BuyitForward.com allows anyone who wants to give to donate to support causes in your community. The average household has approximately $7,000 of unused items, if we all donated a few of the items around your home, the benefit and power of your generosity would be profound. BuyitForward.com was founded on the belief that all people want to give back to support worthy causes, and making an easy way would enable everyone the opportunity to pay it forward. Be part of the giving movement in your community, it provides great benefit and it feels great to GIVE! Some Donate, Some Buy...ALL GIVE!
Announcements and Reminders:
It's time to bring in your bottle of wine for the Wall of Wine and silent auction items for Vino Classico! See Mark Weber if you didn't get your tickets yet!
We are looking for a few volunteers to help get our new Leadership Institute off the ground. We are grateful for chair Irene Kelly and team members Jared Chester and Mark Weber. Joint the team, this will be exciting and meaningful! Contact Irene or Mo.
Swallowship Happy Hour is Thursday, September 10 at Biaggi's, 5:00-6:30. Dan O'Brien is host.
District Training at the Arboretum is September 25th, 8:00-1:30 p.m. We can send ten members, free of charge. Register HERE by September 15. The breakout sessions are really relevent to our club: 1. Membership Retention, Engagement, and Recruitment; 2. Public Relations; 3. Rotary Foundation and fundraising.
If you haven't turned in your Member Involvement Form to Mo, please do so.
Meals on Wheels is coming up next week, September 14-18.
BUY YOUR TICKETS: Sat. Oct. 10,from 6:30-9 pm at Eden Prairie Comm. Ctr. for wine & beer tastings plus food, Silent Auction, Wall of Wine raffle and FUN! Proceeds benefit EPAM Rotary Foundation projects for youth, community and international service projects. Tickets available from EPAM Rotarians, at EP Liquor Stores or on Eventbrite.
BRING IN YOUR BOTTLE OF WINE FOR WALL OF WINE RAFFLE or $15 to Elaine Larabee to buy for you.
NEW:Beacon Bank ... Boulay ... Choice, Inc. ... Jamison Optical ... Northwestern Mutual-Brian Kelly ... Rotary Club of the Southwest RETURNING: Walmart ... Eden Prairie News ... Scheels ... Metro Sales ... Endurant ...Lifetouch ... Northern Capital Life & Health ... M & A Executive Search ... Alliance Benefits ... DSO Architecture, Inc ... and two Anonymous Donors Individuals:
NEW Pat Jensen, John Estall, Irene Kelly, Craig Blixrud, and Carol Bomben RETURNING: Becky Deelstra, Justin Stueve, and Curt Tryggestad
Trial Lawyers Care - Reflections on my experiences representing victims of the 9/11 attacks ...
Vincent J. Moccio
Vincent J. Moccio, Esq. represents plaintiffs in the areas of product failure, personal injury, pharmaceutical and medical device failures, medical malpractice and civil rights. He is now “of counsel” with Bennerotte & Associates after 27 years practicing in these areas with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi.
Over the course of his nearly three decades representing plaintiffs, Mr. Moccio has handled hundreds of medical device cases, was part of the Minnesota tobacco litigation team, representing the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota against the tobacco industry resulting in a historic settlement of over $6 billion and had the unfortunate role of being one of several attorneys that represented the families of Paul, Sheila and Marcia Wellstone and three aides killed when their plane crashed in 2002. Mr. Moccio has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Minnesota Law & Politics for 13 of the last 14 years.
Vincent has had the honor of working with 9/11 victims. He spoke about the huge effect the attacks had on the USA and the world. On a personal note, he grew up in Brooklyn and lost a best friend in the attack. The families that needed relief were dealing with grief and going through a terrible emotional trauma. It was not going to be easy for them to deal with bureaucracy. It was the Trial Lawyers Association of America – now known as American Association of Justice (AAJ) – that stepped up to help the families of the victims. The association provided free service to most of the victims and this was mostly through putting in claims instead of suing.
Vincent narrated his experience with the spouse of a victim, the initial resistance and suspicion because of the calls from all around. He helped navigate the process and was at one point told, ‘you are my angel.’ He eventually felt that it was a confluence of events that had him representing this family. The person adjusted and remarried. While it is not a feather in the cap to represent people in such situations, it has to be noted that a number of trial lawyers came together and did the work without compensation. They were the pinch hitters.
