Events

DRC Sponsor: Alan Lerstrom

Todd Ihde, Superintendent of the Decorah Water Department, will meet with our members to discuss operations and developments intended to ensure the satisfaction of Decorah's current and future water needs.

The City of Decorah Water Department is responsible for maintenance and operations of six city wells and their servicing water main pipes. Their primary goal is to assure the citizens of Decorah they are drinking high quality water and that the city supply is always adequate for consumption, as well as for fire protection. The city presently pumps an average of approximately one million gallons of water per day. Specific responsibilities include the following: repair and maintenance of water mains; repair and maintenance of city sewer lines; maintain records of repairs of all water mains, sewer lines, and work done by contractors; maintain records at wells, booster stations, and lift stations daily; update and repair water meters; record meter readings and check for unusually high usage rates; daily testing of water quality; maintain stand-by pumps at the ready for flood control; flush, maintain and replace fire hydrants; and assiste in the development of supporting Geographic Information Systems.

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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: Alan Lerstrom

This past summer, Luther College President Jenifer K. Ward appointed Mary Duvall as the new Vice President for Development. In this capacity, Ms Duvall provides strategic direction for all aspects of the college’s fundraising and external engagement efforts and serves as a key member of the President’s cabinet. She will offer her knowledge and insights to our club on strategic development plans and goals related to these fundraising and engagement activities.

Ms Duvall comes to Luther from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, Washington, where she had worked since 2015. Shel began employment at the university as Executive Director of Advancement, was promoted to Associate Vice President of Advancement in 2018, and most recently she served as Associate Vice President of University Relations. During her tenure at PLU, she managed teams that grew the institution’s annual giving, built a newly integrated alumni engagement and career development team and led the division’s annual strategic planning process. She also served on a variety of cross-campus committees, including PLU’s Diversity Committee which operationalized the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan. Prior to her work at PLU, from 2007 to 2015, she served in multiple capacities at Lutheran World Relief to expand their donor base, secure funding and, therefore, serve more people. The organization’s goal is to work with Lutherans and partners around the world to end poverty, injustice and human suffering.

Ms Duvall holds a BA Degree in Religion from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. She earned her Master’s of Nonprofit Management Degree from Hamline University in Saint Paul and a Certificate of Advanced Leadership Studies from St. Catherine’s University. She was also a recent Lutheran Educational Conference of North America (LECNA) Fellow, a program that provides a year-long leadership development experience organized around vocation and calling, sustainable leader development, and visionary organizational leadership.

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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: Alan Lerstrom

Alan Lerstrom and Paul Scott will lead "A Time of Reflection for the Decorah Rotary Club."  There will be brief reports on membership, the Thursday night meetings, and finances followed by a discussion of the things that are going well, and areas where we might grow or change.

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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.

Join us for Decorah Rotary Club's annual chili supper.  The event will be held at the Decorah High School cafeteria on Thursday, January 12, 2023.  Menu includes chili, hot dogs, cinnamon rolls, carrots, milk and coffee.  Vegetarian option is available.

Tickets are $6 each and can be purchased in advance from Rotarians or at the door.

DRC Sponsor: Ward Budweg

Water To Thrive is a faith-based non-profit that brings clean, safe water to rural African communities in need. Our speaker Ed Scharlau will be joining us to describe the program and its activities.

The organization has build hundreds of wells where they were badly needed, with their projects costing less than $10 for each person who uses the well.  Hundreds of thousands of people in rural Africa has clead, safe water for the first time in their lives.

To learn more about the program please visit their website at watertothrive.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: Shannon Duncan

Jackie Cooper serves as Community Relations Manager for Mosaic in the Decorah and Waukon communities. She will be joining the Decorah Rotary After Hours group to provide an update on Mosaic and its ongoing operations, services, and plans.

Mosaic recognizes that people with intellectual disabilities desire and deserve greater independence and closer ties to the community. By developing and expanding community connections, they create new social, volunteer and employment opportunities. Mosaic supports people with intellectual disabilities to bring awareness to issues that affect their lives. They actively advocate for disability rights, encourage self-advocacy and promote public policy that positively impacts the people they serve.

