Chair Norton called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm with 19 members present.  Fred Schwimmer gave the “thought of the day” which was an airplane pilot’s announcement to the passengers on “flight 2021” that they should remain in their seats during the flight, should be positive, grateful with no feelings of pity or anger, and at times a little prayer will help “flight 2021” be a better “flight” than was 2020.

 

   We had one guest who has become a member of the Club.  Liz Taylor introduced Sylwia Pacyk who is the Branch Manager of the new Wintrust Bank on Willow in Northfield.  She has been with the Bank for four years, lives in Mundelein, and reported that the new Northfield branch is twice the size of the old location next to Stormy’s with 5 employees, a vaulted ceiling (no second floor) and a coin counting machine.

 

    Bob Sanfilippo is celebrating a birthday and Chuck Norton has been a member of the Club for 23 years.

 

Announcements:  Rich described a new “shoes for kids” program that the Club will be participating in—each Club will be expected to raise enough money to buy 1500 pairs of shoes for needy kids in the area.  A question was raised about availability of Covid vaccine on the North Shore with the response being that things seem to be disorganized and vaccine appointments hard to obtain.  Someone mentioned that the Winnetka Chamber of Commerce and Fire Department may be sources of information. 

 

Happy Bucks: Robert Mardirossian contributed for having married a female Marine who was well trained in snow shoveling techniques! 

 

Dig N Grin: Tom Evans gave a number of unintended results of the Covid restrictions including—it’s now the young kids who are yelling at their parents to stay home-- and Covid has done a couple of things that housewives have not been able to do, i.e. keep their husbands from continually watching football games and giving them more time to do chores around the house!!

 

Election of Officers and Directors:  Those members present  unanimously voted in favor of the following slates: Bill Leske/Greg Nelson for Co-Presidents as of 7/1/21; Rich Lalley for Treasurer/Secretary as of 7/1/21; Rick Boerjesson, Laura Cunningham, Heidi Sibert and Barb Tubekis for two-year terms on the Board of Directors effective 7/1/21—6/30/23.  Under our Bylaws, Chuck Norton will continue to be a member of the Board as immediate Past President; and David Birkenstein, Eric Birkenstein, David Grant, Robert Mardirossian and John Thomas will continue as Board members for year 2021-2022.

 

    Group discussions among members:  Since we did not schedule a speaker for the meeting, those in attendance divided into two groups for the purpose of discussing possible speakers and topics for future meetings.  The reports included the following suggestions for new speakers:

Other suggestions were to update the Club’s brochure and other marketing materials (may be International Rotary funds available); try to get list of new families moving to North Shore and contacting them re Rotary; consider going to a hybrid meeting (in person/Zoom) to get more members involved in meetings, as well as using Zoom to attract speakers; and maybe share the cost of hybrid meetings with the WCH based Women’s Exchange which is also considering more hybrid meetings.

 

After the reports from the discussion groups, Chair Norton ended the meeting with his recitation of the Rotary’s 4 way test.

 

Our Winnetka Northfield Club Social Justice Committee, led by Marie Kuipers, is embracing a new equity challenge.

 

Many of you may have read about the challenge in an email from Rotary District Governor Lyle Staab:

 

The United Way of Illinois Equity Challenge, which starts on January 18th,  is a 21-week program that encourages Illinois residents to engage in conversations and gain a deeper understanding about the impact systemic racism and inequity have on our state and in our local communities.  THERE IS NO COST TO PARTICIPANTS, who will receive one email per week through mid-June.  Each weekly challenge will require 15 minutes.  Topics include Understanding Privilege, Housing & Redlining, Justice System Inequities, among many others. Participants who complete all of the weekly challenges will receive a certificate of completion, a digital badge, and links to tips and training tools to help continue the conversation.

 

Peter Skalski spoke with Jean Wright recently to wish her a Happy 95th birthday.
 
Peter learned that she has Covid. 
 
Jean says she's doing ok. She was in hospital for a week and is now back at the infirmary at her assisted living facility.  She says she was congested at first, but better now.  She can taste and her temperature is normal, but she has a roommate who doesn't talk. Sometimes that's a good thing.  Hopefully, she will continue to improve and be able to get back to her own room soon.
 
She can take incoming calls on her cell phone number, 847-217-1906, and she would welcome Happy Birthday calls from those in our club who know her.