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Winnetka-Northfield

PEOPLE OF ACTION

We meet In Person & Online
Thursdays at 12:15 PM
Community House. Check our bulletin to see if we are meeting in person. Zoom is always an option.
620 Lincoln Avenue
Winnetka, IL 60093
United States of America
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Meeting Minutes 3/16
Posted by Keith Reed
The meeting was called to order by Barb.  The greeter was David Birkenstein, and Moha filled in for Rich on the Zoom equipment.  There were 12 members present and 4 on Zoom in addition to our speaker.  Bill Leske introduced his guest John Stachura who has a cleaning business, Fish Window Cleaning, located in Northfield with his office phone being 847-446-2500.
THOUGHT:   Moha did the Thought of the Day which was certainly applicable to Barb and other Club members who do substantial volunteer work—it was that volunteers receive little if any pay, not because they are “worthless” but because they are “priceless”.
    There have been several March birthdays including Moha, Rodger Morris, Monica Dombrowski, Bill Leske, Todd Stephens and Rich Lalley.  Marie Kuipers has been a Club member for 9 years.
HAPPY BUCKS:  were given by Moha for being able to celebrate another birthday; by Barb for not having Covid during the last week while suffering cold and flu symptoms; and by Robert who is looking forward to attending the Chicago Cubs opener at friendly (but potentially cold) Wrigley Field!  Matt Butler did a nice job on Dig-n-Grin.
SPEAKER: Barb introduced our speaker Brian Leverenz who has been with the New Trier Township Food Pantry (herein FP)  for over 25 years.  He received an immediate round of applause for handing out to his audience a very detailed outline of his presentation and facts about the community services provided by New Trier Township (herein NTT), to whom, and sources of financial support to pay for such services. (His outline is attached hereto and these minutes will refer to parts of that outline in making additional comments herein.)
   Regarding paragraph II of the outline -- the number of “working poor” is substantial even in NTT; seniors on fixed incomes make up a growing share of those using the FP and inflation in prices of food and energy have hit these people hard, especially with the price of wheat-based food increasing substantially due to the lower production of wheat in Russia and Ukraine, the slowdown of shipping due to the supply chain problems, and the amount of money our government has poured into the economy over the last several years;  more employers have cut back on health insurance benefits for those employees being laid off from their jobs; the number of people suffering disability and disease seems to be increasing and lasting longer with about 75% of FP users falling in this category; NT cannot mandate that users with drug and alcohol problems be treated as a condition of receiving FP goods; families suffering divorce situations are hard hit due to less income and child support payments and often the family is living above its means; and  the domestic violence problem tends to occur with higher income couples.
   Regarding paragraphs III and IV of the outline—the FP annual budget runs about $100,000 and that money is used mostly to buy meat, produce, dairy and some paper goods.  About 85% of non-perishable items are donated and the FP could not operate without the substantial donations from individuals and such groups as churches, schools, and other not for profits. It does not receive much, if any, funding from the State of Illinois or the Greater Chicago Food Depository.  FP gets a bulk of its donations between September to April, but its biggest expenditures are in the summer.
   Brian answered many questions from the audience and it was the consensus that we need to have him return to further inform us about the FP activities and needs, as well as what the NTT is doing in the “restorative justice”, “Peer Jury” and “Angel Fund” areas.
   Barb led us in the Rotary 4 Way Test and the meeting was adjourned around 1:30pm.
Link to Brian's outline: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2417/Documents/en-us/d9c613c0-bcdf-47c0-bbb5-b76917eddcba/1/
 
Meeting Minutes March 9
Posted by David Grant
Barb led today’s meeting.
 
Donation Opportunities:
Through our Winnetka-Northfield Charitable Foundation you can donate to these Rotary Humanitarian Disaster Relief projects:
  1. Don Crost’s Little Blue Truck trip from Florida to Evanston, which will support Shelterbox relief going to Turkey
  2. Operation Warm is sending clothing to Turkey/Syria.
Announcements:  Once again, and thanks to the generous donations of visitors to the WCH, the donation collection box in the lobby of the WCH is full, so several Rotarians took the donated food items to the New Trier Food Pantry. The box will continue to collect items thru the end of March.
 
Speaker:  Today Jim Balcer joined us via zoom to talk about his experiences as a Chicago City Alderman in the 11th Ward for 4 terms from 1997 – 2015.  He is a member of the Democratic Party, a proud resident of Bridgeport, and was appointed by Mayor Richard Daley in 1997.  During the Vietnam War Jim was awarded a bronze star as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.  After the war he worked in Veteran’s Affairs, and advocated for Veterans’ rights in Chicago.
 
