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May Day (May 1st) came in cool and a little windy but was welcomed by the Wagner Rotary Club. Everyone needs some sunshine and warmer weather. President Brunsing called the members to order and read a prayer of thankfulness. There were no guests present so she called upon Assistant Song leader Jeff Doom to lead us in singing. He opened the Rotary Song Book, and we were to sing Stodola Pumpa. If you haven’t heard of this song don’t feel bad. There was a brief discussion on the number of verses to sing and Leader Doom was outnumbered. We sang only one verse and spontaneously went into singing another verse of “Smile.”

There were two Rotarian birthdays for the month of May. Amanda Bechen and Bryan Slaba so the members serenaded them with the Happy Birthday song.

Membership Minute Chairperson Ken Cotton spoke briefly about the history of Rotary. The first Rotary club was started in Chicago in 1905 by an attorney named Paul Harris. The other “first” Rotarians were Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, and Hiram Shorey. Ten years later there were sixteen Rotary clubs who formed the national Association of Rotary Clubs, known as Rotary Internation. Rotary continued to spread and went worldwide. Rotaract clubs began as a Rotary youth program in 1968. Today there are more than 36,000 Rotary clubs and 10,000 Rotaract clubs in almost every country in the world.

Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup levied the following fines: $2 to Amanda Bechen for supervising the Queen of Hearts last week for Jamie and letting Jordan Weber win! $2 to Bryan Slaba for “being Bohemian” and waving his hands at his table; $2 to Jerry Weber for having a full shed of seed corn and not letting Jamie unload his corn; $4 to Jeff Doom for several infractions, being late, ignoring the empty tables and crowding in on a full one; spilling the ice, being on the phone, etc. etc. Happy Fines came from Jordan Weber for winning the Queen of Hearts drawing last week. He generously donated $50 back to the club; $5 from Amanda Bechen for being a May Day Basket Baby; $23.00 from Jerry Henke for 23 years of marriage to his Kathe; and $9 from Bryan Slaba who elected to elaborate on the reason later in the program.

The Sergeant broke open a new deck of cards and guess who held the winning ticket? Sergeant Soukup! He only drew the seven of Spades which was a relief to the other Rotarians amid comments of “Rigged”!!!

Secretary/Treasurer Krsnak reported the total for today’s drawing was $17.00. The attendance race is at seven misses for the Juffer Team and six misses for the Frei Team.

Rotarian Jordan Weber commented on the Zoom meeting recently held for PELS training and was favorably impressed by how it was handled. They had several speakers and past presidents who spoke and talked about setting goals for the clubs.

Rotarian Jamie Soukup reminded the club of the city-wide cleanup to be held this coming Friday. Citizens and Rotarians are welcome and to please bring a pickup or trailer if you can. The Scholarship Committee was reminded to meet shortly after the meeting finished to select the recipients of the annual Scholarship Awards by the Wagner Rotary Club.

President Brunsing awarded Paul Harris Fellowship pins to Jerry Henke and Jeff Doom. We will elaborate on Paul Harris Pins in a future report.

Rotarian Bryan Slaba gave the program. He spoke first about a particularly important crisis in our Wagner Community and areawide. There is a huge need for Daycare facilities in Wagner and the surrounding area. It is beginning to affect Slaba’s workforce as workers in the health care industry are having to cut their work shifts short to pick up or drop off their youngsters.

Slaba has produced a synopsis for a proposed daycare opportunity in Wagner coordinating with our Adventure Academy which is already providing daycare here. He is going to lead the Wagner Community Healthcare system with a coalition of community members to loan the Adventure Academy up to $225,000 to purchase and remodel, including architectural services, a 3,500 square foot building and adjacent 3,500 sq. ft. empty lot on Main Street. The facility should be able to accommodate 75 to 96 kids with limited remodeling expenses. The property budget will be $170,00 and the renovation budget will be $55,000. This will be less than trying to construct a new facility from scratch.

The loan will have a zero-interest rate and zero payment due until Adventure Academy has 30 days cash on hand. Adventure Academy would own the building and the lot. Day Care Partnership LLC would hold the building and lot as collateral. The loan would be considered payable if Adventure Academy sells or dissolves. Mr. Slaba is spearheading this endeavor. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact him. Our community needs this to keep functioning for the welfare of children and parents alike.

President Slaba then informed the members about a recent incident at the Wagner Community Hospital. Last Thursday two vehicles carrying several people and children met head-on approximately two or three miles East of Marty, South Dakota. There were nine patients with multiple broken bones, including two children from nine months to 50 years old with severe injuries. A small fire broke out from one engine but was extinguished by nearby residents. This happened close to the Tom and Mary Jo Kuhlman farm.

WCMH facilitated getting four ambulances from surrounding communities to the accident, and two helicopters and two air ambulances to the hospital. They were able to treat four of the patients being transported in two of the ambulances that were equipped with E-Television.

Within thirty minutes they had nine patients at the hospital, nine providers willing to help, sixty concerned family members present, five flight crews, three air transporters and within 19 minutes the last patient was transported. “It was nothing short of a miracle” stated Slaba. Most of the patients were transported to Sanford and Avera.

He complimented all the staff at Wagner Community and others who jumped into action by calling in or coming in to help with the crisis.

Wagner Community, be thankful for the hospital staff and crew that we have. Thank a WCMH staff member if you see one. We are well cared for in the Wagner Community. We adjourned in our usual fashion.