DIANE KEYES - "THE VALUE OF FAMILY MEALS"
“The world would be a much better place if we all ate more meals together,” says Diane Keyes, our Nov. 7 speaker and the author of “To Wendy’s with Love: The 22-Year Lunch.”Diane has become an advocate for family meals after changing her life with that very practice. Even as an adult, Diane found that communication with a controlling mother was difficult, until she decided to take her mother out for lunch. It served as a “de-motherized zone” that grew into an extended family gathering at a Wendy’s restaurant each Thursday.
It isn’t about the food, it’s about the conversation, she says, urging us to carve out sacred time for family meals. Gathering around the dinner table is where family members learn empathy and compassion. “We need to eat with our kids,” she says. “It takes 20 minutes to connect. And the more we do it, the better off we are.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
When you purchase goods from Amazon this holiday season, look for the online Amazon Smiles button; it allows you to make a donation to A.M. Rotary. The club’s deadline for grant applications is Nov. 15. Sign-ups are being taken for the club’s annual bell-ringing for the Salvation Army; this year’s date is Dec. 2 at Cub Foods. If you are thinking of making a charitable donation on Nov. 16 Give to the Max Day, keep in mind the Haven House homelessness project that has involvement by Eden Prairie Rotarians; the transitional housing for adults 18-22 is listed as a project on the Eden Prairie Community Foundation’s page on GiveMN.org.
SPOTLIGHT ON JOHN MELANDERJon Melander was the youngest of six kids in his Fridley family, but he was big and athletic and began playing football in third grade. It would eventually lead to play for the University of Minnesota (where he graduated from the Carlson School of Management), The New England Patriots, the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Denver Broncos. He’s now a partner at Boulay, in the wealth management division. He joined Rotary in 2000 and became club president and assistant district governor while in the Minnetonka club. He’s now an active member of Eden Prairie A.M. Rotary.
HAPPY BUCKS
We are happy and willing to kick in $5 to explain why. Adam Seidel is happy to remind everyone to vote in today’s school board election. Aaron Glass was impressed by the business-related Camp Enterprise project he participated in with John Crudele; the kids were doing amazing projects. Mike Lewis was glad to have spent time near Atlanta, celebrating the 100 th birthday of his grandmother.
VISITORS
Tom Keyes - Guest of Diane Keyes
Tom Keyes - Guest of Diane Keyes
Mark Freiberg - Prospective Member
Susanna Kutina - Prospective Member
Holly Link - Prospective Member
Phil McDonald
Morgan Blixrud and Phillip Kuhn - Student Interns