Northfield Rotary Club

Dr. Jim Evans is the recipient of this year’s Good Neighbor Award. The club guidelines for the award read:

“Nominees for Rotary’s Good Neighbor Award will be considered for having given expression to the Rotary motto, ’service above self,’ by performing selfless acts of kindness or service that contribute to a stronger, more cohesive community. They must be a resident of the Northfield School District. Rotary members and their family members are not eligible.”

Here’s the text of the speech that was given at the July 19 luncheon by Keith Covey:

Being a good neighbor is about being an active contributor to the quality of our life as a community. If creating a community is an intentional act, being a good neighbor is a series of intentional actions.

In a minute, I’ll review just some of the ways Jim Evans has been a good neighbor, but I’m certain it isn’t a complete list. (Since he’s such a modest person, one would probably have to grill Shirley to get the whole picture.)

I am grateful to Josh Hinnencamp, Scott Richardson, Zach Pruitt, Jim Blaha, Nancy Ludescher and Angie Koch for their help in assembling this information. Josh, Nancy, Angie and Jim are here today. Scott and Zach had unavoidable conflicts. This group’s presence is important because the Good Neighbor recognition also honors the organizations and many other good neighbors - like these people - with whom Jim has worked over the years.

As I understand it, the timeline for the past 25 years goes something like this:

In the 1980s, as he completed a Bush Foundation Fellowship in adolescent health, Jim joined other parents, school officials, social service professionals and concerned citizens in addressing a growing concern about use and abuse of alcohol and drugs among our youth. They formed the Chemical Health Task Force (CHTF), which, today, continues to play an important role in addressing this issue.

In the early 1990s, he was a founding member of the board of Healthy Community Initiative, which focuses on developing the abilities of local youth. He served on that board until 2003-04. Scott Richardson, its first executive director, said, “Jim’s interest in adolescent health and strategic thinking have shaped the community conversation about (risk-taking behavior among our youth) and kept it in front of people. His personal commitment brought credibility to HCI and the Chemical Health Task Force. “

In the mid-1990’s, when the Northfield Union of Youth, and its youth center, The Key, were founded, Jim became a member of its adult advisory board, a position he continues to hold. (The Key serves hundreds of middle and high school age youth every year in a strictly drug and alcohol free environment.) Zach Pruitt, an early Key employee, described Jim’s role as “a mentor and advisor at the Key.” Josh Hinnencamp, its current director, says Jim stands out as consistently being among their top adult leaders. He is a regular presence, listening and relating to youth leaders and members, always following the organization’s philosophy for adults of guiding without directing. His stature in the community also makes him invaluable in representing the Union of Youth in the wider community.

Early in this decade, health care for our uninsured residents, including the growing Latino population, was identified as one of a number of urgent community service needs. According to Jim Blaha, Dr. Evans had long advocated for a free community clinic. Scott Richardson added that Jim “has campaigned for getting more well-baby checks for new mothers and for creating a current, online directory of community (health) resources.” Dr. Evans and Nancy Ludescher, Parish nurse at St. Dominic’s Church, were members of that Church’s Health Ministry Committee, which investigated the issue and developed a proposal that led to the opening of Healthfinders Clinic at little Prairie Church in 2005. Since it opened, Dr. Evans has been a regular volunteer physician there. Clinic director Angie Koch reports that he has also been a “one stop shop” for resolving medical service problems, clinic operational issues and community resource needs.

Scott Richardson concluded, “He has really committed himself on many levels to creating a healthier climate for youth, and he has made a difference on those many levels.”

Considering Rotary’s worldwide commitment to health and youth, how could there be a more appropriate person than Dr. Jim Evans for us to honor as our 2007 Good Neighbor?

Songs of Hope, co-sponsored by the Northfield Public Schools Community Services Division, the Northfield Rotary Club, and the Northfield News, performed on Bridge Square on Thursday night at the end of Crazy Daze.

See the Songs of Hope 2007 photo album or this slideshow.

Here’s a video clip of the end of one of their many songs.

Click play to watch. 15 seconds.

From this Northfield News article:

“This is really a cool group of kids from all over the world,” said Mark Etzell, adult enrichment coordinator of the Northfield Community Services. Etzell has helped organize Songs of Hope the last few years. The children in the choir, who come from Turkey, India and Czechoslovakia, among other nations, perform traditional American standards. They also typically perform a song and dance from their native country. “The kids love coming to Northfield, especially on Crazy Daze,” said Etzell.

