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620 Lincoln Avenue
Winnetka, IL 60093
United States of America

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Meeting Summary May 25

Posted by David Grant

Barb led today’s meeting with 15 in-person Rotarians, 1 zoomer, and 4 speakers.

Announcements:

Amy invites us to WCH Firsty Thursdays starting Thursday, 6/1. See her story below!
Rich reminds us “Every Rotarian, Every Year” to donate to the Rotary International Foundation.

Happy Bucks:

Peter is happy to be back from Florida and in-person at the WCH.
Robert is also happy to attend in-person, and equally happy to have zoomed last week.

Speaker: Lynn Weis is the Executive Director of the Evanston Work Ethic program (WE), which is a local charity set up to help students pursue alternatives to 4-year college degree programs. The WE Program was founded in 2017 by Hecky Powell, the owner of Hecky’s BBQ in Evanston.

Lynn brought 2 alumnae from the We program to also speak to us this afternoon: Humana Garcia, who is sponsored at Elmhurst College in a nursing program, and Taiwan, who is sponsored in a culinary training program. WE sponsors 15 Evanston High School Juniors in paid summer internships to pursue vocational programs. They also sponsor a similar size group of high school seniors, and then extend support after graduation. The annual budget is around $200,000 and is funded by individuals and family foundations.

Meeting Minutes May 18

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was chaired by Bob Baker with the assistance of Patti and Barb. The installation dinner for the new officers is scheduled for June 20 @ 5 to 8 pm at the WCH—with one important change in the evening plans. In the past, the Club paid for the dinner and drinks—this year the Club is asking the members to bring their own alcoholic drinks and keep them at their tables.

There were 13 members present at the meeting and 2 hooked in by Zoom. Guests were Don Crost from the Bonita Naples Rotary Club; John Bair from the North Chicago Club; and Tim Keefe (hosted by Bill Leske).

BIRTHDAYS: May birthdays already recognized were Bob Baker, Joe Fell, Barb Tubekis, Patti Van Cleave, Sylwia Pacyk and David Grant. But the birthday that was on May 18 was Fred Schwimmer. Thus, Fred insisted that he have the birthday song sung for him and in exchange therefore he generously donated one piece of U.S. paper currency!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Barb and Patti announced that on June 21 we are going to have a different sort of Rotary meeting in the evening around dinner time (TBA) to be held at a local restaurant (probably The Honeycomb). This idea came out of the recent Club meeting where we discussed new ideas for meetings, meeting times, and new community service projects. The June 21 meeting will be open not only to Club members but also to others who may have suggestions for future “community service projects”.

Rich announced that Don Crost’s truck trip from Naples to Evanston raised over $1200 from our Club for the Rotary Foundation. Rich also reminded regular Club members that they are expected to donate at least $100 a year to the Rotary Foundation for it to provide its many programs.

Patti, Barb, and Rich reported on their attendance at Rotary’s recent District Conference and especially the reports describing the many good things that women Rotarians are doing under the Rotary banner—they were unanimous in saying that “the future of Rotary is in good hands.”

HAPPY BUCKS: Wes gave some HB in honor of Barb’s recently announced retirement from the Volunteer Center after many years of valuable and dedicated service. Don Crost donated due to all the support he received for his “truck from Naples to Evanston” trip. And Robert donated in honor of all the great service Rich has given our Club for all these many years.

DIG AND GRIN: Tony handled this part of the meeting by passing out a memo which he had prepared many “Mother’s Days ago” in honor of his mother. It listed 25 things that his mother “taught him over the years and why he loved her”.

SPEAKER: ERIC KLEIN, CERTIFIED SENIOR ADVISOR AND OWNER OF NORTHSHORE CAREPATROL, officed in Park Ridge, discussing “The Complexities of Aging and Understanding Your Care Options”.

As one of the highly recognized Senior Care Solutions Organizations in the country, CarePatrol helps families and individuals find the right care options for their loved ones based on their needs, budget, and location. These solutions may include: Assisted Living, Independent Living, Memory Care, Respite Care, In-Home Care, Nursing Homes, and Retirement Homes. Advisors from CarePatrol review the history of each care provider, generate a recommended list of care options based on individual needs and financial resources of the patient and help with the transition process. Advisors are available to accompany those people seeking medical assistance on their personalized tours with potential care providers to make sure they ask all the right questions. CarePatrol advisors can also refer other services to the family seeking senior care such as referrals to elder law attorneys, financial planners, and house call physicians.

