Group Study Exchange team report

On the visit to District 6000 – IOWA

May 1^st 2000 – May 27^th 2000 

Iowa

This year’s Group Study Exchange was set up between Iowa, U.S.A., district 6000, and district 1580 North-Holland, the Netherlands. So we went to Iowa for four weeks, from May 1st up till May 27th. Unfortunately we missed the Iowa team that visited our district 1580 during the month of May.

Iowa is located in what is called the ‘Midwest’ of the United States and has around 3 million inhabitants. The Netherlands have about 15.5 million inhabitants. The people in Iowa have some more space than we do in the Netherlands: Iowa is four times bigger than the Netherlands. The capital of Iowa is Des Moins with around 300,000 inhabitants.

Economic life in Iowa is for a substantial part related to the agricultural activities, amongst others growing corn, soy beans. During our trip we visited a lot of farmers (meat production and dairy farming) and related industries like a farm management agency and seed manufacturers.

Iowa is not only about farming: many insurance companies have their headquarters in Des Moins and Cedar Rapids.

One of the biggest problems Iowa has is the young people who leave the state. A recent poll indicated that 51% of the Iowa college students plan to move to another state. In other words a brain drain is about to happen. Farmers are no longer able to transfer their farms to their children and employers have problems finding young well educated people. A typical comments is: “There is nothing really bad about Iowa, but it is a sort of rural.” The following are reasons for young people to leave the state: little high-tech industries, no big cities, few scenic attractions like an ocean or high mountains for example, etc.

However we noticed that Iowa has a lot of reasons to come back to, or even better to stay. It is a good place for families with good educational system. The people of Iowa are very friendly. Crime is low; we noticed that! Almost nobody locks their cars and homes, incredible! The costs of housing and living are afordable. And, if you want to leave, it is easy commuting. 

The GSE team

For the sake of good order, we would like to (re-) introduce ourselves. Our team leader is Michiel Bloemer, 55 years, member of Rotary Club NL- Amsterdam Buitenveldert, one of the major sponsors of our trip to Iowa. Michiel is Informal Investor. The other members of the team are: Ebelin Boswinkel, 30 springs young, fundraiser of a museum; Reineke van Haaren, 27 springs young, employee of the scientific institute a political party; Paul Jan de Graaf, 30 years, a dairy farmer; Jeroen van den Bos, 30 years, a corporate attorney.

                          Jeroen Paul  Michiel

Reineke Ebelin

extensive introduction of our team members:

Ebelin Boswinkel
Museum of Communication

Hi there! My name is Ebelin Boswinkel. I am a thirty-year-old woman trying to get as much as possible out of life. I am addicted to museums, art and different kinds of cultural heritage. With a never-ending enthusiasm I work in the field of my passion: museums.

After I graduated Art Management in Amsterdam I started studying Corporate Communications in order to get a better understanding of the non-profit field by knowing the profit spheres. This masters degree - and my social and creative skills - led me to the job I’m practicing today. As a fundraiser in the Museum of Communication I am responsible for the income of the museum, which consists mostly of donations and gifts. These donations and gifts could either be given by the (local or national) government or by businesses or related organizations. Lobbying, a lot of patience and a creative brain to come up with suitable compensations are a must! The money that comes in is essential for developing new exhibitions and for the existence of the museum in the future. In the spare time that is left I do some research and consulting for a Dutch museum association and for another museum in Amsterdam.

I hope that my stay in Iowa will cause an overload of information on the different fundraising strategies that are practiced in the museums of Iowa. Therefore I would love to talk to as much museum fundraisers as possible, and enjoy their museums in the mean time! I expect to see that fundraising in the States is more mature than the rol it fulfills in the Dutch museums. This experience will help me to raise more money for the Museum of Communication in order to make the museum even more successful and fun to visit than it already is!

The Museum of Communication is an unique hands-on museum. Visitors can experience the thrill of discovering how people used to communicate in bygone days and compare this with our modern ways of communication. The museum is not only a feast for the eyes. The varying presentation methods, computer games and the use of smell, sound, spyholes, hatches and transparent floors also challenge to interact. The museum stimulates all senses and guarantees both young and old a pleasant and instructive day out!

