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Community House. Check our bulletin to see if we are meeting in person. Zoom is always an option.

620 Lincoln Avenue
Winnetka, IL 60093
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Meeting Notes June 23

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

President Greg called the meeting to order at 12:20.

Fred offered a Thought on behalf of Terry: “Don’t miss the Farmers Market”.

Moha led the Pledge.

Visiting guests & Rotarians

Greg had a guest: Anastasia Lozhkina from Schaumburg-Hoffman Estates club.

Ron Bernardi was with us, as he is often now!

Anniversaries:

Keith Reed is celebrating 9 years in Rotary.

Announcements

Bill, Greg, Barb and Patti thanked Ron for his popcorn wagon, popcorn, and offering us the opportunity to sell popcorn at the Music Festival last weekend. Ron worked from 8:30AM-10:00PM! The volunteers netted $2,000, which will be split with The Volunteer Center.

See Rich to make a donation to The Rotary Foundation before July 1.

On June 29 we will be attending Market & Music in Northfield to network and sell (more) popcorn.

Happy Bucks:

Rich gave a buck of gratitude because Ron is a friend of our club.

Moha gave a buck for successfully completing 12 weeks of cardio rehab.

SPEAKER:

Brett Bowman spoke to us, thanks to Liz. Brett has lived in Winnetka since 2008 and has three kids. He shared his personal story and how it led him into the gourmet nut business. His daughter Lily passed samples (food is always appreciated!).

President Greg adjourned the meeting at 1:26, when we recited the 4 Way Test.

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 56% of the way to Presidents Bill and Greg's goal of $12,000 for the 2021-22 Rotary year.

Please thank these 19 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, 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.

Meeting Notes June 9

Posted by Keith Reed

Bill Leske chaired the meeting. There were about 16 members present and 3 on Zoom. Guests were two representatives from the North Shore Art League, Denise Siegel, Past President, North Shore Art League Board and Sophie Candido, Communications Manager, who outlined the history and many activities of the Art League for the summer including Art Camps, Art Classes, Art Shows such as the current “Inspired by…”, the popular Abstraction Show, the Fine Arts Fair in Hubbard Woods Park in June and the Annual Members Art Show this coming October. They passed out information about how contributors can participate in the League’s 2022-23 Sponsorship Program.

SPEAKER BRUNO ABATE: the owner and chef of Tocco restaurant in Winnetka and founder of Recipe for Change. He is originally from Italy and mentioned that he visited Chicago 22 years ago and didn’t like it for several reasons. He tried the restaurant business but had a number of misfortunes such as the deaths of his brother and wife and his involvement in some bad financial investments. He finally leased a building for his restaurant in downtown Chicago and made friends with a woman whose father had killed his wife and was imprisoned in Italy but who worked for wages in prison and his daughter forgave him for his crime. Bruno said at that time he realized the importance of forgiving people who commit horrible deeds and end up in prison. He then saw a television program about kids in prisons; he then started to work with prison kids in St. Charles, Ill. who were 14 and under to give them the pleasure of doing something productive—in Bruno’s situation he taught them how to cook as part of his “kids in prison program”. Bruno started to get the attention of the media and was features on several television programs. He was also credited with writing a 10 page book on this subject, although he claims he received some divine guidance in that project. Unfortunately, the prison in St. Charles, Ill where he had his kids program was suddenly closed by the state without notice to him.

Bruno was then able to work through contacts he had made with Anne Burke, member of the State’s Supreme Court, and the brother of our County Sheriff, Tom Dart, to set up a similar program for adult prisoners in Division Eleven of the Cook County jail system. He continues to spend time each week outside his busy schedule with his Tocco restaurants teaching about 3000 inmates to cook and to make other living improvements at the Cook County jail.

His “Recipe For Change” program in prisons has brought him an award from the MacArthur Foundation. He not only teaches cooking but his program also has provided music appreciation and painting classes and is working on building an operation of food trucks for under-served areas of our communities.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Members were reminded of our Installation Dinner for our new officers this coming Thursday, June 16. Reservations should be made through Patti no later than this coming Sunday, June 12. Fred mentioned that a good friend of his and a former Senator from Illinois, John Porter, recently passed away and that he was a fine representative of the State-- Fred said that he liked his conservative approach to financial matters and his liberal approach to social issues.

HAPPY BUCKS: Bill Leske gave in honor of Patti, our new Club President. Tony gave because he appreciated the day as being a “very good day”. Several people thanked our guest, Ron Bernardi from the Northbrook Rotary Club for giving our Club the opportunity to sell popcorn at the June 18th Winnetka Music Festival, part of the proceeds being given to our Foundation.

DIG N GRIN: Bob Baker reported on a recent recipient of the MacArthur Darwin award which goes to people who sacrifice their own life to save others. Such award was given recently to Mike Sexton who, with a friend, tried to find a lost treasure of about 2 million dollars worth of gold coins in the mountains of Utah. They got lost twice and the second time Mike perished although his friend survived, but no treasure was found.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 1:30 WITH RECITING OF THE ROTARY 4 WAY TEST.

