President Chuck called the meeting to order at 12:15.

Bob Baker shared a Thought from the Jewish Prayer Book Gates of Remembrance that spoke to the evolution of our lives.

President Chuck welcomed guest Kevin Stevens, from the North Chicago club, who is District-Governor-Elect.

Birthdays: Mike Wurzberg. Rich reminded all that Paul Harris’s birthday was earlier this week.

Barb reminded us that Earth Day is today, and in honor of Earth Day there is an event in Evanston working outdoors on Saturday at 9:30.

John asked anyone who has an idea for a speaker for May 6 to let him know.

Kevin announced that the District Installation Event is likely to be outdoors, the last weekend in June.

Rich appealed to the club again to support The Rotary Foundation before the end of the fiscal year which is June 30.

Barb is happy that it’s sunny out, happy about the great news this week related to civil liberties and that Liz’s bank helped her SO MUCH with the PPP loan!

Dig&Grin: Transcribed here because Wes was hysterically funny!

"Leave it to a woman:"The CIA had an opening for an assassin.  After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were three finalists: two men and a woman.

For the final test, the CIA agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. "We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances.  Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill her."

The man said "You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife".

The agent said, "Then you are not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home".

The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about five minutes.

The man came out with tears in his eyes, "I tried, but I can't kill my wife."

The agent said, "You don't have what it takes, so take your wife and go home."

Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions to kill her husband.   She took the gun and went into the room.   Shots were heard one after another.   They heard screaming, crashing, and banging on the walls.   After a few minutes, all was quiet.   The door opened slowly and there stood the woman, wiping sweat from her brow.

"The gun was loaded with blanks" she said.  "I had to kill him with the chair."

 

Last year, I joined a support group for procrastinators.  We haven't met yet !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Thomas introduced Dr. Scott Mitchell of SamaraCare Counseling. Dr. Mitchell is a Rotarian in the Naperville club. He described the programs of SamaraCare, which has an office in Winnetka on Oak St. and is supported by our Community Grants program.  His very informative presentation covered the services provided and detailed the needs of people who approach SamaraCare for services. A declining availability of Social Workers and Mental Health professionals and a dramatic increase in the public’s need for mental health services, especially in the past year, has greatly increased the need for services. A robust Q&A session followed the presentation, with significant networking involved. Good work, Rotarians!

 

President Chuck adjourned the meeting at 1:17PM.

 

Chair Norton called the meeting to order around 12:15 pm. There were 23 members participating in the Zoom meeting. Krysten Warnes gave the thought of the day by citing the sayings of Charlie Chaplin which were: “Nothing’s permanent, including trouble”—“Live by each other’s happiness”—and “A day without laughter is a day wasted”.

 

The only guest was Jim Corboy.  Birthdays and anniversaries celebrated were by Louise Holland and Dennis Lauer.

 

ANNOUNCMENTS: Robert Mardirossian reminded members of our June 4^th annual Rotary fund raiser to be on Zoom this year. The evening will start off with a cocktail period, followed by an exciting segment of trivia pursuit and then silent and live auctions.  Robert  then gave those present a taste of the trivia questions by asking who started the Rotary organization and where. The easy answer to the first question was Paul Harris and the first meeting was in Chicago.  But it wasn’t clear which Chicago Club hosted the first meeting, although the Union League Club has hosted monthly Rotary meetings for years.  According to Google, the first meeting was held February 13, 2005 in the office of Harris’ friend Gustove Loehr whose office was in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street. It didn’t seem that anyone came up with the same answer as Google, but Robert, notwithstanding, was able to turn the lively discussion into several contributions  from the members.

 

Barb announced that Heidi Sibert was working hard on an Earth Day celebration  set for April 24^th at Payne Park  in Evanston.  They will be doing restoration work using mulch, pollinizer plants and taking out damaging weeds like Buckthorn. Volunteers should bring their own trowels and shovels, but there will also be extra tools there for use. The exact location and other information is available on the website of the Volunteer Center of New Trier Township.

 

HAPPY BUCKS:  Fred said he was very happy in being able to spend last weekend with his entire family involving 10 people; along with celebrating 60 years of marriage with Ellie which involved mostly two people; and a solo event when he got his second vaccine shot!  Fred also mentioned the favorable publicity received by Rotary in the Winnetka Talk about the Warm Soles project (with our own Rich Lalley, Bob Baker and Heidi Sibert pitching in.)  Fred’s “happiness” prompted him to contribute a “happy bucks” check.

 

DIG N GRIN:  Carl amused the members by suggesting the different ways a priest, minister and rabbi might react when being confronted with a ferocious  bear.

 

SPEAKER JOHN SHEA FROM THE WINNETKA PARK DISTRICT:  John has been a long time employee with the Park District in charge of handling many of the erosion problems on Winnetka’s lakefront.  He presented several excellent slides and pictures taken from drones to show how much this lakefront has been repaired and renovated over the last year or so. Much of this was the result of the lake level falling by more than a foot this last year due to a decrease in last winter’s snowfall. He reported that Lloyd Beach was redone and will be open for services this summer; that it has separated beach usage by motorized and non-motorized boats (such as sunfish sailboats, kayaks and paddleboards); that it will now have new board walk areas with ADA accessible areas on the south side of the beach house so that wheel chairs, carts and dollies will be able to go down to the Lake; and that over 20,000 tons of sand has been added to its beach area.  John also reported that the area around the Elder and Centennial Beaches still have serious problems having lost about 16 feet of sand last year, and will be shutdown most of this summer; that the Tower Road Beach has a new staircase that provides space for more activities (such as yoga classes) and gives a better  view of the Lake during its usage; that Maple Street Beach will be open; and that all the open beaches will be operating from 9 am to 9 pm throughout the summer.  Anyone interested in Winnetka’s lakefront should go to the Park District website to look at John’s pictures  of the afore-mentioned beaches and the improvements made over the last year.  The Park District is to be congratulated for its efforts to make the Village’s beaches as useful and beautiful as possible.

 

The meeting was adjourned at about 1:20 with Chair Norton reciting Rotary’s 4-way test.