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DRC Sponsor: Ward Budweg

Francisca Munoz is from Santiago, Chile and is spending the year in Decorah as our Rotary International Exchange Student. Fran will share some of her experiences here thus far as well as her life in Santiago.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Lorraine Borowski

The Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program plans and coordinates the Decorah Walking School Bus (WSB) and Biking School Bus (BSB) activities. The WSB and BSB offer a safe, fun and active way for students to get to school with adult supervision. SRTS is an international movement to encourage active school travel and safe community routes. Northeast Iowa is home to the state's first rural, regional SRTS program, managed by UERPC.

UERPC SRTS Coordinator April Bril will join our noon meeting to provide more information and opportunities for supporting SRTS locally.

For more information on SRTS please visit the UERPC website at https://uerpc.org/safe-routes-to-school/.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor:  Shannon Duncan

Decorah Park & Recreation Board members Brian Fuhrmann and Benji Nichols will give a presentation about what has been happening behind the scenes to give access and recreational opportunities to Decorah’s newest park.

        -Introductions
        -History of Carlson Park
        -Existing Trail/Amenities
        -Brief review of Carlson Park Master Plan
        -Present Carlson Park Trail Development Plan
        -Tie-ins to Miller Park and Minowa Heights
        -Current project update and budget
        -Questions


Benji Nichols was born and raised in Decorah, IA  – home to a ridiculous amount of Norwegian American stuff, and a lot of great people. After graduating high school in 1996 he left for music school in Boston (Berklee), and promptly returned 10 years later – with a six-year hiatus in the San Francisco Bay Area. From playing music to baking bread, touring and traveling through 49 states, and working with some of the best in the concert industry, it was a decade well spent. These days you’ll find him working at or on Inspire(d) HQ, out making something noisy, or beating down the single-track just minutes from home.

Brian Fuhrmann grew up in Crawfordsville, IN and then earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. After many years working in power generation in Mississippi, Alabama,  and Iowa, he and his wife, Melissa have made Decorah their home since 2015. Brian splits his time between construction work, volunteering for DHPT, Decorah Parks and Recreation Board, and traveling to experience adventure trails and endurance mountain bike events.
 

Immediately following the Decorah Rotary After Hours Meeting.

DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

Steve Hopkins, Nonpoint Source Coordinator with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Watershed Improvement Section, will visit our club to provide insights into historical practices, local initiatives, and recent developments in northeast Iowa watershed management.

From a guest posting by Steve in the online blog Iowa Learning Farms, "Healthy watersheds are those that act like a sponge to soak in rainfall, enabling the watershed to minimize flooding and reduce runoff that carries pollutants to our lakes, rivers, and streams. Every time a single action takes place that adds more runoff in a watershed, such as adding more paved areas or converting land from soil-covering, deep-rooted perennials to tilled row crops, it reduces the watershed’s ability to act like a sponge and soak in rainfall. When this happens, a watershed “catches” less and “sheds” more. When multiple “single actions” take place in a watershed, it results in flooding and water quality problems. Our primary course of action after that point is to invest lots of time, money, and energy to fixing the flooding and water quality problems that we did not prevent in the first place. Many of us are already very well aware of the many practices that are available to soak in, trap, or store rainfall before it runs off our watersheds in Iowa. Many are also working to develop detailed watershed improvement plans to help fix flooding and water quality problems across the state."

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Don Arendt

In August of 2022, retired Decorah Police Deputy and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) instructor Tim Felton completed an eight-day trip to the war-torn country of Ukraine, assisting in the conduct of humanitarian and community relations training for local police and military departments. This was the second such trip for him, having previously traveled there in 2019. He will be sharing his captivating and fascinating experiences with our club.

