The Greater Mankato Rotary Club honored three recipients of the Service Above Self event at the annual event on March 1 - one week later than anticipated due to inclement weather in later February. Individual recipients were Laura Doyen and Susu Sadaka and the group recipient was South Central Minnesota Food Recovery, accepted by founder Natasha Frost.
The Greater Mankato Rotary Club - Eco club recently received a boost as it begins an ambitious project in Rotary Park (Augusta and St. Andrews in Mankato). The group, which is a focused subgroup of the Greater Mankato Rotary Club is undertaking a pollinator project set to beautify the park while adding native plants that are friendly to bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. They received a Rotary Shark Tank grant for phases beginning July 1. In the meantime, work has begun around the entrance sign to the park. Additional phases will include more native plant areas, signage to learn more about the plants, and sculptures, including one that spreads the word about the great works of Rotary.
The Greater Mankato Rotary Club Foundation Committee would like to encourage all members in our club consider supporting the Rotary Foundation. The Foundation allows Rotary to do good work in the world.
It is a not-for-profit organization supported by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends. It helps Rotarians to promote world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. Support is essential to make projects possible, which are funded with Foundation grants for communities in need. Some of the areas supported include Polioplus, Rotary Peace Fellowships, and grants for projects, scholarships, and training. The Rotary Foundations helps out in times of crisis, such as the current war in Ukraine, and also provides ongoing support for current and future projects.
As was presented by long-time member Herb Kroon at the Noon meeting on June 16, the Mankato Rotary has been around in some fashion since 1935 when it was chartered with 15 members. Thirty years earlier Paul Harris founded Rotary International. Judge Milt Mason was one of the first members and remained in the club until the early 1980s. Eventually, the club, like the area, grew and morphed into offshoots. The St. Peter club in 1938, the New Prague club in 1945, Waseca in 1960, and North Mankato in 1969. At its peak in the late 1990s, the Mankato Rotary Club had more than 100 members, perhaps attributing to the fact that women were allowed to join in 1987 (prior to this the “wives” were in Rotary Auxilliary clubs). JO Guck Bailey and Denise Zernechel, current active club members, were among the first to join. Both would later become presidents, following the lead of the first female president Carol Larson in 1993.
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Service Above Self
Mankato, MN 56001
United States of America