Monday Morning Messenger - December 12th

Good Morning Prior Lake Rotarians! 

For the last number of years, it’s been observed that the first six months of the Rotary year for our club are the “slow” months, and then it picks up right around the first of the year.  Well, it’s not quite January, but business is about to pick up! 

Last Wednesday, Valentine’s Gala Chair Tom Kedrowski kicked off this year’s Gala.  If you weren’t there, you missed that this year’s theme is “A Night in Wine Country” and it should be a great event!  We’ve been doing the Gala for over 10 years now, and the details are pretty well figured out at this point:  Each club member should sell six tickets and get at least three auction items.  You were emailed out your teams last week, and this week you’ll be getting copies of a fundraising letter to give to businesses as well as auction submission documents.  If you have any questions, let Tom or his co-chairs Dave Card, Reid Peterson or Cindi Shepard know!

And even though the joke above was that the first six months is “slow”, it’s really anything but with our club.  You don’t want to miss this Wednesday’s meeting, as we’ll be having our mid-year review.  All the committee chairs will let you know what’s been going on with their committees.  We’ve accomplished a lot so far this year…come on Wednesday to see what all has been!

And here’s this week’s Monday Morning Messenger!

THE WEEK THAT WAS…

·         Monday, December 5- Valentine’s Gala Planning Meeting

o   The Committee met ahead of their program on Wednesday to continue with the plans for this year’s event.

·         Wednesday, December 7- CLUB MEETING

o   We had 39 Members at the meeting on Wednesday.

o   The program, as mentioned above, was a kickoff to our Valentine’s Gala for the year.  Dates of interest for the Gala:

§  December 14- Tickets distributed

§  January 11- Banquet Room Table Distribution- Have your money in by then!

§  January 25- Live Auction Item deadline

§  February 1- Silent Auction Item deadline

o   Paul Perez announced that our “Stockin’ The Shelves” initiative for the CAP Agency netted $250 and 253 pounds of food that will go to people that need it within our community!

·         Wednesday, December 7- Membership Committee Meeting

o   After the club meeting, the Membership Committee met to discuss the proposed Corporate Membership program that will be forwarded to the Board for approval.

·         Wednesday, December 7- STRIVE

o   The STRIVE mentors met with their students at Bridges for lunch, a presentation by a former Bridges’ student, and some time for conversation.

·         Friday, December 9- Music Fest PR/Marketing Committee Meeting

o   The PR/Marketing Chairs, the Steering Committee, and representatives from our three Non-Profit Partners and McFarland-Cahill Communications met to share ideas and start to put a plan together for a comprehensive PR/Marketing campaign!

THE WEEK AHEAD…

·         Wednesday, December 14- CLUB MEETING

o   As mentioned above, our program will be a mid-year review of what our club has accomplished so far. 

o   Remember that Valentine’s Gala tickets will be available at the meeting as well.

THE TIME AHEAD OF THAT…

·         Tuesday, December 20- Board Meeting

o   The Board will meet for their monthly meeting.  Among the topics of discussion: an update of the future of the DARE program, a perusal of the budget, and approval of the Corporate Membership program.

·         Wednesday, December 21- CLUB MEETING

o   It’s our annual Holiday meeting…complete with festivities!!

·         Wednesday, December 28- CLUB MEETING

o   Scott County Engineer Mitch Rasmussen will be with us to give an update on area highway projects as well as providing us information on snowplowing operations.

·         Wednesday, January 4- CLUB MEETING

o   Jody Allen Crowe, Executive Director of Healthy Brains for Children, will speak on the prevention of prenatal exposure to alcohol.

·         Saturday, January 14- District Midterm

o   Want to find out more about what Rotarians throughout our District do, and get a little more energized for the last six months of the year?  Plan to attend the District Mid-term!

·         Tuesday, January 17- Lakefront Music Fest Committee Meeting

o   It’s the first meeting of the entire Music Fest Committee!  If you’d like to be involved, plan on making it to this meeting…it’ll be a great night of energy and ideas!

·         Saturday, February 11- Valentine’s Gala

o   The biggest winter party in Prior Lake!

FINAL THOUGHT…

As we start to gear up for our Valentine’s Gala and then the Music Fest this summer, you’re encouraged to get involved!  Seek out the Chairs of each event if you’d like to help in some capacity or another, or if you even have any questions.  These are full-club events, and it’s up to all of us to make them be the best they can be!