The 2022 Ukraine training team was comprised of Felton; Greg Young, Chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Head Chaplain and Critical Incident Stress Debriefer for the Germantown Police Department in Germantown, Wisconsin; Ukrainian translator Alex Gerasimov from Atlanta, Georgia; and John Sheahan, an educator for DARE America and an ordained Lutheran pastor in Roland, Iowa. Gerasimov fled Ukraine in 2014 and has been back to the country on humanitarian missions three times since the war started. The team traveled around the country and trained with police recruits, officers, civilians, and soldiers on Critical Stress and Moral Injury Debriefing. Moral Injury Debriefing is geared towards combat veterans who have emotional burdens and guilt, and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing focuses on individuals like first responders who saw people get hurt or killed.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Decorah Rotary After Hours member Holly Reilly works for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque as a school-based therapist in three local Catholic schools. Holly will be sharing what her position entails, current challenges facing students in school systems, and more information on Catholic Charities.

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DRC Sponsor: Lorraine Borowski

Decorah Public Library Director Kristin Torresdal will join us to provide a status report on the Library and provide information on recent developments and ongoing initiatives supporting this valuable local resource.

Kristin Torresdal assumed duties as the Director in July 2017. Prior to that time she had served as the Library’s administrative coordinator, a role that has allowed her to develop expertise in many different aspects of library work. She has over 25 years of experience in libraries, and has Level V library director certification through the State Library of Iowa. She has been the catalyst and has overseen many exciting developments at our library.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Kim Bonnet

Jill Brown, Director of Athletic Performance at Luther College, will come and speak about how she helps student athletes maximize their potential on and off the field. The ultimate goal of the Athletic Performance staff at Luther is to build resiliency in both mind and body to guide athletes on their path to becoming the best they can be. Key principles include character development, proper technique and intent, fostering excitement and desire, and fostering positive relationships between teammates as well as between coach and athlete.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC member Roger Huinker will be joining the Decorah Rotary After Hours meeting to present information on his new role as a Charitable Advisor for the Winneshiek County Community Foundation (WCCF).

The WCCF was founded in the late 1990's and is now one of 23 regional foundations affiliated with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA). Charitable, community-minded people who want to do good in their community to support the causes they care about can do so with the WCCF. Through the endowed funds held by the CFNEIA on behalf of the WCCF, the Community Foundation serves the county's needs by increasing connections between people and the organizations that serve them; and providing grants in the core program areas of arts and culture, community betterment, education and youth development, environment and animal welfare, health, and human service.

Roger Huinker recently retired after having served more than 50 years in the banking industry, the last 18 years as Vice President and Trust Officer at Decorah Bank & Trust. He served for several years as a Governing Committee member for the WCCF. He has recently joined the WCCF again, this time on a part-time basis as a designated Charitable Advisor. His new role will focus on making connections with people and organizations with emphasis on the importance of the local foundation to accomplishing charitable goals. In addition, Roger is active with the local Retired Senior Volunteer Program, St. Benedict's Gift for Tomorrow Committee, and of course Decorah Rotary, and can often be found plying his skills on the local tennis courts.

For more about the WCCF please check out the CFNEIA affiliate page: Winneshiek County Community Foundation

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DRC Sponsor: Kim Bonnet

Founded in August of 2014, the Oneota Valley Community Orchestra (OVCO) is a volunteer ensemble open to all area (and non-area) residents who wish to perform great music in an orchestral setting. From symphonies to opera, the OVCO presents orchestral music from a variety of different styles and time periods ranging from the baroque era through newly commissioned works. A typical season consists of three to four "Masterworks" concerts, which include the full orchestra, and a few small venue concerts for their chamber music series.

OVCO Director Matt Cody instructs Band for the Decorah High and Middle Schools. He is a 2014 graduate of Colorado State University with a Masters Degree in Music Conducting and Music Education. While finishing his coursework at CSU, he also conducted members of Opera Fort Collins and Fort Collins Symphony in a concert production of The Secret Garden. He has studied with Wes Kenney-music director of Fort Collins Symphony, Opera Fort Collins, and Denver Youth Symphony; Jason Weinberger, music director of Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony; and Dr. Robert L. Larsen, founder and music director of Des Moines Metro Opera and professor emeritus of Simpson College. In 2016 he received the American Prize in Conducting Award, Community Orchestra Division. In addition to his instrumental music proficiency, Matt occasionally performs as an operatic vocalist (baritone).

