Events

Building of 2019 Nordic Fest Float with theme "If you build it the Vel-kommen".

DRC Sponsor: Steve Chambliss

Mark Lane is the newly appointed Superintendent of the Decorah Community Schools. He will be introducing himself to our members and offering a few of his insights, experiences, and goals at this meeting.

Mark has served as the Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Operations for the Urbandale School District for the past six years. He has led multiple district initiatives including Professional Learning Communities, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Teacher Leadership and Compensation, and strategic planning. He also coordinated efforts that led to the passage of a bond referendum. Mark was instrumental in the Urbandale School District being honored with Gold Award status from the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence in Education. 

DRC Sponsor:  Ward Budweg

Micala Folkedahl, a student at University of Minnesota in Rochester, will speak about her experience in the Philippines.  The trip was a two week intensive immersion program in Manila, Philippines as well as Lubang, Philippines. During the program they explored the different levels of health care specifically looking at rural vs. urban. They were given opportunities to shadow and assist with certain medical procedures.  Micala was a recipient of a Rotary scholarship.

Assist the Nordic Fest board with stuffing Elvelopet packets

Nordic Fest 2019    If you build it they Vel-kommen!

Please join fellow Rotarians for our Nordic Fest fundraiser at Canopy 5, the beer/entertainment tent!  We will be serving WW Homestead Dairy cheese curds and chicken strips this year.  Participating will help create a successful event and will allow us to continue supporting our community and local students. 

Friday night entertainment:  People Brother's Band

Saturday night entertainment:  Jason Carl Band - Tom Petty Tribute

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

District 5970 Assistant District Governor John Ebert will be visiting and will offer his vision and guidance for the upcoming Rotary year. Maximum participation by Decorah Rotary Club members is highly encouraged!

DRC Sponsor: Lorraine Borowski

Jayne Armstrong is the Iowa District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). She oversees SBA's financial, business counseling, government contracting programs and other services throughout the state and will be on hand to share insight into her services with our members.

The Iowa District is responsible for the delivery of the SBA's many programs and services to the 99 counties in Iowa, consisting of 2.9 million Iowans and some 240,000 small businesses. Over 98 percent of all businesses in the state are small businesses under the federal definition. Iowa has a national reputation as a leading insurance center and agribusiness center with more companies expanding and locating in the state each year.

For more information visit the Iowa District SBA Website here: SBA.gov

An all-terrain vehicle tour of the Trout Run Trail will be sponsored by the Decorah Rotary Club Tuesday, Aug. 20.
The tours are provided only to the elderly and those with physical limitations which have prevented them from accessing the 11-mile Trout Run Trail that loops around Decorah.
Tours depart from the Decorah Trout Hatchery at 8:30 a.m., 10: a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. A community picnic lunch will be held at the Trout Hatchery Pavilion from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reservations are required. To make a reservation, call 563-382-8396 on or after Sunday, Aug. 11.
A $20 donation per person to The Decorah Rotary Club on the day of the event is appreciated, but not required. (Rain Date: Tues. Sept. 10, at the same times)

DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

Come meet and greet the new President of Luther College!

Dr. Jenifer K. Ward was unanimously elected as Luther College’s 11th President by the Luther College Board of Regents on March 19, 2019. Her appointment followed the five-year tenure of Dr. Paula J. Carlson, who retired on June 30th.

Dr. Ward previously served as Dean of the College, Interim Provost and Associate Provost at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington. She was Chair of the Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures Department at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where she also taught German. She began her academic career with faculty appointments at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and The College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. She most recently served as Provost and Dean of the College for Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana prior to her arrival in Decorah.

Rotarians and families, please join at the home of Kelly Reagan, 211 Highland Drive, for a meet and greet for our current Youth Exchange Student, Maria.  Stop by and introduce yourself to our Rotary hosted student from Spain.

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Don Meyer, District Grant Coordinator, will present the club's grant check and give a brief recap of the this year's grant period.

The Decorah Fire Department is the recipient of our grant funding for this year.  Kurtis Johnson, volunteer fire fighter, will speak about the fire department in general as well as their new training facility which will be built in part with the use of the Decorah Rotary grant.

