DECEMBER NEWS

SERVICE: "Keep others from throwing in the towel by throwing in yours" Rather than throwing stuffed animals on the ice when the Northern Lights scores its first goal of the game, in December our fans are encouraged to throw a rolled up towel instead. We continue to collect towels through the month and will donate them to Bridging. Fran, the founder of Bridging, visited our meeting in November and challenged us "You all have stuff...give some of it away!" Our team decided to do a towel drive in response to Fran's specific request for more new or gently used cloth goods like towels, washcloths and dish towels. Help us help families in transition...

HOCKEY SIDE OF LIFE:
Many of our Rotaractors play for or are staff of the Northern Lights Junior A Hockey Team which is based out of the Bloomington Ice Garden at the northeast corner of France and 98th Street. The team is on a winning streak and battling for first place...congrats!!!

For details about our upcoming Goodwill Sports Amabassador trip to Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics, check out older posts to the right OR scroll to the bottom of this page and click 'older posts'

We're pleased to report that two of our club officers are in the top five in points in the league. Assistant Captain #11 Josh Shingler (Sergeant at Arms, Shawano WI) who is second in the league in scoring. Club Secretary #26 Captain Garrett Windle, a forward from Downington Pennsylvania is currently holding third place even after taking five games away from the Lights while with a Tier II Junior team for an extended tryout Minnesota Junior Hockey League in scoring.

Following right behind him and in the top 20 are club member Chris Weber (Burnsville, MN) and Vice President/Assistant Captain Jon Barrick (Litchfield, MN). Other league standouts include goalie Josh Lehr (Appleton, WI) who has notched 11 wins for the Lights with a 92% save average.

We truly celebrate good things happening to these great young people!

October Activities

Hey club members: Nice job volunteering this month!! The whole gang almost came out to rake leaves on National Make A Difference Day Saturday October 24. After a bagel breakfast provided by the Bloomington Daymakers Rotary club, we divided up and went to several homes to assist elderly Bloomington residents with yard work. Several hours later, the Northern Lights Hockey team went on to beat the Minnesota Wildcats 8-1. What a great day!! And the weather cooperated by giving us a great sunny and non-precipitating morning in the middle of several days of glum. Thanks also to those who let us use their rakes since our members aren't home owners and don't have access to rakes.

COMMUNITY HALLOWEEN PARTY:
Many club members served at Woodlake Nature Center located just south of 66th Street and east of 35W on Shoreview Drive in Richfield, MN. Our group helped carve the 70 pumpkins needed for the kids Halloween party last Saturday. FLASH, the Northern Lights mascot and Caleb our honorary member were both on hand for the event to hand out hockey tickets at the hockey "shoot and score" game. Thanks for volunteering!!

Also a huge round of applause from the women's BSF group that meets on Wednesday mornings. They really can't keep talking about how grateful they are that our group sets up their 300 chairs each week. That's "Service Above Self" to do ongoing service.

October 12 meeting was used for training...we practiced reading "Brady Brady and the Great Rink" for school presentations. Great job remembering the Four Way Test too!

Oct 19 meeting was 6:30 PM at Bloomington Ice Garden Community Room
The video educational program about Polio will be seen at another meeting.

Club Meeting 9/21

Guests are cordially invited to join us on the 3rd Monday of each month at the Bloomington Ice Garden 6:30-8:00 PM

Service Project September 14

Our first official service project of the year was at Feed My Starving Children where we had 25 members attend training. Watch the training video here by clicking the first/top video. Our club packaged 8856 meals with countless "perfect" food packs of 390 grams. These food packs of soy, chicken, rice and vegies will feed 24 children for an entire year. We heard lots of cheering and calls out for more product as our group worked for several hours on the packaging floor. Great job warehouse crew too! Pix soon... Some of the stats we learned: 18,000 children a day die of hunger-related issues around the world. Click here for fact sheet about FMSC. We have signed up to serve here two more times this year on the second Monday of December and March.

CHARTER NIGHT RECAP

Thank you to those who participated in our Charter Night activities at the Bloomington Ice Garden Sunday September 13, 2009 and the Northern Lights Hockey game. Rotarians enjoyed the Famous Dave's dinner social before the game while the team left to prepare for the game. We received a charter certificate from our District Governor Sandra Schley who also dropped the puck during the pre-game ceremony. After the national anthem, she and the Honorable Bloomington Mayor Gene Winstead announced the formal "Let's Play Hockey."

The Mayor gave a proclamation that it was "Rotaract Club of the Athlete Village Charter Day" in the city of Bloomington Minnesota. Club Advisor Stephanie led the crowd in reciting the Four Way Test which was printed in the game program. President Steve Dus rang the club bell to symbolize the closing of our Rotaract event that started at 4:30 and the hockey game began.

Fan highlights were hugs and high 5's with "Flash" the team mascot, driving the remote control zamboni, throwing stuffed animals on the ice when the team scored the first goal of the game and playing Chuck-A-Puck after first period. We raised $53 in donations for Polio Plus and lots of people in the stands were buzzing about the Rotary connection -- the club banner and Rotary flag display in the scorer's area were really eye-catching.

From Club Advisor Stephanie Smith: "Our club members were excited to receive their Rotaract pins after the game and the new club bell presented by the Bloomington DayMakers club, our sponsors. The team sat down to a BBQ meal after the game -- thank you to those who provided the meal! Big thanks to all who helped behind the scenes, including DayMakers who ran errands, took pictures and really made our new club members feel special at our first official function. And to our new club members and officers, a hearty congrats and welcome to the Rotary Family!"

Charter Members

Prospective New Members & Guests

Our Rotaract Club is now open to additional members and we encourage service-oriented young adults 18-29 to submit an application for membership by emailing this completed form to rotaractvillage@gmail.com The first 30 members came from athletes, staff and volunteers affiliated with the Northern Lights Junior A Hockey team who have come from around the country to be part of a hockey team. The club is actively recruiting both male and female young adults who desire to serve their community to join them for meetings on the 3rd Monday of each month to learn about the way that Rotary clubs around the world, starting with those in our back door, are leading the way in business ethics, service and professional development. On the second Monday of each month the club will be actively engaged in service. We are excited to be part of the largest service organization in the world, Rotary International.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ROTARACT
Brochure
General Purposes/Policies
Club Handbook
International Membership Statistics
Membership Benefits
International Convention in Montreal CAN

Additional applicants who are approved for membership before August 24, 2009 will be considered "Charter Members" of the club and will be presented their pin at the Charter Night 9/13 along with our 25+ approved charter members. Starting in October, new members will be inducted on the regularly scheduled meetings which will be at 6:30 PM on the 3rd Monday of each month at the Bloomington Ice Garden. Please share this website with those that you believe might be interested in learning more about our club.

VISITORS/GUESTS/PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS We welcome guests to attend our charter night and our club meetings which will be held on the 3rd Monday of the month at the Bloomington Ice Garden starting 9/21. Our club will provide make-up slips to visiting Rotarians and Rotaractors for those who join our meetings/activities. Except as posted, meetings are $5 per guest. When possible, let us know you are coming so that we can plan for refreshments etc. (Email rotaractvillage@gmail.com). Also, be sure to check here for location if you'd like to join us for our 2nd Monday events which will be off-site. The cost for those events will be posted here too.