Through this website, you cannot only learn more about the humanitarian services and friendship opportunities provided by our Rotary Club in Prior Lake and around the world but also be inspired to join our Club and help with those efforts!

Our club was chartered in 1978 by 22 members with the mission “to enhance the quality of life for the residents of the Prior Lake area and people throughout the world.”

We currently have 111 members actively involved in our five Avenues of Service; Club Service, Community Service, Vocational Service, International Service, and Youth Service. To find out more about our service projects, please click on the service links on the left.

Our major fundraiser, Prior Lake Rotary’s Lakefront Music Fest, which began in 2010, has turned into a phenomenal community event!

If you are interested in being part of a service organization that makes a difference in the Prior Lake community and throughout the world and have fun doing it, please click here to for more information on joining our club.

Rotary Club of Prior Lake Members

Our mission is to enhance the quality of life for residents of the Prior Lake area and people throughout the world, through service, civic engagement, and meaningful partnerships.
 

Our motto is: Doing Good; Serious Fun!

Club Service

Club Service is about increasing fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.

Our club meets every Wednesday at 7:00 am for fellowship, and fun at Shepard of the Lake Lutheran Church in Prior Lake. We also have a speaker each week present a program on local or international projects.

Other fellowship events include; club parties and 5:01’s.

If you would like to find out more about our club click here to contact our club president.

Community Service

Often described as the “Heartbeat of Rotary”, Community Service is a many-pronged effort to improve the quality of life within a community.

Rotary’s commitment to Community Service grew out of the realization, early in the movement’s history, that something more than fellowship or the opportunity for business profit was necessary to sustain the interest of club members over a long period of time.

From the very first Community Service Project in 1907, when founder Paul Harris led a campaign to have a public restroom installed at the city hall in Chicago, IL, USA, Rotarians have been making substantial and lasting contributions to the communities in which they live. To a large extent, Rotary’s reputation is built on the myriad of Community Service projects undertaken by Rotarians in their communities and abroad.

Each year the Prior Lake Rotary Community Service committee alone donates over $20,000 to local organizations and groups.

Community service projects we support either financially, though hands-on service, or both include: 

  • 1ST Lego Robotics League
  • Adopt-a-Highway
  • Bridging
  • CAP Agency
  • Children’s Miracle Network
  • Community Education Halloween Party
  • Firefighters Appreciation
  • FISH
  • Friends of Wolf Ridge
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Horse and Hunt Club Youth Hunting
  • Junior Achievement
  • Laker Variety Show/Patrons of the Arts and Activities
  • Prior Lake Association – 4th Fireworks
  • Prior Lake High School Senior Lock-In
  • Prior Lake Players
  • Prior Lake Savage Area Schools – Needs at Christmas
  • Saints Healthcare Fund
  • Scott County Historical Society
  • Southern Alliance for Battered Women
  • Young Life

We also support the following through sponsorships:

  • Bedraces for Bridging
  • Cub Scout Pack 1909
  • Laker Educational Foundation – Summer Smash
  • Laker Educational Foundation – Blue Jean Ball
  • Minnesota Special Olympics – Polar Bed Plunge
  • River Valley YMCA –Fore the Y 

Vocational Service

Vocational Service is the way in which Rotary fosters and supports the application of the Ideal of Service in pursuit of all vocations. Inherent in the Vocational Service ideal are:

  1. Adherence to and promotion of the highest ethical standards in all occupations including faithfulness and fidelity to employers, employees and associates and the fair treatment of them and competitors, the public and those with whom one has any business or professional relationships;
  2. The recognition of the worthiness to society of all useful occupations, not just one’s own or those which are pursued by Rotarians;
  3. The contributing of one’s vocational talents to the problems and needs of society.

Vocational Service is both the responsibility of a Rotary club and its members. The role of the club is to implement and encourage the objective by frequent demonstration, by application to its own actions, by example and by development of projects that help members contribute vocational talents. The role of its members is to conduct themselves, their business and their professions in accordance with Rotary principles and to respond to projects, which the club has developed.

Our Vocational Service Projects Include:

  • Ethics Program
  • Thomas J. Hatcher Memorial Scholarship
  • Business Recognition 
  • Rotarian Vocation Awareness
  • Vocational Month Celebration

 

Thomas J. Hatcher Memorial Scholarship

Thomas J. Hatcher was a longstanding and devoted member of the Prior Lake Rotary Club serving as president in 1997-1998. On the event of Tom’s passing, the Rotary Club set aside an annual amount to fund scholarships each year for students graduating from Independent School District 719.

It is the intent of Prior Lake Rotary that at least two of the students to receive this Scholarship be graduates of the Bridges Alternate Learning Center who have successfully enrolled in a vocational school, technical school or vocational college and have met all other scholarship criteria as set for the by Independent School District 719. If insufficient scholarships are awarded to students of the alternative learning center then graduates of the high school who qualify as set forth above will be eligible.

Receipt of this scholarship is conditioned upon student compliance with all application requirements and deadlines as set forth by Independent School District 719. The funds from the scholarship are to be used by the student to defray the cost of admission, books, technology or job required equipment at the trade School, technical school or vocational college which the student has enrolled. Scholarship funds are sent directly to the school by Rotary for distribution to the student.

International Service

A foundation for peace is built of many small efforts to advance understanding and goodwill among people of different nations and to improve the quality of life. Rotary International’s formal commitment to International Service began in 1921, when it was incorporated into the Object of Rotary. It was then, at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Convention, that Paul Harris declared “Yesterday our Rotary was a child; today in strength and vigor it steps out into the world.” Today Rotarians are involved in an enormous range of activities that transcend national boundaries.

