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Meeting Notes March 13

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Rich chaired the meeting.

New Member Induction: The Club is pleased to welcome Vicki Bittar as a new member. Vicki is a Manager of the Northview Bank, and her sponsor is Liz Taylor.

Announcements: Rich presents Debra Campbell with a Paul Harris Fellow Certificate to acknowledge her new donor status. Rich also recognizes David Birkenstein as a Major Donor 4+ to the Rotary International Foundation. Congratulations to both our generous members!

Community Service Projects: Bicycle Racks have been ordered, and will be ready to install in April. Barb invites us to join the Wilmette Club on Tuesday, April 1 at 6:00pm at St. Joseph’s Church for the Wilmette Club’s monthly service project of preparing lunch bags for Connections for the Homeless. St. Joseph's Church is at the corner of Lake and Ridge. Enter through the east lower entrance. A Rotary Club meeting follows immediately after the sandwiches are made.

Happy Bucks: Debra says thank you to the Club for sending her to PETS. Rich is happy that David B is attending today’s meeting. Robert complimented Rich’s speech last week to the Club about the RI Foundation, and our local WNRCF.

Birthday: Moha is a March 17 St. Patty’s Day Birthday leprechaun.

Speaker: Our member Michael Ambrose first hit the political campaign trail when he was 10 years old. Even at that early age he was a fan of Peter Jennings and all things political. Michael described his experiences as a lobbyist in Washington, DC, where “the students run the school,” and people in their early 20’s are really the ones writing and creating legislation. Michael, welcome back to the Midwest!

Meeting Notes March 6

Posted by Amy Skalinder

Co-President Rich Lalley opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Barb Tubekis shared a thought for the day about honesty. Michael Ambrose led the Club in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After lunch, Rich shared a few Rotary announcements:

Rotary International is hosting an online discussion for International Women’s Day: Advancing Women, Building Peace. Click here to register and see more information about the international panelists. If you can’t attend, register anyway and you will receive the full recording of the session.
Rotary International is hosting a new member orientation session (Rotary: Your Path to Purpose) on April 4, 12pm-4pm. You don’t have to be a new Rotarian to attend, all are welcome!Click here for more info and to register.
Scholarships for vocational training are available through the District, more information is available here. The deadline for application is March 22.
Our Club will be participating in the District’s collaborative grant program – the Wilmette Club has submitted the grant application. We will be joining the Wilmette Club’s ongoing project to pack lunches for the homeless, the first Tuesday of the month, 6:00pm-7:30pm at St. Joseph Church in Wilmette. Further details will follow.

Other announcements:

Tom Applegate shared that the Counseling Center of the North Shore’s thrift shop is open for the spring season!
Tom also shared that he and Moha Bouacha attended a meeting of the Northbrook Rotary Club recently, where Moha gave a presentation about the Global Grant our Club is sponsoring. Moha and Tom participated in the 50/50 raffle held that day and Moha won – and promptly donated the proceeds to the Morocco Global Grant project.
Amy Skalinder shared two opportunities for Rotarian socializing are coming up at the Community House: Rock the House on March 8 (with two local bands) and the Village Follies, a variety show starting March 14.
Robert Mardirossian shared that Cubs opening day at Wrigley Field is April 4. He predicts they will make the playoffs this year.
Arlynn Presser shared that her new book, Your Book of Days is out, offering a story for each day. She shared a brief story about Oreo cookies, originally considered a “health food” meant to stimulate appetite – and brought Oreos to share in celebration.

For happy bucks, Heidi Sibert shared that her company, James Martin Associates, gives charitable donations to organizations chosen by their customers for the holidays, and she presented a check to our Club Foundation for Operation Warm.

Liz Taylor shared fun facts about a variety of subjects for Dig-N-Grin. Greeter Michael Ambrose introduced John Baer, who is visiting from the North Chicago Rotary Club.

Our speaker for the day was our own Rich Lalley, who gave a presentation about our Club Foundation and the Rotary Foundation. These are distinct entities – both are 501(c)(3) organizations that allow our Club and Rotary International, respectively, to receive donations and designate funds for charitable projects and activities.

For our Club Foundation, funding has recently gone to Thanksgiving groceries, Operation Warm, bike racks for local park districts, disaster relief projects, Global Grants (including the one we are working on now in Morocco), and community grants (application process required).

The funds for these projects for come from money put on the table at our weekly meetings for Dig & Grin, Happy Bucks, birthday donations, appeals for specific projects, general appeals to our membership, fundraising events, and donations from member donor-advised funds, required minimum distributions, and estates. Funds can and often are designated for specific projects. You do not need to be a member of our Club to contribute to our Club Foundation.

The Rotary Foundation is linked to Rotary International, and its mission is to help Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.

Major programs of the Rotary Foundation include District Grants, Global Grants, Programs of Scale Grants, Peace Fellowships, and Disaster Response Grants. Most grants are linked to Rotary’s areas of focus: promoting peace, fighting disease, saving mothers and children, supporting education, growing local economies, protecting the environment, and providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.

When you give to the Rotary Foundation, you can choose to give to the Annual Fund – SHARE, which results in district designated funds (DDF) coming back to our Club to be used for charitable projects as we choose (within guidelines). But there are many other options for giving to the Rotary Foundation, including funds for specific issues and planned giving.

The Rotary Foundation raised $352 million last year. It carries an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy, and 4 stars (the highest rating) from Charity Navigator.

If you give $1,000 (or someone donates $1,000 in your name), you become a Paul Harris Fellow. There are many other levels of recognition as well.

