State of the City on 3/3 at Tattersall - 7:30 AM:  There won't be a normal Rotary meeting on Tuesday March 3rd.  Instead, we'll encourage everyone to attend this annual update about our city.  If you've registered and paid for breakfast, come hungry!  If you haven't registered for breakfast, you can still attend.

About the Presentation:  Alison Page spoke to the club about research by National Geographic Society to identify areas where people lived especially long, healthy lives.  The investigation identified five regions globally that the team marked with blue circles -- hence they became known as "blue zones".  The areas were Sardinia in Italy; Okinawa, Japanese; an Adventist community in Loma Linda, CA; the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica; and Icaria, Greece.  The research then focused on characteristics that the communities shared.  In an oversimplification, the traits are:  physical activity, wise eating, positive outlook, and strong social connections.

 

Alison showed us slides highlighting US health care issues that affect all of us, cost compared to other developed countries being a major factor.  Despite paying far more per capita than the average, health outcomes are not in line with the costs to individuals, companies, and the government (i.e. our taxes).  

 

The slides in pdf form are available by clicking "DOWNLOAD FILES" at the bottom of the Tidings. 

About the Presentation:  Jenny Ames provided us an overview of the RFSD's community education program.  She told us that she was drawn to her position by the fact that, in 2010, the SDRF chose to add and fund communithy education.  Jenny shared some history, facts and figures, and talked about the benefits of connecting the community.  Program Assistant Lauren Kaminski used the River Falls School Forest as a specific example of how the school district communicates about programming.  Reinforced by comments from Alison Page, Jenny talked about how the River Falls Community Education program is used as a model for other Wisconsin school districts. Click READ MORE for a link to Jenny's slides.

 

About the Speaker:  Jenny Ames is the Director of Community Education and Communications for the School District of River Falls.  Program Assistant Lauren Kaminski is a key member of the School Forest Steering Committee in addition to her communication responsibilities.

So Now We are Lobbyists :  Every nonprofit needs to tell its story. Rita Thofern described the work done by Friends of Willow River and Kinnickinnic State Parks to work with state legislators and others. She told us how their small but mighty nonprofit has journeyed to what appears to be success in funding a new nature center facility at Willow River State Park. After dogged work for several years and experiencing some success and much disappointment, the outlook is bright. Rita provided her slides as a pdf for benefit of those who didn't make the meeting (the last few were a "reveal" of a generous and anonymous donation.  The slides are available by clicking on Download Files at the bottom of this Tidings.

 

About the Speaker:  Retired educator Rita Thofern is currently the president of the Friends. Most of her career was with the St. Paul Public schools where she taught and served as building administrator at all levels. Her final assignment was as principal of Battle Creek Environmental Magnet School. Rita was also a lecturer in the graduate school at the University of Minnesota where she had earned a doctorate in Educational  policy and Administration. While most of her academic work was in Minnesota, she did earn a master’s degree in education on this side of the St. Croix at UWRF.