Meeting Recap June 23

This week there were 31 members in attendance, plus three guests and our speaker.  Keith Reed, the substitute greeter, introduced visiting Rotarian and past member of our club, Bill Leske.  Keith also introduced two guests:  David Birkenstein brought his wife Mary, and Kristen Leahy brought her colleague from the WYO, Allie Sarwark.

 

Rodger Morris made an important announcement that beginning in July, the new fiscal, year he will not have his usual supply of singles ($1).  So if you give him $20 you will get 24 raffle tickets.  Try to remember to bring exact change especially if you want less than five dollars worth of raffle tickets.

 

Bob Baker reminded the club that our Installation Dinner would be held on Thursday, July 7^th at 5:30 p.m. at the Community House.  There will not be a regular luncheon meeting on that day.  It is important that all members who plan to attend sign up and indicate if they plan to bring a ‘significant other.’

 

Mark Kotz also reminded members that if they are assigned to Sgt-at-Arms duty they should stay a few minutes after to meeting to take the badges and flags back to the closet which is located near the front desk at the Community House.

 

Rich Lalley proudly presented Barb Tubekis with a Paul Harris Fellowship.  He also thanked the club for the number of members who have recently made their contribution to the Rotary International’s “Every Member Every Year” program.  Next week’s meeting is the deadline to make a contribution for this fiscal year.  The goal is to have 100% participation in this worthy effort for RI’s Foundation.

 

Happy Buck$ this week were happily supplied by Wes Baumann who gave $3 for the three-win sweep of the Cubs by the Cardinals.  Robert “Mr. Cub” Mardirossian came back with $8 for the eight game lead the Cubs had over the Cardinals.  Other Happy Buck$ came from Bernie Michna, Tony Kambich, and our guest speaker Father Jim.  Rich Lalley threw in $37 for his 37^th wedding anniversary, congratulations to his wife Dyan!

 

David Birkenstein, introduced our speaker for the day, Father Jim Swarthout.  Father Jim was originally ordained as a Catholic priest, but he became an Episcopalian priest after marrying a Catholic nun years ago.  He is a member of the Fox Valley Sunset Rotary Club and is a Paul Harris Fellow.  Father Jim has spent most of his professional life in the area of addiction and mental health. Father Jim works as a clergy community coordinator at Rosecrance Health Network, a large mental health facility with numerous sites.  He and his wife often house bishops and priests struggling with addiction problems.

 

Rosecrance deals with addiction and mental health problems in all age groups.  They have the largest adolescence program in the state. Rosecrance also provides services to policemen and firemen who are suffering from the trauma they have witnessed on their jobs; it is considered a secondary trauma. 

 

Father Jim feels strongly that we need to talk about these serious issues, as ‘apathy is the death of hope.’  For many addicts it is a long, almost never-ending journey consisting of falling and getting up, which is repeated many times over.  He said this falling and getting up is common among the human race and is not limited to those dealing with addiction.  He said that humans are great at the art of self-criticism, which only make the road back more difficult. 

 

Father Jim said that today pot is 10 to 20 times more powerful than it was 30 years ago.  He is against the legalization of marijuana and said that the low cost of heroin is exacerbating the problem of addiction.  He stated that he does not always understand the cause of the problem, but he is committed to helping people deal with their issues. The Club really enjoyed his thought-provoking and stimulating presentation.