Our Club has set a goal of having 100% of our members give at least $25 to the Rotary Foundation (which again, is separate from our Club Foundation) every year. We would also love to have 100% of our Club membership be Paul Harris Fellows. The Board has decided that if anyone who is not a Paul Harris Fellow reaches $250 in donations, the Club will provide the rest to make that person a Paul Harris Fellow.

In closing, Rich reminded everyone of the Rotary vision: Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.

Support The Rotary Foundation!

At the March 6 meeting, Rich Lalley presented an overview of the work of our two foundations- the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Foundation (WNRCF) and The Rotary Foundation (TRF) of Rotary International. You can review that presentation here.

The club's board has set a goal of achieving 100% participation in supporting TRF this Rotary Year. To reach this goal, every active member needs to donate a minimum of $25 to The Rotary Foundation. You can do this online by clicking here.

We also aspire to be a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club. For member who are not yet a Paul Harris Fellow, once your donation level reaches $250 and you have made a contribution this year, our club will celebrate you with a Paul Harris Fellow Award.

We appreciate all of our members who have contributed generously to The Rotary Foundation and to our club's WNRCF foundation. Thank you!

Paul Harris Fellows

Bob Baker, Wes Baumann, David Birkenstein*, Moha Boucha, Debra Campbell, Ken Drummet, Tom Evans, David Grant*, Tony Kambich*, Marie Kuipers, Rich Lalley, Bill Leske, Robert Mardirossian, Ned Meisner, Chuck Norton, Lee Padgitt, ArLynn Presser, Fred Schwimmer*, Heidi Sibert, Peter Skalski, Liz Taylor, Barb Tubekis, Patti Van Cleave.

Bold indicates donation made this Rotary Year. * indicates Major Donor.

Meeting Notes February 27

Posted by Amy Skalinder

Co-President Moha Bouacha opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Lee Padgitt offered a thought for the day, and Robert Mardirossian led the Club in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After lunch, Moha shared a few District announcements:

All are encouraged to read the District 411 email that comes out regularly.
The District is holding mental health lectures the first Monday of each month – information about this and other events are available through the District calendar
There is a “Spring Training” event being planned for April 5, information on the District calendar

Amy Skalinder shared two opportunities for Rotarian socializing are coming up at the Community House: Rock the House on March 8 (with two local bands) and the Village Follies, a variety show starting March 14.

Chuck Norton shared inspiring and entertaining quotes from past Presidents of the United States for Dig-N-Grin.

Today’s Greeter Robert Mardirossian welcomed Club members Barb Tubekis and David Birkenstein back after health-related absences. He also introduced visiting Rotarian Marty Daiga from River Cities.

Happy bucks were shared by Barb, Tony, Robert, Bob, and Moha.

Moha introduced our speaker today, Andy Ullman, International Service Chair of the Rotary Club of River Cities, who came to share information about a project in Ecuador.

The Club previously did a computer lab project in Uganda as well as a scholarship program in Uganda, and they are now doing a computer lab project in Quito.

These projects started through Rotary’s International Travel and Hosting Program: Andy went to Uganda and had the opportunity to go to a local high school and speak to students. He saw there were no computers regularly available for students or computer-related classes. This led to a project to provide computers and related accessories and now this school has a significant computer lab which allowed computer related classes like website development to be taught – but also resulted in a huge improvement in academic performance.

They are now working on a similar project for a school in Quito, Ecuador.

The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.

Meeting Notes February 20

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

President Moha called the meeting to order at 12:17pm.

Thought: Bill Leske shared some quotes from our founder, Paul Harris.

Heidi led us in the Pledge.

Laura Cook had two guests: Elizabeth Kuruski, a financial planner and Irene Lo, owner of Simply Organized.

Announcements:

--Fred is now in rehab after surgery on his hip. He hopes to be home this weekend.

--Jean Wright’s memorial service will be at Winnetka Congregational on Saturday at 10:00.

--February is Peace Month. Also, District Mental Health services continues on the first Monday of the month on zoom. See this Bulletin or D6440 website for details.

--Amy reminded us of the Community House “Rock the House” event on March 8.

--Moha mentioned that the Moroccan project needs funding to reach our goal.

Happy Bucks: No one was happy enough to donate.

Program:

David introduced Patti Capouch, Executive Director of Impact Behavioral Health. Patti shared a personal story. In the context of her story, she reminded us that homelessness can happen to anyone, at any time.

Impact’s mission is to support adults (now some families as well) living with mental illness. They were founded in 1988 and have buildings in Evanston, Skokie and at various sites on the north shore.

President Moha adjourned the meeting at 1:30.

Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club Creating a Women's Clothing Cooperative in Morocco

The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield is teaming up with The Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Rabat in the capital city of Morocco to establish a women's clothing cooperative in the village of Tomoulilt. This will be a project funded in part with a Rotary Foundation Global Grant (GG#2571461).

The program's objectives are to:

Create a revenue-generating cooperative run by stakeholders of village women/girls;
Empower women to run and manage a long-term sustainable and profitable business operation.

The project funds new equipment and training for the cooperative's participants. Training will encompass technical use of the equipment, entrepreneurial skills, business planning and management, sales and marketing planning, and financial management. The program's vision is to create a self-sustaining long term business enterprise for the participating women in Timoulilt.

Overall program budget is $100,000. The club is seeking cash and District Designated Funds (DDF) support from Rotary Clubs and Districts.

For more information, contact Club Co-President Moha Bouacha at m_bouacha@yahoo.com. Cash contributions may be made online by clicking here.

