Rotary Ramblings
Prior Lake Rotary Club Continues to Serve the Community
By Paul Perez
Prior Lake Rotary Club knows how to make a difference by serving the community, and the Club, through its Anti-Trafficking Team, is well into a District Grant project that has been planned for over a year. The idea came through their ongoing collaborative partnership with The Link/Passageways. The Club has financially supported them since 2017. In that time, the financial contribution is well over $24,000.
The project was to help with renovations of 2 apartments at The Link/Passageways. New carpet, flooring, plumbing upgrades and essential repairs to create comfortable trauma-informed living spaces. Completion and reopening were planned for late March at the time of this article. The beneficiaries will be sex-trafficked youth ages 17-24 who have already completed the emergency shelter and are now looking for employment and establishing a rent history. The apartments can be inhabited for up to 2 years.
A District Grant project is through The Rotary Foundation, the fundraising arm of Rotary International. These are competitive grants where other Clubs in Rotary District 5960 can seek funding for their projects. Prior Lake Rotarian Joan Lompart, who also wrote the grant stated, “A comfortable clean space will help with continued recovery from this heinous crime against youth. The amount of trauma that is incurred by survivors is monumental. A clean space will help for continuing mental health services and looking for jobs.”
(Below - Prior Lake Rotarian Deb Coan Severson, shown here, and her husband Jim, both worked multiple shifts during the opening of The Links/Passageways)
For the grants, Clubs are expected to put at least a portion of the total grant toward the project. In this case, the overall project costs were $20,000, of which the Club paid $2,250 and the District portion was $9,750. The other funds were raised through donations from 12 Rotary Clubs in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In all, 44 people will be positively impacted directly and over 100 indirectly annually.
The money used towards the grant comes from the Club’s main fundraiser, Prior Lake Rotary’s Lakefront Music Fest. The funds raised allow the Club to support grants like this, and to also give donations to other worthy organizations, provide scholarships, and fund programs and service projects. In short, the monies are used to provide hope and opportunity, which is what this grant will help do.
The District Grant process also encourages Rotarians to complete hands-on activities related to the project. Up to twelve Prior Lake Rotarians, and some significant others, cleaned, organized, and built furniture for the apartments over two weeks in March in preparation for the opening.
The Anti-Trafficking team members within the Prior Lake Rotary Club are very passionate, and active, in their role to end human trafficking and human slavery. Said Co-Chair Mary Viereck, “You do not have to be a Rotarian to be involved in the team. The more involvement we have, the more we are able to do. Contact us through our Club website.”
(Prior Lake Rotarian Robin Sims cleaning the kitchen area)