Please join us this Wednesday morning at 7:30am in the Kitchi Gammi Club Great Hall (831 E Superior St, Duluth, MN 55802) as we hear from Kendall Qualls is a Faculty-in-Residence at Crown College, School of Business and Founder/President of the nonprofit foundation, TakeCharge. In addition, Mr. Qualls was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of Minnesota in the 2022 election cycle.
Mr. Qualls’ organization, TakeCharge strives to unite Americans regardless of background, toward a shared history and common set of beliefs. At TakeCharge, they promote that the promise of America is available to everyone regardless of race or social standing.
Mr. Qualls has a unique vantage point to convey that message and to plant the seeds of change desperately needed. Mr. Qualls was raised in a broken home in poverty. He worked full-time to pay for college, served as an officer in the U.S. Army, and later earned three graduate degrees. He worked his way up the ranks at several Fortune 100 healthcare companies before he became Global Vice President of Sales and Marketing at a $850M business unit.
Mr. Qualls has been married to his wife, Sheila for 37-years and they have five children together. He was a mentor at Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge and serves on the Board of Hope Farm School, a school for at-risk boys from Minneapolis.
Mr. Qualls recently authored a book, The Prodigal Project: Hope for American Families. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Heritage Foundation. His message has reached millions of people as a speaker and as a guest on The Tucker Carlson Show, Fox & Friends, the Dennis Prager Show, “Garage Logic” with Joe Soucheray and several others.
Mr. Qualls’ articles have been published in the New York Post, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Federalist, Real Clear Politics, The Christian Post and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
For the next two weeks, Harbortown Rotary will be passing the hat for the for the 10 families we're supporting for Christmas presents this year!
If you would like to donate and are unable to join us on Wednesday morning, President Tony is accepting Venmo and Zelle payments to go towards the presents.
Venmo - @Tony_Hansen (Last four digits of his cell: 6499)
Zelle - Search Tony's cellphone number (218.343.6499).
Thank you for your continued generosity during this holiday season!
Thank you to our Harbortown Rotarians and the New Generations Committee for their continued support of the 3rd Grade Dictionary Project!
Check out the warm fuzzies we've received from students and adults alike below.
Hi, My husband is a senior grandfather working with grade 3 at Myers-Wilkens elementary. He brought home a dictionary that you distributed to the students. It is one of the best I have ever seen for children. The teacher had an extra so he has been gifted with it to use with the kids. Thank you. Bobbi Hoyt, retired teacher with ISD 709.
Notes received today from Ms. Sorbo's 3rd grade class at Lester Park Elementary. Enjoy!
You and your plus one are joyfully invited to join us on Wednesday, December 20th at 5:30pm for Harbortown Rotary's Annual Holiday Party!
We will gather in our ugliest holiday sweaters and enjoy delicious food, wonderful fellowship, and exciting axe throwing!
Who: You and Your Guest What: Harbortown Rotary's Annual Holiday Party Where: Skyline Social & Games - Fireside Room, 4894 Miller Trunk Hwy, Duluth, MN 55811 When: Wednesday, December 20, 2023 | 5:30pm - 9:00pm (Axe Throwing 6:00pm - 8:00pm) Why: To Celebrate the Holiday Season with our Fellow Harbortown Rotarians
$40/Person - Includes plentiful food and axe throwing! Cash bar available.
I am pleased to present the following update to the distribution efforts of the Brain Game Books. As you may remember, Harbortown contributed $1000 last year for 100 brain game books along with contributions from Club 25 ($2500), Skyline ($500) and Pilgrim Congregational Church ($1000) for a total of 500 Brain Game Books.
This update is from our distribution partner, Every Child Ready Duluth (ECRD), Carmella Hatch. They have offices in the downtown Duluth Library.
All of the books have been distributed except for 15 of them, which we are holding for the First Ladies of the Hillside to distribute. We have offered these books to our different ECRD partners who work directly with families so they can now distribute them as they see fit. Here is the list of partners we sent books to:
American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO)
St. Louis County Home Visiting Nurses program
Early Childhood Family Education
Lifehouse young parents program
Lincoln Park Children and Families Collaborative (LPCFC)
Minnesota Masonic Children’s Clinic of Communication Disorders
Steve O’Neil Apartments (SONA) supportive housing
Women Infants and Children (WIC)
YWCA childcare and young mom’s program
We are planning to give these organizations time to distribute these books and check in later to get some feedback on how it went and if they’re ready for more books. We will also keep in mind any new partners or opportunities to share books in the future.
Thanks to all Rotarians for supporting this wonderful project. More updates to follow and potential future donation requests for additional books.
Use the Google Photos link below to share them with us, so we can spread the word about how awesome our members are and the impact we're making on our community!
If you have an upcoming program duty (please check the upcoming duty roster), please be sure to secure a speaker and provide notice to Chloe Strand (Chloe.Strand@hdcmn.org) as soon as that speaker is confirmed. If you are unable to confirm a speaker, please contact Rick Oase (rickoase@yahoo.com) or Stephanie Judd (sljudd@gmail.com) for help, consider other program ideas like a Ted Talk, presenting yourself on a relevant topic or your business, or creating some excitement for a community organization you are passionate about. It is your program, so think about what is interesting and engaging to you and share it with others!
If for some reason you are unable to switch duties with another member or you have simply exhausted all efforts to find a speaker, please notify Rick or Stephanie no later than 3 business days before the meeting (the Friday before the meeting your program is scheduled).
Harbortown Rotary has a Windows 11 laptop at the Kitchi Gammi Club for weekly Harbortown meetings. Presenters may bring a USB drive with the PowerPoint presentation (or whatever is wanted to be shown on the projector while speaking). Please share this information with your program's presenter.
Thank you for your help and thank you to all who are working hard to find engaging content for our upcoming sessions!
Upcoming Program Duties:
04.03 - Jim Boileau
04.10 - Gabe Walsh, CEO of Lake Superior Area Realtors Association
For news, announcements, event promotion, social media, media releases, and more, please contact Charity Johnson (csjohnson@starbasemn.org / 218.788.7288) and Chloe Strand (chloestrand90@gmail.com / 218.340.2531).
For Scuttlebutt: If you are hosting the program speaker, please copy Chloe on the speaker's name, organization, and email. If you are the chair of a Harbortown Committee, please update Chloe on relevant information regarding grants and awards, meetings or news. Chloe and Charity will use this information to create more dynamic and engaging content to share with potential club members and on social media!
It is our goal to continue to share the good work that Harbortown Rotary is doing in our community, so your help and support is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
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