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PEOPLE OF ACTION

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Meeting on Zoom. In person meetings resume at Community House June 10.

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Winnetka, IL 60093
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Meeting Notes June 10

Posted by Carl Yudell

BACK HOME AGAIN!

Rotary met in person at the Community House today. Donna provided a great box lunch starting at 12:15.

Lee Padgitt provided the Thought of the Day.

President Chuck Norton chaired the meeting commencing at 12:18

Connie Berman had a birthday on June 7th

Visiting Guests: Asst. District Governor: Tamiye Meehan; our new Head W-N Librarian, Monica Dombrowski, and Cam Johnson, the Community House’s new director for Advancement.

Announcements:

Robert Mardirossian thanked everyone for their help and contributions to the Friday June 4 Fund Raiser for the Foundation. We raised $12,000 which was matched by an equal and generous contribution by Fred Schwimmer for a total of $24,000. Robert was touched by everyone’s generosity. Special thanks to Marie Kuipers as co-chair and Sylvia as the winner of the Live Auction trip to the Orlando Marriott given by John Thomas.

Queen Marie (with an appropriate crown) did not have a chance to thank all the Board Members in person for their help last year. She provided medals and knighted Barb Tubekis, David Birkenstein, Peter Skalski, Brooke Peppey, Eric Birkenstein, Rich Lalley, Bill Lesky, John Thomas, Rober Mardirossian, Laura Cunningham and Heidi Silbert.

Queen Marie also granted Paul Harris awards to both Chuck Norton and Fred Schwimmer.

John Thomas next introduced the new Executive Director of the Winnetka-Northfield Library, Monica Dombrowski. Monica brought us up-to-date on all the activities at the Library.

Take Aways:

As of Friday, both branches are now open regular hours.
The library is ramping up its programs starting with Story Time for Children
Monica took over in the middle of the Pandemic coming from Sycamore, Illinois
The Northfield Branch has been reorganized and refreshed
During August-October 2021, the 1950’s windows in the Winnetka Library will be replaced.
This summer there are Summer Reading Challenges (with prizes) for both children and adults.In order to be eligible for the prizes, you need to read (or listen to a book on tape/CD) for 20 minutes /day for 40 of the 60 days of summer.
The parking lot at the Winnetka Library will be improved this summer
The programing including virtual and in-person programs are sensational.Go to the following address for a full schedule:https://winnetkalibrary.libcal.com/calendar/events/?cid=3782&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=3782&inc=0

Among the presentations, you will find (a) The World of Chocolate Tasting (including free chocolate) June 16, 2021 at 7:00 pm; (b) Growing and Using Corn June 17, 2021 at 7:00 pm; (c) Meet Benjamin Franklin June 28, 2021 at 7:00 pm

The Library is part of the Caucus Survey.Please complete the Survey.The Winnetka-Northfield Library is your library and we want to make it more relevant to you.We can only do that if we know what you want

Every Rotarian, Every Year- Contribute to The Rotary Foundation

As the 2020-21 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 local COVID-19 relief efforts, Kids Against Hunger, and our Ecuador "Farm to Table" Global Grant.

Please thank these 14 Rotarians for already making their annual contribution, especially those in bold who are Paul Harris Fellows:

Bob Baker, Wes Baumann, David Birkenstein*⁺, Laura Cunningham, Joe Fell, David Grant*, Heather Higgins, Tony Kambich, Rich Lalley*⁺, Robert Mardirossian, Lee Padgitt, Brooke Peppey, Fred Schwimmer*⁺, and Patty Van Cleave.
* signifies a Major Donor ⁺signifies Paul Harris Society ($1,000 per year)

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 six areas of focus- Disease prevention and treatment, maternal & child health, education & literacy, water and sanitation, economic & community development 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 our COVID-19 Response efforts, coats for kids, 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 $3,600, and next year we will can receive $3,672. 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. You can send a check to “WNRCF” (mark TRF in the memo line) to our club, c/o Bob Baker at Killian Plumbing at 933 Green Bay Rd, 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 3

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was called to order by Chair Norton at 12:15 PM. There were 17 members present. Greg Nelson gave the thought of the day which was a quote from Harry Truman that “you can accomplish lots in life if you don’t care who gets credit for it.”

Connie Berman was celebrating her birthday and 19 years as a Rotarian and Pat O’Day, one of our honorary Club members, joined our Club 42 years ago.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Barb reported that the Winnetka Music Fest is going to be changed somewhat this year. It is being called “Emerge Winnetka” and will be held one day only, September 11, at Skokie Play Field. It will be honoring not-for-profit organizations by contributing to them $5 for every ticket purchased. The WCH and the Volunteer Center are among the participating organizations. Scott Myers and Val Haler are heading up the program and more information is available on the “Emerge Winnetka” website.

SPEAKER—DONNA LEE GULLEY from Shelter Box Program: Donna has been one of the leaders of the Shelter Box program (herein referred to as SB) which is celebrating its 20^th birthday. It has partnered with Rotary since 2012 and is now an independent operation which has served over 2 million victims worldwide. It provides disaster victims with “shelter boxes” containing essentials such as food, clothing, tents, tools, etc. so that these victims can create their own “homes.” The program has been very active during the current pandemic. These disasters can be caused by both physical and political conditions.

Other points made by Donna were: Burma and Syria are two areas where these boxes have been used extensively; vocalist-musician Susan Werner sings a very appropriate song about “providing a roof over my head and helping others get a roof over their’s with dignity and hope”; in providing assistance the SB staff talks with families about their needs, helps families rebuild after the disaster and learns new techniques from each disaster; victims are helped to build homes for their families and to return to their work, with their homes often doubling as a place to live and work; during the last year SB has been active in 100 countries involving 300 disasters and close to 2 million victims; there are currently about 88 million people worldwide displaced from their homes due to disasters with the two biggest problems being getting them adequate fresh water and cleaning supplies (especially soap).

