The meeting in the Winnetka Community House was opened at 12:15 by President Bill Leske. The pledge of allegiance was led David Birkenstein. Rick Boerjesson gave an interesting Thought for the Day. Lunch was then served at 12:20.
The meeting resumed at 12:32 and 26 members were present. Our only (sort of) visitor was Mark Kotz who also got a nice round of warm applause.
Birthdays noted were Ned Meisner and Tom & Joe Nash. These were celebrated with a questionable vocal rendition of Happy Birthday. Anniversaries recognized were Denny Lauer (44 years), Heather Higgins (24 years) and Terry Dason (3 years).
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Announcements started with Marie Kuipers update of the June 1 benefit. She said auction items were much needed and an early commitment to attend was needed as she had to commit early for food with the caterer.
Rich Lalley said another $200 was needed to sponsor the Shelter Box project initiated the week before. He then noted the outstanding money raiser done by Joe Nash in support of Operation Warm. For that he presented Joe a special “Gratitude Book”.
John Thomas reminded us the 50th Anniversary of the WYO will be celebrated with a dinner/dance benefit on April 13 at the Sheridan Shore Yacht Club
HAPPY BUCKS: Heidi Sibert announced her company, James Martin & Associates was donating $200 each to Operation Warm and to Kids Against Hunger.
DIG & GRIN : Bob Baker spun out a series of anecdotes received with warm applause.
SPEAKER- Our speaker, Tish Rudnicki, has dedicated her professional life to helping seniors throughout Chicagoland live healthy and fulfilling lives. She joined North Shore Senior Center as Executive Director in mid-January of this year.
Prior to joining the North Shore Senior Center, Tish was at the Kenneth Young Center for 29 years and completed her tenure there as the Chief Program Officer overseeing all of their behavioral health, medical and older adult programming.
In her three short months as Executive Director of NSSC, Tish has been learning the North Shore Senior Center’s vast scope of programs and services—from its classes and clubs, to the work its social workers do with struggling seniors and people living with memory loss.
She noted the NSSC was at the Winnetka Community House for its first 35 years. It currently has two buildings in east Northfield. One houses the offices, eating area, auditorium and Fitness center. The other has the House of Welcome with memory loss programs.
She described the great range of activities within its current $8MM budget. The staff numbers about 130 with an additional 300 volunteers. Only 20 of that staff are administrative and the remainder are mostly social workers. She spoke for about 20 minutes and devoted the next 35 minutes to answering questions from the audience.
The meeting closed at 1:30 after the usual lottery drawing and a recitation of the 4-Way pledge.