 
Meeting Minutes March 2
Posted by Keith Reed
Co-chairs Patti and Barb presided. Liz led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Amy Skalinder gave us the thought of the day from Pema Chodron—“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.  It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”  Peter Skalski handled the Dig N Grin by telling a story about a well-intentioned Vet who charged only $20 to take care of a dying duck in his office, but by the time he had enlisted the aid of other “specialists” in his office to examine the duck, the bill had run up to $150 and the duck died. (You had to be present in order to appreciate how well Peter told this joke!)
   There were 18 members present at the meeting and 6 on Zoom.  In addition to the speakers, others present were Mike, the WCH maintenance manager, and another WCH employee, Mark Schusteff.  Patti made special mention for all the good work that Heidi Sibert did on the Kids Against Hunger fund raiser last Saturday and presented Heidi with a special cake and candles in recognition of all her work in making this fund raiser a special success.  Even the local Winnetka Talk considered this event to be very noteworthy with a 2 page spread report in its March 2nd edition, copies of which are available from our local Rotary.
    The only anniversary reported was that Joe Fell has been a Rotary member for 30 years and continues to spend much of his time at his summer home in Delavan, Wisconsin.  Happy Bucks contributions were started by Rich who reported further successes of the Operation Warm’s effort to get winter coats to kids in need; then Wes contributed and was happy to see 24 members participating in our meeting; and even our speaker Dr. John Bair contributed since he was happy to be back speaking before our members.
 
Dr. Jphn Bair has spoken to us before about the work he does with veterans at Lovell Federal Health Care Center. His presentation today focused on the concepts of moral injury and moral distress. These are experienced by most veterans and cause psychological distress and trauma. Dr. Bair and his colleagues have been working on therapies to address these issues. He has studied the topic of moral injury/distress for over 50 years at Northwestern Hospital.  He claims that “moral distress” is not only a problem for returning vets, but even for normal people of all ages who get exposed to bullying and inappropriate sexual treatment, from other people who generally have low moral values in the way they treat their fellow citizens. He said that the level of moral injury/distress among returning vets is even worse than we might expect and that PTSD and suicides are a bigger problem than most people imagine. He said that “spiritual experiences” from being in a war environment are varied but usually the returning vet is substantially changed in someway. Here is a link to Dr. Bair’s PowerPoint https://portal.clubrunner.ca/2417/Documents/en-us/07008a1d-1ab9-4910-806c-382dabe3a1f3/1/
 
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.  
Social Service Opportunities
Posted by Safiyyah Hassan
Our Rotary Club is partnering with the Community House to collect for the New Trier Township Food Pantry! Please bring your donations – we are currently asking for canned tuna or chicken, granola bars, and Ziploc-style bags. The Community House is also publicizing this collection with its constituents, and members of our club will transport the collected items to the Food Pantry as needed, when the bin is full.  We are very excited about this new collaboration! The current plan is to collect for the New Trier Township Food Pantry through the end of March, and then we may switch to collection for another organization – stay tuned!
 
At each Thursday meeting we are also still collecting pop tabs from aluminum cans and bread clips. The pop tabs will be donated to Ronald Mcdonald House for recycling and they go towards offsetting the costs of helping children and their families. The bread clips will be donated to 'Scarcely Resourced' who will be recycling them in partnership with 'Danielle Cares for Chairs'. A few thousand of these bread clips will purchase a wheelchair for a child in need. The bread tags are also now being utilized by a prosthetic clinic to strengthen the molding process of making a prosthesis.
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Every Rotarian, Every Year- Contribute to The Rotary Foundation
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
Got Questions about Rotary or our club? We've got answers.

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:

  • Frequently Asked Questions for prospective members
  • Frequently Asked Questions for new members

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

Meeting Recordings
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:
  • May 27, Sara O'Keefe, Our Place
  • May 20, Mark Gelfeld, Illinois Holocausts Museum
  • May 13, Howard Berg- Learn to Read Faster & Learn More
  • April 29, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Executive Director Susy Schultz discusses the effects of media on Presidential elections
  • April 22, Dr. Scott Mitchell of Samaracare
  • April 15, John Shea, Winnetka Park District, Lakefront update
  • April 8, Rick Harnish on High Speed Rail
  • April 1, Fernando Jones, Blues Kids
  • March 25, Cynthia Beebe- Boots in the Ashes, tales of an ATF Agent
Read more...
Doing Good in the World
Posted by Richard (Rich) Lalley on Feb 10, 2013

Last year, our club helped fund a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant program supporting a Rotary Club sponsored prosthesis clinic in Bolivia.  Our club's funds were matched with funds from The Rotary Foundation; $2.50 for each $1 we contributed.  Take a look at the impact this program has had on one gentleman!

Our club was able to participate in the matching grant program because our members contribute each year the the Annual Programs Fund of The Rotary Foundation.  You can make a contribution via PayPal by clicking here.

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Co-President's Message
Patti Van Cleave Barb Tubekis

We welcome visitors to join us for lunch, to enjoy our great speakers and to learn about our club and our great service projects. Come join us!
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Upcoming Speakers
Emily Kenward, Chicago Site Director
Mar 30, 2023
Hands For Peace
Chuck Dowding
Apr 06, 2023
Batteries: Solar, Wind and Nuclear Power
Special Club Assembly
Apr 13, 2023
Victoria Mostov & Michael Goldenberg
Apr 20, 2023
Ukrainian Animal Rescue & Other Charity
Elisha Gray
Apr 27, 2023
Friends of the Green Bay Trail
Meeting at Avli in The Laundry Mall
May 11, 2023
No speaker today
Eric Klein, Certified Senior Care
May 18, 2023
The Complexities of Aging - Understanding Your Care Options
View entire list...
Upcoming Events
Board Meeting 4/6/23
Apr 06, 2023
11:00 AM - 12:05 PM
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Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield & Winnetka Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation
Serving the North Shore, Chicago and the World Since 1924
620 Lincoln Avenue Winnetka IL 60093
info@wnrotary.org
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