Donna then thanked our Rotary Club and District for “helping so many disaster victims whom we have never met”. Our District 6440 is among the top 20 Rotary Club supporting the SB programs. In answer to questions, Donna mentioned that the shelter boxes are protected with maximum security in these foreign countries by SB and the countries themselves—she mentioned that the Scouts (both Boy and Girl Scouts) play a big role in providing security for the boxes; that donations to SB should be done through our local Club or District and that her name should be mentioned to make sure our District is credited with the donation; that her background is in high school counseling work where she learned how to diagnose and solve problems and needs of others; that SB’s iconic green plastic boxes are also used by victims as bathtubs, libraries and storage lockers; that SB has affiliations with 19 countries and ships lots of supplies out of Panama to these foreign countries. Donna was thanked by Chuck and others for her very informative presentation.

RETURN TO REGULAR MEETING: Robert handled the “dig n grin” by summarizing all the events involved in the Club’s upcoming virtual benefit June 4th which includes several raffles and auctions. He said that before the benefit starts at 6:30 on Friday, members should make sure they have registered to attend and declare which raffle they want to participate in (Sports, Wine, Restaurants or Outdoor Activity Equipment). He ended his presentation by playing a video of Louis Armstrong playing “Hellsapoppin”.

Chuck then announced that the amended Club Bylaws have been presented to all members for their review, with special thanks to the efforts of John Thomas helping with the review. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the amended bylaws were unanimously approved by all members in attendance. Chuck then congratulated our new Club co-presidents, Bill Leske and Greg Nelson, who will be taking over his job June 30^th and wished them well for the coming year. He then lead in reciting Rotary’s 4 Way Test and adjourned the meeting at 1:15.

Meeting Notes May 13

Posted by Keith Reed

The meeting was called to order by Chair Norton at 12:15 PM. There were 18 members present. Laura Cunningham gave the “thought of the day” that sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have at our disposal until it’s no longer available—like toilet paper!

We had plenty of birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate—Bill Johnson, Patti Van Cleave, Sylwia Pacyk, David Grant and Laura Cunningham all had birthdays and Fred Schwimmer announced that his birthday was coming up next week but requested that there be no singing in his absence! Connie Berman has been in our Club 19 years and Sally Gotaas has been an honorary member for 5 years.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Barb said that someone had donated a bottle of wine for our June 4^th benefit but did not leave a name on it—everyone was reminded that it was important to leave their names with their donated items. Robert reported that Schaefer’s Liquor has donated a bottle of Winston Churchill’s favorite wine; that Club members were forming teams to help with the Benefit’s auctions and trivia events; and that he would give $10 for each person who signed up for a team during this meeting—Marie and Rich so volunteered. Barb and Bob Baker have already signed up for the dog walkers’ team! Rich announced that we have 6 weeks to make our donations to the Rotary International Foundation; that there were no worldwide polio cases during the past year; and if two more years pass without a worldwide case Rotary can end its polio program.

HAPPY BUCKS: Barb announced that her daughter’s surgery was successful and that she has returned to her home. Laura Cunningham was happy because of an “on line favor” that Marie had done for her. And Robert was happy in anticipation of receiving phone calls from John Thomas and Fred Schwimmer having something to do with the upcoming benefit!

DIG N GRIN: David Birkenstein tried to confess to the sin of playing April Fool’s Day jokes on his past and present spouses, Merrily and Mary. He confessed that for one day of each year he was untruthful, mean spirited, deceptive and not charming in the least bit. But after listening to his 10 minute heart felt confession, there was no one in the room who actually believed a word he said or that he could ever be anyone other than the good hearted, charming and thoughtful gentleman we have all known during his 90 years of life. Any attempt by David to appeal this determination will undoubtedly be denied!!

SPEAKER HOWARD BERG: Howard is a motivational speaker on the subject of speed reading and increased reading comprehension. He is currently President of his Rotary Club in Texas and resides in Florida. He served in the military, has authored books on the speed reading topic, and grew up in Brooklyn where the “safest place for a child” was in the local library!

He has read thousands of books and has discovered that the more you practice reading fast and comprehending what you read, the better you get at this activity, just like any sport. He believes that most people can easily get to the point of reading and comprehending 200 words a minute. The same technique can be used to increase math skills as well, which is important in today’s educational environment where only 38% of high school graduates can do fractions.

He has developed ways of improving people’s memories by concentrating on objects rather than numbers. He gave as an example how much easier it is to remember a telephone number or zip code by replacing numbers 1 through 5 with objects such as a pole, a pair of shoes, a tricycle, a car or a glove.

Howard has made a career out of giving speed reading programs to various organizations, Rotary clubs, student groups, high school and college faculty meetings. He cited many cases of helping young students achieve excellent grades and advanced college degrees at young ages by not only studying hard, but by learning how to read and comprehend at fast speeds.

Howard’s presentation was recorded so you can review his comments.

There being no further business, Chair Norton closed the meeting with the Rotary 4-Way Test.

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.

Grants Committee Makes Annual Community Grants Awards

The board of the Winnetka Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation has awarded grants to the following organizations:

Blues Kids Foundation

Career Resource Center

Counseling Center of the North Shore

Good News Partners

Jhoole

North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic

The Volunteer Center

SamaraCare Counseling

Special Gifts Theater

Winnetka Youth Organization

The committee has set aside $700 to match additional donations by our members. If you would like to make a donation and have it matched, email Rich Lalley with the amount of your donation and which organization you are supporting. The foundation match will be awarded on a first come, first served basis, and is capped at $200 per member and $700 total. Contact Rich if you have any questions.

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.