Meeting Minutes June 2

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

President Bill called the meeting to order at 12:20.

Robert shared a reminder to remember the good things around us.

Barb led the Pledge.

Visiting guests & Rotarians

Liz Taylor had a guest: Diane Reier, who runs a home health care business.

Birthdays & Anniversaries:

Connie Berman has a birthday on June 7

Bob Sanfilippo is celebrating his 4^th anniversary; Honorary member Pat O’Day is celebrating 43 years in Rotary.

Announcements

Our Installation Dinner date will be changing. It is postponed from the 9^th to the 16th.

Upcoming Speakers: June 9 – Bruno Abate, owner of Tocco

June 23 – Brett Bowman to tell us about the gourmet nut industry

Bill shared that Donna Goodman contacted him to tell us that Jill Joyce’s mom died. We passed a card.

We will be selling popcorn on June 18^th at the Music Festival. Costs are underwritten by Ron Bernardi and Grand Foods, and they are also supplying an awesome popcorn “wagon”. All volunteers will receive free admission to the Festival.

On June 29 we will be attending Market & Music in Northfield to network and sell (more) popcorn.

Rich reminded us that there are only 4 weeks left to donate to The Rotary Foundation before their fiscal year-end. Donate NOW!

Amy invited all Rotarians to come to the Community House’s first “Firsty Thursday” in the Arches Garden. Live music, cash bar and snacks. Just for fun!

Happy Bucks:

Moha was the only Happy club member, celebrating that he is now out of “solitary confinement”.

Dig N Grin:

Patti shared a Quasimodo joke.

SPEAKER:

Tim Keefe from Byline Bank spoke to us about the complex world of trusts & estates.

President Bill adjourned the meeting at 1:30, when we recited the 4 Way Test.

Meeting Minutes May 26

Posted by David Grant

Guests:

Our current AG Tami announced she is retiring and introduced our club’s new AG:Sonia Martin from the North Chicago Club.
Ron Bernardi introduced Sara Hanlon, who is in the marketing department at Sunset Foods.
‘Our Place’ brought 2 guests.
Teri Dason brought 2 guests from the Winnetka-Northfield-Glencoe Chamber of Commerce: Catherine Healy and Therese Weaver

Announcements:

Fresh from the District 6440 Annual Conference, Bob Baker showed us the new Rotary International banner featuring the 2022-2023 theme of ‘Imagine Rotary.’
Greg Nelson announced the Installation Dinner for next year’s Club Officers will be on Thursday, 6/9 at 5:30pm.No lunch meeting that day!
Rich Lalley reminded us to make year-end contributions to the Rotary International Foundation.
Patti urged us to become charter members for a new Rotary Polio Eradication effort by pledging $100 a year by filling out a form on the District website.
Amy is the Club’s new Membership Chair, and she will kick the new year off with a survey in July.
Amy also invited us to hear live music presented by Blue Sky Highway in the WCH garden on Thursday, 6/2 from 5:00 – 8:00pm. This is the first of new ‘First Thursday Programs.’

Happy Bucks:

Patti thanked all the Rotary volunteers who staffed the concession stand at the Congregational Church rummage sale. Patti also offered for sale some assorted left-over nutrigrain bars from the event.
Robert donated to acknowledge the great job that Patti did to organize the concessions stand.

Speaker: Rockey Flintermann runs the farmers market for the Winnetka-Northfield-Glencoe Chamber of Commerce. He traced the history of the market from it’s original location in Northfield to the parking lot beside the Winnetka Village Hall (10,000 square feet), to the new location this summer in the METRA parking lot (50,000 square feet). With such a larger footprint, Rockey expects the visitors to the farmers market to expand from the 25,000 visitors last year.

Meeting Notes May 5

Posted by David Grant

Discussion: There were 17 Rotarians in attendance at the WCH, plus 6 digital zoomers.

Announcements:

Saturday 5/14 will be the ‘Rotary Hope Walk for the Homeless.’ Deborah Morris, a Visitor from the Wilmete Club, described this event which is co-hosted by 5 Rotary Clubs. There is a sign-up sheet to support Rich Lalley who will be walking at the event.
Thursday, May 19 is our Benefit at the Valley Lo Club. Barb Tubekis reminds us to purchase tickets at the link in this Bulletin or on the website.
Fred announced the winners of his Presidential Trivia Challenge are Moha in first place closely followed by the dynamic duo of team Robert & Wes.

Happy Bucks:

Rich is happy that Sylvia and Sophia joined him last Saturday at the Ukrainian meal packing event.
Greg Donated $17 for the total run count of the winning team, the White Sox, in the Crosstown baseball Series.
Barb donated $128, $2 a year for each of her 64 years to commemorate her Birthday and for all those who attended her Volunteer Center Benefit.