DRC Sponsor: Mike Huinker

Main Street Iowa provides architectural, engineering, and design services to designated Main Street communities. Assistance from the Main Street Iowa program includes training workshops, architectural and design assistance, business strategy assistance, and a variety of technical assistance. Decorah recently submitted an application to become a Main Street community but was not selected this year. Llew Jenkins, Steering Committee Chair, will share her thoughts on the program and how it may be of benefit to our community.

DRC Sponsor: John Anderson

Alan Heavens is the newest district court judge serving Iowa Judicial District 1A (which encompasses Allamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, and Winneshiek counties). He plans on sharing his background and experiences as well as his current responsibilities as a district court judge.

Nearly all cases begin in the district (trial) court and there is one district court in every county in Iowa. The district court has general jurisdiction of civil, criminal, juvenile, and probate matters in the state. It is where parties start their lawsuits, prosecutors file criminal charges, trials take place, lawyers offer evidence, witnesses testify, juries deliberate, and judges enter judgments. For purposes of administration, Iowa is divided into eight judicial districts. A Chief Judge, selected by the Iowa Supreme Court, oversees each district.

DRC Sponsor:  John Anderson

Stephanie Fromm leads the county’s economic development organization and is dedicated to improving the economy and neighborhoods throughout Winneshiek County. Fromm has developed a variety of programs and initiatives for area entrepreneurs and established businesses, ranging from grants and funding opportunities to providing consulting services, small business workshops and business planning. Fromm joined the organization 2015 after serving as an Operations Coordinator at Mercy Medical Center in Dubuque, Iowa. Fromm’s role also represents Decorah Jobs, a local economic development organization for the city of Decorah, which owns the 180-acre business park located along Highway 9 east in Decorah. Fromm earned her Bachelor’s in Business Management and Economics from Luther College in 2010. 

Stephanie will discuss Winneshiek County's Work Based Learning initiatives, Destination Branding project, Child Care Crisis and other current projects. 

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

Dr. James Martin-Schramm is a Professor of Religion at Luther College and the Director of the Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC). The mission of the CSC is to promote sustainability and be a catalyst for change on campus and in the region. Dr. Martin-Schramm has a long history of involvement in Luther's environmental initiatives that dovetail nicely with Rotary International's recent emphasis on the reality of global climate change and avenues for mitigating the impacts. He plans to provide our members with an overview of ongoing CSC strategic planning efforts and provide some ideas for practical steps available to each individual.

Dr. Martin-Schramm recently completed a term of service on the board of the Iowa Wind Energy Association and is currently Chair of the Board of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light and the Winneshiek Energy District. He also serves as Secretary of Luther College Wind Energy Project, LLC. He joined the Religion faculty of Luther College in 1993. Most of his research has focused on ethics and public policy. He is the author or co-author of four books including Climate Justice: Ethics, Energy, and Climate Policy (Fortress Press, 2010). He holds a doctorate in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

For more on the CSC and its activities visit this link: Luther College Center for Sustainable Communities

DRC Sponsor: John Moeller

One of the many 2019 Luther College Paideia 450 January-Term (J-Term) course offerings, Stability and Change in Vietnam provided faculty and students with the opportunity to learn about the changes occurring in developing nations; how rapid modernization has affected the country both in the positive and negative; how modern communism is functioning as a governing system, and the overall experience of day-to-day life in a different country and culture. Dr. Steve Holland, Professor of Economics and DRC member and Political Science Emeritus John Moeller will offer their experiences and insights into this amazing trip abroad.

The course participants began their exploration of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City to experience the changing country in the form of a modern commercial city. They traveled to the Mekong Delta, a world of waterways, farming, and rural charm, resting on the South China Sea. Follow-on travel took the group to the center of Vietnam to visit historical sites, eat traditional food, and learn more about the Vietnamese culture. The trip culminated in visits to Hanoi and Halong Bay.

