fargo rotary

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y project documents the goings-on of Mthe Fargo Rotary club and how its membersare influencing the surrounding community.From Jan. - April 2012, I attended the club’s weekly meetings and various community-oriented events to chronicle their efforts. My focus falls on the club itself, along with three organizations affected by Rotarian work.

by Paul P. Harris and is a worldwide network of service-based clubs with over a million members recognized as Rotarians. Their motto, “Service above self,” describes their committment to bettering society through individual service. There are currently five such clubs in Fargo-Moorhead.

Rotary International was founded in 1905

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Backpack Program

Project English brings volunteers together in efforts to teach English to American immigrants.

provides under-priviledged children with meals to eat over the weekend when school meals are not provided.

Rape and Abuse Crisis Centerprovides confidential services to all peopleaffected by personal violence free-of-charge.

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The Fargo Rotary club holds its meetings at noon each Wednesday in the

Radisson Hotel.

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Darrell Utke greets fellow Rotarians as they don nametags and sign in.

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Club president Steve Halverson strikes the bell to begin this day’s meeting.

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Meetings begin with the pledge of allegiance or the

singing of the national anthem followed by an opening prayer.

A song or two are often sung from a Rotary song book.

Here, Srihari Panjini

sings, “America, the Beautiful.”

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Guest speaker AlineBisimwa wipes away tears as she speaks of her late-

grandfather.Born in Zaire, Congo,

Bisimwa was adopted by a U.S. family shortly after her seventh birthday. She

plans to attend the University of North

Dakota after graduating from Fargo South High.

Guest speakers are invited to club meetings and come from all walks

of life; many arestudents of local schools.

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Rotarians express their reasons to be joyful and contribute to the club treasury in the form of

“happy dollars.”

Matt Langemo presents happy dollars, ecstatic that his fiancé will still marry him after their

first marriage counseling session.

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(Above): Shannon Gephart passes around a sign-up roster for an ELL

program.(Right): Randy

Wimmer leaves a club meeting carryingunsold coffee beans brought from Guatamalaafter visiting a fellow club there.

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Rotarians meet twice a month to pack bagged meals for the Great Plains Food Bank

backpack program in Fargo, N.D. The backpack program distributes food to

children in need of food assistance over the weekend when they’re not fed at school.

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Semi trucks like the one shown above distribute the collected food from the Great

Plains Food Bank.

(Left): Bob Medhus places sacked meals into a large collection box.

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Rotarians serve in many rolls throughout the community; Rotarian Lynn Speral serves

as the director of development at the local Rape and Abuse Crisis

Center.

(Above): Speral speaks at a local fundraising event.

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(Above): Speral speaks at a local fundraising event.

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(Right): The speaker here, intentionally left anonymous, shares his experience as a

victim of childhood abuse with the audience.

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(Left): Upon conclusion of sharing his story, a standing ovation is given to the

speaker.

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American immigrants arrive at the Carl Ben

Eielson Middle School in Fargo to practice English

with volunteer helpers and using Rosetta Stone.

The school provides Project English with a bus

to pick up the men and women at their homes and bring them to the

school.

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Rotarian Heather Ranck organizes and leads Project English. Here, Ranck embraces

Nirmala Adhikari. Born in Bhutan, Adhikari helps fellow immigrants and serves as a

translator for the group.

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Michael Woodard - member of the NDSU

Delta Tau Delta fraternity - helps Sarah San at Project English.Sarah immigrated to

the U.S. from Liberia in 2009.

Local fraternity and sorority members

volunteer their time to programs such as

Project English and can earn community-service hours required for their

chapters to be recognized by their

college or university.

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(Previous page): Attendees celebrate the past year’s efforts during a

potluck banquet.

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(Pictured below): Attendees watch a slideshow of pictures Ranck has taken over

the past year.

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This bus waits for the last person to board; moments after this photo is taken, the bus will leave to take these people home until

next week’s Project English.

I offer my sincere gratitude to the Fargo Rotary club for providing me the

opportunity to pursue this project and for their continued patience, as I spent an

extraordinary amount of time using them as photographic guinea pigs, with an

obnoxiously loud shutter-click no less.

Thank you.

Wishing you all the best,

Joshua BerggrenPhotojournalism

MSUMSpring 2012

© Joshua Berggren 2012

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