We had our meeting on Zoom.
Recap from the January 25, 2021 Club Meeting:
Invocation: Greg Bock
Vistors: Michelle Kelman from Rotary Club of Burlington, IA. District 6000, District Governor Elect - Alka Khanolkar. Margaret Stadtwald from Discover Muscatine. Maggie Tinsman - former Iowa Senator.
Happy News/Announcements: Rob Yant was happy that his house in Minnesota is officially on the market. Naomi DeWinter is happy her daughter is turning 11 today and she wants a carrot cake. Alka Khanolkar let us know that PETS training is open for registration.
Club Business: Look for an e-mail from Rick Gosney regarding information about our annual Super Bowl square fundraiser, headed up by Greg Bock. The Board of Directors is keeping an eye on Covid 19 trends to determine when we will be able to have in person meetings.
Program: Our program was Dr. George Belitsos, Chair of Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery (NAHT). Helping to end Human Trafficking. Dr. George is a member of the Rotary Club in Ames, IA. There are more people in slavery today then any other time in history. In the United States there are currently about 403,000 people in slavery, over 40 million world wide. It is estimated that there are about 500,000 people trafficking humans. The primary recruiting mechanism for children is done online through gaming and apps to lure children. They target runaways, homeless and children from troubled homes - they get pulled in/tricked. In 2005 Maggie Tinsman, an Iowa Senator at the time, helped to pass the 1st piece of legislation in Iowa to make human trafficking a felony and to help victims and promote public awareness. It was signed in April of 2006, making Iowa the 14th state to make human trafficking a crime. Next year, when Alka Khanolkar is our District Governor, her initiative for District 6000 clubs is going to be a push to end human trafficking. Thank you Dr. George, Maggie Tinsman and Alka Khanolkar.
Reminders: Monday, February 1st our program will be Tom Narak and Carol Jons - District 6000 Literacy Committee, Child Abuse Prevention. February 8th will be a fellowship/social meeting.
Have a great week!