Dig ‘N Grin: Inspired by Mother’s Day, Robert acknowledged the women and mothers who influenced him, and the love he shares with them.

Speaker: Rich introduced Past District 1462 Governor Vygintas Grinis. Our Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club participated in a Rotary matching grant for mental health initiatives in the Ukraine.

Ukraine Relief Update

Our club has contributed to several significant Ukrainian relief efforts:

We provided nearly one quarter of the $40,000 sent to the Rotary Club of Kyiv International to support their extensive relief activity. The Rotary Club of River Cities has a sister club relationship with Kyiv International, and has been raising funds and transferring them to Ukraine. This support has allowed for the purchasing and distribution of tons of food, medicines and medical supplies and setting up of temporary refugee shelters. Here's a 45 minute video update from Ukraine of their remarkable efforts.

https://youtu.be/e2hDdJ8tf3E

We have contributed $3,000 and our Rotary Foundation District Designated Funds of over $2,200 to a Global Grant project in Lithuania that will provide mental health training to teachers and school psychologists in Lithuania to improve the ability to work with Ukrainian refugee children. We will have a detailed update on this project at our May 5 meeting.
The Rotary Foundation Disaster Relief Fund is providing grants to clubs and districts that are deploying humanitarian relief in and around Ukraine, and some of our members have contributed to that fund as well.
We participated on Saturday April 30 in a 50,000 meal food packing with Outreach Feed6 in Rolling Meadows.

Help for Chicago's Homeless

Our club has an opportunity again this holiday season to help Chicago's homeless. The Rotary Club of Wilmette is again working with the Sisters from Fraternite Notre Dame to provide needed items to 80 homeless people. Last year we provided sleeping bags. This year a long list of clothing and cold weather gear has been requested. Our club, along with the Rotary Club of Wilmette Harbor are joining together again for this meaningful year end project.

Most of the requested items have already been secured! At this writing, only a few dozen flashlights, portable propane heaters, and cooler bags are needed. You can help buy purchasing an item for less than $20.

There are 3 simple ways to contribute:

1- follow the link below to purchase one or several of the remaining items needed on this Amazon list

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/U2QT3Z5GDD3E?ref_=wl_share

Items will ship directly to the sisters. Very easy indeed!

2- Make a donation to the Rotary Club of Wilmette's fundraising page, and they will handle purchasing what's needed.

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/wilmette-rotary-club-foundation/2nd-annual-holiday-drive-for-homeless-in-chicago

3- Send you pledge to Rich Lalley and then bring a check made payable to WNRCF to an upcoming club meeting. Rich will pass your donation on to the Wilmette club.

Thank you for continuing to show your Rotary compassion and willingness to help those in need.

Give New Coats to Afghan Refugees

The Rotary Clubs of New Trier Township and other Chicago area Rotary clubs are raising funds to provide new winter coats from Operation Warm to Afghan refugees currently residing at the Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury.

We hope to provide new coats to 2,000 children.

So, for every $100 you donate, 6 children will receive the gift of warmth, confidence and hope that comes with a brand new coat.

We are working to get coats to these children in early November, so will be ordering coats on October 25th. So we need your donation now!

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/winnetka-northfield-rotary-charitable-foundation/donate-to-give-new-coats-to-afghan-refugees

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:

Suburban Rotary clubs team up to collect new shoes for children in need

Rotarians from Cook and Lake counties partnered with Operation Warm this month to provide 1,530 pairs of new shoes to area children.

The shoes were delivered to local nonprofit organizations and schools for distribution to families. The 11 participating Rotary clubs gathered Saturday morning at a Northbrook warehouse to pick and pack shoes for Operation Warm’s new Warm Soles program.

“It’s all about the kids, it’s all about taking care of the kids in the area,” said Bill Kolb of Zion, who delivered shoes to northeastern Lake County recipients.

Rotarian Gary Moriello of Northbrook helped deliver shoes to Waukegan.

“We have so much ourselves,” Moriello added, “and then to have a chance to give to somebody else who doesn’t have (new shoes) is a great idea.”

The program was funded from contributions from each participating club and a matching grant by Rotary District 6440 and The Rotary Foundation.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

People of Action- The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield and The Rotary Foundation Provide Relief to Those Impacted by COVID-19

The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield has met weekly at the Winnetka Community House since 1924. That streak ended in mid-March, when the club suspended its weekly lunch meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, this did not stop the club from continuing to meet and live up to its well-earned reputation as People of Action. Almost immediately, the club began to meet on Zoom every Thursday at its regular 12:15 time, and the club’s board and committees did so as well.

Over the club’s 96 years, it has undertaken many notable service projects. So, it is no surprise the club quickly responded to the needs of those affected by COVID-19. Supported by donations from members and friends of the club, and a grant from The Rotary Foundation, the club took the following actions:

Supported the local food pantry and provided financial assistance to families experiencing severe financial need through a $5,000 donation to the New Trier Township Angel Fund.