Meeting Notes February 6

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The meeting was called to order at 12:15 by Co-President Moha.

Greeter Thomas Applegate led us in the Pledge.

Wes Baumann shared A Thought of the Day.

Announcements:
-- Rotary International Conference – Calgary, June 21-25

--We received an email from Glenn Garlick regarding Polio support. Donations up to $500 will be matched by Jack Blaine’s foundation.

--D6440 has named February “Month of Peace” month.

--Mental health awareness programs sponsored by D6440 continue on the first Monday or each month.

--Patti announced that the Foundation Board will meet on Feb 7 at 9:00AM.

Dig N Grin: Moha shared some famous sayings.

Happy Bucks: Moha is happy because we have guests, two staff members from the Chamber.

Program: Our scheduled presenter did not arrive. Moha shared some updates on the GG in Morocco. He has been doing presentations at area clubs to raise awareness and funds.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 by Moha, with all of us reciting the Four Way Test.

Meeting Notes February 13

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Moha chaired the meeting.

Guest: Deb Guy, Executive Director of the Women’s Exchange.

Happy Bucks: Moha is happy about the snow that fell overnight!

Dig ‘N Grin: Tony shred eccentric facts about former Presidents.

Speaker: JohnJoe Farragher, President & CEO of Hadley shared their ambitious goals for expanding distant learning services for the blind.

Meeting Notes January 23

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Rich chaired the well-attended meeting.

Visiting Rotarian: Our Rotary Assistant Director, Sonia Martin.

Announcements: Barb Tubekis attended remotely on zoom as she is recuperating with knee surgery. She announced that she is turning the corner on her new mobility, and she looks forward to joining us soon in person.

We were also happy to see Peter Skalski on zoom!

Paul Harris Award (+8) is awarded to Robert Mardirossian. He gets a new pin with 3 rubies to celebrate his generosity to the Rotary International Foundation!

Happy Bucks:

Wes salutes Robert for his PH+8!
Moha is busy making presentations about our Club’s global grant project in Morocco.He is scheduled to be the speaker at 5 Clubs!

Dig ‘N Grin: Patti treated us to ‘this day in history.’

Speaker: Steve Fine, President of the Melanoma Education Foundation, shared with us what he learned about melanoma self-detection and prevention. For further information, please check the Melanoma Education Foundation Web Page: https://www.skincheck.org

Or these Video Links:

31-Minute Early Self-Detection/Prevention Video: https://bit.ly/3hipmFK

(This video has most of the live Rotary Presentation Content)

16-Minute High School Student Video: https://bit.ly/2CBzdoT

22-Minute Middle School Student Video: https://bit.ly/2yv32Ep

30 Minute Health Teacher Training Video: https://bit.ly/3jqzejP

Meeting Notes January 16

Posted by Amy Skalinder

Co-President Rich Lalley opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Ken Drummet shared several Paul Harris quotes as the thought for the day:

The greatest gift you can give to someone is your time.
Living a life of purpose is the truest form of success.
Happiness lies in the joy of giving.
We rise by lifting others.
Success is not measured by wealth, but by the positive impact we have on others.

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Rich shared an update about Barb Tubekis, who had knee surgery last week and is now home from the hospital. Heidi Sibert is stopping by Barb’s house with a card and some brownies – everyone is encouraged to sign the card.

After lunch, Rich shared a few announcements:

Two Rotary Districts in California have established disaster relief funds to address urgent needs for those impacted by the fires in southern California. Rotarians can learn more and contribute through the links below:

Operation Warm has also committed to sending 10,000 pairs of shoes to southern California; more information will be forthcoming. We will likely provide some funding to this effort from existing Operation Warm funds already available in our Club Foundation.

Ken Drummet (filling in for Greeter Bill Leske who had to leave early) introduced visiting Rotarian John Baer, President of the North Chicago Club. Johnjoe Farragher, who is President of Hadley, and is here as a guest for the second time. Liz Taylor introduced her guest: Vicki Bittar with Wintrust, manager of two locations (Northbrook and Northfield) and previous member of the Deerfield Rotary Club.

David Grant shared that Steve Fine, President of the Melanoma Education Foundation will be our speaker next week.

David Grant, Ken Drummet, and Tony Kambich shared happy bucks. Robert Mardirossian, zooming in from warm and sunny Florida, shared a story about witty and thought-provoking refrigerator magnets for dig-n-grin.

Rich introduced Iliana Vazuka, Associate Chief of Staff for the Pickles Group. He noted that our Club Foundation has supported the Pickles Group with a grant in the past.

Iliana provided a summary of the organization’s history and programming. Founded four years ago, their mission is to provide free peer-to-peer support and resources for kids and teens impacted by their parent or guardian’s cancer. They serve school-aged kids and teens enrolled in 1st through 12th grade, generally between the ages of 6-18 through in-person and virtual groups that provide information and support. Resources for parents, caregivers, and health professionals are also available. Everything they offer is free of charge. Though they started locally here on the North Shore, they now serve families and children across the country. You can visit the Pickles Group website for more information about everything they do.

Rotarians who would like to donate to the Pickles Group can do so through this link (which offers an online giving platform along with a mailing address – scroll down, it’s at the bottom – for those who prefer to send a check).

The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.

Meeting Notes January 9

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The meeting was called to order at 12:15 by Co-President Rich.

Greeter David Birkenstein led us in the Pledge.

Bob Baker shared A Thought of the Day, asking us to hold those in the midst of crisis in California and other areas in turmoil in our hearts.