Here are Northfield Rotary Club’s outbound Youth Exchange students and the countries they’ll be visiting for the 2007-08 year (click photos to enlarge):

Left photo, L to R: Zane Anway: Bolivia; Tyler Martinson: Sweden; Felicia Hansell to Thailand; Caila Hall: Germany; Rebecca Langer: Slovakia; Daniel Lohmann: Brazil; right photo: Jonathan Een Newton: Brazil; Not pictured: Jenna Huberg: India.

On the left: some of the exchange students and their parents won the games competition at the Northfield Rotary Summer Social. L to R: Zane with mom Karen and dad Jim Anway (far right); Mark Hansell and Teri Takehiro with daughter Felicia; Mary and Dave Huberg (daughter Jenna Huberg has been in India for a month already). On the right: Andrea Een, mother of Jonathan Een Newton, and the pine tree given to all outbound students’ parents by Rick and Kris Estenson. The idea is to give the parents something to nuture while their kids are away. The prickly pine needles add to the symbolism.

And a tip-of-the-blogger hat to Vicki Dilley for helping me with the names!

A variety of yard games were part of the festivities at the Summer Social on Thursday night. I snapped a series of photos of Pastor Clay Oglesbee, the most prolific blogger in southeast Northfield (see his Soul to Sole blog), in the heat of competition. Click photos to enlarge.

• Photo 1: the manly way to get psyched up for the softball toss. He was 0 for 3.
• Photo 2: the correct form for the peanut toss. He was 0 for 7.
• Photo 3: the beanbag toss. Denied at 5 and 3 yards, he took aim from 12 inches. Denied.
• Photo 4: Clay’s wife, Mary Lynn, enjoyed great success at the peanut toss. Clay’s facial reaction to her success is obscured in the photo by her hand. Sooo…
• Photo 5: I digitally removed her hand from the previous photo and zoomed in to reveal his face. You be the judge.

“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

Clay recovered nicely from his personal debacle, and later was able to insert his spirited face into this photo of Kris and Rick Estenson.

The annual Summer Social was held at Rick and Kris Estenson’s farm last night.

Above: the team that won the games competition. Click to enlarge and see the Summer Social photo album or this slidehow for the 60+ photos.

2006-07 Northfield Rotary President Jim Blaha’s term ended yesterday. I’m now president for 2007-08. (Pictured on the right in the photo on the left, Dave Brown, 2005-06 president. Click all photos to enlarge.)

Jim’s well-known as a champion of social justice and economic development in our town, and that’s just his day job as the director of the Northfield Community Action Center. As Rotary president, Jim really pushed the club to explore avenues for building a stronger community where people work together and help each other. Wednesday’s big Community Works! Celebration at Spring Creek Park was a nice culmination to about five years of Rotary involvement in community-based projects, from Marilyn’s Place to Everybody’s Playground to the Amerman Pavilion to the WINGS Oasis to the Northfield Area Foundation “Ruth Nutting Garden” and water fountain at the park, etc. Even the bridge built by a local scout is an example of the same kind of hands-on initiative, though it was done independently. A great snowball effect!

While these projects involved many organizations and individuals, it’s no coincidence that Jim Blaha has been on the Rotary board for about five years and is just now finishing his year as club president. Other efforts, like the Connected Kids mentoring program and the Early Childhood Literacy program have also received lots of support from organizations with which Jim is involved during the past several years, including the inspiring luncheon hosted by former Governor Al Quie in Northfield in March, where he asked communities like ours to renew their commitment to building a strong foundation for our children at a young age, to open doors for them for continued academic and personal success as they grow up.

Nothing gets done by any one person, but having active, committed and motivated people like Jim in the community is a huge benefit for everyone. While Jim passed off the gavel yesterday, and will now have a bit more free time for his hobbies of baking, brewing and bee-keeping, he’ll still be in town working hard at the NCAC, along with many colleagues and partner organizations, to make Northfield a better place for all of its residents, to keep what is good about Northfield alive and strong, while bringing in new people and projects and partnerships for the years to come.

The Northfield Rotary Club thanks Jim for all of his hard work. We’re lucky he’s just moving from the front of the room back into the ranks of the club for every Thursday’s luncheon, so we’ll still benefit from all of his energy and idealism on a daily, weekly and continual basis.