Reineke van Haaren
Scientific institute political party

Living in Amsterdam is wonderful. In Amsterdam you are constantly surrounded by the rich Dutch history. You have got the canals, which you can boat on in summer and - with a little bit of luck - can skate on in winter. I enjoy the great variety of museums, restaurants and shops. And in an international city like Amsterdam, of course you meet, a great diversity of people and cultures. Also in the field of the nightlife do I love this sparkling city. In short, a wonderful environment for a young woman like me.

I haven’t lived in Amsterdam all my life. I was born in August 1972 in Ede. Ede is on the outskirts of a large wildlife area "De Veluwe" in the center of The Netherlands. My parents still live there. My mother is an alderman in the municipality of Ede and my father is a teacher. My sister, who is two years younger than me, lives in Den Haag and works for the Home office. After the H.A.V.O. (high school) I went to Paris as an au pair for a year. In this beautiful city, that I got to know well in that year, I completed a French language course.

After I finished my education on the Hotel Management School in Wageningen I became the shop manager of the largest Häagen-Dazsshop in The Netherlands on the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. I had the responsibility for this beautiful shop and I was in charge of three full-time and forty part-time colleagues. It was a nice job in witch dealt with all the several aspects of the hospitality industry. Nowadays, I’m working for an Scientific Institute of a political party. I’ve started working for them on the first of April. Doing more or less the same as I did before, managing. By being a member of a political (youth) party I try to contribute - in a modest way – to fraternization and decrease of prejudices. In that way I try to think about solutions for social issues that we experience in the Netherlands. For me the most important objectives of the G.S.E. were fraternization, mutual understanding and get to know more about other cultures. I have exchanged a lot of experiences and got a lot of impressions to widen my horizon. So for me it was and it is, "Iowa, Fields of Opportunities".

Jeroen van den Bos 
Attorney

My name is Jeroen van den Bos; I was born on June 11, 1970; for quite some years I live together with my girlfriend Alexandra. As of December 30, 1999 we are the more than proud mum & dad of our son Hidde.

After high school (Gymnasium) in Haarlem, one of the most beautiful cities of the Netherlands, I went to Leiden University in order to study law. Leiden University is the oldest university of The Netherlands and very well known for its law school. During my university time I was member of Rotaract Club Heemstede. After I graduated it got time to start the serious working life. Reason enough to look for a job in the Caribbean, which I found on Curacao, the biggest island of the five that form the Netherlands Antilles. I was employed with a firm that is specialized in company formation and company management. We managed these companies that were set up making use of several international tax treaties. After three years of working and travelling in this beautiful part of the world, Alexandra and I decided to move on with our careers. I started looking for a job with more focus on the legal side of matters.

This decision made us go back to the Netherlands where I started as a lawyer at Cordemeyer & Slager Advocaten, a law firm in Haarlem. I have been working for almost two years with this firm. Our firm’s practice is primarily focussed on companies and not that much on individuals. Most of our clients are active in the field of information technology. Generally spoken we have a commercially orientated working field (amongst others corporate and commercial law, information technology law, labor law, intellectual property law).

Paul Jan de Graaf 
Diary farmer

To me the GSE tour was a very special occasion. First of all, it was an accomplishment to organise a month off of my diary farm. It worked out fine and it gave me the feeling I could leave my enterprise more often or start some new businesses next to farming.

In Iowa meeting many friendly people with interesting backgrounds was very nice. Most of my host families already felt like good friends after my short stay. I have visited interesting places and companies such as several farms.

Furthermore, I found it interesting to see how influential an organisation like the Rotary can be; many of the institutions which were shown to us, we could not have seen when being tourists.

All in all it was an inspiring month for me and I will remember it for a lifetime.

Michiel A. Bloemer (55 years)
Team leader

I live in the Netherlands in the village of Bussum, a suburb of Amsterdam.

Liesbeth, my wife is a professional violin player and a member NETHERLANDS PHILARMONIC ORCHESTRA in Amsterdam. We have two sons: Jan Hein (18 years) and Floris (17 years) they finish next year baccalaureate.

