Welcome to the Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club

Our Vision: Stillwater Sunrise Rotary will set the standard for service in the St. Croix Valley.
 
Our Mission: Stillwater Sunrise Rotary is a diverse group of leaders committed to making our local and global communities a better place to live.
 
If you want to work with others to make positive changes in your community and the world, please join us!
 
Meeting Information
Stillwater Sunrise

We meet In Person & Online
Tuesdays at 7:00 AM
St. Croix Event Center
5880 Omaha Avenue North
Stillwater, MN 55082
United States of America
Visitors are always welcome - click "contact us" to make arrangements. Meetings are online and in-person.
Mailing Address:
Stillwater Sunrise  Rotary
P.O. Box 425
Stillwater, MN 55082

 
Club News
The last STRIVE Mentoring program session for the 2022-2023 school year was today, and we had a great year! In addition to the program funding 12 scholarships, we met at Stillwater Area High School twice most months this year for discussion and group activities that targeted personal confidence, decision making skills, networking and maybe some fun along the way, working with juniors and sensiors. Some mentors were from Stillwater Sunrise Rotary, but most were community members that share our interest in supporting students. Planning for the 2023-2024 year is already underway, and we expect this excellent program to continue to evolve as needed to best serve our area students.
 
For today's program, leader Brent Voight gave a great demonstration of finding the spine for your life to give you balance to handle the many challenges that will come your way - see his video with the catastrophic ending. Then he gave each student a short piece of pipe and sent them outside - what could go wrong? Nothing did, and they used good teamwork to guide small wooden balls down a long line of students.
After a two-year hiatus due to Covid, local Rotary Clubs (Stillwater Sunrise, Noon and Lake Elmo) hosted two Foreign Exchange students, Leyre Alonso Ramos from Spain and Kiryu Aoyama from Japan for the 2022-2023 school year. Ki and Leyre shared their successful, fun and productive year at SAHS with members of the clubs and host families at a special recognition and send off event held May 16th.
  
It was also announced that Maria Ferraro Trevis from Curitiba, Brazil will be the 2023-2024 Rotary Exchange student. Exchange students typically rotate among 3 families during the year.  That means families will host a student for about 3 months.  The main responsibility is to create a welcoming family environment, provide room and board and exercise the same parental support and encouragement parents would give their own children. Please contact Kris Bowditch, Stillwater Sunrise Youth Exchange Officer, if you are interested in learning more! 
 
(Click "Read More" for a larger picture and five photos)
Today, three club members volunteered at Respectacle in Hudson, WI. Jack G., Margie and Ted first assembled over 100 boxes, and added them to racks in the storeroom to be ready for a new batch of sorted glasses. Then they went to work on a mountain of boxes of glasses that were shipped to Respectacle. Serviceable eyewear was unwrapped and added to crates for characterization and sorting. Each box contained a new surprise: a computer cable, a blue laser pointer, and spectacles with styling that can only be called "astonishing". The group had fun, and went out for lunch afterward to celebrate our accomplishment during the morning.
 
Respectacle is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that uses the power of the Internet to facilitate redistribution of quality, used eyeglasses to underserved communities worldwide. Glasses are donated by members of our community. They are then cleaned, categorized, and loaded into their online database based on their prescription. A proprietary algorithm finds a "closest match" for people looking for eye wear.
 
Greetings President Rick and members of Stillwater Sunrise Rotary,
 
Congratulations on achieving ShelterBox HERO BRONZE level recognition for Rotary Year 2022-2023.
                                                         
2022 was our biggest year yet and your support helped us to reach over 400,000 people across 22 projects in 12 countries. This year is shaping up to be just as busy and your continued support is truly appreciated.
 
Bill Tobin
ShelterBox USA
 
(Please click Read More to see the award)
Upcoming Events
Speakers
No meeting today
May 30, 2023
Memorial Day Holdiay week
RJ Lubrant - Guest of Jamie Smetana
Jun 06, 2023
Identifying/dealing with addiction in our community and families
Karen Keenan - Guest of Matthew Stepaniak
Jun 13, 2023
Valley Friendship Club - a place to connect with people and the community
Rob Gag - Guest of Rich Cummings
Jun 20, 2023
Everything you wanted to know about NIL, sports/education, etc.​
Rick Heidick
Jun 27, 2023
End of year review and passing of the gavel to incoming President, Lonny Stormo
No Meeting today
Jul 04, 2023
4th of July Holiday week
President Lonny Stormo
Jul 11, 2023
Happy New "Rotary" Year Celebration
Kris Bowditch
Jul 18, 2023
Dakota Ostlie, our 2023/24 OUTBOUND exchange student to Poland
TBD
Jul 25, 2023
Annual Club picnic
​Pastor Kerrie Holschbach - guest of Jack Gibbons
Aug 01, 2023
FOOD FOR HIS CHILDREN, a holistic community development that starts with a goat in Tanzania, Africa.
Rick Heidick
Aug 08, 2023
Bridge The Valley bike rally preparation workshop