Handke Stadium Reconstruction

Restoring and repairing the Handke Stadium for $260,000 ranks as the premier service Elk River Rotary Club project for the community.

In the year 2000 when the District 728 Board of Education did not have the funds to repair the site, the club took on the long-range project.

Since then, the complex has a new warming house with a gas fire place, almost all of the wall has been replaced with stone, the steps have been repaired, old light poles have come down, new wiring has been installed and the area has been relandscaped.

A stone plaza containing the Rotary Club seal has been built at one of the entrances where the original Handke school bell hangs.

Two expert stone masons, Greg Johnson and Heath Lacroix, used donated stone bolders to rebuild the warming house and repair the walls.Lynn Caswell did the survey work and dealt with the individual subcontractors.

The restoration is completed and the stadium has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places.

Dr. David Flannery, former Rotarian and Superintendent of Schools, chaired the first restoration Committee and organized the first fund-raising, resulting in grants from the Minnesota Historical Society, the 728 School Board, the Three Rivers Community Foundation and the Great River Energy.

The Elk River Rotary committed $10,000.

Tom McNair, chair of the fund raising, says $100,000 was raised by selling pavers for a plaza, selling two different paintings of the stadium, along with donations from businesses, service clubs, banks and individuals.

Handke High School Alumni from the classes of the late 60’s and early 70’s bought over $50,000 of the paintings, McNair said.

Susan Roth, the National Register Historian, said, “This represents a concerted community effort to provide an outdoor stadium three times over, and what’s so nice is it really represents a stadium from an earlier era.”

Rotarian Caswell who coordinated the reconstruction said, “I’m impressed.I never imagined we would be able to put together the kind of resources we have. It’s awesome for an individual club.”

McNair, credited for raising most of the money said, “This project fits our mission to serve the community while giving our club good visibility.Youngfamiles love it because it’s a place for kids and older people to look at with fond memories.”

Polio Plus

Les Anderson, who had polio at the age of 18, inspired the Elk River Rotary Club to contribute thousands of dollars to Rotary International’s Polio Plus campaign to eradicate polio in the world.

By telling his story to the local club and neighboring clubs, Anderson helped raise money for Polio Plus.

At one Rotary Club meeting, Anderson told about his bout with polio, a story which so inspired the club, it donated $1,500 to Polio Plus.

He wrote a book about his experiences with polio as a teen-age farm boy and donated most of the proceeds to Polio Plus.

This year the Elk River Rotary Club has contributed $1,000 to Polio Plus to help the Rotary District 5960 meet the pledge of matching $70,000. This is part of the Rotary International’s pledge to match a $100 million challenge from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rotary International has spent $700 million to eliminate polio in 125 countries since 1985 when it partnered with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The four countries still having polio cases are India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Anderson, who died last year, was proud of his perfect attendance at Rotary meetings for 26 years, until he became ill.For years he was the leading seller of tickets for Rotary events.

His volunteer work in Rotary merited the Paul Harris Fellowship Award.

Anderson said he volunteered his time, because “Doing things for others is as good a thing as you can do.”

Adopt a River

Since 1994, Elk River Rotarians annually have been cleaning up a stretch of the Elk River.

Tom McNair chairs this Adopt A River program, a project of the Department of Natural Resources.

Over the years, Rotarians have collected 5,000 pounds of waster material from the shallow river and its banks in canoes and duck boats. They’ve pulled out tires, 55-gallon drums, spools, bikes, fishing rods, campstools and toys

They pile the “stuff” on a lot behind Main Street from where the City Street and Park Department, under Phil Hals, dispose of the junk.

“We’ve had great cooperation from that department,” said McNair.

During year 2005, Rotarians collected 4,000 pounds of junk.

McNair said some Rotary members who have kept the river clean for many years

include Jeff Gongoll, Bruce Tyler, Lynn Caswell and Deb Urista Cathy McManus and Cathy Mehelich.

Paul Bell of Elk River was a member of the six-member International Rotary Group Study Exchange Program sponsored in part by the Elk River Rotary club.