pandemic times and her wishes for his future.  Do and Clemens worked alongside Vietnamese students Minh Nguyen, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology and Ha Tran, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City. The challenge theme of ASIANetwork 2022: "Draw on the challenges and successes of your countries’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, and prepare a video presentation to the World Health Organization (WHO) with a recommendation for future pandemic preparedness." Thomas C. Johnson, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, served as faculty advisor for the project.

Linh Do and Professor Johnson will offer our club their insights into the inspiration for, and production of, this award winning short film. It was subsequently published on YouTube in April 2022 and can be viewed using this link: https://youtu.be/KqIq6YBXfXA.

Professor Johnson teaches courses in Paideia, critical media studies, and media production. His research interests include pedagogy, sport media, television studies, gender studies, and documentary film.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcment, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Details TBA

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DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Details TBA

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DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Details TBA

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