Detroit Lakes Morning Rotary

10/08/2026

DL Morning Rotary 10/6/26:
Dave Long spoke on the Rotary Foundation’s mission to help Rotary members advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, education, the environment, and alleviating poverty.
Dave encourages Rotarians to donate to the foundation, which matches donations up to $100. Polio Plus, a longstanding project, will be highlighted on World Polio Day on Oct. 24th, with a global polio walk planned.
The foundation is involved in local, international, and global peace projects, with 8 Rotary Peace Centers worldwide. Programs of Scale are proven projects that the foundation donates $2 million to expand and improve.
Even small donations can make a difference, with 70 cents saving a child from polio and $10 providing vaccine for 15 children.
Donating is easy online at Rotary Direct

09/28/2026

It's almost w**e "Pairing" time at Spanky's Stone Hearth again, a very popular event that you don't want to miss!! Monday October 12th, cash bar at 5:30pm, dinner at 6pm.

09/20/2026

DL Morning Rotary 9/8/26:
Program: Terry Haus, executive director of Becker
County United Way.
Terry said that Laker Prep is now part of the Partner Program with United Way. Each year in the spring they have a granting process where our board goes through the applications. He is happy that Laker Prep was selected this year along with the
Minnesota Flyers.
There are 3 main revenue streams for donating to Becker County United Way.
• The mailer that is sent out each fall.
• Each fall they have the Employee drive. This is when employees of businesses can sign up to have donation deducted from their paycheck.
• This year they partnered with Chickadee Coffee. They created their “Unity Blend” that can be ordered online. Part of the proceeds from the sale of that coffee will go toBecker Co. United Way. Used this QR code to purchase your coffee.
Terry reminds us that September 17th is the annual Community Celebration. The event gives the groups
involved in the Partner Program to “show off” with a booth set up at the event. There will be “hero
vehicles” there for kids and adults to check out. There is also a bike giveaway for the kids in attendance.
There is a free meal for those in attendance. He feels it is important to “break bread” as a community.
They are looking for volunteers to help with the event. Contact Terry if you are interested. Phone number
is 218-847-0727, email [email protected].
The event will be held at the Detroit Lakes High School. See below for more information.
Someone asked about the Backpack program. This is a program where food in the back packs for kids to
take home. Some children only get meals at school. They may get their last meal at lunch on Friday and
nothing else until Monday morning breakfast when they return to school. The food in the backpacks may
be the only thing they have to eat over the weekend. They sent home approximately 23,000 meals last
year.
2 years ago, BCUW got involved in a research project called ALICE. The ALICE program stands for Asset
Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, a framework created by the United Way to describe working
families who earn more than the official federal poverty level but still cannot afford basic daily
necessities. About 38% of people in Becker County fall into this category, the highest rate in the state
of MN.
Day of Caring this year visited about 200 sites. One person that was helped was a 107-year-old
person who still lives in their own house. Another one was a lady whose husband had passed away
about 3 months prior and was in tears as she did not know how she was going to get that work done
without her husband. Terry mentioned they are limited as to the number of sites they can commit to
based on the number of students. If our group is interested and has people that would like to help, he
can arrange to send the group to a site. Mary Rotter mentioned that Laker Prep paired up with BTD
for Day of Caring.

09/19/2026

DL Morning Rotary 9/1/26 pogram:
Becky Mitchell-Becke County Museum
Becky is a graduate of NDSU and is the director of the Becker County Museum. Becky tells us that the dream of having a new building for themuseum became a need. The old building was very run down, making it hardto keep the artifacts in the museum safe. Often when it was raining outside it
was also “raining” inside. They broke ground on the new museum duringcovid. Prior to being in the new building, they averaged 1000 visitors per year.Now they are over 21,000 per year.
All but 2 counties in Minnesota have a museum. The counties work togetherto make sure the artifacts they get in are in the proper location.
Becker County Museum has about 16 to 20 camps per year. Some, like the computer camp, are small
with about 3-4 kids. The most popular camp they have is the Pioneer camp which had about 27
participants. Merry Melodies holds music classes in the museum too.Some of the other events coming to the museum are the Fright Night (Oct 24th), Bootlegger Bash (Nov
12th). Bootlegger Bash is their biggest fundraiser. Beginning soon Linda Doebbert’s art will be on display.
Linda passed away about 10 years ago. Her art will be on display starting September 11th and will be up
until January 2nd, 2027. There will be a reception with the family on October 17th from 5:30 to 7:30. There
is a plan to have some Paranormal Classes at the museum as well. They are also celebrating the 100years of Legends of 3 Legs. A coffee shop will be coming soon to the museum as well, sometime in September or October.They have started up their capital campaign. Becky tells us that it is the memberships that “keep thelights on”

09/19/2026

On September 1st DL Morning Rotary welcomed a new member, Time Monson! Also pictured is President Mary Schutz (right) and sponsor Sheri Leitheiser.

The award-winning software that delivers the fastest time to value for anyone looking to make an impact to their group, ClubRunner is unlike any membership solution you've seen before.