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Kim Bonnet

Ross Evelsizer, Natural Resources Projects Director for Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D), was recently honored as a New Voice in Water Quality by the Conservation Learning Group, a think tank based at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach dedicated to addressing conservation and environmental challenges. The award, inaugurated in 2022, recognizes Iowans who have shown a commitment to advancing conversations, taking action, and advocating for water quality improvements that benefit all Iowans within the past 10 years.

Ross has facilitated watershed and landscape resiliency planning for the Turkey, Upper Iowa, and Wapsipinicon watersheds, leading to the installation of dozens of best management practices that have reduced the impact of flooding and improved water quality in the region. He has also been instrumental in helping Northeast Iowa farmers expand their agricultural production through multi-cropping, working with growers to implement cropping systems that project soil heath, reduce flooding, and improve water quality while expanding market opportunities by planting and harvesting multiple crops from the same field in the same growing season. Ross will speak to our group about the Northeast Iowa RC&D and his focused efforts addressing conservation and environmental stewardship.

Northeast Iowa RC&D is a 501(c)(3) organization serving a seven-county region including Allamakee, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Clayton, Fayette, Howard and Winneshiek counties, as well as outside the area when benefits are expected to come back to the region.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

In August of 2022, retired Decorah Police Deputy and Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) instructor Tim Felton completed an eight-day trip to the war-torn country of Ukraine, assisting in the conduct of humanitarian and community relations training for local police and military departments. This was the second such trip for him, having previously traveled there in 2019. He shared his captivating and fascinating experiences at our noon Rotary Club meeting in February and will re-join us at Pulpit Rock for the benefit of our After Hours membership.

The 2022 Ukraine training team was comprised of Felton; Greg Young, Chaplain for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Head Chaplain and Critical Incident Stress Debriefer for the Germantown Police Department in Germantown, Wisconsin; Ukrainian translator Alex Gerasimov from Atlanta, Georgia; and John Sheahan, an educator for DARE America and an ordained Lutheran pastor in Roland, Iowa. Gerasimov fled Ukraine in 2014 and has been back to the country on humanitarian missions three times since the war started. The team traveled around the country and trained with police recruits, officers, civilians, and soldiers on Critical Stress and Moral Injury Debriefing. Moral Injury Debriefing is geared towards combat veterans who have emotional burdens and guilt, and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing focuses on individuals like first responders who saw people get hurt or killed.

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DRC Sponsor: Kim Bonnet

Speakers Julia Schleicher and Abby McCarthy were participants in the 2023 Luther College January Term (J-Term) Paideia 450 course Building Ethical Futures through Architecture, Design, and Narrative in Norway. They will recap their exciting experiences traveling abroad during this J-Term trip to Norway.

The course explores transdisciplinary approaches to imagining, constructing, and communicating about structures and infrastructures in Norway. The participantsl work through ethical values and arguments that shape plans for built dwellings, transportation systems, and public venues and works. Relatedly, they critique how these objects and the stories attached to them concretely realize those ethical foundations. Student work includes active contributions to site visits and events with local experts and a mix of informal journals, a research-informed formal essay, and a creative group collaboration.

The J-Term Program at Luther College is a unique 3.5-week term that provides a break from the fast-paced regular semesters so students can spend time on one topic or experience. Students are able to take classes, study abroad, get internship credit, and perform research in a way that provides the student greater freedom and responsibility for their learning.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Our speaker on Tuesday will be Decorah Rotary member Roger Huinker.  Roger will be joining us to present information on his new role as a Charitable Advisor for the Winneshiek County Community Foundation (WCCF).

The WCCF was founded in the late 1990's and is now one of 23 regional foundations affiliated with the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa (CFNEIA). Charitable, community-minded people who want to do good in their community to support the causes they care about can do so with the WCCF. Through the endowed funds held by the CFNEIA on behalf of the WCCF, the Community Foundation serves the county's needs by increasing connections between people and the organizations that serve them; and providing grants in the core program areas of arts and culture, community betterment, education and youth development, environment and animal welfare, health, and human service.

