This weeks speaker was Dick Carlson who spoke about the new childrens' book he wrote, "The Adventures of Chipper". 

 

Dick asked if we had heard of "Operation Aware". Back in the 1970's a caseworker at Woodland Hills in Duluth created a school curriculum program to help kids make better life choices. Holy Rosary school in Duluth tested this program out for their 6th graders. One of the 6th graders was Len SarvelaJr., whose father helped get the program started in all the Duluth public schools. "Operation Aware" became a huge success and Dick joined the Board to help promote it. Eventually, the program became displaced by other school efforts, such as DARE. But Dick thought the life lessons of "Operation Aware" were worth repackaging. In 2009, Dick decided to make changes in his life and set new goals, so he decided to write a book including the "Operation Aware" message. He started to create a children's book told from the point of view of a dog named Chipper. This was his new long range project. He sat at his computer and finally finished writing his first book. Then he had to have it edited and find out about publishing. Now the book is printed, distributed to bookstores and ready for sale. Dick said the sense of accomplishment is wonderful, "Everyone should write a book before it's too late!"

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