President Bryan Slaba welcomed everyone to the October 28th meeting of the Wagner Rotary Club. It was a special meeting for all members as our District 5610 Governor was visiting us.

Pastor Laurie Kidd was asked to give the blessing and she gave thanks for the beautiful sunshine after the early winter storm. She asked for all Rotarians to share the message of good will and for a special blessing on those who need protection from the Corona virus.

Laurie also asked for November birthdays and a round of applause was given to Jeff Doom for having a milestone birthday this next month.

President Slaba led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance and then called upon Rotarian Jeff Doom for a Membership Minute. Doom referred to our monthly Rotarianmagazine whichjust arrived for November. He mentioned an article on giving which encourages Rotarians to remember Rotary in their wills. He also referred members to an article on Rotary forming a strategic alliance with the Toastmasters International. They have developed a structured curriculum of communication and leadership courses for Rotarians. The eight online courses are available in English in the Learning Center and will be available in all of Rotary’s primary languages by early 2021. Details can be found at learn.rotary.org

Sergeant at Arms Becky Brunsing had a list of fines ready: $2 to Scott McAdaragh for leaving last weeks Queen of Heart tickets in the bucket

$2 to Roger Wiltz for having his very younger self pictured in the newspaper

$2 to Linda Soukup for getting credit for last week’s newspaper article when she was not even present for the meeting

$2 to Craig Krsnak for finally being present for a meeting

$2 to Bryan Slaba for being gone for two weeks even if it was a working vacation

$3 to Jeff Doom for having three pairs of reading glasses on his person one of which belonged to his wife

$2 to Bryan Slaba for winning twice with the football books

Brunsing announced this week’s football book winners as Doris Hosek sold by Linda Soukup and Bryan Slaba sold by himself.

Craig Krsnak held the winning number for the Queen of Hearts drawing but failed to get the Queen, just the 3 of Hearts.

Sec.-Treasurer Patty Frei announced that we had 15 members present today plus one guest. We raised $13 for the Queen of Hearts drawing bringing the total to $495.00

President Slaba introduced Dr. Dan Little, our District 5610 Governor for the program. He received a standing ovation for which he thanked the Club. Dr. Little is from the Brookings area and he is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Preventative Medicine.

Dr. Little grew up on a swine and dairy farm in Minnesota. He practiced south east of Rochester for twelve years and moved his family to Brookings in 2002. He and his wife Pat have six children and 9 grandchildren with one on the way.

Dr. Little was the oldest of seven children. He milked cows and learned how to drive a tractor at an incredibly young age. During his college years he realized he had worked enough with the animals and was more interested in using his medical background to help farmers obtain viable and profitable farming enterprises. He saw in the 1980’s how farmers were really struggling and going bankrupt. He began to form ideas of consulting farmers about management, preventative practices, and developing facilities and communication skills along with obtaining financial backing.

He spoke for awhile about Rotary and how we can use some of these principles for our clubs in District 5610. The current pandemic of Covid 19 has made it exceedingly difficult for organizations to continue to grow and thrive. He talked about the current Rotary International President Holger Knaack who is encouraging all clubs to use this time to try new techniques such as Zoom. Holger supports expanding, enhancing participation, and increasing our ability to adapt in Rotary just as we are doing right now in real life with our new circumstances.

He gave a refresher on how our Rotary Foundation works in terms of dollars and cents, how the money is distributed after three years of drawing interest; discussed the block grants that are available to all districts, the global grants, and the C-19 disaster relief funds which are new this year.

He urged everyone to tune in to their computer on Friday, November 6th from 3:00 to 9:00 for the annual District Conference via Zoom.

The meeting ended with reciting of the Rotary 4-way test.