Events

Decorah Rotary Co-Presidents Phil Iverson and Mike Huinker will recap the 2025-2026 Rotary fiscal year, present the club status and provide an annual meeting update including election of officers.

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Decorah Rotary Co-Presidents Phil Iverson and Mike Huinker will recap the 2025-2026 Rotary fiscal year, present the club status and provide an annual meeting update including election of officers.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcement, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email. 

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Diana Morrow

Kerry Brennan, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Coordinator for Allamakee, Buchanan, Chickasaw, Deleware, Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, Howard, and Winneshiek Counties, will share information with the After Hours group about this important volunteer organization. Ms Brennan has served as the CASA Coordinator in northeast Iowa since December 2010.

The purpose of CASA is to amplfy the voices of children who have been judged as "children in need of assistance" by the state. CASA trains and supports community volunteers to advocate for a safe and permanent home for children who have experienced abuse and neglect, and works collaboratively to ensure their voices are heard.

Ms Brennan holds a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Luther College. Since 1993 she has worked in the child welfare field, representing the majority of her career. Prior to working with the Iowa Child Advocacy Board she served in the substance abuse prevention field with several years as a family team meeting facilitator in northeast Iowa.

For more information please visit the CASA of Iowa website at https://childadvocacy.iowa.gov/basic-page/you-are-casa.

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DRC Sponsor: Alan Lerstrom

Lori Rissman is a Clinical Pharmacist in Decorah. She will be presenting information on safe practices for medication use. She will be focusing on three primary areas associated with medication use: (1) being your own health advocate including straightforward tips for being an informed user of medications; (2) being safe with prescribed medications and important information about “safe medication practices for life;” and (3) knowing the risks of medication misuse incluuding facts about medication misuse in our country and what each person can do about it.

Ms Rissman is originally from West Union. She earned her Ph.D. of Pharmacy from The University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 2004 and subsequntly completed a primary care residency at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Charleston, SC. She has been working as a pharmacist in Decorah for 18 years. Her background in pharmacy includes community pharmacy, medication counseling, compounding, medication therapy management, vaccination administration, and diabetes education.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcement, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Kristen Underwood will be offering her reflections on her experience directing walks at Decorah’s Phelps Cemetery in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2018, where local children and adults acted the parts of past Decorah residents while stationing themselves next to the associated gravesites. She will highlight selected histories of past residents whose names may be familiar to Decorah Rotarians.

Kristen developed scenes and monologues based on obituaries, newspaper articles, cemetery plot maps and other archived materials, and directed players to perform these in costume at the appropriate plots as groups were led from place to place through Phelps Cemetery. Last October she participated in the Porter House Museum’s After Dark lecture series where she provided a popular and theatrically inspired recapitulation of her cemetery walks.

In addition to her cemetery walks, Kristen produced walks at Luther College and along the Upper Iowa River. Her collaboration with Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum resulted in 10 original theatre pieces inspired by museum exhibits. She also produced children’s theater adaptations of works by Carroll, Kipling, Dickens, Molière and Shakespeare, as well as solo performances including Lessons from Cancer College, Women and Fiction: Virginia Woolf Speaks and Natural Shocks.

Kristen has recently retired from Luther College after serving as Director of Campus Programming, and teaching in the theatre department intermittently for over 30 years.  Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, she worked as an actor in regional theatre for several years before settling in Lanesboro, MN where she co-managed the Commonweal Theatre. Upon moving to Decorah, Kristen founded Upstart Crow Theatreworks and co-founded ArtHaus with Lea Lovelace. Kristen continues to mentor speech and drama students and co-direct the fall production at Decorah High School.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcement, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

Steve Vanden Brink is a critical care paramedic, Director of Ambulance for WinnMed, public information and education office volunteer with the Decorah Fire Department, and American Heart Association cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructor. He will give a on CPR and proper use of the automated external defibrillator (AED).

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, claiming nearly one million lives annually. While dangerous, up to 80% of premature cardiovascular events are preventable through simple lifestyle modifications, routine screenings, and active risk management. 

Mr. Vanden Brink has over 35 years experience in fire and emergency medical services (EMS) coordination and response. He is also experienced in training emergency services staff.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcement, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email. 

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Melissa Fuhrmann

Specific details TBA

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Richard Kyte is Director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He is an Endowed Professor of Ethics at Viterbo and a member of the Downtown Rotary Club of La Crosse. He has published and lectured widely on topics related to justice, forgiveness, virtue, and the meaning of life. His recently released book Finding Your Third Place looks at the essential gathering spaces in our society where friendships are formed, relationships are nurtured, and the tapestry of community is woven. Dr. Kyte recently presented a well-received talk at the Iowa Falls District Conference and will be speaking to our members about his book and the importance of community and local connection.

In his book, Dr. Kyte combines storytelling, social science, and philosophy to explore what it is that makes a third place; factors that create and support vibrant communities, the role of hospitality in creating belonging and social connection, how "third places" foster friendships and bind us to others in our community, and what it takes to find and create a third place of your own.

After growing up in Frazee, a small town in northwestern Minnesota, Dr. Kyte attended Hamline University where he earned a B.A. in philosophy. He then went on to graduate school, obtaining a Ph.D. in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University in 1994. Since then he has taught at several colleges and universities including Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. He serves on numerous boards, including the Editorial Board of the La Crosse Tribune, the La Crosse Community Foundation, and the Coulee Region Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

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**Please complete your meal sign-up prior to the meeting, preferably not later than close of business Monday. Our face-to-face meeting will be hosted at the VFW. The meal sign-up, meeting announcement, and any other logistical information will be distributed in advace to all members by email.