Our Club’s International Service Projects Include:

  • Model UN
  • Youth Exchange Inbound and Outbound
  • The Rotary Foundation
  • Healing Haiti
  • Garden and Clean Water Project in The Gambia West Africa
  • Tilapia Farm in Haiti
  • Polio Plus
  • Feed My Starving Children
  • African Smile

Youth Service

Our club’s newest avenue of service, Youth Service recognizes the positive change implemented by youth and young adults through leadership development activities, service projects, and exchange programs.

Youth Service Programs

  • Camp Enterprise
  • Camp RYLA
  • S.T.R.I.V.E. – Students Taking
  • Renewed Interest in the Value of Education
  • Youth Exchange Inbound and Outbound
  • Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA)

Camp Enterprise

Camp Enterprise is an incredible opportunity that can change student’s lives. Sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of District 5950 and 5960, Camp Enterprise is an extensive three-day camp offering students the opportunity to participate in leadership activities focusing on the Free Enterprise System.

Camp RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards)

One of the goals of Rotary is to help young people develop their leadership abilities and self-confidence to the fullest. To accomplish that goal, Rotary clubs around the world prepare thousands of young leaders through RYLA programs each year.

Camp RYLA is a five-day camp which strengthens leadership skills and capabilities of high school students through physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual challenges.  There is an emphasis on problem solving, teamwork, and interaction with other outstanding students and volunteer counselors and presenters.

Traditionally, Camp RYLA is scheduled for the last week in April at YMCA Camp St. Croix near Hudson, Wisconsin on the St. Croix River. The closing session and award luncheon takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Paul.

STRIVE – Students Taking Renewed Interest in the Value of Education

STRIVE is a program for high school seniors who have faced some academic challenges but want to make the most of their last year of high school. STRIVE was invented right here in our district, District 5960, by Rotarian Don Mooney of the White Bear Lake Rotary Club.

Youth Exchange Inbound and Outbound

Objective

Further international understanding and goodwill
Learn and adapt to another culture, while sharing your own

Who Is Eligible?

  • Students must be at least 15 years of age and not over 19 years at the time of departure
  • Students must demonstrate scholastic competence and be involved in extra-curricular activities

What to Expect

  • Attend high school in their host country
  • Act as a student ambassador, sharing customs and adapting to the host country’s culture

Past Inbound and Outbound Students

  • 2012-2013 – Outbound Ann-Marie Card (Switzerland)
  • 2013-2014 – Inbound Jan Philipp-Offen (Germany)
  • 2014-2015 – Victor Beckers (Belgium/Switzerland)

Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) – Winnipeg

Annually, high school students, with their counselors, take on global citizenship as they model the United Nations Assembly at an event in Winnipeg, Canada.

History:

Rotary International stimulated and participated in the events leading to the establishment of the United Nations Organization.  It was present at the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945. The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, formed in 1910, was the first club outside the United States, thus making Rotary international. It was fitting, therefore, that the Club should organize a Rotary Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) as an initial venture in promoting international understanding among youth.

Prior Lake Rotary sent its first delegation in 1986. After two years of not holding the event in 2012 and 2013, the event was resurrected in 2014.  Prior Lake Rotary sent two pairs of students and an advisor from Prior Lake High School.

Equity and Inclusion

In 2020, the Prior Lake Rotary Club formed the Equity and Inclusion Committee to help bring awareness and understanding to the need for more work around anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prior Lake Rotarians are committed to demonstrating the 4-way test and bringing individuals and organizations together to work for peace and justice. Here are lists of related activities.

Diversity and Inclusion work as a club:

  • Ethics training centered in the 4-way test for MNCAPS and Bridges Area Learning Center students
  • District Grant to purchase a trailer for transporting bikes and a wheelchair trike with Marilyn’s TWOcan as well as participation in a ride.
  • STRIVE mentorship program pairing adult mentors with high school students who have faced challenges in their lives to offer support, encouragement, and assistance
  • Donated $4,000 to Harvest Pack and hosted events packing meals to fight hunger in food insecure communities in the US- the meals we packed were donated locally to ROCK and the CAP Agency
  • Support given to Hope Kids and Shockwaves Adaptive Ski Squad for adaptive Ski Day to offer the opportunity for individuals with mobility, visual, or other impairments to experience the joys and benefits of water sports
  • Support given to the Special Olympics MN through funds raised via Polar Plunge participation
  • Support given to Southern Valley Alliance to help women and families impacted by domestic violence.
  • Providing host families for international exchange students for PLHS and hosting them at our club meetings to share their stories and culture

Diversity and Inclusion work (completed and upcoming) specifically from the committee:

  • Peace Pole Dedication ceremony in Gateway Park to promote peace on earth for all people
  • Currently in the planning phase for multiple other projects in conjunction with PLHS and the PLSAS School District to help students feel safe, welcome, and at home in their schools
  • Also will be hosting a community forum with a keynote speaker to help the community to understand what racism looks like and what we can do to show respect for all people, date and location to be announced.

From both the club and committee:

  • Giving a platform to speakers for members of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities:
    • Panel several PL Rotarians sharing their personal stories about Diversity and Inclusion
    • Rebecca Crooks-Stratton for the Understanding Native MN campaign
    • Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community member Andy Vig talking about SMSC history and Native American Cultural Challenges
    • Together with the Rotary Club of White Bear Lake, Alan C. Page- listening to his experiences and story as a football player and a MN Supreme Court Justice
    • Mikah Meyer- professional road tripper, social media warrior, Rotary Alumni, and LGBTQ+ inclusion and equity
    • Prior Lake Savage Coalition for Teachers of Color
    • PLHS Black Student Union
    • Sam Ouk: Refugee Experience