Roger Huinker recently retired after having served more than 50 years in the banking industry, the last 18 years as Vice President and Trust Officer at Decorah Bank & Trust. He served for several years as a Governing Committee member for the WCCF. He has recently joined the WCCF again, this time on a part-time basis as a designated Charitable Advisor. His new role will focus on making connections with people and organizations with emphasis on the importance of the local foundation to accomplishing charitable goals. In addition, Roger is active with the local Retired Senior Volunteer Program, St. Benedict's Gift for Tomorrow Committee, and of course Decorah Rotary, and can often be found plying his skills on the local tennis courts.

For more about the WCCF please check out the CFNEIA affiliate page: Winneshiek County Community Foundation

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Our speakers on Tuesday will be Decorah Park & Recreation Board members Brian Fuhrmann and Benji Nichols. They will present what has been happening behind the scenes regarding access and recreational opportunities to Decorah’s newest park -- Carlson Park. They plan to address the history of Carlson Park, existing trails and amenities, and a brief review of the Carlson Park Master Plan. The Plan includes the Carlson Park Trail Development Plan, tie-ins to Miller Park and Minowa Heights, and the budget. The talk will conclude with a Q&A session.

Benji Nichols was born and raised in Decorah, IA  – home to a ridiculous amount of Norwegian American stuff, and a lot of great people. After graduating high school in 1996 he left for music school in Boston (Berklee), and promptly returned 10 years later – with a six-year hiatus in the San Francisco Bay Area. From playing music to baking bread, touring and traveling through 49 states, and working with some of the best in the concert industry, it was a decade well spent. These days you’ll find him working at or on Inspire(d) HQ, out making something noisy, or beating down the single-track just minutes from home.

Brian Fuhrmann grew up in Crawfordsville, IN and then earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology. After many years working in the power generation industry in Mississippi, Alabama, and Iowa, since 2015 he and his spouse Melissa have made Decorah their home. Brian splits his time between construction work, volunteering for Decorah Human Powered Trails, the Decorah Parks and Recreation Board, and traveling to experience adventure trails and endurance mountain bike events.

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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 advance to all members by email.

After Hours meeting at Kozi Pie Shop

Our annual Spring Roadside Cleanup event is scheduled for Saturday, April 15.  Please meet at Whalen Cabin at 8am to pick up bags and safety vests.  A light snack and beverage will be available, and we will take a group photo. If you would like to assist with the project but are unable to participate on the 15th, please sign up for the section of your choice.  You may then pick up bags and safety vests at 702 East Broadway (Ward's house).  Bags and vests will be in the tote by the garage door. If you plan to do clean up on a different day than April 15th, please let me know either via email or at a meeting so that we don't wait for you the day of the event.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Bruce Arendt presently serves as the Region Five Regional Director for the Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach Program. Many of our members know him as the son of long-time Decorah Rotarian and former Decorah mayor Don Arendt. Bruce will be offer a presention explaining recent activities and available services here in ISU Region Five.

Bruce began his position on February 6, 2023. As a regional director he provides administrative leadership to county extension office staff and guidance to county extension councils. Previously he served as an academic coach and English for speakers of other languages instructor for Northeast Iowa Community College. He owned his own financial coaching business and has worked for the Student Academic Support Center for Luther College. Prior to that, he was an English as a second language instructor at Mount Hood Community College and worked as an instructor for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, both in Oregon. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Spanish, a Masters Degree in teaching of English as a second language and applied linguistics, and a Masters Degree in family and consumer sciences, all from ISU. His spouse is a management professor at Luther College and they have two children attending high school.

ISU Extension and Outreach engages all Iowans in research, education, and extension experiences to address current and emerging real-life challenges. They provide access to research-based education and information; build capacity for council members, faculty, staff, and volunteers; and enhance efforts in programming, operations, and staffing to reach diverse and underrepresented populations.

For more about ISU Extension and Outreach please visit their website at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Luther College students Hannah Hoffman and Verena Mueller-Baltes will be with us to talk about Luther's involvement in Model United Nations (UN), a program that gives students an opportunity to experience and practice global diplomacy, collaboration, debate  and problem solving. The Luther contingent is coordinated by Dr. Orçun Selçuk, Assistant Professor of Political Science.

