This Week's Program: Amy Westbrook and the St. Louis County COVID Response and Vaccine Distribution
Get the most up-to-date accurate information on COVID-19 from the source. Amy Westbrook, Director of the St. Louis County Public Health Division will be briefing the club on the county's response to COVID-19 and their role in the vaccine distribution.
View the COVID-19 Dashboard and see the most recent data and trends.
Amy Westbrook has been in her position with the county for the past six years. Prior to working with the County, Amy worked for 11 years with the Minnesota Department of Health in infectious disease epidemiology. She has a Master of Public Health degree from Tulane University, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Amy loves running and cross country skiing with her family and has relied on both to help her through this pandemic.
In place of our morning meeting on Wednesday, February 17, we will be offering a service project to help STARBASE Minnesota-Duluth at the 148th Fighter Wing. We are looking for 8-10 volunteers to come up from 7:30-10:30 (or even just an hour if you're able to come during the regularly scheduled meeting time).
Please contact Carl Maki (carlmaki@yahoo.com) to RSVP. Once you RSVP, you will need to complete a security form for a background check to get on the entrance list for the base. Once cleared, Charity Johnson will email you the entry and COVID procedures.
STARBASE needs some help with the following:
Hanging a workbench pegboard and some tool hanging and organization
This grant application was completed by Nathan Glockle, principal at Stowe Elementary School in Duluth.
Last year Stowe Elementary applied for and received a Harbortown Rotary grant to enhance the playscape in front of the school. For the project, Stowe partnered with a University of Minnesota Duluth grad assistant who worked with the Stowe staff and students. Various structures were implemented to get students outside and playing with nature. The team utilized the nature trail, planted vegetable gardens, dug for worms, and more to get students to explore their community and flora and fauna of Gary/New Duluth.
Through the partnership with UMD, the grad assistant's capstone project for the semester, was to create, develop, and present a playscape plan to their professor, a local playscape business, and the principal of Stowe Elementary. The school used the $1,000 from Harbortown to start the process of creating the playscape with natural, outdoor, environmentally sound, and engaging playground equipment. The funds helped to provide a mud kitchen, wood cookies, wood structures to play on, a wood platform for performances, a privacy structure, magnetic strips to hang materials, and labor costs to provide natural playscapes for students.
Duluth East students are fundraising for Be The Match which specializes in stem cell and bone marrow transplants. East students are raising money by asking businesses to sponsor the cause through the purchase of a spot on the back of Greyhound t-shirts for their business logos or names. The cost of a logo spot is $100 with the text "We support our Greyhounds!" underneath.
This shirt is not only available for purchase to the entire student body but will also be open to the entire community through East's online store! If you are interested or have any questions about the shirt, you can contact Duluth East Junior Rotarian, Mackenzie Welch for more information mjwelc934@isd709.org, or text her at (218)310-6198.
Harbortown Rotary would like to congratulate Annalise Libbon on being selected as the winner of the 4-Way Test scholarship essay contest! Annalise will receive a $500.00 scholarship from Harbortown, and her essay was sent on to compete at the Rotary district level competition.
Annalise is a senior at East High School and plans to either attend Bethel University or the University of Northwestern in St. Paul to study nursing after she graduates this spring. Her essay was titled “Special Education” and connected the importance of special education in public schools with Rotary’s 4-way test. Annalise was inspired to write her essay on special education thanks to her own personal experience with and involvement in East’s Circle of Friends Club – a highlight of her time at East getting to meet people she would not normally have the chance to interact with.
“In 2018-2019 there were 7.1 million students … who received special education. Odds are that everyone knows someone who is involved in special education, and yet, special education often takes a back seat to other school programs. The improvement of special education should be one of the top priorities at a school. Following the guidelines of the Four-Way Test (is it truthful? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendship? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?) will prove that special education should be prioritized…
Special education programs can also be improved by implementing a club called Circle of Friends. Circle of Friends is a club at my school that has students who are not in special education be mentors with the students in special education. In this group we spend a lot of time playing games and getting to know the kids who are in special education. The past four years I have had the opportunity to be in Circle of Friends, and it has led me to meet a lot of new people that I normally wouldn’t have meet. This club promotes the Four-Way Test because it encourages good will and friendship among the students.”
Congratulations, Annalise! Harbortown wishes you the best in your upcoming endeavors.
Show your Rotary pride loud and proud with new official Harbortown logo wear!
Thanks to Heather Salfer, who collaborated with John Cron to create the official Harbortown Rotary Apparel website.
Click on the link below, select your favorite apparel brand, use the newly branded Harbortown logo and place your order! Prices vary depending on the brand you select.
NEW! Light colored embroidery options are now available for dark apparel. See photograph below for example of thread color.
The February issue of Rotary Magazine is now available online. Scuttlebutt is a great place to get much of our local and regional Rotary news but Rotary Magazine is filled with inspiration and accomplishments from around the globe.
During these challenging times during COVID, it has become an even greater challenge securing weekly program presenters. But this time also affords the opportunity of the ease of a Zoom presentation versus which can be a bonus for a busy presenter.
If you have an upcoming program duty (or if you are unsure, please check the upcoming duty roster) please be sure to secure a speaker and provide notice to Don O'Connor (Don@duluthbx.com) as soon as that speaker is confirmed. If you are unable to confirm a speaker who can present virtually, you could look at options for a Ted Talk, consider presenting yourself on a relevant topic or your business, or create some excitement for a community youth organization you are passionate about. It is your program, so think about what is interesting and engaging to you and share it with others!
Even during our virtual meetings, we want to present engaging content and make the meetings meaningful for those that are attending the weekly sessions. We've hosted several prospective members and we want to keep them coming back with great content.
If for some reason you are unable to switch duties with another member or you have simply exhausted all efforts to find a speaker, please notify Don no later than 3 business days before the meeting (the Friday before the meeting your program is scheduled) whenever possible.
Thank you for your help with this and thank you to all who are working hard to find engaging content for our upcoming sessions!
Upcoming Program Duties:
June 16: Fred Rouse
June 23: President's Dinner: Ridgeview Country Club
There have been a number of questions during this time regarding leave of absence and the procedure for submitting a leave. If you would like to submit a leave of absence, please visit the Harbortown Rotary home page under the Home Page Download Files section or contact admin@harbortownrotary.com to obtain the LOA form.
Below are guidelines regarding the Leave Of Absence process:
Leaves are not granted automatically
A leave of absence is granted by a majority vote of the Board
A leave can be granted only to a member who has no outstanding debts to the club
Career transition leaves are handled differently so please contact the club president or Jan for further details
A leave is granted for a specific period of time not to exceed three months
A member is still responsible for rotary dues and fundraising but not meals during the leave
For news, announcements, event promotion social media, media releases and more, please contact Charity Johnson (csjohnson@starbasemn.org or 218-788-7288).
IMPORTANT UPDATE: 1.5.2021
Chloe Strand joined the Marketing/PR committee last fall and is taking on many duties related to Facebook posts, Member Spotlights and more. When communicating PR details, please copy both Charity (csjohnson@starbasemn.org) and Chloe (Chloe.Strand@hdchrc.org) on relevant information.
For Scuttlebutt: If you are hosting the program speaker, please copy Charity on the speaker's name, organization and email. If you are the chair of a Harbortown Committee, please update Charity and Chloe on relevant information regarding grants and awards, meetings or news. Charity will use this information to create more dynamic and engaging content to share with potential club members and on social media.
It is our goal to continue to share the good work that Harbortown Rotary is doing in our community, so your help and support is greatly appreciated!
