Events

Share a special milestone with us; the Golden Valley Rotary Club is celebrating our 50th Anniversary! Join us for a Happy Hour Open House to celebrate 50 years of service to Golden Valley and beyond!

Complimentary hors d'oeuvres, cash bar.

RSVP by March 7: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/549245326557

Tue, March 14, 2023, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM CDT

Brookview Golden Valley
316 Brookview Parkway S Golden Valley, MN 55426

Scott Kaplan was born and raised in Omaha, NE, and bleeds Crimson and Crème. After graduating from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 1995 with a B.A. in Psychology, Scott moved to Chicago, IL, to work for the private sector in computers. After a few years, he realized his passion was in the Non-Profit Sector and worked for a Disability Agency on the North Side of Chicago for ten years. During those years, Scott obtained a Masters in business administration and a Masters in Nonprofit Administration. Scott, his wife, and his newborn son moved to Minneapolis in 2010 for a career opportunity for his wife and to be closer to her family. Scott has worked all over the Twin Cities in the nonprofit sector ranging from Fundraising, Finance, Running Senior Living Facilities, and most recently, the Operations Manager for J-HAP (Jewish Housing and Programming) in Golden Valley. Scott, his wife, Pam, their 13-year-old son, Jonah, and two dogs reside in Minnetonka, MN.

An annual tradition! Bring your (Rotary appropriate) jokes for some good laughs in celebration of April Fool's Day. Can't find a joke? Never fear; Peggy Leppik has pre-approved jokes for sale!

Frank Bures is author of The Geography of Madness, which Newsweek called one of the best travel books of the decade. His work has been included in the Best American Travel Writing, selected as “Notable” in the Best American Essays, Best American Sports Writing, and Best American Travel Writing. He is the editor of Under Purple Skies: The Minneapolis Anthology, and The Shape of the World: Essays on Travel, Culture and Belief from Rotary Magazine. He has lived in Tanzania, New Zealand, Italy, Thailand, and Wisconsin. He currently resides in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters. More at frankbures.com.

Mike Tikkanen became a volunteer Hennepin County CASA guardian ad-litem, advocating for foster children, in 1996.

He is a founding board member of KARA, Kids At Risk Action, a nonprofit supporting the people, policies, and programs that improve the lives of at-risk children.

Mike is a keynote speaker (including the United Nations in NY) and is the author of many newspaper, online articles, and the book, Invisible Children. He shines a light on the lifelong impact the traumas of child neglect, abuse, and violence are having on children, schools, public health, public safety, taxes, and our communities.

The COVID pandemic has kept many children locked in violent and toxic homes with no escape or access to teachers and other mandated reporters to help them escape violent homes to find safety and healing.

At least 7 million American children (and 60,000 Minnesota children) are reported to child protective services annually. Without help, many of them will grow up with mental health and behavior problems and dysfunctional lifestyles.

KARA’s Grant and Financial Literacy Peer Group program gives at-risk youth the skills and resources they need to earn, save, and spend money wisely and find a path to lead a productive life.

Bob Junghans, aka Rob Jung, was born in the wine country of California, grew up in a beautiful little Mississippi River town in Wisconsin, and was educated in the Minnesota State University system and Harvard Law School. He now lives in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Kathy. Prior to becoming a lawyer 50+ years ago, Junghans was a newspaper writer. He is a life-long student of history, geography, religion, politics, and the human condition, and has traveled in every continent except Antarctica. His books often find their origin in historical events discovered in his travels. He has four published novels. The first, Cloud Warriors, is a stand-alone action/adventure story, published by John Hunt Publishing (UK) in 2019. The Reaper and The Sower are the first two books of the Chimera Chronicles trilogy; a story that evolves from the disappearance of a famous painting and how, 75 years later, that still-lost painting sets in motion a psychological struggle between an artist and his estranged mother; a struggle that shakes the foundation of our legal and political systems. Judgment Day, the third and final book of the series, chronicles the story of the first elected U.S. Senator to be charged with murder. It will be released in June, 2023. Junghans is a member of The Loft Literary Society, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, a founding member of South of the River Writers, and is the producer and host of Minnesota Mystery Night, a monthly live event featuring the best mystery and thriller writers in the Midwest. He is the father of three adult children, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and countless other “adopted” children of all ages, shapes, sizes, colors, and genders. In addition to writing, Junghans likes to cook, garden, read, fish, travel, watch baseball, attend classic car auctions, tell stories, and strive to make the world’s best manhattan. *Rob Jung is the pen name of Robert W. Junghans who also writes limericks and tells stories under pseudonym “C.J. Rakham”. https://robjungwriter.com/