Events

Shannon Kummerow, Executive Director of The Center: 7 Rivers LGBTQ Connection, will shine a light on the vital work of our LGBTQ+ Center, focusing on exploring the programs and services we offer—from youth support and mental health resources to inclusive events, education, and advocacy. Learn how our center supports LGBTQ+ individuals and families, strengthens community connections, and fosters a culture of acceptance and equality. Whether you're looking to get involved, learn more, or simply show your support, this is a chance to better understand the challenges and triumphs of our local LGBTQ+ community—and how we can grow together.

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration founded the Franciscan Spirituality Center four decades ago as a place for spiritual development, offering opportunities for prayer experiences, retreats, spiritual direction and open discussion. We’ve grown and evolved over the years to meet changing needs, but our core mission has remained the same: We are dedicated to ALL who seek God, meaning and wholeness and we create spaces for community, connection and compassionate listening.  Come and learn more about what the FSC offers to individuals, the community, and beyond!

Jean has been a part of the FSC team since 2017. Her first role was as the program and retreat coordinator. She earned her Master of Divinity from Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago and her Bachelor of Arts in social work from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. She has extensive training in crisis response, community-based organizing and effective communication, as well as significant fundraising and grant-writing experience. Jean serves on the boards of YWCA and Scouts BSA and is also on the Advisory Committee for Great Rivers 2-1-1. She lives in Onalaska with her husband, Matt; their children, Logan and Lydia; and Labrador Retriever, Scout.

Join Karen and Duane on their adventure to the Serengeti, the School of St. Jude, and Mount Kilimanjaro.  Their careers in academia led them to journeys throughout Europe, China, India, and Russia, all of them dwarfed by their travel to Tanzania, Africa in the Spring of 2022.  In the Serengeti they witnessed lions, elephants, giraffes and zebras by the hundreds, colorful birds, monkeys of all varieties, and thousands of wildebeests crossing the countryside during annual migration.  At the School of St. Jude they were entertained by incredibly talented children, learned how to weave and drum, dined on beans and rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and fell in love with bright, young, enthusiastic children eager to learn and challenged to lead their people out of poverty.  At Kilimanjaro they slept with native people, ate goat and rice prepared on three stone firepits, and witnessed how to make the most of life in the village with smiles, laughter, and joyous conversation.  Karen and Duane are now enthusiastic supporters of St. Jude and enjoy bringing other Rotarians to Africa to share these same life changing experiences.

Karen and Duane were born in the Midwest.  Their careers led them to appointments in Michigan, Washington, D.C., Arizona, and South Dakota.  Living in the Black Hills, Duane joined Rotary in Rapid City.  After retiring from academia, Duane and Karen moved to Sparta, Wisconsin, almost exactly between grandchildren in Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.  Karen and Duane joined the Thursday Luncheon Rotary Club shortly after moving to the LaCrosse area in 2023.  “We’ve had an exciting life and want to share these experiences with others through contributions to Rotary.” Karen is retired from two careers.  She was geologist/geophysist, employed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. She was also a secondary school teacher (7^th grade!) in Houghton, Flagstaff and Rapid City.  Duane is retired from a 45 year career as a tenured full professor in mechanical engineering, physics and chemistry with research in high pressure combustion.  He served as Dean of Engineering at three institutions. 

Meet PBS Wisconsin Director of Television Jon Miskowski and learn how public media was invented in Wisconsin. Jon will discuss how immersive media is reinventing PBS Wisconsin’s work and will share previews of new programs, including THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt.

Xcel Energy will be presenting about its energy future. This includes a synopsis of its beginnings, emerging energy demands, sustainability goals and solutions towards a carbon free future.