In light of COVID-19 mandates, MT Sunrise Rotary will be hosting virtual meetings until further notice. Our next meeting will be 7:00 AM Friday (10/9).
Our program this week will be a club assembly.
The virtual greeter will provide either the thought, a Rotary minute, share a family moment or a cultural tradition ... anything they would like to start off the day positive.
Upcoming "It's your Rotary moment" assignees:
Fr. Mike Shay (10/9)
Samantha Sousek (10/16)
Kenneth Stelpflug (10/23)
Lynn Streeter (10/30)
Note: If you are unable to act as "It's your Rotary moment" assignee when scheduled please arrange for your replacement.
***********************
While some are familiar with Zoom, there are others for which this will be an opportunity to experience something new
It's as easy as one-two-three. Honest! (You may want to check off the first two steps in advance of the meeting start time)
Device connected to the internet - Check
Zoom app installed on your device - Check
Click "Join Meeting" button below - Check
The “waiting room” will open at 6:50 AM with our meeting starting at 7:00 AM. Attendees should mute themselves when not speaking, or if they have background noise. Attendees can communicate with one another through the “Chat” icon. Click button below to join our Zoom meeting!
Instead of the usual life-course “bio,” since most of you know more about me than four years ago, here are some things about, and in addition to, my career as a Catholic priest, living and working in eleven states as a Salvatorian. As an associate pastor in two parishes and pastor in four others -- one mostly African American and one mostly Hispanic -- I’ve had great experiences for a pure-bred Kansan!
Originally trained as a lithographic photographer, somehow my career path morphed into ten years’ full-service bookkeeping, teaching high school (following graduation from Silver Lake College in Manitowoc as the first male graduate in its 100-year history), and finally ordination in Washington, DC in 1973 following three years’ graduate Theology. Between assignments I served a term as CFO of our religious Order, and another as Provincial Superior of its USA Province.
Active in my communities, I have been president of ministers’ associations in three states, and either president or board member of organizations dealing with drug and alcohol abuse, home health, domestic violence, mental health, hospice, and youth suicide, with a short stint as a adult tutor, and as a teacher of English as a Second Language.
Doin’ fun stuff: my hobbies over the years have included ham radio -- General Class (WA9FOE), baking (Blue Ribbon) Elko County (NV) Fair, and teaching and calling square dance eight years. Now, my hobby is Rotary, this club being my fourth in three states over twenty-one years, and on the Boards of Directors for all except six months of those, serving in various offices including President (following Osaka’s International Convention). A great experience was my two-term stint as Assistant Governor in Arizona, and I am in my fourth year as Secretary and second year as Treasurer for this club. It’s a great hobby!
The following story reveals how Rotary Youth Exchange continues to change lives.
When Tim Pfrogner was in Los Angeles on his exchange in 2010, he participated in a service project that altered his career trajectory. “In our district, we do a humanitarian trip every year,” says Melody St. John, a member of the Rotary Club of Hollywood, California, who with her husband, Paul, hosted Pfrogner during his exchange year. “Tim was with us when we did a water filter project in the Dominican Republic, and he was fascinated.”
After returning home to Germany, Pfrogner went on to study at the Technical University of Munich, but he couldn’t forget what he had experienced on his exchange — or the fact that 800 million people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water.
In 2014, he co-founded a startup, called Waterfilter, that works in the Kigoma region of Tanzania and is now supported by the Rotary Club of München-International. With his team, he developed a sustainable business model to distribute an innovative water purification product made using local resources. Waterfilter trains unemployed people to open up their own Waterfilter shop, where they build the filters and sell them to members of their community for an affordable price.
“This way,” Pfrogner says, “we do not only provide clean and safe drinking water; we also create jobs.”
Pfrogner says his experience with Rotary Youth Exchange was pivotal. “Being confronted with different cultures at such an early time in my life strengthened my ability to have empathy for others,” he says. “Youth Exchange taught me to follow my passions.”
I'm the weekday evening meteorologist here at FOX6. I joined the FOX6 Weather Team in June 2014. It’s great to be home again. Ever since age 3, I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist. I grew up in Mequon, watching and learning from former FOX6 Chief Meteorologist Vince Condella. In high school, I was fortunate to intern with Vince. So, it’s a dream come true to work at FOX6.
After graduating from Homestead High School, I attended both the University of Oklahoma and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I dove into the business early, interning at many TV stations in both Milwaukee and Oklahoma City. I also interned at The Weather Channel in Atlanta. After college, I spent two years as Chief Meteorologist at KNOP-TV in North Platte, Nebraska before moving to WJHL-TV in northeast Tennessee. I met my beautiful wife in Tennessee and we headed for Kansas City, where I worked at KCTV for 6 years, doing TV weather and storm chasing for the station.
I was one of the first 200 people in the country to receive the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation (“CBM”) from the American Meteorological Society. I was also honored to receive the 2019 Best Weathercast Award from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.
When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my daughter and traveling with my wife.