Each year, students from 95 schools across the country gather in Chicago for the conference which simulates the UN General Assembly. Each school team is assigned a country to represent and students act as ambassadors, debating topics such as climate action, global health, and security.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Francisca Munoz is from Santiago, Chile and is spending the year in Decorah as our Rotary International Exchange Student. Fran will share some of her experiences here thus far as well as her life in Santiago with the After Hours Rotarians.

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DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Seventh-grade students from Decoran Middle School (DMS) will present information about their upcoming Water Walk and fundraiser. Viewers can expect to hear ways that water impacts health, hunger, education, and poverty. They will see pictures of wells that DMS has built through previous fundraisers with Water to Thrive and they will be invited to participate in our upcoming Water Walk event and fundraiser.

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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 advance to all members by email.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

After an exceptionally successful season, Decorah Middle School Mock Trial participants Jillian Volz, Noah Potvin, Kinley Leliefeld, Spencer Christensen, Colin Thompson, Naomi Kutz, and Atticus Raabe will attend our noon meeting to explain how the Mock Trial competition works, and how they prepare. One of their coaches, Carole Sand, on the cusp of retirement, will join us as well.

Iowa has the largest middle school Mock Trial program in the country with around 130 teams competing each fall. Decorah sends four teams to the Regional competition in Waterloo, two 7th Grade and two 8th Grade teams. Students work throughout the fall in exploratory classes to analyze a civil or criminal case and learn how to portray a witness and attorney. They collaborate to write scripts of direct and cross examinations for witnesses plus openings and closings. They also learn how to handle themselves in a courtroom, including objections and rules of procedure. Decorah often does well at Regionals and typically sends two teams to the state competition in Des Moines, where Decorah students have won many trophies and awards for outstanding performances. 

Decorah Rotarian Steve Belay was one of the first of many community members who have helped with Mock Trial over the years.

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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 advance to all members by email.

New member orientation is open to all club members as well as perspective members.  Join us to learn more about our club, district and Rotary International.

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Community Heart & Soul is a resident-driven process that engages the entire population of a town in identifying what they love most about their community, what future they want for it, and how to achieve it. Through surveys, interviews and demographic awareness we seek to hear from all of our population, including those that are frequently lacking a voice or power within a community. Crystal Duffy is the Project Coordinator for the Postville Community Heart & Soul Project and will join the After Hours group to provide additional insights into this initiative.

Ms Duffy is a recent transplant from southern California. She was a public school teacher for 15 years and retired at the age of 37. She moved to northeast Iowa after falling in love with the area in 2014 when she attended the Seed Savers Exchange conference and campout. Her goal in retirement was to spend time volunteering for non-profits that were important to her, but somehow she ended up as the library director of Postville Public Library, the Community Developer for the city of Postville and the Project Coordinator for the Postville Community Heart & Soul Project. Through her position at the library she hopes to connect the dots for the city of Postville, make sure new arrivals to town feel welcome and bring financial literacy classes and English as a second language classes to Postville. She also hopes to help the town appeal as a tourist destination to those who value diverse grocery and food items not available in most of northeast Iowa.

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DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Started in a garage with a friend, Rendered Unique leveraged social media, then mastered popups, to become a mainstay business on the east end of downtown Decorah. Jamie Gavle will tell the story and share lessons learned in the journey as another great example of "organic" startups in the Driftless....with an Airbnb upstairs.

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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 advance to all members by email.

Join our local 7th graders on Wednesday, May 17 as they complete their Walk for Water as a part of the curriculum surrounding the Water to Thrive project.  The students will each carry two ice cream pails or milk jugs from the middle school to the Upper Iowa River where they will fill their containers before returning to the middle school.  Total walk is 3.7 miles. The walk is intended to create empathy and an understanding of what women in Africa face in their daily lives.

Rotarians have been invited to join the students on the walk.  Please bring your own containers.  Attached is a map of the route and below are directions from Carrie Reed:

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Scott Helms from Helms Funeral Homes will formally introduce his organization, what is offered, and how the business serves our communities. This will be followed by a question and answer format with our attendees.

