Events

Nancy is a native of Rochester, Minnesota. After high school, she graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN with a degree in nursing in 1972. She worked at Hennepin County Medical Center (the OLD structure) for 4 years and then moved back to Rochester where her 2 children were born. A few years later, she moved to Maryland and subsequently to Florida where she spent most of her professional career. She obtained her Masters in Nursing at the University of Florida and worked in cardiology until she moved back to Minnesota in 2011. Her last job was at the University of Minnesota Physicians Heart at Southdale and she retired in 2015.

Along the way she was a professional volunteer – as many Rotarians are – in church and school. At the urging of an old college friend, she joined Minnetonka Rotary in 2014. She was very active in that wonderful group and became club president in 2018. She has served on many Rotary committees including the Global Grant Committee where she continues to participate in grant reviews.

Travels with Rotary include two trips to Honduras for water projects and one trip to India with a group of Rotarians from around the US. While in India she helped build a check dam and vaccinated children against polio. She recently traveled to Viet Nam with 20 Rotarians and will travel to Egypt in early 2024 with some of her new friends in the Global Travelers Rotary Club.

She joined the Global Travelers Rotary Club in July 2022 and is now Foundation Chair. She became chair of the Egypt project last fall and is busy writing the grant and working with her committee to obtain funding from collaborating Rotary Clubs in District 5950 and beyond.

Non-Rotary projects include hiking every state park in Minnesota (finally completed) and volunteering weekly with Minnesota Literacy Council to help immigrants learn English.

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!

Can't join in person? Hop onto the Zoom!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86404927014?pwd=UDVyRlVyYVFId08rMzllczNHMFVXQT09
Meeting ID: 864 0492 7014
Passcode: 709901

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.

Highway 55 Clean-Up
Thursday, April 27, 5:00 p.m.
NE Corner of Hwy 55 and Winnetka Ave.

SIGN UP HERE

The Golden Valley Rotary Club is in its 27th year of caring for our stretch of Highway 55; our work continues on Thursday, April 27! Community members are welcome to join us in this fun and easy project.

Meet at the NE Corner of Hwy 55 and Winnetka Ave.

Please bring and wear your own gloves.

Highway 55 Clean-Up
Thursday, April 27, 5:00 p.m.
NE Corner of Hwy 55 and Winnetka Ave.

SIGN UP HERE

The Golden Valley Rotary Club is in its 27th year of caring for our stretch of Highway 55; our work continues on Thursday, April 27! Community members are welcome to join us in this fun and easy project.

Meet at the NE Corner of Hwy 55 and Winnetka Ave.

• Please bring and wear your own gloves.

SIGN UP HERE

Angie Johnson, Associate VP for Development Operations
Angie is currently the Associate VP of Development Operations. She has been with CommonBond for seven years and previously served in the roles of Grants Manager and Director of Institutional Giving. In her current role, Angie oversees institutional giving, database management, and the volunteer program. Angie has 16 years of experience in institutional fundraising, including federal grant writing and reporting, both in human services and higher education. She is mom to 7-year-old Ashlyn and two puggles (“the boys”). Angie enjoys reading, writing, walking, traveling (but not flying), and eating cheesecake.

Phil Edwards, Senior Gift Officer
Phil Edwards is a Senior Gift Officer with CommonBond Communities, and what he loves about this work is learning about people and finding ways to illustrate the profound impact a person’s philanthropy can make when supporting CommonBond. Before finding fundraising, Phil worked in sales at Thomson Reuters and Oracle, and before that as a Public Defender in Anchorage, Alaska. Phil’s previous experience in fundraising was at the University of Minnesota and Friends of the Hennepin County Library. On the personal side, Phil embraces the absurdity of karaoke, enjoys working on puzzles with his wife, and will talk Buffalo Bills, Golden Gopher, or Minnesota Vikings football with anyone who's interested.

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/

Jerry Rubino is a conductor/teacher/pianist/coach/singer regarded for his diverse musical interests, engaging artistry, and passionate enthusiasm for performing arts. Jerry founded and directs VOICES 360, is on the staff of the Wesley Balk Institute for the singer/actor, and teaches voice and piano at MacPhail Center for Music. He is a busy choral arranger and conductor working with the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Voices of Experience, Nautilus Music Theater, the Hal Leonard Corporation, and Spirit of Hope United Methodist Church.

Chuck Wagner has worked in property management for most of his career in many various roles. He started in rental and went to managing senior independent living. Following that, Chuck worked in a Continuing Care Retirement Community followed by several years in association management, and lastly as a cooperative living manager and consultant. Wagner is currently employed part-time as a consultant with Lifestyle communities. He has acquired many different designations including Certified Rental Manager, Certified Senior Advisor, Minnesota Real-Estate Agent, and Certified Manager of Community Associations. Chuck's very first home was in Golden Valley and he now resides in Plymouth.

https://artessaliving.com/

Laura Packer has over 30 years of experience sharing and teaching storytelling. Her sole proprietorship, thinkstory, helps organizations identify, craft, and use their stories to create better places to work, more useful products, and more authentic and effective recruiting, sales, and visibility. She is the author of the award-winning From Audience to Zeal: The ABCs of FInding, Crafting and Telling a Great Story.

Colleen O'Connor Toberman is the Land Use & Planning Director at Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR), where she works to ensure that the natural, scenic, cultural, historical, recreational, and public values of the Mississippi River corridor are understood, protected, enhanced, and celebrated. This includes working with community and public-sector partners to develop land-use policies, advocate for parks and public access, and guide riverfront development.

Prior to FMR, Colleen was with the Blue Line Coalition and Center for Economic Inclusion where she focused on equitable development policy and collaboration with local government partners. Her past work has included policy, advocacy, and community engagement around urban development, housing, and transportation issues.

Colleen recently sat on the City of Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Housing and is the former board president of the Northeast Investment Cooperative. She holds a bachelor's in sociology from the University of St. Thomas.

The Golden Valley Rotary Club will gather with members of the community to celebrate all things Rotary during the 2022-2023 year. We will present the Citizen of the Year award and the Rotarian of the Year award. Mary Timmons, Club President, will pass the gavel to incoming Club President, Shep Harris. A great celebratory event in the fifty year history of the Golden Valley Rotary Club!