Announcements:
-- Patti reminded members that January dues notices have been sent. She also let everyone know that Barb had knee replacement surgery.

--Debra offered free golf towels from her business!

--Wes fined himself $10 for missing DigNGrin last week.

--Rich inducted Thomas Applegate, Executive Director of Counseling Center of the North Shore, into our club. Rich also awarded Ken Drummitt with a Paul Harris Fellowship, times two!

Dig N Grin: Debra shared quotes from Former President Jimmy Carter, in honor of his death this week.

Program: Moha presented information about the Global Grant that our Club is sponsoring in his home town of Timoulilt Morocco. Donations can be made directly to The Rotary Foundation using Global Grant # GG2571461 or to our Club’s foundation noting Morocco in memo line.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 by Rich, with all of us reciting the Four Way Test.

Meeting Notes December 19

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting started with Barb leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Amy giving us the “thought of the day” which was Margaret Atwood’s following explanation of the “solstice” part of the year which is: “This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath, the door of a vanished house left ajar.”

Ballots for the Election of Officers & Directors of the Club for Rotary year July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 were passed out for members to cast their votes. The results of the voting were: Ken Drummet will serve a one-year term as President, Debra Campbell will be the President Elect for a one-year term, and Amy Skalinder a two year term as Secretary. Bob Baker will serve a two-year term as Director, Moha Bouacha and Rich Lalley will continue to serve on the Board as Past Co-Presidents, Patti Van Cleave will continue as Treasurer in the 2^nd year of her 2-year term, and Bill Leske, Chuck Norton, Heidi Sibert, and Barb Tubekis will continue to serve as Directors in the 2^nd year of their 2-year terms.

Happy Bucks were given by Ken Drummet for celebrating his birthday and both Debra Campbell and Moha were happy to help Rich distribute coats to kids in Chicago which brought the total number of coats given kids in Chicago by our Club so far this year to 2500. Robert Mardirossian gave 4 Happy Bucks for member Adriana Cook bringing 3 guests and prospective new members—Marjane, Doris and Kirsten.

Barb announced that we will be meeting for our January 2^nd meeting at Little Honeycomb for lunch and we will not have a speaker or program that day.

GUEST SPEAKERS Ida Fiore and husband—co-founders and administrators of SaLT—Service and Learning Together which is a learning and education organization based on the North Shore, primarily in Highland Park, Lake Forest, Glenbrook, Deerfield and Winnetka, with the goal of trying to “inspire young people to change their World”—both Ida and her husband have substantial educational backgrounds. Their brochure lists the following “service and learning” programs –Supporting Local families Fighting Food Insecurity; Tutoring Services for Local Elementary Students; and Offering Essential Items to Communities in Crisis. The SaLT Service Learning Trips have taken high school age kids to Orlando, New Orleans, Puerto Rico and Alaska. It was mentioned that many of the high school SaLT programs are very similar to Rotary’s Interact Program.

In the Shop N’ Drop flyer of the SaLT program it lists the “ways to help” people in need is to collect and “donate food and essential items” for needy families, much like Rotary now does around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. They indicate that their Shop N’ Drop programs provide over 28,000 hours of service with over 2300 volunteers—it further states that it serves over 2200 people in over 550 families, including many of the migrants who have been left stranded at some of the railroad stations on Chicago’s North Shore. This presentation was very informative and presented a number of areas that this organization might be able to team up with some of Rotary’s programs to help those people in our communities in need of such services.

The meeting ended around 1:30 pm with the reciting of Rotary’s 4-way test.

Meeting Notes December 12

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The meeting was called to order at 12:15 by Co-President Moha.

Greeter Fred led us in the Pledge.

Barb shared A Thought of the Day.

Guests: There were no guests. Our District Governor, Thor Davidson was visiting us for his annual visit.

Announcements:
-- Moha thanked all who assisted with our Holiday Lunch on December 5.

--RI Annual Conference is in June in Calgary. You are encouraged to reserve a hotel room if you are considering attending, as they are in short supply.

--Polio Plus donations to TRF will still be matched up to $500 through June, 2025 by Jack Blaine’s foundation. Jack was a former member of our district.

--The Wilmette Club is looking for donations to their current project, providing supplies to unhoused individuals in Chicago. Items may be purchased through Amazon and sent directly. Here is the link directly to the list: https://www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/28RFO9JHT1P4E

--Barb announced that our January 30 program will be a service project, sorting seeds in collaboration with Friends of the Green Bay Trail.

--Rich announced that the last coat distribution seeking volunteers is today in Humboldt Park.

--Bill announced that the Chamber Holiday Party is tonight at Fields BMW in Northfield from 5-7pm.

Dig N Grin: ArLynn told a story about Mary and her pregnancy.

Program: Our District Governor, Thor Davidson, who is a member of the Wheaton Noon Club, shared his personal story, his Rotary story, and how his travels for Rotary have impacted his life.

He encouraged us to contribute to The Rotary Foundation, which has the highest rating possible through Charity Navigator. Our Club has $611,000 in all time giving to TRF.

He encouraged us to attend the Annual Conference in Calgary.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 by Moha, with all of us reciting the Four Way Test.

Meeting Notes November 21

Posted by Keith Reed

We didn’t have a regular Rotary meeting since this was the meeting where we prepared about a 100 bags of food for the Good News Partners organization to help them celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Moha brought a guest, Professor Rives Collins, who worked especially diligently at the food packing.

