Rest in Peace, Chan Handberg
Chan was a charter member of the Golden Valley Rotary Club. Channing Paul Handberg was born November 3, 1927. Channing was taken to heaven to be with our Lord July 19, 2019. He met the love of his life, Rachel and April 29, 1956 married. They celebrated over 60 years of Christian faith together. He was blessed to be President of Handberg Insurance Agency and a singing member of the Apollo Club of Minneapolis for over 60 years. He was preceded in death by wife, Rachel. Funeral service will be held on Monday, July 29, 2019, at King of Grace Lutheran Church. Read his full obituary here.

Congratulations to Brian Liedtke on his recent Paul Harris Fellowship! Brian was recognized for his biggest contribution to the Club: grant writing. Brian successfully wrote a number of grants all aimed at bettering the lives of children and people in need. These grants had hands-on elements that allowed club members to work together on projects, leading to increased fellowship as members got to know one another in a different setting. Grants are how the monies we have contributed to The Rotary Foundation get returned to our community. We are grateful to Brian for helping us make a larger impact in the community AND for strengthening the bonds of service among our club members.

The Golden Valley Rotary Club gathered with members of the community to celebrate all things Rotary during the 2018-2019 year. We presented the Citizen of the Year award to Amy Forbes and the Rotarian of the Year award to Colleen Haubner. Our high school scholarship recipients were honored. Paul Harris Fellows were given for extraordinary service, including a special posthumous award for Jim Nielsen. Members of Jim's family were on hand to receive his award. Julie Peterson passed the presidential gavel to Bryan Palmer, our new Club President. It was a great event, hosted at the Golden Valley Country Club, celebrating the forty-six year history of the Golden Valley Rotary Club! View all of the event's photos here.

On June 6, Rotarian Betsy Anderson presented a scholarship to a graduating senior at Perpich Arts High School. The recipient for 2019 is Linda Xiong. The counseling staff and music faculty at Perpich Arts High School helped select the recipient for the Golden Valley Rotary Club Scholarship. The scholarship is a one year, $1,000 scholarship. ​The student exemplifies “Service Above Self” and lives in Golden Valley or attended a school in Golden Valley. The scholarship honors high achievement in music but need not be awarded to a student currently focusing on music at Perpich. The student should plan on either studying or continuing with their music in their post-secondary career. This scholarship rounds out our 2019 giving of $5,000 total. Two scholarships were given to Robbinsdale Armstrong seniors, two to Hopkins seniors, and one to a senior at Perpich Arts High School.

Bryan and Rachel Palmer are in Hamburg, Germany for the 110th Rotary International Convention! They had an experience away from the RI Convention with other Rotarians from District 5950. They took a bus about 85 miles north to Flensburg, which is just south of the Danish border. They met German Rotarians, toured Flensburg on foot, and visited the Danish Queen’s summer castle. Later in the day, they enjoyed dinner and live music hosted by Gitta & Yogi Reppmann. Dr. Joachim "Yogi" Reppmann was born in Flensburg, Germany, and first came to America in 1978 as a young college student with aspirations of learning everything he could about the country that had fascinated him since he'd read wild west novels as a child. He served as a professor of German at St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges in Northfield. With the Reppmanns, they learned about the Peace Pipe Letter Initiative, an opportunity advancing world peace.

The official start day of the convention was Sunday, June 2, when all of the speakers and breakout sessions began. Enjoy, Palmers!

This month's Spotlight Speaker for Golden Valley Business Council was Lori Ertl from Under Pressure Brewing. Located just one block off Highway 55 on 7th Avenue in Golden Valley, their taproom showcases award winning beers, an art studio available for rent, outdoor seating, games, a library of classic books, and the perfect atmosphere for friendly gatherings. They started searching for a building to call home in 2014; Golden Valley wrote an ordinance for them to be here. After four years and many location attempts, they finally found a building to house Under Pressure Brewing. The owners have known each other since they were fifteen. So far they have won 41 medals through Beer Judge Certification Program sanctioned competitions. Check them out!