CarePatrol mentions in its materials that their services are at very reasonable costs and sometimes these services are provided “at no cost to the senior or their family”. There wasn’t enough time in the Rotary meeting to engage in a conversation about who pays for these services, but the internet seems to mention that CarePatrol gets most of its revenues from referral payments made to them from the care providers that provide the services to the patients - such as a nursing/retirement home, a memory care facility or nurse staffing agency.

The presentation was very informative and timely for most of our members. The take-away is that your family will most likely experience someone having an aging problem; that hospitals basically get you well enough to be discharged, but don’t provide much post-discharge care; that there is a shortage of skilled employees providing these necessary services; that the cost of these aging services are going to continue to increase; and that most people wait too long to become knowledgeable about the “complexities of aging and their care options”. The speaker left his following contact information: eklein@carepatrol.com/ phone 847-653-1212

After reciting the 4-way Rotary pledge, the meeting was adjourned around 1:30.

Meeting Minutes May 4

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was chaired by Bob Baker. His Installation dinner is scheduled for June 20 @ 5:00 to 8:00 pm at the WCH. Actress Audrey Hepburn was cited for the “thought of the day” and Moha got a big laugh from the crowd with his joke about how 4 world leaders and a 7 year girl decided how to use 4 parachutes to escape a disabled plane.

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: Ned Meisner, Tom Nash, Joe Fell, Barb, Patti and Bob Baker are all celebrating April birthdays—Club anniversaries were Heather Higgins (28), Terry Dason (7), Liz Taylor (21) and Monica Dombrowski (2).

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Members were reminded of the Club’s participation in the Walk for the Homeless organized by the Rotary Club of Wilmette in Gillson Park May 6; that our next noon meeting on May 11 will be at the Avli restaurant in Winnetka from 12:15 to 1:30 pm—(call Bob Baker or the Avli restaurant to pre order your noon meal if you didn’t do it at our 5/4 meeting--this will be primarily a social event although there will be a Q and A segment that will surely be entertaining.) Rich announced the completion of Rotary’s Uganda grant which was $275,000 with 30 Rotary Clubs participating (our Club gave $5,000 towards this project). He also announced that Rotary has its District Conference next Saturday in Schaumburg with a special speaker from India who not only is a polio survivor but rode a special mechanized bike all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean.

SPEAKER AND TASK MASTER FOR THE DAY: Heidi Sibert, Landscape Architect and Rotarian, and her two co-workers (Alex Mauldin and Sam Seaman) from James Martin Associates were very informative (and patient) in presenting the attached “Pollinator Garden Fun Facts” and directing the “pollinator garden service project” performed by amateur Rotarian gardeners on the southwest side of the WCH!!

Heidi’s Pollinator Fun facts can be viewed here:

https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2417/Documents/en-us/dc47a2f6-a061-4409-9d6f-9d5852fa5e0e/1/

Meeting Minutes April 27

Posted by David Grant

Barb led today’s meeting. She reminded us of the Volunteer Center Recognition event on 5/10 – tickets are available on their website.

Two visiting Rotarians attended:

Ken Drummond is a Mews neighbor and guest of David Birkenstein. He is a past Rotary President of the Lichfield, Il Club.
Deborah from the Wilmette Rotary Club shared the plans for the ‘Rotary Hope Walk for the Homeless.’

Significant Upcoming Rotary Dates:

Thursday, 5/4 Rotary lunch is the Pollinator Garden Service Project during our regularly scheduled meeting.Heidi Siebert and Martin Landscaping will be hosting this hands-on project where we help plant a garden at the WCH.Our Club received a District Grant which pays for ½ of this project.Heidi says: “Bring your planting gloves and wear your grubbies to the meeting and be prepared to hear about the birds and the bees!”
Saturday, 5/6 our Club is participating in the ‘Walk for the Homeless’ organized by the Rotary Club of Wilmette. It will be held in Gillson Park, beginning at 10AM.
Thursday, 5/11 is a social meeting at Avli restaurant in the Laundry Mall in lieu of our regular meeting location of the WCH that Thursday for lunch.No speaker – so come to enjoy the company of fellow Rotarians.
Saturday, 5/13 is the District Conference in Schaumberg.

Speaker: Elisha Gray brought the beauty of the Green Bay Trail into the WCH with a presentation about the ‘Friends of the Green Bay Trail.’ The FGBT is a non-profit organization founded 13 years ago to improve and advocate for the trail. Two Board members from the FGBT also joined Elisha – Ann Reilly & Craig Witty. We learned about cutting Buckthorn, collecting 15 million seeds from 53 different species of plants on the trail, and about educational programs given by the FGBT. Learn more about the trail and the organization at:

Green Bay Trail | (gbtrail.org)

Meeting Minutes April 20

Posted by David Grant

Patti led today’s meeting with 18 Rotarians in person, and 2 on zoom.