There was a short Rotary Club Meeting with our usual Little Honeycomb luncheon served afterwards. Then Barb explained how the 16 Rotarians present were going to distribute about $3000 worth of essential food goods that had been purchased earlier by our members Bob Baker, Barb Tubekis, Patti VanCleave and Moha Bouacha at Costco and Jewel with the $3000 raised by our Rotary Club members for this event and that these 4 Rotarians, along with Amy and Heidi, had spent an hour that snowy morning bringing all that food into the WCH and piling it neatly on several tables. The 100 bags of these essential food goods will be distributed to unhoused individuals and families in the Rogers Park neighborhood during the Thanksgiving holiday. This is a program our Club has participated in for several years, initially through Barb Tubekis at The Volunteer Center, who started this collaboration in 2015. The Good News Partner’s success is to help the unhoused get on their feet, find employment or GED in the case of the young women and their babies in their New Life Shelter. There are over 60 families who have been able to pull themselves out of homelessness by utilizing the GNP services and have managed to purchase their own condominiums or pay their own rent in more comfortable space.

But the big question at our Rotary meeting was how were 100 bags of foodstuffs going to get from the WCH tables into the minivans being furnished and driven by Bob, Barb, Patti, Moha, and Ken Drummet with only 16 or so Rotarians acting as “material handlers” and whose average age was probably somewhere between 75 and 85! Somehow the Rotarians succeeded in working together in using carts and shopping bags and “brute strength” to get everything out to our mini van drivers who then successfully got their cargo delivered to the Good News Partners’ distribution area.

All this effort was rewarded when Rotarian Bill Leske, senior officer at Byline Bank, a full service commercial bank based in Chicago with offices located in Wilmette, Evanston and Glenview, announced that the Byline Bank was donating $1000 towards the cost of this very important and timely Rotarian project.

Also special thanks to Heidi Sibert who on her own volition purchased a variety of 100 special breakfast treats in ziplock which provide each recipient with a large reusable bag that holds a week’s worth of groceries and helps tide them through the week following Thanksgiving.

Many thanks to all those Rotarians who helped with this very important project that will truly provide a Happy Thanksgiving to those who have to rely on the good efforts of GNP.

Meeting Notes October 24

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was chaired by Moha Bouacha with Lee Padgitt leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. ArLynn Presser gave the thought of the day by reporting that it was this day many years ago when a 63 year old woman named Annie Edison Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls tied to another vessel with a leather harness and she survived the journey!

There were 16 members and guests attending the meeting including Thomas Applegate (the newly appointed Executive Director of the North Shore Counseling Center), Mike Ambrose (his second visit to our Rotary meetings), and Grace Sica, who is the Executive Director of Operation Warm, leading a group of over 50 people who distribute every year over a million warm coats and shoes to needy Chicago area children.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Distributed at the tables was an announcement pertaining to the Volunteer Center’s 22^nd year of UPCYCLING at the Indian Hill Train Station in Winnetka and the “goods” that are always welcomed as donated items; also mentioned was a recent email to our members and all District 6440 Rotarians from Mary Bak pertaining to a variety of Mental Health Programs being provided by District 6440 Task Force on Mental Health. Some of the speakers for the 8 programs listed might be potential speakers for some of our Rotary lunch meetings.

Other announcements were that the lunch for our November 7^th meeting at the Rotary’s International Office in Evanston will start at 12:15 pm with the tour of the Rotary headquarters to start at 1:30 pm. You should also note that our November 21^st Rotary meeting is the Thanksgiving Service Project of filling baskets for Residents of Good News Partners.

SPEAKER: MEAGAN McCHESNEY, CURATOR OF WINNETKA HISTORICAL MUSEUM. The WHM has produced a very complete video film presentation of Winnetka houses built, modified, torn down, etc. before baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, flood retainers and school facilities took over that area along Willow and Hibbard Roads in Winnetka. David Birkenstein suggested that our Club her Meagan's fabulous presentation, and Fred Schwimmer can tell you who lived in most of those houses since he was a kid!! The film shows how the early houses were usually large, on large lots, mostly followed the designs of 5 different styles, and how many new residents who then moved and built in the Winnetka area copied many of the styles in their early homes and how many of these homes are still occupied today. The video film starts on the West side of the Village and goes all the way to the Lake and also covers many of the large Winnetka building projects in the 1800’s such as the Village churches. The film also explores the artistic lives/successes of many Village residents who became well known architects, builders, and corporate tycoons.

The other video film shown at the Rotary meeting was a summary of where Rotary’s battle against Polio stands today. Thanks to several generous individuals and corporations such as the Gates and Blane Foundations, basically polio has been beaten in most wealthy nations but there are still thousands of children in less wealthy nations who need to be vaccinated. At the end of the meeting several Rotarians made donations to help finish the eradication of this dread disease. Rich and Moha have set as our Club’s goal this year to raise $1000 among our Rotarians for this cause.

The meeting ended around 1:30 pm with the reciting of the Rotary’s 4-way test.

Meeting Notes November 14

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The meeting was called to order at 12:17 by Co-President Rich.

Greeter Debra led us in the Pledge.

Wes shared some quotes from department store founder Harry Selfridge.

Guests: David Grant’s spouse Leslie, and our speaker Mariana Alfar.

Foundation Minute: Moha updated us on progress with our project in Morocco. Moha hopes that this will be approved as a Global Grant, with a budget of $60-100,000.

Announcements:
-- Rich inducted our newest member, Michael Ambrose into our Club.

