Thursday, July 17, 2025

Lunch Buffet

Doors Open 11:30AM

At

 

Kristi Stokes – President/COO

 

 

We imagine a welcoming, vibrant, and prosperous district, where everyone feels at home. By 2030, we envision downtown neighborhoods filled with opportunities, community connections, and housing for students, young people, and families of all shapes. This plan intends to bring energy and life to downtown through public space improvements, mixed-use development, and exciting, home-grown activations to bring community downtown for fun, work, and community building.

 

 

By Renee Burns

 

The July 10 meeting was called to order by President Zach Walters, ringing the bell for the first time as President in our home base of the Kitchi Gammi Club.  We were promised he is working on his soft voice and striving to use his outdoor voice indoors.

 

President Zach Walters starting the meeting at the Kitchi Gammi Club and speaking loudly!

 

Greg Hansen provided a thoughtful Reflection, reminding us that while we support projects in our local communities, Rotary does many projects that support our global community, which we should not lose sight of.  In Rotary Club 25, we host international exchange students and also support our local students in their wonderful experiences in exchanges abroad.  We support Rotary International in the very important effort to eradicate polio, and we have worked with our other local clubs to support water filtration projects in countries that so desperately need access to clean water.

 

Now, more than ever, in a time when relationships between governments are strained and funding for important projects is being arbitrarily cut, our participation in the world through Rotary International is even more critical.  We can’t change everything in the world, but we can help make changes that are important to the people we touch through our projects and support.  We can be proud of what we do as Rotarians.

 

President Zach Walters looking on as Greg Hansen offers the Reflection

 

President Zach Walters noted the Reflection does bring home to us all, what we do matters.

As well, he commented that he is bringing change to the Kicking of the Golden Can at our meetings.  As he himself does not feel braggadocios he never feels comfortable reporting on his accomplishments, instead he encourages us to initiate One on One meetings with other Rotarians to learn more about them, and vice versa.  Take an hour of your time for a coffee or a walk and get to know each other on a personal level.  Then at a meeting, “Kick the Can” by sharing what you learned with the rest of the club members.  Sounds like a nice way to get to know each other better!

 

Allen Anway stepped to the microphone to report he and Judy Sage volunteered for the marathon and as they were exiting the car to get set up, they heard a shout out of “hello Judy” and it was President Elect Dan Maki running by.

 

Rob Hofmann kicked the can to announce his interest in rebooting the Rotary Poker Fellowship, contact Rob if you have an interest. 

 

Shortly after resuming his seat, Rob Hofmann was called up as Chair of the Day to introduce the Speaker, Chris Spencer, his partner in a theatre production that will take the stage in London in 2026.  President Zach Walters noted that made his his first mistake of his Presidency, he didn’t realize when he asked Rob to Chair that Rob was also part of the program.  With good humor and his usual enthusiasm, Rob took the job.

 

The program, entitled Broadway 101 – How Productions Happen, is a look into what it takes to grow an idea into a stage production.  Rob noted that film and theatre are commodities, a product of commerce, but a fun and exciting product.

 

Rob explained that as exciting as Broadway is, the production of a show is a business, and every show produced is like starting a new business all over.  You need investors to get the business off the ground and you need to have the cash flow to pay back those investors and then the producers of the show who put it all together are next in line.  There are various ways in which to invest in a production, an accredited investor with a net worth of $1million or an income of $200,000 annually or a sophisticated investor; someone with a high net worth and is considered to have a depth of experience in this type of investment.  Investments are to be looked at as “units”, which can vary from $25,000 to $50,000 with sometimes opportunities to invest among a group of people, spreading the investment across several individuals to arrive at the base unit.

People invest in the theatre for the same reasons they support non-profit organizations that provide a community service:

 

Chris Spencer provided the details on what a Producer does.  While we all see movie credits listing the producers, what does that mean?  The steps a producer is responsible for to bring a big idea to the stage are these:

 

The London production Chris and Rob are producing is a three-actor show, and they shared that a production in London, in addition to being an exciting world stage, is dramatically lower cost than a New York Broadway production, with the London production of their play costing about $3.5 million, compared to New York which would be closer to $8 million. London productions have an additional advantage over New York:  London, investors split profits 60/40 with producers, while New York the split is 50/50!

 

Speakers Chris Spencer and Rob Hofmann

 

 

5:00 AM, Sunday July 13^th.  Tom Young and Rob Hofmann, along with Rotarians from Eco Rotary, Superior Rotary and Rotarians from Lakehead / Thunder Bay (Canada) loaded a group of sleepy RYLA Campers onto their bus. Another life-changing experience awaits these future leaders!

 

All aboard the RYLA Express!

 

Carol Dagenais (Lakehead Rotary) with Tom Young