Guatemala Literacy Project - Noon Meeting (Dec. 05, 2024)

Guatemala Literacy Project: Fighting Poverty Through Education

The Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP) has been called “the gold standard of Rotary international projects”. It is a long-operating, multi-district, multi-club project involving over 800 clubs, 90 Rotary districts, and more than 10 countries. The project has four components: reading, textbooks, computers, and scholarships. It has served more than 278,000 students over 25 years.

Guatemala is the most populous Central American country. The mountainous terrain means that many isolated rural areas exist with high poverty rates and limited economic and educational opportunities. About 50% of the population works in small farming with most or all work done by hand. Spanish is the official language, but over 20 indigenous Mayan communities have their own distinct languages. The government pays for schooling through grade 6, after which families have to pay for schooling. Boys generally get first preference for schooling after 6^th grade. Click READ MORE to read more about GLP and our speaker.

Special Announcement - Babcock Memorial

Final Reminder: At the recent board meeting, we voted to commit $200 of club funds towards a memorial bench honoring Judie Babcock. KRLT is raising funds for the bench, and Rotary will add its donation. The Kinni was very important to Judie, who was a board member of the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust as well as an avid supporter and activist for all things River Falls. We have already received another $100 in Rotarian donations to add to the club funds, and we are asking members add to that amount if they want to do so. Let Rick know at rkerfwilson@gmail.com or bring a check or cash to this week's meeting.

Among Friends Update -Sarah Schaffner

Sarah Schaffner started with an introduction of her family and role at Ezekiel as Visitation Pastor, as an interim preacher at a Glenwood City church, and as program coordinator for Among Friends Dementia Respite as well as mother to four children

Among Friends is still operating out of First Congregational Church. Having a 1 hour per week of social time is important for those dealing with dementia and as a break for caregivers. Volunteers are essential to operating the group. The service currently hosts around 12 guests each Tuesday and Thursday. Sarah said that it would be ideal to be open every day but that requires the group to have more volunteers. AF is a social respite program and not a licensed adult day care program. AF Board President Bonnie Jones-Withun noted that some guests still have working spouses. Transportation is provided by families. AF has a close relationship with ADRC in town. Click READ MORE for more about Among Friends and about Sarah.

This Week's Announcements

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT -- STATE OF THE CITY ON MARCH 4TH: We won't have a regular meeting on that date because we're encouraging every Rotarian interested in an update about our city to attend. The meeting is again at Tattersall at 7:30 AM. If you want breakfast, you'll need to register and pay (note that there is no discount for us as Chamber members).

5:01 Restaurant for February: For those of you planning your Burger Battle ticket use strategy, the February venue for 5:01 will be Broz on Thursday February 20th.

A Reminder About 5:01: What is 5:01, you might ask? It's simply a social gathering once a month of Rotarians, spouses, and occasionally visiting friends or family at a River Falls restaurant for a couple of hours of conversation, food and drinks of choice, and an opportunity to get to know one another better.

Some Upcoming Events and Dates:
February 1st --Green Skills Sampler 9:30 AM - 3 PM at River Falls High School sponsored by multiple local org's.
February 6th -- Annual River Falls Chamber Awards Banquet. As Chamber members we are invited to attend.

March 4th -- State of the City at Tattersall 7:30 AM (see above)
April 11th -- Pierce County Relay for Life
April 26th -- Earth Fest 2025 at the UWRF University Center

St Croix Economic Development Corp.

Melissa Meschke replaced Bill Rubin in January 2024 as director of the St Croix County Economic Development Corp. The EDC is a 502(c)6 org that spans 35 towns, cities, and villages in the county. As a 501(c)6, SCEDC is allowed to lobby. Meschke noted that she works closely with neighboring counties. The EDC does programming for municipalities as well as businesses. Her responsibilities include attending events, heading up local initiatives, and growing membership in the EDC. As housing is a very important issue affecting local economic development , a housing study underway will gather data with a target of completion in Q2 2025.

Melissa presented some key data: a county population of 96,763, a 7.8% increase since 2018. An additional growth of about 6% is expected between 2023 and 28. Regional employment is 40,972, which is a growth of 6.3% from 2018-23. Median household income is about $98k, $22.8k above the national average. Pierce & St Croix are among the highest income counties in WI. Job growth in St Croix is above average and unemployment % is very low, which is not always a good thing for economic development. Business statistics show a fairly even distribution among services, retail, construction, heath care, and other. A final slide showed the effect of the pandemic on SCC with job growth and # of establishments growing sharply up to 2019, dropping sharply, and then recovering. Click on Download Files to see the slides and click READ MORE to read about Melissa Meschke.