Alexandria Rotary Club

Let's Go Fishing

Rotarian Rachel Barduson invited Jim Schoeberl to have lunch with the Alexandria Rotary Club and talk about the wonderful "Let's Go Fishing" program.

Let's Go Fishing (LGF) was created to enrich the lives of people age 55 and older through free fishing and boating excursions. Fishing and boating is such a common past-time for most Minnesotans and LGF returns the outdoor experience to those whom might not otherwise have the opportunity to fish, boat or enjoy time with friends on the water.

For the guests, LGF is more than just an opportunity to go fishing. The program returns a sense of freedom and provides a safe opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. It also offers time to socialize with peers and meet new friends. Thanks to the dedication of nearly 1,000 volunteers, LGF is successfully bringing communities together and enhancing the lives of thousands of Minnesotans. Since the program's inception in 2002, over 15,000 seniors, youth, veterans and disabled adults have been served.

Group Study Exchange

The Alexandria Club proudly presented our community to a group of businesspeople (representing companies such as Infosys and Hewlett-Packard) visiting from Bangalore, India. The group was able to be here today because of the Rotary Foundation's Group Study Exchange (GSE) program and during this visit to Alexandria they toured KXRA (the 2nd gentleman on the right, Harsha, is a well know radio personality in Bangalore), KSAX, Douglas Machine, Alexandria Technical College, Tastefully Simple, the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum and the Runestone Museum. They also enjoyed lunch at Arrowwood's Lake Cafe (thank you to Arrowwood's Chef for specially preparing a 3-course vegetarian meal) with Alexandria Rotarians Coni McKay, Jeff Wild, Craig Mische and Todd Emmons.

The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.

The Foundation

Clark Baldwin is the Director of International Services for the Alexandria Rotary Club. At today's meeting, Clark talked about the Rotary Foundation.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. Every amount contributed to The Rotary Foundation is spent in support of humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs and their operations. Clubs and districts apply for and receive Foundation grants to carry out worthy projects worldwide.

Someplace Safe

In this short video you will meet today's guest speaker, Peg Riecken. Peg is an Advocate at Someplace Safe in Alexandria and they serve victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and general crime.

Deb pointed out that April is 'Sexual Assault Awareness Month'. Some sobering facts are that every 2 minutes someone in the United States is sexually assaulted, 1 in 4 females and 1 in 6 males are sexually assaulted by age 18, and 76% of rape victims know their assailants.

Someplace Safe
866-223-1111

A Fun and Successful Basketball Tournament

Hospice

Jackie Fitzgerald and Bobbi Montgomery were guests of the Alexandria at the invitation of Rock Anderson.

They spoke about The Lighthouse Project which would provide a hospice home as an alternative to hospital care. It allows the client to live in a home setting with family members that are also able to stay in a six bedroom home with 24/7 hospice care. The staff would include a Registered Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse and others.

Financial coverage for hospice care services are provided by Medicare, Medical Assistance Managed Care Organizations and some private insurance companies. Hospice depends on community support, volunteers, donations and memorials to be able to provide care and comfort to people. The Lighthouse Project hopes to secure grants for funding and is currently looking for a house that would be suitable for a hospice home.