Ducks Unlimited Manager of Agronomy Brian Chatham spoke to the Brookings Rotary Club today, discussing the vital role of wetlands in preserving soil health and the ecosystem. Thanks, Brian, for a very interesting program!
Seventeen Rotarians and guests gathered at Skinner's Pub for the March Thirsty Thursday, netting $215 for Sleep in Heavenly Peace while having a great time with fellowship and friendship. Couldn't make it this month? See you in April! Watch for details...
Strength and Conditioning Coach Nate Moe was a great speaker for the Brookings Rotary Club today, emphasizing the benefits of fitness for persons of all ages and abilities. Indeed, Nate, for reminding us that "Strength Training is for Everyone!" Thanks for a great program.
Like all of you, when I first joined Rotary I started receiving the monthly issue of the Rotary magazine. The Rotary magazine does a great job at disseminating service projects happening at the club, district, national and international level. In the March issue, I learned about technology that can map polio outbreaks, a club in Washington that converts wine barrels to planters that attract pollinators (i.e., bees), how a Rotary club in Hungary stepped up to take over a summer camp for children with Down syndrome and other cognitive disorders, and "Harvest Against Hunger", which collects leftover farm produce in the fields after harvest for families in need of food. I even read about a Rotary Club in South Korea that volunteers at a local animal shelter for large dogs. Large dogs are difficult to place in homes in South Korea because many people don't have enough space for the dogs. Not to sound trite, but these stories are truly inspirational.
As I read the magazine articles, my mind turned to opportunities and challenges we have in the Brookings Rotary Club. First, I am excited that we are reinstating the Rotary magazine minute on a monthly basis. This magazine review will hopefully inspire you to pick up your copy of the Rotary magazine and read it! Second, these magazine issues are full of terrific ideas for service projects. One challenge we face in our club is identifying ideas for service projects, specifically projects that will attract younger people to Rotary. I think about how many of our youth love pets. Are there projects that we could undertake with the Brookings Humane Society or Animal Shelter? Many Rotarians are currently or formerly involved in agriculture or engineering. Are there projects we could work on that could benefit local farmers and producers, while also helping alleviate food insecurity?
I believe we must constantly be thinking of new ideas to serve Brookings. If we fall into a rut with the same service projects we've been focused on for many years, we risk growing stale. As my work schedule slows down this month, I'll be thinking about ways in which we can "think outside the box" with service projects and other activities that fit within our strategic plan. I invite you to "think outside the box" as well. If you have ideas, please share them with one of our dedicated Board members or myself.
Yours in Rotary,
Michael Gonda
Thanks to Brookings Rotarian Dr. Larry Janssen for providing us today with an update on the February 2024 Rotary Magazine. What a diverse assortment of articles! Have you read your Rotary Magazine lately? As Harry Truman said, "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." Great job, Larry.
Dr. Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan (Dr. Muthu), Klingbeil Endowed Department Head for the SDSU Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering, addressed the Brookings Rotary Club today, describing the tremendous achievements of both students and faculty within the award-winning department. Focusing on the land grant institution's tenets of teaching, research and extension, the department seeks to impact the future of agriculture through engineering, precision and technology. Thank you, Dr. Muthu, for an excellent program! Club President Dr. Michael Gonda presented our speaker with a thank you gift.
The Brookings Rotary Club is grateful to the Boys and Girls Club of Brookings for hosting our meeting last week, since the Activity Center was closed for renovation! Not only did we hear a great program about an exciting new collaborative childcare effort between the B&GC, the Brookings School District and the City of Brookings, we received a personal tour of the B&GC facility. Jody Hernandez, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Plains, presented the details of the childcare collaborative plan, which will involve innovative use of school buildings and the B&GC of Brookings to increase childcare capability. Implementation of the plan is scheduled to begin in Fall 2024 and is a multi-year plan. Special guest of Brookings Rotarian and Assistant Governor Don Norton was Past 5610 District Governor Loren Boyens (Rotary Club of Sioux Falls West), who serves on the Board of Directors for the neighboring Boys & Girls Club of the Sioux Empire.
Pictured from left, Jody Hernandez, Loren Boyens, Don Norton.
Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, Dean of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at SDSU, presented a fascinating program to the Brookings Rotary Club on February 13. An excellent speaker and teacher, Dr. Kumar discussed the six departments in the College, where they are "training students for jobs that do not yet exist, to use technology not yet invented, and solve problems we don't know exist." He discussed the impact of Jerry Lohr, who graduated with a degree in engineering from SDSU in 1958 and has been a transformational donor. Thank you, Dr. Kumar, for a wonderful program about the power and influence of critical thinking!