--Our Good News Partners food packing will take place next week. Shoppers are going to Costco on Wednesday the 20^th. This year the funding is limited to what we can raise, as there are no DDF funds for this project, so we need donations! We also need drivers to take the bags to Rogers Park after lunch next week and people to come early and set up the room.

--There are several Operation Warm distribution projects coming up in the next few weeks. Rich will send an email asking for volunteers.

--Our Holiday Luncheon with the New Trier Swing Choir is December 5. It was agreed that we would have a more special lunch that day, and all are encouraged to bring guests!

--The bins for NTT Food Pantry at the Community House are full. Need volunteers to take to the Township office.

Happy Bucks:

--Debra shared that she finally finished a mosaic that has taken 8 months to complete. She is having a show tonight at her studio – all are welcome!

--Michael is happy to be a member!

-- Barb is happy to have Michael join us. She also shared the sad news that her aunt died last week.

--Fred shared that his dear friend, a lifelong friend Dan Leonard died recently.

--Liz is happy that Michael brings down the average age of our club members!

--Bob is happy that his son got a job in New York City. He shared that they have been happy to have him here.

--Rich celebrated our veterans, Tony and Fred, and asked Tony to share with the club something special that happened to him recently (besides turning 90).

Dig N Grin: Bob shared some events that occurred on This Day in History.

Program: Our speaker was Mariana Alfar. Mariana was most recently President of the Wilmette Club, and is currently District Governor Nominee Designate for District 6440. David described her as a “Super Rotarian”.

Mariana spoke eloquently about her personal life as a Palestinian Christian, and her professional life as a journalist working for BBC and other news outlets. She shared her thoughts about the current war in Israel and Palestine.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 by Rich, with all of us reciting the Four Way Test.

Share Your Bounty

Continuing our club's long standing Thanksgiving tradition, we will once again partner with the Volunteer Center to provide post-holiday groceries for families in transitional housing who are served by Good News Partners in Chicago's North of Howard neighborhood. We will purchase groceries in bulk at Costco before our meeting on Nov 21, so please donate by November 17.

Your gifts provide post-holiday groceries to these families in need. Donate by credit card or bank transfer here, or mail a check made payable to WNRCF to Rotary Club of Winnetka Northfield, 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka, IL 60093.

We hope to provide over 100 bags of groceries, and have a fundraising goal of $2,500.

Donate here, or bring a check or credit card to a lunch meeting.

Meeting Notes October 17

Posted by David Grant

Co-Presidents Moha & Rich chaired the meeting.

Visiting Rotarian: Ron Bernardi from Northbrook.

Announcements: Moha thanked the ‘unsung’ W-N Rotarians who work hard behind the scenes to organize the Club. Special thanks to Barb for ordering lunches, Heidi for the many years of Kids Against Hunger, David G for the speakers, and all the donors to both the RI Foundation and the WN Foundation.

Rich thanked all the sponsors and attendees to the Operation Warm benefit who helped the event raise funds to provide 2,000 coats this year. One of the highlights of the evening for him was seeing David and Mary Birkenstein on the dance floor.
Rich also saluted David Birkenstein with a Level 4 Donor Award Recognition for gifts made to the RI Foundation.

Happy Bucks:

Bob Sanfilippo thanked the Club for many happy years of membership. He is retiring as the Executive Director of CCNS.
Wes Happily donated $123 for 39 years in the Club and his 84^th birthday.

Speakers: Today was ‘Members’ Day,’ a BYOT (Bring Your Own Topic) day. Ken shared his plans as our Club’s Chair of the International Committee. Bob Baker shared his plans for the RI committee, and also his & Patti’s plans for the Winnetka Northfield Rotary Foundation committee which he co-chairs with Patti. Other members who shared topics were David B., and Robert.

Meeting Notes October 10

Posted by Amy Skalinder

Co-President Moha Bouacha opened the meeting and welcomed everyone; he shared an inspiring statement from Rotary International as the thought of the day. Terry Dason led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and lunch was served.

Several announcements and updates were shared:

Moha, along with Ken Drummet, provided an update on the work in progress to prepare for our global grant application, which will provide funding to support an existing women’s cooperative in Timoulilt, Morocco which is currently very limited due to lack of equipment, supplies, and training. The goal is to supply equipment for knitting, embroidery, and sewing, along with a heat press. He anticipates the grant will also include funding for training women to use the equipment as well as in business management, financial management, sales, and marketing. Moha anticipates the total grant amount will be between $30,000 and $60,000. Recent activity included a planning meeting with the host Rotary club in Morocco.

Rich Lalley shared an update on the District Conference, which he attended along with co-President Moha Bouacha. He noted that about 200 Rotarians attended, and there were two especially interesting speakers, Tony Bridwell (who spoke about leadership and followership), and Eve Gomez, who spoke about the work of Rahab’s Daughters, an organization based in Barrington that works to address human trafficking right here in the Chicago area. He also reported that there were three breakout sessions on various topics. Moha shared that he really enjoyed the networking at the conference as well. All are encouraged to attend future conferences.

Rich announced that fellow Rotarian Marie Kuipers has published a memoir, titled We’re All Mad Here and is hosting a launch party on Thursday, October 24, 7pm at The Green Post, 4749 North Rockwell in Chicago. Rich plans to attend and others are encouraged to join him – reach out to Rich (or Marie!) for more details.

David Grant announced that next week’s meeting will be “Members’ Day” – meaning that all Rotarians are invited to bring a topic that you want to discuss. He also noted that committee chairs could provide an update on the work of their committee as well.

