President Becky Brunsing welcomed thirteen Rotary members to the May 22nd meeting at Noon. There were no guests present except for the program so she called upon Rotarian/Pastor Bill Herrmann to lead the members in prayer. Pastor Bill gave thanks for all the rain we have experienced and asked for prayers of comfort for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one in our community.

Assistant Song leader Jeff Doom led the group in singing three verses of Down in the Valley and we all felt we had done an excellent job on that tune!

Membership Minute Chairperson Ken Cotton refreshed our memory on Rotary’s Wheel Emblem. This design has been around since Rotary’s earliest days and in 1923 the present wheel, with twenty- four cogs and six spokes, was adopted by Rotary International. He also refreshed our memory on benefits from our Rotary membership. The rule is “no business or professional relations should result in consideration or advantages to a Rotary membership.”

The Sergeant at Arms and his assistant were both absent which resulted in President Brunsing acting as a temporary sergeant. Fines were levied on Jeff Doom $2 for chiding Joe Stedronsky on his reading habit. Happy Fines were: $5 from Rachel Doom who started moving her business today; $5 from Linda Soukup for Jeff Doom not getting injured last week in a race across the busy highway; $5 from Bryan Slaba who thought the story about Jeff was great; $2 from Jeff Doom for having friends come to visit him next week; $5 from Patty Frei for a weekend of family working together; $5 from Becky Brunsing for being relieved that the spring planting is done.

Brunsing also gave the Secretary/ Treasurer report for Craig Krsnak. The attendance race is once again tied at 10 misses each for the Juffer and Frei teams. Rotarian Jordan Weber tried to find the Queen in the deck of cards but came up short with the eight of Spades. The total in the Queen drawing is $55.00.

Rotarian Rachel Woods introduced her program which was Anna Kerner, a Rotarian from the Gregory Rotary club. She is a lawyer as well as her husband and they have three girls and one boy. The little boy Richie is two years old and was recently diagnosed with ECHS1 deficiency in August 2023. This is a rate genetic metabolic disorder. Currently, no treatment is available. However, there is ongoing research for gene therapies and drug repurposing.

Anna and her husband have been on a journey ever since the diagnosis to learn more about the challenges of the disease and to provide as much care as possible for their son. They were told to “go home and love him” by the doctors after the diagnosis. They found this unacceptable and have been doing research and making contacts with other parents who are experiencing the same situation.

There currently is a 501c 3 dedicated to curing this mitochondrial disease. https://give curemito. org/campaign/team-Richie/ c548836. If you care to donate to this cause, follow this link.

The Kerners are being proactive in their research and Anna was knowledgeable about details of the disease, its diagnosis, current treatments, etc.

If you are interested in more information, please contact Anna Koerner at Gregory South Dakota. As is the case with so many today, their telephone number is not listed in the phone book. Please contact Rachel Woods at Apparel Worx in Wagner South Dakota if you are interested in talking to Anna directly.