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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**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 advance 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 advance to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Decorah Rotary President Bill Courtney plans to re-introduce himself to the club and discuss his ideas and goals for the coming year. There will be a discussion of the purpose of the Decorah Rotary Color Groups and a dedicated time for the color groups to meet for discussion and planning.

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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 advance to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: Phil Iversen

In the summer of 2016, Larry Campbell spent seven weeks following the Missouri River (by car) from its source in Three Forks, MT to its terminus near St. Louis, MO. He wrote a book about his experiences and will encapsulate them in his presentation to our members.

Larry spent his career working in mathematics and mathematics education, mostly split between the College of the Ozarks near Branson, MO and Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. He is now officially retired and running AfterMath Enterprises, LLC, an umbrella organization for the activities in which he is now engaged. Besides doing talks, programs, and workshops for civic/community groups and schools, he also puts out a (free) weekly email newsletter that combines his photography hobby with other Monday morning "brighteners and tidbits" for the upcoming week. He has written three other books on a diverse set of subjects.

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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 advance to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Liv Anderson will be speaking to our members about her upcoming, Decorah Rotary sponsored Rotary Youth Exchange trip encompassing the 2026-2027 academic year. Liv is currently a junior at Decorah High School and is the daughter and granddaughter, respectively, of fellow Decorah Rotarians John and Cal Anderson.

Liv is active in the community, and participates in Nordic Dancing, church, swimming, soccer, and wrestling. Along with that, she works at the Sugar Bowl and is a lifeguard at the Decorah Community Pool. Liv is going to be a Rotary Exchange student in Denmark this coming school year. She applied to Rotary Youth Exchange because she loves to travel, wants to meet new people, and hopes to experience a new culture.

Rotary Youth Exchange is a Rotary International student exchange program for secondary school students. Since 1929, Rotary International has sent young people around the globe to experience new cultures. Around 9,000 students are sponsored by Rotary Clubs every year. Typically, students are sent to another country for a year-long stay, generally living with one or more host families and attending school in the host country. Rotary Youth Exchange inspires young leaders to serve as catalysts for peace and social justice in their local communities and throughout the world, long after their exchanges end.

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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 advance 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 advance 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 advance to all members by email. 

DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

Former Luther College Director of Campus Safety, National Park Service ranger, archaeologist, criminal investigator, and Luther alumnus Bob Palmer will visit our club and will discuss how a Rotary scholarship to study abroad in New Zealand was a springboard to a varied, 36-year career.

Upon graduation from Luther College in 1992 with a B.A. in Anthropology, Mr. Palmer was awarded a Rotary International scholarship to study in New Zealand. In 1994 he received his M.A. in Archaeology from the University of Auckland and from there, transitioned to employment as a Park Ranger in the Kapiti District under the Greater Wellington Regional Council. In this position he provided visitor and resource management for Battle Hill Farm Forest Park and Queen Elizabeth Park in New Zealand. In 1997 he returned to the U.S. to assume duties in Protection, Safety, Security, Interpretation & Facilities Management for the National Park Service where he became a subject matter expert in park management, safety and security, policy and law. He managed the care and preservation of nationally significant historic structures, museum collections, archaeological sites and coexistent natural resources. He led criminal and civil investigations into violations of heritage law and provided training and technical assistance to U.S. attorneys and Federal agents within the U.S. Department of Justice on heritage law and the prosecution of criminal violations.

Mr. Palmer is also an experienced resource and land conservation manager. He has developed and managed multi-group public-private partnerships with both private foundations and local and central government agencies. He completed land management police training through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Brunswick, GA in 1998 and in 2005 was awarded an M.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin, Platteville.

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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 advance to all members by email. 

DRC After Hours Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Fellow Decorah Rotarian, local pastor, and marathon runner Mike Wilker will share his journey of twenty years and 23 marathons at our after-hours meeting. This October, Mike is running the Chicago Marathon to raise funds for the Danny Did Foundation, which works to prevent deaths caused by Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP). Mike took up this cause after fellow Decorah neighbor Jennifer Sime's Rotary presentation about her son Brendan. Come hear Mike's story and learn how running, fundraising, and community come together.

Mike moved to Decorah in January 2022 to become the senior pastor of First Lutheran Church. He grew up near Owatonna, MN and graduated from St. Olaf College (1986) and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary (1995). He has served bilingual Spanish/English congregations in rural California and suburban New York. He served as the executive director of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps from 2005-2011 and the senior pastor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC from 2011-2021. His spouse Judy Kittleson is an English as a Second Language teacher and adult education manager. Their two adult children, Maija and Karl, reside in Minnesota.

The Danny Did Foundation envisions a future where healthcare providers proactively communicate about the risk of SUDEP and other forms of mortality associated with epilepsy. They seek to elevate awareness of, and access to, technologies that enable early intervention and added safety.

For more about the Danny Did Foundation please visit their website at https://www.dannydid.org/.

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DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

Iowa Representative Michael Bergan of House District 63 will speak on the results of the 2026 Iowa Legislative Session.

Representative Bergan is a resident of Winneshiek County and an alumnus of Luther College. He has served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives since January 2017.

The 2026 Legislative Session convened on January 12 and adjourned on Sunday, May 3, a period of 112 days. The final days of session were dominated by tax policy, budget considerations, and long-debated structural reforms impacting both individuals and businesses across the state.

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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 advance 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 advance to all members by email.