Student reflections of the journey as it occured are available in the corresponding J-Term Course Blog: Paideia 450 - Vietnam

Fall Tree Planting Work Day

Saturday October 12, 2019

10-Noon

Meet behind City Hall

Bring gloves and a shovel

We will divide into groups and plant trees in several areas along the boulevard around town.

Lions and Rotary Service Club Day

DRC Sponsor: Jim Morrow

The Silk Road Mountain Race is an extremely challenging, 1,100 mile, self-supported bike-packing race through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous and politically tumultuous, post-Soviet independent country in west-central Asia. It is considered by many to be the world's toughest off-road bike race. The route is so difficult that the inaugural event last year saw only one-third of the competitors who started the race actually finish. Riding, hiking, and scrambling across gravel, desert, bog and old Soviet roads that have long fallen into disrepair, the participants endure overr 89,000 cumulative feet of vertical climbing along the route. The overall distance is roughly the same as riding from New York to Florida with only three official checkpoints separated by long distances. Most competitors are overcome by malfunctioning equipment, illness, injury, fatigue, or the extreme psychological challenge.

Our very own ultra-adventurer, DRC member Ward Budweg, has just recently returned from his participation in this year's Silk Road Mountain Race. He will be sharing his first-hand experiences with our club, which are certain to be fascinating, incredible, and entertaining.

2019 Fall Roadside Cleanup

Oct 19, 8AM 

Group to meet at Putnam Law Office to pick up supplies.

If you are not able to participate on Oct 19 at 8am you can still sign up for a section.  Supplies will be located just inside the door of Ward Budweg's garage.  You will need a safety vest for each person and a total of 6 orange trash bags per section.

For those of you that plan to do clean up at a time other than 8am on Oct 19, please notify Ward of your alternate date/time. 

Thank you for your help.

DRC Sponsor: Mike Huinker

Dr. Jodi Enos-Berlage serves as Professor and Internship Coordinator in the Biology Department at Luther College. She has recently assumed an additional leadership position in the Luther College Career Center. Over the past two years Dr. Enos-Berlage has co-led the development of Luther College's Rochester Hub Initiative, which is slated to launch in the Spring of 2020. This initiative will involve Luther College securing housing, providing coursework, and most importantly, developing immersion internships (on site 20+ hrs/week) for a regular semester rotation of students at Rochester-based companies, businesses, the Mayo Clinic, non-profit organizations, and other appropriate internship targets. Dr. Enos-Berlage will provide our club with unique insights into the Rochester Hub Initiative and will recap the results of the Mayo Clinic Design Thinking Workshop hosted on the Luther College campus on October 3rd.

As part of Luther's Rochester Hub Initiative, Dr. Enos-Berlage and co-leader Robert Christman, Professor of History, have been directly engaged with key leaders in the Destination Medical Center (DMC), a major public/private economic development initiative ($5.6 billion invested and 30,000 new jobs in the next 20 years) to establish Rochester as a global destination for health, wellness, bioscience and technology innovation. Luther College was one of five schools selected and invited to participate in a DMC-sponsored Design Thinking Workshop. The content of this workshop was developed by Mayo Clinic design experts and consists of a fast-paced, 90-minute, hands-on session intended to teach participants the process and mindset needed for creative problem-solving using a human-centered approach. The workshop's organizers also seek to stimulate interest in the formation of collaborative teams to participate in the spring DMC Assistive Technology Challenge, a pitch competition to facilitate greater independence for individuals with disabilities and the daily challenges they face.

More information on the DMC initiative may be found using the following link: Destination Medical Center

DRC Sponsor: Shannon Duncan

Don Meyer, District Foundation Chair, will speak to the club about Rotary Foundation.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Cerrisa Snethen, Marketing Coordinator for the Decorah Area Chamber of Commerce, will join our club to provide insights and information into Decorah’s destination branding effort known as “Drift Less. Visit More.” She will review the process undertaken to develop the branding and look ahead at plans for 2020.