About a year ago I sold my business, a textile trading company in Amsterdam, founded by my grandfather in 1888. I owned and managed this company for about 30 years , after I succeeded my father.

Since then I have been active in helping young entrepreneurs starting new businesses. I continue to stay involved with these young entrepreneurs, both financially, by investing, as well as personally through mentoring and advising. In your country I am a ‘BUSINESS-ANGEL’, we say informal investor. During my stay in IOWA I hope to meet other entrepreneurs and ‘Business-Angels’.

Among others my hobbies are cooking at home, sailing on my 40 feet yacht, playing field hockey, cycling and golf.

Program

During our stay in Iowa we visited the following cities. Our program started in Des Moins, capitol of the state Iowa. Des Moins has approximately 300.000 inhabitants. From here we traveled to the southern part of Iowa, to Leon. Leon is a very rural village of around 2,000 inhabitants. From here we also visited Madison County (famous of the movie “Bridges of Madison County”). After Leon we visited Atlantic, almost four times bigger than Leon (8,000 inhabitants). From Atlantic we were transported to Nevada, a town of around 11,000 people. During our stay in Nevada our hosts took us for one day to Pella, Iowa. Pella is a ‘Dutch’ village, being very proud of their Dutch history. We visited the local tulip festival. This festival is very famous in the whole state of Iowa. Of course we performed here by singing the Dutch song: ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’.

Our Nevada hosts arranged for transportation to our next hosts, Centerville, having around 6,000 inhabitants. We were invited for a typical American wedding. From Centerville our trip went to Fort Madison a beautiful city on the Mississippi River. Up north of the Mississippi we visited Davenport (part of ‘the Quad Cities’). In Davenport we visited the Rotary District Conference. Our trip ended in Iowa City, a famous university city.

District conference

Highlight was attending the 85th Annual District 6000 Conference in Davenport.

During the conference we held two well visited presentations about The Netherlands and our backgrounds. We also attended several sessions and meetings. During the Rotary Community Celebration we promoted the Netherlands by displaying all kinds of typical Dutch ‘stuff’. The revenue of the sale of these gifts, we donated to the literacy program, as was indicated by the Governor-elect Dale and Mary Belknap on the same evening. It was very nice to see and meet the very enthusiastic group of youth exchange students (16-18 years) from all over the world.  

Some of our interesting sightseeing visits were:

Several historical sites, like old hotels, old Victorian homes, old railway stations, old fortifications of the 19th century;

Meeting Thom. Vilsack, Governor of the State of Iowa;

Tour State Capitol Building;

Meeting Mrs. Penny Westfall, Commissioner, Iowa Department of Public Safety;

Meeting Mr. Darwin E. Chapman, Director Division of Criminal Investigation;

Museums, like agricultural, historical, mining,

Visit to the Tulip Festival in Pella with our hosts from Nevada;.

Several immigration areas form people from Danmark, Germany and The Netherlands;

The baseball match between Iowa Cubs – Ohklahoma Red Hawks (unfortunately lost)

The Chambers of Commerce;

The arena football game between the Iowa Barnstormers – San Jose Sabercats;

Visit to High Schools and Colleges;

Several very interesting visits to companies active in seed production, plastic industry, garment industry, pizza topping, soft drinks, metals, agricultural machinery, displays, concrete factory;

Small, huge and modern hospitals, institutes taking care of mentally disabled people;

Several cattle auctions;

Huge hog farms (2,000 pigs) and dairy farm (1,800 cows, growing within the next two years to 3,600 cows) ;

The romantic places of the famous book “The bridges of Madison County’

The different libraries;

Several fun-eral homes

Several religious communities;

Typical American wedding party;

The ‘floating’ casino industry on the Mississippi River;

Radio and Television Studios in Des Moins

Several ‘wet’ events like our tour on a towing boat on the Mississippi, visiting several locks on Mississippi;

Iowa University;

Vocational days

Ebelin Boswinkel

During the Group Study Exchange I visited almost all museums in Iowa and talked to the fundraisers in charge. Not only museums, but also parks, botanical gardens, zoo’s, universities and even the Red Cross and the YMCA were interesting to talk to. We talked about fundraisers, gala’s, memberships, annual campaigns, volunteers and different strategies of fundraising. I was impressed by all the time and effort that each and every person I met made available for me in order to teach, entertain and surprise me.

