Business & Industry Week - Premier 1 Supplies

On October 17th we had our annual business and industry week.  David Collins invited Stan and Jean Potratz from Premier 1 Supplies here in Washington.
Stan started Premier 1 in 1979 after finding that he was not finding the equipment and supplies he wanted after farming for several years.

The current project underway at Premier 1 Supplies is the construction of a new building.  Stan is planning to use this building to continue to serve his customers and continue to ship out countless items across North America.  Currently, Premier 1 sends out 360,000 catalogs each year and employ around 55 employees.  We are fortunate to have such a successful business and employer here in Washington County!

Stan and Jean Potratz and David Collins

We were also fortunate to have so many great guests in attendance this week!

KCTC - digital security

On October 10th, Terry invited Casey Peck, Jeremy Gugel and Rory White to come and present information in regards to digital security with us.

Jeremy Gugel and Rory White review tips for digital security

KCTC continues to see an increase in data breaches according to national data collected over the past several years.  Of the breaches that are recorded, small business account for 60%.  There is no one type of business affected; there is a wide variety and really anyone could be a target.
There are 3 types of breaches:
1. Cyber Crime
2. Cyber Warfare
3. Cyber Espionage

Casey Peck presenting information on cyber security

There are several ways the criminals can penetrate your system, but the most common seem to be:
- Phishing
- Social Engineering (job opportunities/social accounts)
- Public Wifi
Casey focused on public wifi for our group.  When using public wifi, be very wary as your device could be compromised by anyone else using that same wifi.  Casey suggests using some kind of VPN or not using public wifi if you can help it.  This just decreases your chance of getting breached by someone else sharing that same network.
Some final tips she shared were:
- Educate yourself and if you are a small business, your employees
- Watch public wifi
- Review your passwords
           Passwords with 10 characters could be hacked in 90 days with todays technology
           Passwords with 12 characters could be hacked in 100 years

Rory, Jeremy, Casey and Terry 

Pearl Valley Rehabilitation update

Michelle Redlinger invited Ron Semler from Pearl Valley Rehabilitation Center to join us to give us an update on their progress September 26th. 
Ron is the current executive director at Pearl Valley and is committed to changing the culture there.  He is also focused on improving and updating the facility.
Ron shared his 5 focus points to change Pearl Valley for the better:
- Change the Culture
- Ask yourself "Why are you here?"
- Change the building/facility
- Change the leadership
- Improve Retention

Thank you, Ron, for coming and updating us on your progress!

 

A perspective from our North and South borders

On September 19th Laura Bombei brought her guest, John Brinning, to discuss his experiences as a retired border patrol officer.
John worked on both the Southern and Northern borders with a wide variety of experiences over the life of his career. 

John Brinning and Laura Bombei

John started his career going to the academy to be a patrol officer and was talked into considering border patrol.  He worked in California, Washington State, Minnesota and Texas throughout his career, with a lot of time working in Texas securing the southern border.  The work he may have enjoyed the most over his years was the boat work.  He would work from the boat to secure the borders near a coastline.  

After his time in active work on the border, he retired but was not ready to step away from work.  He then taught at the academy for 7 years before fully retiring.

Thank you, John, for coming to speak to us and sharing your experiences!

John sharing his experiences with us.

 

Turkey Dinner 2019!

This year our annual Turkey Dinner was held at UP Church in Washington on 9/9/2019.
We served a total of 530 meals with 189 guests dinning in, 341 taking carry out meals and 33 walk in the day of.

We had a great day and wonderful turn out!  Thank you all who helped make this annual dinner a success!

Safe Haven Act

At our 8/29/2019 meeting we had the pleasure of having Melissa Westphal at our meeting to share her story with the Safe Haven Act.  Melissa attended as Jaron's guest speaker.
The Safe Haven act has had 37 children declared in Iowa since the law was enacted in 2002. Melissa reports that nationally there has been over 3,500 children declared through the Safe Haven Act.

Melissa speaks to our group about the Safe Haven Act

The Safe Haven Act is a law that allows a parent to leave an infant up to 30 days old at a health care facility without fear of prosecution.  They are also allowed to call 911 to relinquish parental rights and to confirm someone knows the location of an infant who was left at the health care facility.  The act allows the parent to give medical information about the infant but does not require it.  It also requires the health care facility to contact DHS and report the infant has been taken under the Safe Haven Act.
Thank you Melissa for sharing your families experience and bringing your very special guest with you!