The brand campaign is a multi-organizational effort encompassing tourism-related efforts for the entire Decorah area that was launched on August 28. Assisted by destination branding experts, the process seeks to improve the Decorah area’s tourism by strengthening the area’s brand perception among likely overnight visitors. Funding for the effort was provided by the local hotel/motel marketing committee from the 25% of the local lodging tax designated for these sorts of initiatives.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Robert Muller, a senior at Luther College, will share his experiences from this past summer when he accompanied Associate Professor of Classics Dan Davis and two other Luther students to the Caesarea region in Israel to participate in an archaeological expedition there from May 9th to June 2nd. They were part of a team that also included 22 undergraduate students from Vanderbilt University and a staff of six, including Davis as trench supervisor. The team started new excavations on the north side of a massive temple platform built by Herod the Great in the final years of the first century. The top of the giant platform held a temple of Roma and Augustus as a way for Herod to pay respects to Romans, who had set him up as a client king of Judea.

The students on the trip learned the fundamentals of field excavation: laying out grids; excavating and recognizing archaeological stratigraphy; recovering human remains; identifying diagnostic features of pottery and glass; washing, recording, and drawing artifacts; and interpreting cultural remains in their historical contexts. On weekends, the team visited a variety of sites including the Galilee region, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and Tel Aviv.

We will be assisting the Decorah Area Chamber by building shelving in the garage area behind the building.

Please bring hand tools, drills, drivers, saws, etc.

Project should take about 3 hours.

DRC Sponsor: Don Holmertz

Sean Brown is local, born and raised in Decorah. He went to Luther College and graduated in 2013. Along with his parents Jeff and Anja, in 2015 they opened Impact Coffee in Decorah and haven't looked back. With the help of extended family and friends, they have overseen a major expansion at their old location in the former frame shop on Washington Street followed by a complete renovation and relocation to their current location on Water Street in the former J.C. Penny's building. Sean plans to share some of the highlights of his family's experiences and business model with our members.

Learn all about Impact Coffee at their website: Impact Coffee Bar and Roasters

Helping Services Holiday Lights, celebrating 15 years!

Open nightly from 5-8PM, Nov 27 through Dec 25

DRC Sponsor: Larry Monson

Winneshiek County Conservation Naturalist Larry Reis will provide guidance to our members regarding the care and feeding of birds wintering in the local area. Over his career, Larry has presented more than 8,000 educational programs, reaching over 200,000 people. Since 2014, he has maintained an extensive photographic record of wildlife, seasonal changes, and natural resources in Winneshiek County and northeast Iowa. In 2017 Larry received the Outstanding Partner Award from Northeast Iowa Resource Conservation and Development, which recognizes an individual or organization demonstrating an exceptional commitment to promoting and protecting natural resources. He became the fourth recipient in the 20-year history of the award.

Larry's photo record boasts over 11,000 professional quality, annotated images. Check it out here: Larry Reis Photography

Rotary will be assisting with the community meal on Dec 5th at Decorah Lutheran Church.  If you are signing up for salads and desserts, please make sure they are delivered around about 4:15PM.  Questions may be directed to Alan Lerstrom at lerstral@luther.edu or (563) 382-8396.

DRC Sponsor: Samantha Scholtes

The healthcare world has been changing and evolving rapidly over the last decade. As a leading human service provider, Mosaic recognizes the importance of their work and how they fit into the healthcare system. For over 100 years, Mosaic has demonstrated how a faith based approach to supporting people with disabilities to build happy, healthy and meaningful lives in the community is so effective. The supports and services Mosaic provides focuses on the whole person, which is critical to overall health and happiness. The healthcare industry understands the impact social determinants have on a person’s health.  Because Mosaic is an expert at serving the whole person, they believe they will be a critical component in our healthcare system. Mosaic's vision is to be the changing face of healthcare, passionate about serving the whole person and partnering for quality outcomes. 

While Mosaic has traditionally served people with intellectual disabilities, they believe they can make a positive impact to help many others. They will not limit their services based on a particular diagnosis or need. As Mosaic moves forward, they intend to serve people with varying needs such as aging, mental health, and autism. In addition, Mosaic is looking to build services for children, which is highly needed in Iowa.

Mosaic in Northern Iowa's Executive Director, Pat Costigan, will be presenting and may be joined by Associate Director Kim Waters.