The Brookings Rotary Club is pleased to welcome new member John Folkerts, inducted into the Club on February 6 by President Dr. Michael Gonda. John and his wife, Vicki, who is a librarian at Mickelson Middle School, own "The Bug Guy," a commercial and residential pest control company. Last year they also purchased a travel agency franchise, "Dream Vacations", and in addition John owns and operates a small business bookkeeping and consulting firm. The Folkerts have lived in Brookings for 38 years. "I wanted to become more active in the Brookings community and connect with other leaders through a service organization where I could both learn and provide services to the community," said Folkerts. "I look forward to working with other club members on making a positive impact locally as well as globally." Welcome, John!
Our best programs sometimes come from our own members! Today Rotarian Col. Steve Sewell spoke on his involvement as a volunteer with "Ski For Light," an annual event that gives persons who are visually impaired or have other physical limitations the opportunity to experience the slopes. Steve became involved in 2010, after returning in 2009 from deployment to Afghanistan and taking up skiing as a hobby. Ski For Light has been serving its participants since 1978, and offers assisted downhill and cross-country skiing as well as snowshoeing and snowmobiling in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This year about 125 persons participated, with about 175 volunteers serving in various capacities. Thanks for your service and continued volunteerism, Steve (who is our Club's President Nominee!), and for a great program.
Below, Steve demonstrates to Club President Dr. Michael Gonda some of the equipment used in Ski For Light.
An energetic group of Brookings Rotarians spent time at the United Way center this week packing food items for the Brookings Packpack Project. The backpacks are sent home Fridays with area school children who are at risk of weekend food insecurity. The Brookings Backpack Project assists hungry youth in Brookings, Volga and Elkton with easy to prepare weekend meals and snacks all year round. By helping to sustain these children, BBP seeks not only to help meet their nutritional needs but also to promote their physical, cognitive and social development and to enhance their overall sense of well-being. Thank you for the opportunity to be of service!
Rotarians and guests gathered at Mosaic Wine Bar and Small Plates for the monthly Thirsty Thursday. Fun conversation, great beverages, and a pass-around collection for The Helpline Center. Thanks for setting up our monthly gatherings, Steve Sewell!
Dear Rotarians,
I hope that 2024 has started off well for you! Right about now is when I’m told most people drop their New Year’s Resolutions. I must confess that I didn’t make any resolutions this year. Don’t worry, however: my family and friends gave me plenty of resolutions I should focus on!! (Joking…hopefully) Even though it’s February, I decided to adopt a resolution for Rotary. That resolution is to finish what we started with the strategic plan that was written last summer. I still see two goals we need to accomplish. First, we need to advertise for corporate membership. We spent much time changing our by-laws to allow corporate members and creating advertising materials. It’s now time to hit the road! Second, we need to identify several service project themes we want to pursue on an annual basis. I think we’ve got one theme in place: mental health awareness. I’ll be working with the Service Committee to develop more themes. We will build service projects, fundraisers, and guest speakers around the themes we choose.
As the weather turns colder, I often think about travel. As most of you know, I grew up in Florida and am not a fan of winter weather! I want to remind you of the amazing travel opportunities that are available through Rotary. I haven’t heard of a single Rotarian who has regretted traveling with Rotary. Steve, Ginger, and Larry traveled to Denmark, Sweden, and Australia for Friendship Exchanges. Gregg traveled to Tanzania to support Lidia, the student we sponsor at the School of St. Jude. Erich traveled to Romania to support Hope Haven. Finally, many Rotarians over the years (including myself) have traveled to District and International Conventions. Tiffany and I plan to travel to Singapore for the Rotary International Convention in May. Traveling with Rotary allows us to meet real people across the globe, serve others, and learn more about ourselves. Please consider taking advantage of one of the many opportunities available to travel with Rotary.
Yours in Rotary,
Michael Gonda
The Brookings Rotary Club enjoyed a very special program on January 16 that truly exemplified "Service Above Self." Rotarians Steve Sikorski (Sioux Falls Downtown), Mark Siemonsma (Sioux Falls West), and Brookings Club Past President Erich Olson gave a presentation on the 2023 Hope Haven mission trip to Romania. Thank you for your service, Rotarians, and for a wonderful reminder of Rotary's local reach and global outreach!
