Program for July 21, 2014:  Ray German...The Evolution of FundRaising

Invocation: Chris Ingstad

Rotary Guests today were: Jim Reynolds, Albert Lui, Cristian Lopez (second reading for new member), Andrew Werling, Mike Reiber, Michael Corcoran and Dave Reusswig.

Program: Tony Joseph, Rotary President introduced Albert Lui who shared recent developments between Muscatine and our Chinese sister city friends.  Questions were asked about developing working business relationships with the Chinese and the security of those workings.  Albert said patience is a must and self protection is also important in making working agreements.  He said that Sarah Lande is a rock star, celebrity in China and for that we should be very proud.  Albert stayed around to answer questions after the meeting.

Peggy Gordon representing the Off Leash Dog Park Group provided and up to date assessment of the progress of the proposed park and the need for such in Muscatine.  There are 569 parks in the top 100 largest cities with a total of 2900 plus parks  in the United States. Surrounding communities with Dog Parks include Clinton, Bettendorf, Davenport, Burlington and Iowa City with 2.  36% of Muscatine's population has a dog which means there are over 5200 dogs here.  The purpose of such a park is for socialization of the dogs and their owners.  Many different fundraisers and general awareness activities have been held including Dog Walks, Pennies for Dogs, Bark tober Fest and the Scare Crow Fest.  The project is at the fundraising stage with $276,000 being needed to build the park on a donated site by the Recycling Area and Transfer Station.  There are 2 designs that have been developed and are being tweaked and considered.