Thirty Rotarians were in attendance at this week’s meeting while there were no visiting Rotarians or guests.  President Nash announced that John Stone was injured while on vacation.  He tore his quad muscle when he missed a step at the Taj Mahal in India.  He had surgery after returning to the U.S. and will need four to six months of rehab.  The Club has sent a card and its best wishes to John.  Fred Schwimmer who was attending his last meeting before heading to Florida for the winter gave the Thought of the Day.  The passage he read is printed below as it expresses much of what Rotary is about.

 

Next week, December 7, we will have our annual holiday party featuring the New Trier Swing Choir.  We celebrated Greg Nelson and Chuck Norton’s birthdays as well as the club anniversaries of Mary Lou Bilder-Gold (22 yrs), Alan Ramsay (41yrs) and Rodger Morris (45yrs).  It was also reported that Mary Lou’s husband, Norb Gold, passed away this past month.  Our sympathies go out to Mary Lou and Norb’s family.

 

Mark Kotz announced that Rotary District Directories are now available (at no cost).   The Winnetka Community House will be producing the annual “Christmas Carol” on December 2 and 3 with two shows each day.  The Winnetka Current had a nice spread with pictures on our club’s involvement in delivering winter coats at two locations in Chicago in connection with Operation Warm.

 

The League of Women Voters will be holding their Holiday Tea at Kenilworth Union Church on December 7.  The featured presentation will be the “State of the Villages” presented by the village managers of Winnetka, Northfield and Kenilworth.  Barb Tubekis reported that the Volunteer Center would be holding their Holiday Wrapping Party at the Harley-Davidson showroom across from Costco in Glenview from 2 – 3 p.m. on December 8.  Rotarians are welcome to volunteer to wrap gifts for the less fortunate.  The WYO handed out flyers announcing their fundraising effort on December 8 and 9.  By shopping at any of the 12 stores listed the WYO will receive some of the proceeds.  Terry Dason of the Winnetka-Northfield Chamber of Commerce gave an update on businesses moving into the Hubbard Woods and Elm Street districts.  Two big moves include Walgreens moving from south Glencoe into the former Mrs. Green store and Conneys of Winnetka moving across the street to the building that Mariani’s formerly occupied to make way for the Winnetka One project.  Lots of exciting things are happening in Winnetka.

 

David Birkenstein introduced our speakers, Cynthia Gentleman and James Westfall, executives with the Northeast Council of the Boy Scouts of America.  Both Cynthia and James are also Rotarians and talked about the strong similarities and connections between the two organizations.  We both have similar goals and missions, just for different age groups.  The B.S.A. was founded in 1910 and now has over 2.7 million scouts in the U.S. 

 

There are 12,000 scouts in the Northeast Council and 3000 regular volunteers.  Cub Scouts, for grades K – 5 are very family centered where the boys learn about the community.  The Boy Scouts are for those 11 – 17 years old boys who learn much about their environment.  They teach leadership by experience and camping is a significant part of scouting.  Winnetka’s Troop 20 has 100 active scouts.  Venturing is a co-ed program for 14 to 20 year olds that focuses on adventure, leadership, personal growth and service. 

 

There are 19 Rotary clubs in the Northeast Council area that sponsor scout troops.  70% of the troops in the country are sponsors by faith-based organizations.  Nearly one-quarter of the scouting organizations are sponsored by civic or community-based organizations.  One of the biggest fundraisers for the scouting is the annual sale of popcorn where approximately 1/3 of the revenue goes to the Council, 1/3 goes to the local scouting organization and 1/3 goes to the vendor.

 

Thought of the Day courtesy of Fred Schwimmer:

 

 

 

 

Fundraising is underway for our 2017 Operation Warm project. 

 

 

 

 

Dear District and Zone Leaders:

 

As you have been reading in the news, severe rainfall has caused historic flooding along the Texas coast, including in Houston, the fourth largest city by population in the United States. Deluged towns in the region are in desperate need of aid as thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes. About 6.8 million people have been affected by the hurricane, which made landfall on 25 August.

Please circulate the news about Rotary’s relief efforts to Rotarians in your district.  Please direct inquiring Rotarians to the web story on Rotary.org for the most up-to-date information or to contact RI by writing to relief@rotary.org.

 

Yours in Rotary Service,

 

Robb

 

Robb Knuepfer

RI Director

Zones 28 & 29