Today Brookings Rotarians and guests learned about proposed development in the city when representatives of Brookings City Government presented the program on The Marketplace project. Pictured from left are Councilor Wayne Avery, Mayor Ope Niemeyer, City Manager Paul Briseno, and Councilor and Deputy Mayor Nick Wendell.
I hope that everyone had a relaxing holiday! Many of us were fortunate to spend the holiday with family and friends. I spent the holiday in Brookings with my wife Tiffany, in-laws and fellow Rotarians Larry and Marcia Janssen, and brother-in-law Matthew Janssen. We should remember, however, that many professions don’t have the luxury of time off during the holidays. Thanks to all of our police officers, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers, doctors, and nurses who needed to work on Christmas and Christmas Eve. Also, I would like to send a big thank you to the snow removal crews in Brookings for working over the holiday. I’m sure they will have more work to do in the coming months!
We have an exciting program for the month of January lined up by Erich Olson and Devan Schaefer. Immediately after the start of the new year, Paul Briseno will speak to our club. Mr. Briseno is the City Manager for Brookings and he will discuss the proposed Brookings Marketplace. Residents will have an opportunity to vote on this proposal on Tuesday January 30th. Unfortunately, the vote means we will be kicked out of the Brookings Activity Center that Tuesday. However, we will still meet by Zoom! We are encouraging Rotarians to come together in small groups at people’s homes to have lunch and join the Zoom call. We will also hear (in person) from Jared McEntaffer from the Dakota Institute, who will also speak about the state of South Dakota’s economy, Kurt Osborne, who will speak about a new First Generation scholarship being offered through the Brookings School District, and our very own Erich Olson (along with Mark Siemonsa), who will be speaking about their trip to Romania this fall with Hope Haven.
Erich and Mark’s talk is a great reminder about opportunities Rotarians have to volunteer and network with other Rotarians internationally. For example, many of us have benefited from travel to other countries as part of Rotary friendship exchanges. We also sponsor a student (Lidia) at the School of St. Jude in Tanzania. Many Brookings Rotarians over the years have attended the Rotary International Conference and my wife Tiffany and I are planning to travel to Rotary International in Singapore this May. More locally, the Brookings Rotary Club is volunteering for the Brookings Backpack Project this month and we are beginning to plan volunteer efforts to help host the South Dakota National Alliance on Mental Illness conference this fall. Finally, we just finished a major fundraising and volunteer effort for Feeding Brookings in December. We raised $1,568.16 and nine Rotarians volunteered their time to pack and deliver food to people in need this holiday season. To put this dollar amount in perspective, the amount we raised provided food for 157 families in Brookings County. We received the following message from District Governor Rich Burns about our efforts:
“Wow! This is exactly what we were thinking when we talked about how the "Food 4 the Holidays" would work. Brookings Rotary is amazing and exemplifies the Rotary model. We totally appreciate all you do throughout Rotary and your support on District-wide initiatives like this one. Congrats on a job well done and have a great holiday season.”
Yours in Rotary,
Michael Gonda
The Brookings Rotary Club welcomed as today’s guest speaker Caleb Thielbar, pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. Caleb, a resident of Brookings and an SDSU grad, discussed his baseball career and the many opportunities he’s had as a professional athlete. Thanks for a great presentation, Caleb!
Brookings Club President Michael Gonda, left, presents a check to Feeding Brookings coordinators Bill Alsace and Jean Josephson for $1,568.16, while Rotarians who helped distribute boxes of food are in the background.
BROOKINGS ROTARIANS INCREASE $250 DISTRICT GRANT SIX-FOLD FOR COMMUNITY FOOD DISTRIBUTION
A $250 grant from Rotary District 5610 turned into more than $1,500 worth of food for Brookings area families this holiday season.
The grants were offered to clubs throughout the district specifically to address food insecurity efforts in local communities. The Brookings Rotary Club decided to apply, offering to match the grant amount from the club’s own budget, with proceeds benefiting Feeding Brookings at Ascension Lutheran Church. So when President Michael Gonda was informed his club was awarded $250, the amount available for Feeding Brookings was now at $500 with the club match.
But the project was just picking up steam. Members of Alpha Zeta Honors Fraternity in the Animal Sciences Department at SDSU, where Gonda is a professor, hosted a bake sale on November 29, with donated goodies from Rotarians and the students themselves. That project netted another $348.16. The project was now resembling a “stone soup” story, now up to $848.16.
