Bill Leske chaired the meeting with Greg’s very important “technical” assistance.  We had  12 members present on Zoom. 

THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  Tom Evans quoted Winston Churchill who said that “great things in life were very “simple”—for example things like “freedom, justice and honor”.  Bill Leske added one of his own—"you make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.” 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  Our guest Jim Pockruss from the Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club announced that his Club was having a Trivia night June 1 starting at 5:30. Teams of 4 will be competing and most of the prize money goes to benefit Rotary’s Foundation.  The last two years the event has attracted close to 100 players and he invited our members to participate. 

Members were reminded of the walk for the homeless coming up May 14 involving the Wilmette Rotary Clubs and the Evanston Lighthouse.  Rich will be walking and sponsored by several of our members to the level of $2 per mile walked over a 10 day period. 

    Everyone was reminded of our Club’s benefit scheduled for May 19 instead of our regular Thursday meeting. Cocktails are from 6 to 7 PM, Buffet opens at 7 PM, 8 PM features the fun Bingo Games created and overseen by Bob Baker.  Then the Raffle winners will be announced at 9 PM.  All this fun will be at the Valley Lo Club, 2200 Tanglewood in Glenview.  You can go online to register for the event, buy tickets for the raffle, and Bingo and even make a donation.  Cost is $75 per person or $125 per couple.  We already have at least 10 raffle items ranging from Cubs tickets to passes at the WCH fitness center.  Our benefit committee, led by Patti and Barb, has done a marvelous job in arranging for a great evening of fun as we raise money for our Community Grant Programs. 

     Greg announced that our Club has been invited to participate in the Winnetka Music Festival on June 18 and to share in the proceeds from the sale of popcorn.  We will need 12 volunteers.  Barb offered to fill the volunteer ranks with Volunteer Center people to help us participate in this fund raising event. 

    Bill mentioned that we also need volunteers to cover our booths at the Northfield “Market and Music”  which starts June 29 and is held every Wednesday evening thereafter in Clarkson Park, and also the booth at the Winnetka Farmer’s market on Saturday mornings starting July 23. 

HAPPY BUCKS:  Patti gave for the volunteers who helped her at the Congregational Church during the WCH rummage sale.  She mentioned that Jeanne Beckman was especially helpful, also that David Grant and Bob Baker helped plan and collect food items to sell at a Rotary concessions stand at the rummage sale. 

DIG N GRIN: Sylwia Pacyk had several riddles with clever answers such as —tomatoes blush because they see salad dressing; food might be good on the moon but the atmosphere is lousy; and there’s little gossip in a cornfield because of all the ears. 

SPEAKER ALEX JOHNSON:  Alex is a Rotary member at the Plano Texas Club where he built a reputation in growing membership and increasing Rotary services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area even though there are 6 other Rotary Clubs in that area.  Many of his beliefs and suggestions were: you join Rotary for networking but you should end up loving the service part of it; you should concentrate more on building service projects rather than just increasing members; sell the product line of Rotary (which is providing services); try to be more inclusive of members and groups receiving your services; involve volunteers and other members of your community in providing services; in providing services extend your activities to such groups as food pantries, domestic violence centers, nursing homes, day care centers, forest preserves, etc. 

    Alex ended his presentation on the video by soliciting from his audience at that conference 10 new ideas that a Rotary Club should consider in expanding its services.  His entire presentation is available on our Club’s website and we will try to pass Alex’s 10 new ideas on to our Club members for futher discussion. 

     Bill complimented Greg for his great job in presenting Alex’s video and then led the group in Rotary’s 4 Way Test and adjourned the meeting.