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Staples Rotary Club

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Staples Rotary Club

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Staples Rotary Club, Nonprofit Organization, P. O. Box 245, Staples, MN.

08/21/2026

Staci Headley & Jeffrey Phillips, from the Region 5 Development Commission, spoke at the August 19 Staples Rotary meeting. They began with an overview of Region 5, noting that the commission represents the 5 counties in the area and is guided by a board made up of county representatives. The Commission was organized by state statute but their goals focus on the needs of the 5-county region.

Jeff noted 2 transportation contracts led by County Engineers, Energy efforts to assist school districts with reducing heating costs, and Economic Development programs with 7 different lending programs. The Community Develop area is for general project funding for Region 5, designed to address the regions needs. Funds are designed to support efforts that benefit the region rather than the individual entities. Other support efforts include: local foods, community trails, and an upcoming home propane to heat pump conversion funds to help small farmers.

Staci mentioned that a regional survey just completed with over 500 responses. Data from that survey will guide Commission goals for the next 5 years. Region 5 works to help this region receive their share of the competitive funding available in MN.

08/14/2026

Carolyn Hoppe, 2026 RYLA camper, spoke at the August 12 Staples Rotary Meeting. RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a Rotary International program that fosters leadership, citizenship, and personal growth in young people.

Carolyn mentioned she had concerns about attending camp alone, but found out that the new information she learned relates to real life even if students may not think so. One part of the camp she enjoyed was being assigned a “family”, which was group of students she did not know, who met several times a day and with whom she has developed long term bonds. The campers also did two community service projects, packaging food for donations and sharing flowers with nursing home residents. She also enjoyed seeing and meeting new people, and commented about learning “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”.

Carolyn was raised on a farm, is active in the FFA and 4-H, and involved in sports. She sees value in sharing the value of RYLA with the students in high school.

08/10/2026

At the August 5th Staples Rotary meeting, Renee Kroll shared information about the upcoming Railroad Days (RRD) celebration. She noted that information is available at “Discover Staples” website and page. She also shared the new Visitor’s Guide and the RRD’s flyer.

Renee commented that RRD is the one event per year that the whole town is represented: individuals, business owners and employees, school staff, city employees…everyone. She expressed thanks to all sponsors and partners and their goal use funds generated to make RRD self-sustaining in the long term.

Renee noted that there will be free water, entertainment, snacks, and games. There will be a 5K run that includes the Legacy Trail and Living Legacy Gardens. The parade will begin at 10:00, which has enabled visitors to move directly to the downtown festivities around the noon hour. She commented on the expanded car show and the children’s “WonderTrek” mobile museum as a new activity.

Next year is the 50th!

08/05/2026

Staples Rotary members joined in the activities of the Staples & Motley National Night Out event at the Staples Airport on August 4th. Rotary members provided hotdogs for those attending, serving 424 hotdogs to children and adults. Members are shown preparing to grill, and grilling, the hotdogs; and observing the festivities while also enjoying a visit from Sparky.

Also included are a few views of attendees enjoying and learning during their time at the event. (All photos by Lisa Kajer)

07/25/2026

Erich Heppner, Dean of the CLC Staples Campus, provided an overview of the college at the July 22nd Staples Rotary Club meeting. Erich noted that the college originated from a HS vocational program in 1950, which evolved into the start of the Area Vocational School in 1959. The North Campus arrived in 1972 with an expansion in 1984.

Erich highlighted the Heavy Equipment program, indicating the it trains 100 students per year and noting that lab/shop space is the largest in MN. He commented on the partnership with Lakewood Health System for the Practical Nursing program. Erich also shared comments on these college programs: Robotics, Machine Tool Technology, Diesel Equipment Technician, and Meat Cutting and Butchery.

He discussed enrollment challenges, the importance of hands-on learning, and the college's efforts to support students with scholarships, a food pantry, and emergency funds. Eric emphasized the need for community collaboration and promotion of the college's programs.

07/11/2026

At the July 8th meeting of the Staples Rotary Club, Del Lecy presented the program over Zoom. His topics included: a discussion of the “Farmers Share” of food costs and the US Farm Bill, as well as comments about the Rotary Facebook and Clubrunner pages.

He noted that the Farmer’s Share of every dollar of sales of farm products in the US is 15.9 cents, while the marketing share is 84.1 cents. When you hear about the billions of dollars in the US Farm Bill, farmers receive 13% of those funds while Nutrition Assistance receives 71%.

Lecy shared some statistics on the Rotary page and accepted suggestions for connecting to other pages. He also noted that the Rotary Clubrunner page has been used for 5 years and is the current archives for club photos.

Jim Hofer noted that if you type “Rotary Club of Staples” into your search engine, the first item will be the Clubrunner page and the 3rd or 4th item will be the page

07/03/2026

On June 29, the new president of the Staples Rotary Club, Trevor Haasch, left in first photo, accepted the gavel from past president Kurt Wilson at the annual “Passing on the Gavel” event at The Vintage Golf Club.
After a nice dinner and fellowship, the club celebrated the past year with comments and individual member callouts from outgoing President, Kurt Wilson.
Peter Nelson, incoming District Governor, recognized eight members as Paul Harris Fellows: Colleen Frost, Lisa Kajer, Brenda Halvorson, Jim Hofer, Del Lecy, Dan Orth, Kurt Wilson, and Tom Kajer. (A Paul Harris Fellow is awarded to members for each $1,000 donation to the Rotary International Foundation, which helps fund local, district, national and international humanitarian and community projects.)

06/27/2026

Wadena County Sheriff Mike Carr and Sargent Brian Savaloja spoke at the June 24 Staples Rotary meeting. Mike mentioned that he had been Sheriff since 2007 and has over 30 years of law enforcement experience. He shared some history, including comments on his father (and mother’s) 28 years as sheriff; and the fact that there have been only 15 Wadena County Sheriffs since 1873. He noted that there is no price tag on public safety and he has therefore always wanted quality equipment for his staff.

Both he and Brian commented about changes that have occurred in their duties and their tools over time, including:
• Drugs and mental health issues have made managing inmates much harder
• Body cameras and vehicle cameras have helped officers as criminals try to twist the truth of what happened
• Before tasers, officers were very involved in ground fighting. After tasers, people knew that pain was coming it they fought back.
• Drones have been extremely helpful with both law enforcement and fire calls; especially with infrared and thermal tech being added to new models.

There were also discussions about the difficult situation in large cities causing less interest in people entering law enforcement. Sheriff Carr noted that feels blessed as he sees local citizens showing respect for his officers and their effort to keep the public safe.

Address

P. O. Box 245
Staples, MN
56479

Website

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