09/18/2026

DL Morning Rotary 9/15/26-DL Chamber of Commerce- Jackie Buboltz President. The mission of the Detroit Lakes
Chamber is to promote and enhance a vibrant business community while contributing to the quality of life through leadership, connection and community.
Jean Erickson is the Office Coordinator, Joanna Thoennes (DLMorning RotaryMember) is the Member and Business Support Specialist, Cleone Stewart is the Tourism Director, and there is an open position for Events Coordinator. The DL Chamber now has their own website, detroitlakeschamber.com. This is a new site separate from the detroitlakes.com site. Coming soon to that site will be a community calendar showing the different
events going on. Chamber members will be allowed to access that calendar and add their own events to it.The Chamber has a page and has approximately 4600 followers currently. They also have a YouTube channel,www.youtube.com/ # where they have posted some of the interviews that they have done. Check it out!! Jackie reports that there are about 425 active members representing over 1900 individuals. About 25
new members have joined in 2026 so far. They now have new & improved member management software.
They are currently working on a “Think Local 1st” campaign. Some of the other events sponsored by theChamber are Art in the Park, DL Cruise Night, Welcome Back Teachers night, just to name a few. Some upcoming events are Compass Impact Day on Oct 1st, Coffee and Community on Oct 7th and People 2026 on Oct 29th.

09/18/2026

DL Morning Rotary is proud to welcome Jim Christensen as a new member to our club. Pictured with President Mary Schutz and sponsor Bob Koshnick.

08/27/2026

DL Morning Rotary 8/25/26:
Program Amy Stearns discussed Project 412, named after the 412 lakes near Detroit Lakes. The group aims to improve the area by raising funds for both the group and individual projects. They received a $90,000 grant to match. They developed Wavemakers, a program where individuals commit $412 annually, with 100% of the funds benefiting the community. A separate fundraiser sponsored different businesses or organizations for the trolls. Ortenstone Gardens, a city park on 54 acres, includes a Gift Shop and parking. The park’s tagline is “No risk, No magic,” and it features Barefoot Frieda, a troll. Last year, 8,000 zinnias were planted, and this year, volunteers planted over 15,000 annual plants. The community provides significant support, including building, moving rocks, and pulling weeds. A group called “the Old Guys get ‘r done” volunteers. Ortenstone Gardens’ goal extends beyond the troll project, likened to “building an airplane while flying it.” A map shows trails and upcoming exhibits.

Sara Hoffman oversees the Gift Shop. The green building on the right in the picture is the Gift Shop.
Ortenstone Gardens’ new Gift Shop, built on the left of the green storage closet, offers food, gelato, and Troll merchandise. The Troll merchandise, inspired by the builder’s motto “turning trash into treasure,” features “2nds” shirts with slight flaws and is made from recycled materials. The shop also displays items from other artists at Ortenstone.

Ortenstone Gardens boasts approximately 1.5 miles of trails, including Art Skabt, rock cairns at the trail’s start; the Storybook walk, featuring art from Charlie Harper; and the Rock Gardens, where storytelling events occur every other Friday during the summer. Old Sticky, a stick bug made from wood, and exhibits from Kent Estey are also featured.

Future plans include a reflection pond and a magic forest. With seasonal color changes and new displays, Ortenstone Gardens encourages frequent visits.

08/26/2026

DL Morning Rotary 8/18/26:
Program Mark Jensen, superintendent of Detroit Lakes Schools, introduced Renee Kerzman, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology. She discussed the mentorship program for new teachers in Detroit Lakes. Pam Daly, coordinator for the Detroit Lakes Public Schools, assigned each new teacher a mentor for three years.

Renee asked new teachers to introduce themselves. Thirteen new teachers shared their backgrounds and work assignments in the Detroit Lakes School district. Two positions remain open.

08/12/2026

DL Morning Rotary 8/11/26:
Program Mary Rotter introduced Superintendent of DL schools, Mark Jensen. Mark joined Detroit Lakes in 2020 during COVID. He became principal at Rocori High School in Minnesota in 2005, two years after the school shooting.

Mark and his wife Mindi have three sons. They met in 9th grade and have been married for 36 years. Mindi was an elementary teacher and curriculum director at Rocori.

Mark shared his sons’ post-high school plans. Matthew went to law school but hated his internship. Jake took a gap year to work breaking horses in western North Dakota. He loves horses and graduated from Iowa State as a veterinarian, spending a year in Texas at an equine facility. Nicholai left school his sophomore year to play hockey and eventually earned an MBA from Omaha, Shreveport, and Youngstown, Ohio.

Mark’s experience with his sons inspired him to help youth discover their career interests early. Detroit Lakes Public Schools addresses this issue with 9th-grade interviews.

The DLPS Vision/Mission/Purpose:
- Vision: Students are prepared to thrive beyond graduation.
- Mission: Consistent expectations, opportunities, and support ensure student success.
Meaningful support and strong relationships ensure every student develops the skills, confidence, and connections needed to thrive beyond graduation.

• Purpose: Deliver education excellence.
• How: Relationships, innovation, development, and equity.

District Health:
- Enrollment is stagnant, and families aren’t moving to Minnesota. Each enrolled child contributes approximately $10,000 to the district.
- The Maintenance budget has tripled.

Mark highlighted positive developments, including a new online curriculum with AI to prevent cheating, allowing students to learn at their own pace.