The Rotary Group Study Exchange has enriched my knowledge of fundraising a lot. I learned several different strategies that are not practiced in The Netherlands at this moment. Because of the differences between the Dutch and American communities some of the strategies are not going to work in The Netherlands. Dutch people are not as willing to donate money to museums as in The States. Instead of feeling responsible Dutch people take the cultural heritage for granted. While in Iowa more than 80% of the raised money comes from private persons, in The Netherlands only 2% of the income is given by private persons.

The Museum of Communication doesn’t have memberships to raise extra money. At this moment - thanks to my GSE experience - I’m starting a membership-program. With the information I got in Iowa about board members and their involvement in fundraising I’m trying to get more use out of the board of my museum. This and a lot of other experiences made my stay in Iowa very useful. The warm and welcoming people I met added an extra flavor to the trip. Fundraising is friendraising! Thanks for a great time!!!

Reineke Van Haaren

As I wrote in the introduction of myself that for me the most important objectives of the G.S.E. are fraternisation, mutual understanding and get to know more about other cultures. To learn the basics of Iowa.

Only very recently I changed from being a shop manager to executive secretary of a political party. Both managing jobs (of a different kind).

So in the vocational activities there were a lot of very interesting visits for me. I wanted to get a general impression. I learned about the U.S. sales-tax system in a shop called “The heart of Iowa” in Des Moines. Miss’s Shirley M. Chenchar explained me the details about how she manages her store.

I had the change to talk to a lot of managers. There was Sheila A. Keppy Volrath, who is an investment representative for Edward Jones and manages her own office. In Nevada I met Dean Axland and in Ford Madison, James C. Sodey, who both manage banks. I talked to Dennis Stuetelberg (Atlantic) and Philip L. Metcalf (Leon), who both run Pharmacies in their towns.

And there were more interesting managers like: Kate Johansen, Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce, Mary Bontrager, The Greater Des Moines Partnership, Jeff Meng, Motel 60 & Villa, William F. Tubbs, The North Scott Press, Michael A. Brockman, Fort Madison Ready Mixed Concrete Co., Darwin E. Chapman, Division of Criminal Investigation.

We have visited big companies where we met the managing staff like: Almaco, Cass. Incorporated, Coca-Cola Atlantic Bottling Company, Rubbermaid, Burke, Hertz, John Deere and many more.

Of course, the modern farmer is a manager too…..!

Also my political interests were satisfied. We met with Governor Tom Vilsack. I have looked forward to that meeting. I think he is an interesting man, respected by all Iowans both Democrats and Republicans. Of course there was the good conversation with Commissioner E.A.“Penny” Westfall (Department of Public Safety). For me as a woman, I find it very stimulating to meet women in high positions. In West Point we met Joseph H. Merschman of Merschman Seed, Inc with whom we had a nice discussion about genetic modified seeds, a very hot topic in Dutch politics at the moment. I met Joan Fitzpatrick Bolin, who ran for State Treasurer, she explained me a lot about political campaigns. Also I talked to Seeley G. Lodwick who worked in the National Department of Agriculture under the administrations of several republican presidents.

And of course I had a lot of very nice political discussions with my host-families. That I have enjoyed very much.

There were so many people who gave me so much interesting information and so many good ideas about so many different (vocational) subjects that to me this G.S.E. project was a very valuable experience. Thank you!

Paul Jan de Graaf

My vocational focus was on the entrepreneurial part of farms and companies. The specific technical aspects of farming are not interesting to me because of the different circumstance in Iowa from Holland (climate, markets etc.).

The first company was a recently started dairy operation in Leon. The farmer, a former nuclear engineer, tried to work out a way to make small; family owned farms more profitable. The spirit and vision of Todd Blanton is what I remember most.

The second dairy was of another order. This plant was set up for 3600 cows! At present 1800 cows were in production. After a tour on the farm (factory) I got the opportunity to talk extensively with the manager, Mr. Cunningham. How did he co-ordinate this huge enterprise? Although Iowa has not a milk-quota system, it is still very hard to start up such a capital-intensive operation like Milk Unlimited Dairy Farm.

