Program: Recap of the 100 year Anniversary Gala and guest bartender event.
Recap from the February 10, 2020 Club Meeting:
Visitor: Roger Lande was the guest of Sarah Lande.
Happy News: Naomi DeWinter congratulated everyone on a successful 100 year celebration and thanked everyone who helped plan it. Naomi also reminded us of the MCC Legends Dinner on February 27th at the Merrill Hotel - this year it will be honoring our very own Marv Krieger and Evelyn Schauland. Karen Diercks was happy that her husband is in good health and they are celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary. Mary Wildermuth thanked everyone that helped with the raffle baskets at the 100 year dinner. Paul Fitzpatrick thought the 100 year dinner was incredible and thanked the committee for all their hard work.
Cowbell Ringing: Jessica Wittman rang the bell for Mike Hagerty and Holly Thomas-Koehler for their work putting together the Rotary guest bartender night at Contrary Brewery. She also rang the bell for all the Rotarian/Business owners that congratulated our Club on 100 years on their marquis signs.
Program: Our program was Mike Wedell from Bayer. Mike is a Business Unit Leader at Bayer, in charge of accounting, finance and information technology. Mike has been with Bayer for 3 1/2 years and before that he was with Cargill. Bayer (Monsanto) started in Muscatine in 1961 and is located on over 400 acres - that includes the 165 acre plant as well as test plots and other areas. The plant operates 24 hours /7 days a week /365 days a year and employs 440 people and 175-200 contract workers. 55% of the employees are technicians. Bayer is the 7th largest employer in Muscatine. It contributes $150,000 annually to the community and in 2019 had 12,700 volunteer hours. Bayer helps feed the world - shaping agriculture to benefit farmers, consumers and our planet. In 30 years we will need 50% more food than we do today. We will have a global population of about 10 billion people in 30 years. The Muscatine plant is a chemical plant that makes herbicides. Safety is a major component at the plant. Mike quoted Norman Borlaug - "Everything else can wait, agriculture can't." Thank you Mike Wedell
Club Business: No meeting on February 17, 2020 - enjoy President's Day. Reminder on Wednesday, February 12 is the Sunnybrook lunch for a cause - $8 - this months cause is our Rotary Club!
Our next meeting will be Monday, February 24th at noon at the Rendezvous. See you there!