Barb led today’s meeting with 15 in-person Rotarians, 1 zoomer, and 4 speakers.
Announcements:
- Amy invites us to WCH Firsty Thursdays starting Thursday, 6/1. See her story below!
- Rich reminds us “Every Rotarian, Every Year” to donate to the Rotary International Foundation.
Happy Bucks:
- Peter is happy to be back from Florida and in-person at the WCH.
- Robert is also happy to attend in-person, and equally happy to have zoomed last week.
Speaker: Lynn Weis is the Executive Director of the Evanston Work Ethic program (WE), which is a local charity set up to help students pursue alternatives to 4-year college degree programs. The WE Program was founded in 2017 by Hecky Powell, the owner of Hecky’s BBQ in Evanston.
Lynn brought 2 alumnae from the We program to also speak to us this afternoon: Humana Garcia, who is sponsored at Elmhurst College in a nursing program, and Taiwan, who is sponsored in a culinary training program. WE sponsors 15 Evanston High School Juniors in paid summer internships to pursue vocational programs. They also sponsor a similar size group of high school seniors, and then extend support after graduation. The annual budget is around $200,000 and is funded by individuals and family foundations.