Significant Upcoming Rotary Dates:

Thursday, 5/4 Rotary lunch is the Pollinator Garden Service Project during our regularly scheduled meeting.Heidi Siebert and Martin Landscaping will be hosting this hands-on project where we help plant a garden at the WCH.Our Club received a District Grant which pays for ½ of this project.Heidi says: “Wear your grubbies to the meeting and be prepared to hear about the birds and the bees!”
Saturday, 5/6 our Club is participating in the ‘Walk for the Homeless’ organized by the Rotary Club of Wilmette. It will be held in Gillson Park, beginning at 10AM.
Thursday, 5/11 is a social meeting at Avli restaurant in the Laundry Mall in lieu of our regular meeting location of the WCH that Thursday for lunch.No speaker – so come to enjoy the company of fellow Rotarians.
Saturday, 5/13 isDistrict Conference in Schaumberg.

Happy Bucks:

Tony is happy to be back from his one month vacation in the West Indies.

Dig ‘N Grin: Bob Sanfilippo is on the cutting edge of Artificial Intelligence by asking ChatGPT to retell the same joke in the style of Hemingway and Shakespeare.

Speaker: Our member Michael Goldenberg introduced our speaker today: Victoria Mostov. Victoria was born in the Ukraine and moved to the U.S. in 1992. Through her many excellent contacts still in the Ukraine, Victoria is helping rescue orphaned animals caused by the Russian invasion. Her 501c charitable organization is Help4Paws.

Many of Victoria’s on-the-ground volunteers are based in unoccupied areas of the Ukraine, and they are able to ship animal food to occupied areas. Help4Paws also funds home shelters like the one she described with 100 animals in a 3 bedroom apartment. They go where bigger organizations like PETA can’t go.

Several members were moved by Victoria’s presentation, and they requested details on how to donate to help Victoria. Here are 3 ways:

Send a check to: Help4Paws c/o Victoria Mostov 1405 Oxford Drive Buffalo Grove, IL 60089.
Paypal: @help4pawscharity
Zelle: vmostov9876@gmail.com

Meeting Minutes April 6

Posted by David Grant

Patti led today’s meeting.

Visiting Guests: Tom Tubekis and Jane Dowding

Dates to Remember:

5/6 our Club is participating in the ‘Walk for the Homeless’ organized by the Rotary Club of Wilmette. It will be held in Gillson Park, beginning at 10AM.
5/11 is a social meeting at Avli restaurant in the Laundry Mall in lieu of our regular meeting location of the WCH that Thursday for lunch.No speaker – so come to enjoy the company of fellow Rotarians.
5/13 is District Conference in Schaumberg.

Announcements:

Remember to bring food items for the New Trier Food Pantry with you the next time you visit the WCH – there is a donation collection box in the lobby of the WCH.
Rich asks all of us to consider donating for Don Crost’s Little Blue Truck trip from Florida to Evanston, which will support ShelterBox relief going to Turkey. There is a link on the website to donate.
Bob solicited matching contributions for this year’s Foundation awards.

Happy Bucks:

Fred will be in town and in-person at the next meeting.
Barb is happy to be home from her long driving trip to Florida.
Robert is happy to hand deliver a letter to Bill Leske – so in honor of saving $0.60 on a stamp, he is kicking in another $0.40 for a whole HB.

Speaker: Today’s excellent speaker is Winnetka resident Chuck Dowding. His topic is: “Combating Global Warming with Wind, Solar, Nuclear Energy and Batteries: Uniqueness of Winnetka & Illinois energy sources.” Among many themes, Chuck shared his insight about where we get our local power: 68% coal, 21% solar wind (replacing a recent coal contract with Vistra), and 10% other wind. We need more batteries because our power sources are intermittent. The Village of Winnetka is paid $1.4 million per year under a contract to provide peak power to the grid by turning on our Tower road power plant. By 2035 Winnetka will pay off the bonds that financed the power plant, and the Village will need to decide how much to invest in the plant and what to do with it in 2035. Review Chuck’s slides by clicking this link: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2417/Documents/en-us/8bdb038d-4f0b-47ae-81ab-e766e307afda/1/

Support for ShelterBox

At a recent club meeting, Donna Gulley gave us a great update on ShelterBox's disaster relief work in Turkey and Syria after the recent devastating earthquake.

Our club's Past President Don Crost (currently a member of the Rotary Club of Bonita Springs) also told us of his upcoming fundraising drive in support of ShelterBox. Don will be driving his 1953 Chevy truck from Naples Florida to Rotary Headquarters in Naples, stopping to speak at Rotary Clubs along the way and generating news coverage and new supporters for ShelterBox.