Iowa Speedway

Last week, Denise and Kevin presented their experience driving at the Iowa Speedway!

Denise and Kevin were able to go to Newton and do the Iowa Speedway experience.  The Iowa Speedway is a 7/8 mile oval track.  Cars on race day reach speeds up to 150 mph or more.  Denise claimed there were no odometers in the cars she and Kevin drove so she wasn't sure what her top speed was!

They both had to participate in a 3 hour course before stepping in a car.  This was to review safety practices, where to keep the car in the actual track and other items for them to get the most out of their experience!
Thank you for sharing about this awesome experience! 

We also briefly discussed the upcoming Turkey Dinner in September.  Several signs are being posted in high traffic areas in town this year to help promote this event.  This is the first year we have used these signs.

Upcoming Events:
August
29 - Jaron Rosien
September
5 - Turkey Dinner Program
9 - Turkey Dinner!
12 - No Meeting (Turkey Dinner Week)
19 - Laura Bombei

Rocking at Rotary

Thursday August 15th, Matt Greiner and Joe Nichols were our presentation at Rotary!  They are members of both James Crossroads and Aces and Eights and we had the pleasure of hearing about playing guitar and all their equipment they use at their shows!

Matt reviewed guitar basics with us.

After reviewing guitar basics, Matt and Joe played "name that tune".  We split up into two groups and tried to name that tune as they played the opening of songs.

Thank you for a great presentation!

Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn

Last week we had a really special guest for our weekly Rotary meeting!  Jim Gorham arranged for Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn to join us for lunch and to speak to our group about his time with the World Food Prize!

Jim Gorham introducing Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn

Ambassador Quinn assumed presidency of the World Food Prize Foundation in 2000.  The past 20 years he has been working to make the World Food Prize the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture" and has traveled all over the world.  Ambassador Kenneth has Iowa roots, and hails from Dubuque; attending Dubuque Whalart for High School and Loras Collage for his undergraduate.  He shared how he moved from his first job in Dubuque to 10 years later being employed in Washington DC at the White House!
Dr. Norman E. Borlaug developed a"miracle"wheat in Mexico through the 1940s and 1950s.  This new wheat was developed and able to grow in a variety of different growing conditions and changed agriculture in Mexico and later in Asia and all of Latin America.  In 1970, Dr. Borlaug received the Nobel Peace Prize for his lifetime work and his achievements in agriculture. The World Food Prize was founded by Dr. Norman Borlaug in 1986. 

Ambassador Quinn

The World Food Prize has had 2 dreams in the past 20 years with Ambassador Quinn as president;
1. Make the World Food Prize the "Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture"
2. Make Central Iowa the Food and Agriculture Capital of America
The World Food Prize holds an annual symposium in October in Des Moines where international leaders, farmers and experts come together to discuss global food security and nutrition. 

Thank you Ambassador Quinn for attending our weekly meeting and presenting all this wonderful information on the World Food Prize!

Reminder! 7/25/19 Program!

Just a reminder!  This weeks program will be Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn.  Kenneth M Quinn assumed the presidency for the World Food Prize Foundation in 2000 and we would like to have a great turn out for him this week!  Please mark this weeks meeting on your calendar and bring a guest who may be interested in hearing him speak.

See you Thursday at Noon at the YMCA downtown!

Annual Banquet 2019

June 26th 2019 we had our Annual Awards Dinner.  Great food, conversation and great attendance for this years dinner!

Congratulations to all our scholarship winners this year!

Gwen Flannery - Rotary Scholarship

Molly Sparks - Rotary Scholarship 

Claire Horak - John Prochaska Service Award and Rotary Youth Leadership Award 

Congratulations to Keith Lazar who received the Bill Sitler Rotary Community Service Award!

Keith Lazar - Bill Sitler Rotary Community Service Award

 And Congratulations to Ed Lins for receiving the Rotarian of the Year award presented by President Lynn Koch!

Lynn Koch passed the gavel (or two!) to Kurt Sorenson.  Thank you Lynn for your service as Rotary President!

Thank you for all who were able to attend, and a HUGE thank you to the annual awards dinner committee members (Cheryl Kurtz and Ann Harris) for organizing a great event and thank you and to Tsalika for the wonderful meal!