At the noon hour on May 30, President Dave Dominick opened the meeting. He began by thanking the meeting volunteers: Greeters Bob Cardinal and Lynne Beck, scribe Valdi Stefanson and visiting Rotarians/guests/happy dollars Melissa Musliner.
Michael-jon Pease provided the inspirational minute, which referenced yesterday’s Memorial Day. He quoted three World War 1 poets, which included a prophetic verse from “On Flanders Field”. Thereafter, we all joined him reciting the 4-way test.
Next up was a report from our current-year Youth Exchange Student – Dylan, who traveled from Brazil to St. Paul last fall. Dylan’s report was rich in appreciation for her three host families, her fellow school classmates, and the Minnesotans she met along the way. She made fast friends by joining her school theatre club and participated in two productions. She added that the experience led to gaining confidence and “it changed my personality”. One host family took her to New York!
Of course, she mentioned our long and snowy 2022-23 winter season, noting the need to buy warm outerwear. And mosquitoes of late… More importantly, her St Paul experience brought personal growth – adaptability, and gaining confidence. Thanking club 10, she ended by stating that the experience “Changed my life forever.”
Michael-jon Pease introduced the featured speaker Chris Harrington, CEO & President of Ordway. Chris had lived and worked in Detroit all his life and spoke of stepping out of his comfort zone in migrating to St Paul some two years ago. Since then, his mantra has been to use his leadership to spark curiosity and connect people through the arts.
Ordway was built some 40 years ago and is now a vibrant element in the Arts Partnership, which links four local arts groups. Then, Chris surprised us by stating that our local arts and culture community adds 1 trillion dollars in economic impact! Ordway alone has 57 full-time and 457 part-time colleagues. Six unions are involved in their productions. Ordway has calculated that their economic impact is a 3.27 dollar multiplier from ticket sales. To add, Minnesota has the second most theatre companies per capita in the country – second only to New York.
Ordway reaches out to all audiences with art/culture. This summer, for example, they will offer four free outdoor events. They even provide transportation to the venue in a program to introduce new, low-income patrons.
Next, Melissa Musliner asked for Happy Dollars. Notably, Dana Bruce bragged that St. Paul has the second-best public parks system in the nation, according to the Trust for Public Land, which just released its annual ranking of 100 municipal park systems and found Minnesota's capital city to again be second to one -- and that was Washington DC, where its city was designed specifically with federally-funded park spaces. Dana also noted that poor Minneapolis was named # 3.
Dave Dominick reported on upcoming club 10 events:
- club 10 volunteering opportunity at Grand Old Day on Sunday, June 4th. Members are encouraged to take on a shift selling admission wristbands at the event between 9 am and 6 pm
- 501: June 6th, 2023, at Camp Bar- St. Paul Rotary Club Foundation Donor Appreciation Event
- Next Signature Luncheon meeting: June 13, 2023, featuring Don H. Hall, author of Generation of Wealth
Respectfully submitted,
Valdi Stefanson