Guests & Visitors: Barb Randall (Downtown Rotary), Jon Wasta (District), Scott Shoemaker (potential member), Koleene Herlocker, Stacey Walker (speaker)
Announcements:
Joke of the day: A nerd was walking on campus one day when his friend, another nerd, rode up on an incredible shiny new bicycle. The first nerd was stunned and asked, “Where did you get such a nice bike?” The second nerd replied, “Well, yesterday I was walking home minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up to me on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, ‘Take what you want!” The second nerd nodded approvingly and said, “Good choice. The clothes probably wouldn’t have fit.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs are hosting Pedal 4 Progress, a bike ride this Saturday from Cedar Rapids to Ely and back. Registration starts at 10 AM at the Sag Wagon. Ride leaves at 11:30 AM. More info here.
Communications committee is looking for note takers. This is an easy way to get involved in the club. Reply to this email if you are interested.
If you have any Facebook updates to share on the MNR page, you can send to TJ, Shannon, Sarah H. or Patti.
School Supply Drive for Boys & Girls Clubs: We're asking members to bring school supplies to help fill the School Supply Bank for kids that need supplies throughout the year. Please bring supplies to our normal meetings through September 20th. Here's a link to the supply list: http://www.cr.k12.ia.us/assets/1/6/K-5_School_Supply_List_18-19.pdf
Latino Festival is this Sunday from 11-5pm at McGrath Amphitheatre
Scott Johnson presented Cheri with her 4th Paul Harris pin and Shannon H and Brian R with stickers for their donations to Rotary Foundation.
Speaker: Stacey Walker from SET Task Force
Stacey began by telling about his childhood. He and his sister were raised by his grandmother on the South East side of Cedar Rapids in Wellington Heights, an area known for poverty. Stacey was elected Linn County Supervisor and has chosen to focus on interrupting the cycles of poverty. If we don't get at the root of the problem, we will continue in the same cycle.
SET came about in 2016 after gun violence by a 14 year old took the life of a 15 year old. A City Councilman reached out to Stacey and together they pulled a team of community leaders together. They interviewed students and learned that youth who have access to guns typically live in unsafe neighborhoods and are from low income households. The goal of SET was to present to the community a final report with its recommendations to help move the Cedar Rapids Community toward a safer, more equitable and thriving community. The final report from the SET Task Force can be viewed here.
Currently SET is seeking financial commitments from the Cedar Rapids School District and the City to start to implement some of the task force's recommendations. They are working to create a SET Foundation with the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, School District, City and County to address poverty.