The staff of Helms Funeral Home and Cremation Service consider themselves caring and experienced professionals who understand that each family is unique and has personal requests and traditions. These requests and traditions are the highest priority to their cadre of licensed funeral directors.

Scott Helms is a native of Michigan. After high school he attended John A. Gupton College of Mortuary Science in Nashville, TN, graduating in 2002 and moving to Daggett-Gilbert Funeral Home in Big Rapids, MI. In 2007 he moved to Iowa to obtain a Bachelor Degree in Business at Upper Iowa University. In 2013, Scott came to work with Mark Balik and Karen Schluter here at the Schluter-Balik Funeral Home, ultimately purchasing the business in 2017. In March 2022 he and his spouse purchased the Fjelstul Funeral Home in Decorah, consolidating the two businesses into the current Helms Funeral Homes. Scott and his spouse and business partner, Decorah native Teesha Bappe, have two daughters. He is an avid outdoorsmen and enjoys hunting, fishing, and golf.

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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 advance to all members by email.

It is estimated that up to 150 kids – just in Decorah – go without adequate access to meals during the summer months. Last summer we selected Kids Lunch Club as our district grant project to help meet the nutritional needs of those children. District grants also require a hands-on component, so we will be helping Kids Lunch Club start the summer off right by unloading and sorting supplies and packing some lunch materials. Please sign up to join us for our packing event at United Church of Christ (209 W Broadway St. in Decorah) on Thursday, May 25 at 5:30 PM. This event will take the place of our After-Hours meeting.

Decorah Rotary Club will host our annual picnic on Tuesday, May 30 at Whalen Cabin.  Please gather at 5:30 for fellowship followed by a potluck meal at 5:45. 
 
All noon and after hours members and their families are welcome to attend.  Please bring a potluck item based on your birthday month:

    January-April:   something warm

    May-August: something green  

    September-December: something sweet.

Tableware, drinks, pork loin, hot dogs, and veggie burgers will be provided.

Please sign up all members of your family who will be attending so that we have an accurate count for food and tableware. Please note there is no difference in the groups on the signup list.

DRC Sponsor: Alan Lerstrom

Four St. Benedict School Students and their teacher Patty Lein will be attending the National History Day Contest at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland on June 12 and 13. Rotary is providing financial support of their participation. Two students, Rex LaFrentz and Kalin Harman, will present their
projects to the noon Rotary meeting.

The National History Day Contest is the culmination of the annual competition cycle and a celebration of student scholarship. After spending months on project research and preparation, and successfully competing at local and affiliate contests, student scholars are invited to share their work at the National Contest. Each year nearly 3,000 students with their families and teachers gather at the University of Maryland for the week-long National Contest. They come from all fifty United States, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Department of Defense Schools in the Atlantic, and international schools in China, Korea, and elsewhere.

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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 advance to all members by email.

Rotary After Hours Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Tina Hall will share some exciting updates and plans for Operation Pollination - a Rotary Initiative.  There is a Global grant and Monarch Challenge in the works for 2024 to raise funds for planting trees.  Tina will also talk about the unique "themed-based" club that she is a member of.  District 5950 has at least three themed based clubs - a Veterans club, a Eco club and a LGBTQ+ club.

After graduating with her doctorate in Environmental Studies from the University of Maryland, Tina has worked over 30 years for The Nature Conservancy directing several state programs in land protection and forestry and now oversees forest certification for The Nature Conservancy.  Throughout her career she has given presentations to Rotary Clubs.  Finally, in 2001 she joined the Marquette, MI breakfast club and began her Rotary journey.  She was Club President in 2008-2009, then an Assistant Governor for 5 years and then District Governor in 2017-2018 for District 6220. She then moved to the SW for a 14^th month period and got many insights into new ways to do things and was her club’s secretary.  She then moved to NE Iowa and has become involved in her local club and District 5970.  She is currently a member of the Twin Cities Eco Club in District 5950, as well as the co-lead for the Environmental and Sustainability Rotary Action Group’s Operation Pollination.

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