In Nevada I have seen a company which is active in real estate; building, trading and renting out properties. I also gained some nice insights in this branch. Other specific interesting companies to me were: Fort Madison Ready Mixed Concrete co, Andron Erickson Dairy, Merchman Seed, Pioneer, Herz Farm Management, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centre (University of Iowa) and the Northwest Bank.

It is difficult to point out what I have learned from my stay in Iowa exactly. But I have noticed already that my self-esteem and ambitions grew stronger.

Jeroen van den Bos

My vocational activities were very interesting. It is almost self-explaining that I met a lot of lawyers and attorneys (not that I needed one, just for vocational reasons). We discussed the differences in our legal systems, drugs policy in The Netherlands, death penalty (which we have abolished a long time ago), gun problems and many more subjects. Most of the times we came to the joint conclusion the perfect legal system does not exist and that the ‘best’ system probably has aspects of both systems.

I visited (Polk) County courthouse and State courthouse, both located in Des Moins. Of course I visited Drake University and met several interesting people. Among other subjects, we discussed several corporate law issues. I was impressed by the Law Library of Drake University, which is very modern and up-to-date. One of the highlights was the visit to the legal department of Deere & Company (John Deere) in Moline, Illinois.

Moreover I really appreciated it, that I could meet some of the judges in Davenport and have short discussions with them. My vocational part of the trip ended in Iowa City. I visited the famous law school of Iowa University and met a Dutch professor, giving a summer course of six weeks. Also here I was impressed by the fact that Iowa University was ranked as one of the top universities in the United States.

It was a fascinating experience to meet with my colleagues in Iowa!!!

Conclusions and Suggestions:

We had a wonderful trip. The experience has been very special, not in the latest place because of the very, very friendly people receiving our team. We noticed that every Rotary Club that we visited, did its utmost to make our trip an unforgettable experience. All host families were very hospitable and helpful.

The coordination among receiving clubs regarding the program could be improved. We mean that receiving clubs should contact each other (or better, trough a contact person) in order the avoid visits to the same kind of company, farm, etc., etc.

Participants must be very flexible, enthusiast and energetic. We noticed that the program was full. Let us be clear, not too full. We enjoyed using almost every hour of our trip to get to know your state and people better.

Expression of thanks

Although many people told us that we should fly over Iowa instead of visiting this State, we do not agree with that!! Iowa is very well worth visiting. It is a beautiful state, very safe, good schools, low crime, affordable housing, a stable economy, easy commuting, not crowded and of course very friendly and hospitable people.

We would like to thank all the below mentioned people and clubs for their efforts to make this trip unforgettable experience to all our team members.

Governor E. van der Stroom 1999-2000, Rotary District 1580, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

Governor-elect Piet Klok, 2000-2001, Rotary District 1580, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

Governor Ray and Linda Muston 1999-2000, District 6000, Iowa, U.S.A. (thanks for the cd’s)

Governor-elect Dale and Mary Belknap, 2000-2001, District 6000, Iowa, U.S.A.

Arie Sijpestein, GSE teamleader 1999.

Rotary Club Amsterdam Buitenveldert, The Netherlands

C.C.J.A, Amsterdam

Rotary International, Evanston, U.S.A.

Rotary Clubs visited in district 6000, Iowa

Rotary Club of Des Moins, Des Moins

Rotary Club of Decatur County, Leon

Rotary Club of Atlantic– Atlantic

Rotary Club of Nevada– Nevada

Rotary Club of Centerville – Centerville

Rotary Club of Fort Madison – Fort Madison

Rotary Club Davenport - Davenport

Rotary Club of North Scott – Davenport

Rotary Club Iowa – Quad-Cities, Davenport – Bettendorf

Rotary Club Coralville – North Corridor, Iowa City

Rotary Club of Iowa City – Iowa City (morning club)

Rotary club of Iowa City – Iowa City (noon club)

Please contact Rtn. M.A. Bloemer
for any further information,presentations or questions