Amy reminded everyone about the Rock the House: Woodstock show at the Community House on October 18, an immersive, multi-media, live music experience that will take you back to that iconic weekend! Tickets are available here.

Rich reminded everyone about the Operation Warm benefit happening tomorrow night – even if you can’t attend, you can still bid on auction items. Rich also noted that there will be an opportunity for Rotarians to participate in giving out coats at the Rogers Park Library on Saturday, November 23 in the afternoon, more details to come.

Greeter Terry Dason introduced Michael Ambrose who is here for the 2^nd time as a guest today. Ken Drummet offered an entertaining story / joke for Dig N Grin. Moha shared Happy Bucks – he was happy the international meeting about the proposed global grant went well.

Bob Baker introduced Elise Larsen (Executive Director) and Elise Steffe (Development Director), our guest speakers from Special Gifts Theatre. Bob noted that our Club has supported Special Gifts Theatre through our community grants for several years.

They shared their updated mission and vision statements and highlighted how transformative the experience of performing is both for those with disabilities and their peer mentors. Special Gifts Theatre is the only organization in the area providing education and theatre arts programming for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The presentation included an excellent overview of their programs along with their impact. More information about Special Gifts Theatre is available on their website.

The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.

Meeting Notes September 26

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was chaired by Rich Lalley, with Amy leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Other announcements by Rich were that the one day District Conference meeting is coming up on October 5. Our regular lunch meeting at WCH on November 7 will be move to Rotary International HQ in Evanston. Rich also reported that Moha wants to have our Club’s committee chairs have their finished reports to him by the October 17^th Board meeting.

Rich reminded us to buy tickets for the October 11^th Operation Warm evening benefit at the ValleyLoClub in Glenview from 6:00 to 11:30 PM with buffet dinner, cash bar, auction/raffle and dancing to the Gerald McClendon Band. Tickets are $100 each and this is the 6^th annual benefit supporting new winter coats for needy Chicago area kids. Rich also reported that there will be two more Chicago library events for needy youth in October with more details to follow.

Liz gave us two “thoughts for the day”—Oscar Wilde once said “the smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention” and Mark Twain stated “kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not”. Liz also shared with us her birthday celebration which included passing out milk chocolate candies to those attending and her generous donation to the Operation Warm project.

Rich then mentioned that our records show that Tony has been a Club member for 45 years, Fred for 12 year, and Heidi also for 12 years—so add them all together and you get 99, so Rich added another dollar to the sum and gave an even $100 in honor of these 3 long term and loyal Club members. Other Happy Bucks were given by Barb for her son seriously considering taking the marriage step; and by Tony who attended a reunion of his old college football team with lots of old stories (some actually fairly close to the truth) but with no one getting hurt during the event! Patti added a little humor to the meeting with her question about why the financial expert got fired—“he kept losing interest”!!

SPEAKER WAS RICHARD KOENIG, PHD, FAICP, AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF Housing Opportunity Development Corporation. Richard has been working on the production of affordable housing in our North Shore communities for the last 27 years. Most of the regular residents in these communities are not aware of all the work and progress being made over this time in supplying housing for needy people who are mostly low income families who cannot afford to rent or buy the type of housing that most of us enjoy. Other information presented by Richard was the following: Most of these units are in the suburbs and currently involve about 30 projects in 18 communities; units are now in Wilmette, Arlington Heights and Northbrook; 90% of the units are rental and not for sale and there is usually 40 to 60 units in a building; average annual income for these residents is less than 40 to 50 thousand dollars and there are some homeless people qualifying to live in these buildings; these buildings cost about $500,000 to build; there is an effort to get teachers closer to their students and workers closer to their employers; and the financing of the building and operation of these buildings is very complicated with several government tax credit programs involved.

The very informative 15 page power point used by Richard in his presentation is available upon request to Rich, David or Patti.

After a short question and answer period, the meeting was adjourned around 1:15 with the recitation of Rotary’s 4-way test.

Meeting Notes September 19

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Rich chaired the meeting with 16 Rotarians, 1 guest and 1 speaker attending.

Guest: Lydia Miller is a Rotarian from Brookfield, WI who came to hear the presentation today on Shelter Box.

Announcements: The Winnetka Rotarians who went to the Wilmette Rotary Club’s Trivia night on October 18 had a fun evening (Barb, Patti, Bob B, and Rich). Our District Conference is on Saturday, 10/5. Plan on attending the Operation Warm Fundraiser on 10/11!

Happy Bucks:

Liz had a great time volunteering for our Rotary tent at the Winnetka Farmers Market on Saturday 9/14.She thanked the other Rotary members for participating with her: Barb, Ken, Peter, Moha, and Rich.
Fred is happy the value of his 401k is up since the Fed lowered short-term interest rates by 50 basis points on September 18.
Barb is very happy with her new son-in-law now that Carolyn and Yoni have tied the knot.
Robert contributes 101 happy bucks to celebrate his 30rth anniversary in the Club and his 71^st Birthday.A prime time to observe both milestones and a prime number also!

Speaker: Don Crost is a former member, and a former President of our Club. He is currently a member of the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary, and he is an ambassador for Shelter Box. Robert and Fred made generous donations to Shelter Box after the presentation.

Meeting this week is not at the Community House!

Posted by Moha Bouacha

See you in Glencoe this week! Details below......

Harvesting Project

Posted by Barb Tubekis

This Thursday, September 12th, is our harvesting project at the nonprofit Glencoe Community Garden (GCG). Rotarians should arrive at the Garden a bit before noon so we can begin promptly and finish by 1:30. The GCG is located at 380 Old Green Bay Road. It is east of and runs parallel to Green Bay Road and the Metra train tracks in Glencoe. I will have blue and yellow balloons outside the entrance to the garden.