Here's his first news story from the Southwest Florida NBC tv station:
https://nbc-2.com/news/story2share/2023/03/24/in-his-1953-chevy-truck-naples-rotarian-traveling-cross-country-for-worthy-cause/

At our recent meeting, we pledged to renew our support of ShelterBox. You may contribute to this critical disaster relief work by donating here:
https://secure.givelively.org/donate/winnetka-northfield-rotary-charitable-foundation/shelterbox-drive-for-hope

Thank you for all you do through Rotary to make the world a better place.

Community Service

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The Community House is collecting non-perishable foods and household goods for the New Trier Township Food Pantry. Club members and visitors to the Community House are encouraged to bring items on Thursday or whenever you are visiting the Community House. A large bin for drop offs is located at the front desk. Club members are asked to monitor the bin and take items to the Food Pantry when full.

This new service project collaboration will be ongoing, with a new recipient identified quarterly.

Every Rotarian, Every Year- Contribute to The Rotary Foundation

As the 2021-22 Rotary Year concludes, please join the millions of beneficiaries of projects funded by The Rotary Foundation in thanking our members who have honored their commitment of Every Rotarian, Every Year, contribute to The Rotary Foundation's Annual SHARE Fund.

These gifts support the local and international work of Rotary Clubs and Districts through District and Global Grants. A significant portion of these gifts support projects of our club like our recent contribution to Shelter Box, our annual Operation Warm coats and shoes for children projects, local COVID-19 relief efforts, Kids Against Hunger, and our Ecuador "Farm to Table" Global Grant.

Year to date, we are 57% of the way to Presidents Bill and Greg's goal of $12,000 for the 2021-22 Rotary year.

Please thank these 20 Rotarians (plus our good friend Donna Goodman) for already making their annual contribution, especially those in bold who are Paul Harris Fellows:

Sam Badger*⁺, Wes Baumann, Connie Berman, David Birkenstein*⁺, Eric Birkenstein, Moha Bouacha, Donna Goodman, David Grant*, Tony Kambich*, Marie Kuipers, Rich Lalley*^{+^}, Bill Leske, Robert Mardirossian, Lee Padgitt, Bob Sanfilippo, Heidi Sibert, Peter Skalski, Todd Stephens, Liz Taylor, Barb Tubekis, and Patti Van Cleave.
* signifies a Major Donor ⁺signifies Paul Harris Society ($1,000 per year) ^Bequest Society

There are many reasons to give to the The Rotary Foundation:

Contributions support humanitarian and educational projects initiated and run by Rotary Clubs and Districts in seven areas of focus- Disease prevention and treatment, maternal & child health, education & literacy, water and sanitation, economic & community development, protecting our environment, and peace & conflict resolution. Learn more by reviewing the Foundation’s annual report.
Contributions come back to support projects of our club's projects, like Operation Warm Soles, support for ShelterBox, last year's COVID-19 Response efforts, Kids Against Hunger and International grants projects like our Farm to Table eco-agribusiness project in Ecuador, the water and sanitation projects we helped fund for schools in Guatemala and Kenya, and the digital x-ray/community health clinic project organized by District 6440. This year, we received $3,671, and next year we will can receive $4,876. But we must give to receive.
Charity Navigator gives The Rotary Foundation its highest “Four Star” rating, giving it a score 100 out of 100.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals named The Rotary Foundation the World's Outstanding Foundation of 2016!
Giving to The Rotary Foundation is an easy way for you to participate in Rotary’s service work beyond our club, providing you a personal connection to this great organization and the good it does throughout the world.

It’s easy to give. Bring a check to made payable to “WNRCF” (mark TRF in the memo line) to our club, (or mail it to our club at 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka, 60093); you can donate via PayPal by clicking here, or you can donate directly to The Rotary Foundation at www.rotary.org or by calling 866-976-8279. One very convenient way to give is by making a recurring monthly gift on your credit card or from your checking account, which you can set up on Rotary’s website.

If you have not already supported The Rotary Foundation this year, please do so now.

If you have any questions about The Rotary Foundation or how to give, contact Rich Lalley.

Got Questions about Rotary or our club? We've got answers.

Posted by Richard (Rich) Lalley on Mar 11, 2013

Are you thinking about joining our club, but have some questions? Or have you recently joined and want to know more about how things work? Check our our new FAQs:

Still have questions? Send them to info@wnrotary.org and we'll send you an answer and update our FAQs.

Meeting Recordings

One of the nice features of meeting virtually is that our meetings can be recorded. This of course depends on your meeting host (me) remembering to start the recording (sometimes I'm a bit late in starting it).

Here are links to view our recent meetings: