This week’s Greeter, Sam Badger, introduced two guests: Lizbeth Bautista, who is a Youth Advocate Intern at the Winnetka Youth Organization, and Donna Linder, a visiting Rotarian from the Illinois Beach Sunrise Club. The next order of business was the induction of Bob Sanfilippo into our club. Bob has recently been named the Executive Director of the Counseling Center of the North Shore. David Grant was his sponsor. He was warmly welcomed following the induction ceremony with a standing ovation.
Rich Lalley announced that there is a new app for Rotary that will take you to a club directory that lists the names of all our club members, along with their pictures and other vital information. You will be able to call a Rotarian just by clicking on the person you are interested in speaking with. The app is available in both the Apple and Android app stores. Simply type in the search box “clubrunner.” The icon is a blue box with a white ‘CR’ in the middle.
Rich announced that he recently attended the Wheeling Rotary Club where he presented them with a check for the End Polio Now fund in honor of Jack Blane who passed away this past February at the age of 94. Jack was an active member of Rotary for 55 years and he worked very hard to end polio. Jack is credited with getting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to commit well over a billion dollars toward the polio project.
Rich also reported that there are now nine clubs from four different districts that have made a commitment to the Breadfruit Tree project in Haiti. The total amount of money we have raised for this project, which includes matching contributions from the district and Rotary International, amounts to $74,000. We even received pledges from clubs in Utah, Georgia and New York.
Patti Van Cleave informed the Club that she still needed a few more volunteers to work the 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. shift at the Winnetka Music Festival on Saturday, June 16. Several hands went up to help in the beer tent and a few more volunteered to work the Cubs memorabilia stand. She will submit the names of all volunteers to the Festivals committee and the volunteers will get additional information from the committee.
President Tom reported that Mark Kotz is continuing to improve at home and is hoping to return soon.
This week’s Happy Buck$ were contributed by Barb Tubekis and Tony Kambich. Patti Van Cleave brought laughs with her rendition of Dig ‘n Grin.
Our Program Chair, David Birkenstein, introduced the day’s speaker, Pam Jensen from the International Justice Mission (IJM) where she serves as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Midwest. The IJM was established in 1997 with the goal of combating violence in developing countries.
Pam started off by showing a short video “Slavery Still Exists.” It was the story of young boys living in extreme poverty in Ghana. The boys are often given or sold by their parents to unscrupulous fishermen who promise a better life for the boys. They work in Ghana’s largest man-made lake, Lake Volta, pulling in heavy fishing nets and recovering nets caught in the tree branches under the surface of the lake. Eight thousand boys work as slaves on Lake Volta. Many cannot swim, they work long hours and are fed very little, many die from drowning, poor nutrition and infections from injuries. Most enslaved people come from destitute families just trying to survive as they are the easiest targets. Fifty percent of Ghanaians live on $2 a day. Pam reported that world-wide there are 40 million people living as slaves, that is, they are owned by other people. Half of this number are living in India.
The International Justice Mission is the largest anti-slavery organization in the world. There are 1200 employees working out of 17 offices. Their budget is $70 million, which includes some grants. They have successfully rescued thousands every year. They work in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. Their mission includes Rescue, Restore, Restrain and Represent. They work with local police to rescue victims from slavery and violence. Then they restore by providing counseling, education and skills training to the survivors. They also work with local police to restrain criminals, traffickers and slave owners. They also work with police and prosecutors to represent survivors in court.
Pam reported that they have had success in the Philippines. They have stopped the practice of using children in brothels. She said that there is an impressive Ted Talk by Gary Haugens, who is a Rotarian and makes an impressive case for IJM. He is a civil rights lawyer and founder of IJM.
Pam mentioned that Walmart is making an effort to clean-up their supply chain for tilapia from Tailand. When asked if the IJM workers are at risk she said that not long age one of their workers, a lawyer and their taxi driver were kidnapped and murdered.