Co-President Rich Lalley opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. David Birkenstein shared a thought for the day about Juneteenth and a book he has been reading about “lies your teacher told you”. Rich led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
There were no visiting Rotarians or guests today. Rich shared a few announcements:
- Next week’s lunch meeting will include the induction of our incoming President, Ken Drummet.
- Marlene Frisbie will be inducted as our new District Governor on June 27, 5:30pm-9:30pm. All are welcome but must register in advance – click here to do so!
- We are coming to the end of the Rotary year – if you haven’t made your annual contribution, you don’t have much time left to do it. Just click here, select Annual Fund – SHARE, and complete the donation process.
- The President-Elect of Rotary International, Mario Cesar Martins de Camargo has resigned. You can read the official statement about that here. Francesco Arezzo has been appointed by the Board as the new President-Elect; you can read more about him here.
- July 1 (6pm) is the next food packing date for our collaboration with the Wilmette and Evanston Lighthouse Clubs to prepare bagged lunches for Connections for the Homeless. The location is St. Joseph’s Church at Lake and Ridge in Wilmette. Please click here to sign up in advance for this hands-on project.
Amy Skalinder reminded everyone that the next Rock the Garden date at the Community House is July 10 (5pm-8pm). It’s a free event and a great opportunity for Rotarian fun and fellowship. The band will be dadband and there will be food for purchase from Soul & Smoke (along with beer, wine, soda, and snacks).
For today’s Dig & Grin, Robert Mardirossian shared memories about how Dig & Grin has changed over the years he has been a Rotarian and shared a story about the first time he was responsible for Dig & Grin. Tony Kambich and Rich chimed in with some of their memories about the history of Dig & Grin with the Club.
With no speaker today, we had open mic for members to share thoughts.
Tony Kambich noted that we have a lot of Winnetka Rotarians but not many from Northfield. He shared some reminisces about past years when we had a larger membership and hopes we can build our membership back up again.
Moha Bouacha shared an update about the Moroccan project, which is going very well. He shared some history about Juneteenth and also some proverbs as food for thought.
David Birkenstein shared thoughts about the monetization of college sports and payment of college athletes prompted by a conversation he had at a recent social gathering. He shared some thoughts about reducing hypocrisy in college sports.
Rich noted that Sly Stone passed away recently and WBEZ was doing an hour-long program about him, beginning with a story about Sly’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Rich invited any further comments about our Club. A discussion ensued about concerns regarding the number of members in our Club and the various challenges of recruiting new members.
The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.