Valentines Day
The feast day of St. Valentines is for both St. Valentine of Rome and St. Valentines of Turni – both of which martyred for their Christian faith in the 3rd Century. Their February 14th feast day, “feast day: not a banquet, but instead an annual religious celebration, a day dedicated to a particular saint, most often a martyr” was celebrated for about a millennium before it became associated with romantic love in the 14th century. By the 18th century it had already become commercialized in England and by the 19th century they were mass producing greeting cards for February 14th. Makes one wonder what the original namesakes of St. Valentine’s Day would think of the commercialized spectacle, which we in the USA alone spent $24 Billion dollars on in 2022? The $24 Billion we spent on candy, flowers, gifts, and dining out is greater than the annual GDP of 83 other countries!
While I my intent is not to get any of you to get in trouble with your spouses or significant others this month, I would challenge you as members of Rotary to also make a gift, a gift made in love to the Rotary Foundation or any one of the many great charities out there making a positive difference in our community or world this month.
On February 28th we will have a very special guest speaker, not that all our speakers aren’t special, but Mike Cartney the former president of Lake Area Tech will be presenting on Freedom’s Haven for New Americans’ Workforce. Freedom’s Haven is an initiative to bring Ukrainian refugees to South Dakota to not only help them out and but also to augment our aging workforce in this era of very low unemployment. If you are a business owner or have friends who own businesses that you could invite, this should be a very interesting meeting.
Thank you,
Erich Olson