Vincent said some of the jokes about trial lawyers could be true and there might be some who are greedy but it is annoying to be condemned all round. The AAJ does work without compensation.
Announcements
Vino Classico sponsorships are at $9400 with the goal at $12,000. We have 67 silent auction items.
Memberswere asked to bring their bottles of wine for the Wall of Wine at Vino Classico or give $15 to Elaine Larabee to buy for them.
Mark Weber distributed Vino entry and raffle tickets to members to start selling.
Consider attending our regular Swallowship meetings; the next one is September 10.
Dave Anderson would like to do a ‘Mystery Night’ in September and checked to see how many people are interested.
Jay Simpson reminded members about the STRIVE mentoring meeting on Wed.
Irene Kelly invited people to sign up if interested in the leadership development committee as our club moves forward with nurturing future leaders.
Student Athletes: EPHS Football Team
Dave Anderson introduced EPHS Football Team cocaptains, Carter Coughlin, J.D. Spielman, and Kyle Connelly, who talked about their team and their future plans.
We also got to see some cool tennis shoes worn by one of the players.
Spotlight on Jon Melander
Jon Melander spoke about his career transition from being a football guard to a financial analyst. Jon grew up in Fridley and liked playing sports. He played college football at the University of Minnesota and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1990 NFL draft by the Patriots and did not know they were based in Boston. He played four seasons in the National Football League for the New England Patriots, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Denver Broncos and retired after hurting his neck. He got into financial business at RBC Wealth Management and is a Certified Financial Planner, specializing in asset management and retirement consulting for high-net-worth clients. He was the President of Minnetonka Rotary Club and is also a past Rotary Assistant District Governor. He and his wife have three kids, a son that plays football for St. Thomas and another that plays volleyball for University of Minnesota.
Happy Bucks
Roger Jorgensen was happy that the Vikings won their pre-season games.
Bob Starr’s son Ryan is off to the dorm at University of Minnesota and they are empty nesters now.
David Hellmuth and his wife are empty nesters as well, having sent their youngest daughter off to Bethel.
Kevin Kraemer had $40 for his 20th anniversary.
Curt Tryggestad was happy to see all the school district staff back at work.
Dan O’Brien was happy Art made Thai dinner and he had sugar pops to follow.
Dick Ward was happy that two of his daughters got engaged.
Irene Kelly was pleased with her new Nissan.
Cathy Haukedahl promoted the Color Run for the Foundation for EP Schools on Sept. 26
Visitors
Visiting Rotarian:Farryl Kluis (Faribault)
Prospective Member/Guest: Adam Seidel (School Bd. candidate, guest of Cathy Haukedahl)
Students: Peerapong (Art) Matanboon (exchange student from Thailand), J.D. Spielman, Carter Coughlin, and Kyle Connelly (EPHS Football co-captains) and Natalie Page and Alex Modeas (interns)
Eden Prairie AM Rotary Club meets on Tues. mornings from 7:30-8:30 a.m.
at Biaggi's Restaurant, 8251 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344
(unless location change is noted)
BuyitForward.com allows anyone who wants to give to donate to support causes in your community. The average household has approximately $7,000 of unused items, if we all donated a few of the items around your home, the benefit and power of your generosity would be profound. BuyitForward.com was founded on the belief that all people want to give back to support worthy causes, and making an easy way would enable everyone the opportunity to pay it forward. Be part of the giving movement in your community, it provides great benefit and it feels great to GIVE! Some Donate, Some Buy...ALL GIVE! 
Dave Anderson introduced EPHS Football Team cocaptains, Carter Coughlin, J.D. Spielman, and Kyle Connelly, who talked about their team and their future plans.
Jon Melander spoke about his career transition from being a football guard to a financial analyst. Jon grew up in Fridley and liked playing sports. He played college football at the University of Minnesota and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1990 NFL draft by the Patriots and did not know they were based in Boston. He played four seasons in the National Football League for the New England Patriots, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Denver Broncos and retired after hurting his neck. He got into financial business at RBC Wealth Management and is a Certified Financial Planner, specializing in asset management and retirement consulting for high-net-worth clients. He was the President of Minnetonka Rotary Club and is also a past Rotary Assistant District Governor. He and his wife have three kids, a son that plays football for St. Thomas and another that plays volleyball for University of Minnesota.