DECEMBER 20, ROTARY IN REVIEW: Michael Krause

President Chuck Whitaker rang the bell to bring the meeting to order at 12:17 p.m. on the last day of fall in downtown Saint Paul. Vice President Jerry Faletti led the assembled Rotarians in singing God Bless America! accompanied by Bob Jones on the piano. Nancy Brady provided today's Inspirational Minute. Carley Stuber facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. Today's greeter was David Dominick.

President Chuck announced that there would be no Tuesday meeting on Dec. 27. Dr. Jim Hart previewed the Tuesday luncheon meeting on January 3rd featuring former Saint Paul Police Chief John Harrington. Chief Harrington will be speaking about a local support group providing assistance to struggling young men in their 30's. Happy dollars were collected by Carley Stuber.

Past President Gil Thoele introduced today’s speaker, Rotarian Michael Bussey. Mr. Bussey told of his work in the city of Jerusalem where he started as a World Service worker, an organization similar to the Peace Corps, in 1975. The day he was leaving Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. to go to Israel, seventeen were killed in a bombing in Jerusalem in Zion Square. In the forty-one years since his earliest wok in the city, things are no clearer among all of the factions there. Even the events this week Monday demonstrated another tough day in the Middle East.

Mr. Bussey served as the director of the Jerusalem International YMCA for ten years from 1990 to 2000. He was a member of the Rotary Club there during this time. The Jerusalem International YMCA and Jerusalem Rotary Club have a shared history over 60 years. Both the International YMCA and Rotary have connected to significant work in the Middle East that makes a difference. The history of American influence in the area began in the 1850's with the founding of the American University of Beirut. Later, hospitals and other institutions were founded to serve the area. The Jerusalem International YMCA began in 1878. It started modestly with a one sentence Constitution. While the Ottoman Turkish Empire controlled the area during the First World War from 1914 to 1918, the YMCA met behind closed doors. Archibald Hart was sent to the area by International YMCA after World War I with a mission for YMCA in the Holy Land: bring peace to the land and glory to God. Mr. Hart secured a $1,000,000 commitment on Christmas Eve, 1924, to build the current home for the Jerusalem International YMCA. The new building opened in April 1933. The intent of the building was that people of all faiths should find common ground. It had the first indoor swimming pool and gymnasium in Jerusalem. British General Allenby dedicated the building. References to Islam, Judaism and Christianity are incorporated into the design of the building. The building bears an inscription form General Allenby's dedication speech that "...international unity be fostered and developed."

Mr. Bussey also spoke about Rotarian Jim Davidson, the "Marco Polo of Rotary." Mr. Davidson was commissioned by Rotary International and sent on a three-year journey to plant Rotary in new countries. In 1922 the Rotary Club was started in Jerusalem. Palestine was a British province after World War I. The first Club roster had twenty-one members who were primarily British. Mr. Bussey emphasized that the International YMCA and Rotary make a huge difference every day even though the politicians do not seem to make much progress. As evidence of this, he told the story of a dinner held at the YMCA attended by more than a hundred Christians, Moslems, and Jews together despite the hazards of traversing roadblocks and other obstacles. The people show a desire to meet together if given the right circumstances.

Despite centuries of discord, these two organizations, the Jerusalem International YMCA and the Jerusalem Rotary Club, have defined a way forward in the Holy Land that has allowed Israelis and Palestinians, as well as Jews, Christians and Moslems, to find common ground, to develop healthy relationships and ultimately experience a quality of life not easily found in the city of peace.  The amazing work of these two organizations in Jerusalem since 1878 (the Jerusalem YMCA) and 1929 (the Jerusalem Rotary Club) has provided hope for a better future for all of those whose faith eventually connects them to Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

and presented him with a Club 10 recognition certificate and noted that a donation would be made in his name to the Saint Paul Public Library's "Reading Together" program. No meeting next week. President Chuck then rang the bell to close the meeting at 1:06 p.m.

Chuck Standfuss, Scribe