Special collections were held during regular club meetings in November and Rotarians were generous, adding another $550, and to cap it off, the proceeds from the monthly “Thirsty Thursday” social event hosted by the Brookings Rotary Club garnered another $170. What began as a $250 grant had grown to $1,568.16.
Local Rotarians wanted to do even more, so on December 14, ten Rotarians worked with other volunteers at Ascension Lutheran, packing up the boxes of food and distributing them to families needing assistance. It is estimated by Feeding Brookings volunteers that 157 local families were helped that week by the Rotary contributions.
“This was a real community effort,” said President Gonda, who presented the check to Feedings Brookings coordinators. “We were able to take a grant from our District and increase the amount more than six-fold. Through the creativity, generosity and ‘Service Above Self’ of our members as well as a group of community-minded college students, more than 150 local families received a welcomed addition to their pantries.”
Brookings Rotarians stopped by to thank members of Alpha Zeta Fraternity for hosting a bake sale to help benefit the Club’s project to benefit Feeding Brookings. Pictured from left are Rotary Assistant District Governor Don Norton, students Hannah Flogstad and Tessa Erdmann, Brookings Club President Dr. Michael Gonda, and student Greta Adolf. The bake sale in the SDSU Animal Science Department netted $348.16.
Rotarians and guests at the December “Thirsty Thursday” social, this month held at Pints & Quarts, netted $170 to the project benefiting Feeding Brookings.
Rotarians Devon Schaefer, Deb DeBates, Don Norton and Larry Janssen were four of the “hands-on” volunteers helping Feeding Brookings pack up and distribute boxes of food on Dec. 14. Other volunteers that day were Leah Brink, Marcia Janssen, Kay Norton, Jim Klinker and Jen Olson.
Happy Holidays Rotarians! I hope that each and every one of you has a wonderful holiday and has the opportunity to spend some quality time with family and friends. Tiffany and I will spend Christmas with her parents (and fellow Rotarians) Larry and Marcia Janssen and afterwards we will fly to Orlando, Florida to spend a week with my parents. Spending time with family is one of the real blessings of the holiday season for us. It will also be nice to get away from the colder temperatures expected towards the end of the year! It’s always good to have family who live in warmer climates.
One year ago, when writing his President’s Message for December, President Erich was celebrating the success of the Ukraine fundraiser. I have been a member of the Brookings Rotary Club for about a decade and to me, that fundraiser was one of the most impressive service activities we have ever pulled off as a club. It’s nice to know our club played a part in helping Ukrainians in need. President Erich also noted that we had several challenges we needed to address. First and foremost was a drop in membership. This December, I am proud to report that membership in our club has turned the corner! We’ve added several new members and will continue to recruit future Rotarians thanks to the leadership of President Elect Jen and Past President Don. The second challenge we needed to address was resurrection of the Rotary Youth Exchange and “student of the month”. Although “student of the month” continues to be a challenge, District 5610 leadership has done excellent work with revamping the Rotary Youth Exchange and Toby Uecker has agreed to coordinate this effort for our club again.
We have continued doing great work in the community. Our Feeding Brookings fundraiser has been an unmitigated success. The bake sale at SDSU raised almost $350 for Feeding Brookings and Mary Kidwiler emptied our pocketbooks to the tune of $550 at the end of November! (Thanks Mary!) Along with the District grant and club match, we raised close to $1,500 for Feeding Brookings ($1,398 to be exact)!! Let’s round this donation to $1,500 at this month’s Thirsty Thursday at Pints & Quarts! These dollars will be a welcome gift to people in need this holiday season.
We have an excellent program lined up for December by Dr. David Reynolds. I want to highlight a special guest speaker who will come to Rotary on December 19th. Caleb Thielbar, a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, will be our guest speaker. It’s not every day that a professional athlete drops by the Brookings Rotary Club. Please invite your friends who are Twins fans to join us. Then, invite them to become a member! Thanks everyone for your support of Rotary. As always, if you haven’t been coming recently, you are always welcome to return!! We would love to see you again.
Yours in Rotary,
President Michael
Two Brookings Rotarians received their Paul Harris-Plus pins from President Michael Gonda at the November 15 meeting. Pictured from left are Ruth Dickinson (PH+2) and Brad Blaha (PH+6), recognized by President Michael. Congratulations, Ruth and Brad, and thank you for your continued support of The Rotary Foundation!
Brookings, SD
United States of America