We will eat a boxed lunch first as the Garden representatives share who the garden serves and how it is managed and what they need us to do. We will work until 1:30. If there are any volunteers interested in helping me bring the vegetation we harvest to The Ark Food Pantry in Northbrook, have them let me know that. GCG is extremely impactful to local food pantries whose patrons don't often enjoy fresh produce. Just to provide a bit more info, feel free to check out their website, glencoecommunitygarden.com.

Volunteers should dress for gardening. Particularly if there has been rain, boots would be helpful. If it does rain, we will continue to harvest unless there is lightning in the area.

Thank you for participating, and see you at the Gardens this week!

Meeting Notes September 5

Posted by Amy Skalinder

Co-President Moha Bouacha opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.

Bob Baker offered the thought of the day. After saying the Pledge of Allegiance, Bob also shared information about Peace Scholarships supported by the Rotary Foundation. Moha also noted that September is National Literacy Month, and World Polio Day is coming up on October 24.

After lunch, Moha gave a few Rotary updates:

The District 6440 Conference will be held on Saturday, October 5 at the College of DuPage. There will be two days of service on Friday, October 4 and Sunday, October 6 at various locations. Registration is open and you can sign up here. It’s a great opportunity to get to know other Rotarians in our District.
The next Rotary International Convention will be held in Calgary, June 21-25, 2025. Registration is open and more information is available here.
The Wilmette Club has two activities coming up and all are encouraged to participate.
- Trivia Night, September 18
- Beach Clean Up, September 21
All are encouraged to read the 411 from the District 6440 Governor, which you receive via email.

Other announcements:

There are sign up sheets on the tables for the Winnetka Farmers’ Market. We will have a tent September 14, from 7:30am to 12:30pm. Rotarians are encouraged to sign up to represent Rotary for one (or more) of three shifts during that time. Pens have been ordered as give-aways. Barb will bring card stock so people can write cards to veterans or people in the hospital as an on-site service project. Contact Liz Taylor with questions.
Harvest Day at the Glencoe Community Garden is scheduled for September 12 in lieu of our meeting – that’s next week! Please sign up so the correct number of lunches. Plan to arrive at noon, quickly eat lunch, and then get to work. Bring friends and family who would like to be involved – and dress for gardening. The Garden is at 385 Old Green Bay Road in Glencoe. Contact Barb Tubekis with questions.

Happy Bucks were shared by ArLynn Presser, David Grant, Moha Bouacha, and Tony Kambich.

Moha reminded us about committee sign-ups a few weeks ago. There is still time to sign up if you haven’t had a chance. The Committee Rosters to date are:

Club Administration

David Grant

Rich Lalley

Bill Leske

Membership

Bill Leske

Liz Taylor (Chair)

Public Image

Debra Campbell (Chair)

Rich Lalley

Patti Van Cleave

Service Projects

Heidi Sibert

Barb Tubekis (Chair)

Patti Van Cleave

International

Moha Bouacha (Chair)

Ken Drummet

The Rotary Foundation (Rotary International, not our Club Foundation)

Bob Baker (Chair)

David Birkenstein

Bob Baker also shared an update on our Club Foundation – he and Patti Van Cleave will serve as Co-Presidents, and Debra Campbell will serve as Secretary. He will call a meeting soon with everyone currently on the Club Foundation Committee roster – if you are interested in joining them, please contact Bob.

Moha reminded us that we need a President-Elect. Anyone interested should contact Moha.

Robert shared some baseball-related quotes from Yogi Berra for Dig & Grin.

David Grant led the group in a discussion about possibly restructuring meeting assignments, ideas for changing / improving the bulletin, making meeting notes easier, and finding speakers.

Various suggestions and ideas were offered about all of these topics. Regarding speakers, specifically, the Club discussed whether political / controversial topics should be welcomed or discouraged. No conclusions were reached, and it was noted that further discussion would be helpful when more Club members are present.

Moha will look into arranging a visit to Rotary International in Evanston on November 7 when the Community House is not available due to the Antiques + Modernism Show.

The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.

Meeting Notes August 29

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

The meeting was called to order at 12:17 by Co-President Rich Lalley. Chuck Norton shared a thought: "The best way to predict the future is to create it". - Abraham Lincoln.

Ken led us in the pledge.

Announcements:
-- Our Rotary Foundation minute focused on Global Grants. Rich read a partial list of all the good work that is being done in these grants around the world. Some of the highlighted countries were: India, Spain, Nepal, Uganda, Cameroon, Mexico, and in the US. See matchinggrants.org for more info.
--District Conference is October 5. Rotary International Conference is in Calgary next year.

--District Governor Marlene wants to know who our PE is for next year.

--Operation Warm fundraiser is October 11 at Valley Lo. Sponsors and auction items requested.

--Liz reminded all to sign up to staff our table at the Farmer’s Market on Sept 14.

Happy Bucks:

--Fred is happy that the stock market is doing well. He’s also happy to have been a Winnetkan most of his life, and encouraged us to visit the Winnetka Farmer’s Market.

-- Bob B is happy that their daughter recently bought a home in west Evanston.

Dig N Grin: Tony shared some Ronald Reagan-isms and famous quotes from mothers.

Program: Sydney Clark and Laura Munoz shared what’s new at the library, particularly in the Studio. Sydney also shared current favorite reads.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:23.