Are we smothering our kids into states of high anxiety?
Renee is Executive Director of the Family Service Center (FSC) located in Wilmette. FSC is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) mental health agency serving the communities of Wilmette, Glenview, Northbrook, and Kenilworth.
Renee is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, who joined Family Service Center in 2014, bringing with her over fifteen years of clinical experience working with children and families. Dr. Dominguez earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Child and Family Track, at the University of Houston in 2001. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine, and her post-doctoral fellowship at La Rabida Children’s Hospital, where she specialized in working with children, adolescents, and families who had experienced trauma. Dr. Dominguez came to Family Service Center most recently serving as the Clinical Director of the Chicago Child Trauma Center at La Rabida Children’s Hospital. At Family Service Center, Dr. Dominguez oversees clinical operations, provides supervision to staff, collaborates with community partners, and provides therapy to children, adolescents, adults, and families.
We had 26 members in attendance at this week’s meeting. There we no guests or visiting Rotarians.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Rich Lalley said there was a great opportunity to hear Sylvia Whitlock speak at Rotary International in Evanston on Tuesday, August 7 from 2 to 3 p.m. She became the first female president of a Rotary club in the late 80s. She was among the first women who were invited to join the Duarte (CA) Rotary club resulting in the club being “excommunicated” from RI’s official roles. It took a Supreme Court ruling in 1987 to open membership to women. In the same year Ms. Whitlock was elected president of the Duarte club.
HAPPY BUCK$: Tony Kambich contributed Happy Buck$ to commemorate the saving of the player and coach of the Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave. Heather contributed in honor of England’s soccer team’s success in the World Cup.
SPEAKER: The speaker of the day, Sharon Komlofske, was introduced by David Birkenstein. Sharon is the Director of Development for the agency “Gift of Adoption,” and is the mother of Mary Komlofske, the Program Director at the WYO who frequently represents the ‘YO’ at Rotary meetings. The number of international adoptions has decreased dramatically in recent years. Russia has stopped allowing Americans to adopt Russian children, and numerous foreign countries are building stronger domestic adoption programs. Today most international adoptions are of older children and those with special needs. Two changes in our country are higher fees and longer delays in the adoption process.
Domestically, more children are going into foster care due to the opioid crisis. In 2016 275,000 children were placed in foster care. Adoptions are more difficult when children are in foster care, so pregnant women who are planning on giving up their child can avoid foster care if they immediately place the baby up for adoption.
Some states remove parental rights if the mothers have a drug addiction. Unfortunately, siblings are often split up when parental rights are removed, causing the children psychological difficulties.
Sharon mentioned a number of statistics: 80% of the prison population spent time in foster care. -- There are 153 million orphans in the world, 400,000 in the U.S. -- Less than 3% in foster care will earn a college degree. -- 50% of those in foster care will be unemployed at 24 year of age. -- 25% will experience mental illness. -- One third of the girls who age out of foster care at age 18 will be pregnant by the time they are 21.
The adoption process is expensive and can be a barrier for a family seeking to adopt. The average cost for domestic adoptions is $29,000, while international adoptions are about $36,000. There is a lot of paper work and checking the financial health of the adopting parents; also, home inspections. International adoptions also involve the cost of travel, visas and passports. Someone wanting to adopt a child from Uganda must spend a six-month residency in the country. Sharon’s organization, “Gift of Adoption,” raises funds in order to help families with the costs of the process. Each qualified family receives a grant of $7500. The priorities for Gift of Adoption are 1) for children destined to foster care, 2) to keep siblings together, 3) children with medical needs and 4) for children ageing out of an orphanage or foster care. The agency helped 365 children to be adopted last year and be placed in a loving home.
Thank you to the 32 members of our club who donated a total of $11,430 to The Rotary Foundation's Annual Program Fund in the 2017-18 Rotary Year, exceeding our goal of $10,000 and setting a record level of giving!
Please thank these Rotarians for making their annual contribution, especially those in bold who are Paul Harris Fellows:
Sam Badger*+, Wes Baumann, Jean Beckman, Mary Lou Bilder Gold, David Birkenstein*+, Laura Cunningham, Joe Fell, David Grant*, Heather Higgins,Tony Kambich*, Gerry Keenan, Mark Kotz, Marie Kuipers,Rich Lalley+, Bill Leske, Robert Mardirossian, Rodger Morris*, Tom Nash, Chuck Norton, Felicia O'Malley, Lee Padgitt, Brooke Peepey, Keith Reed, Randy Reeves, Bob Sanfilippo, Fred Schwimmer+, Heidi Sibert, Peter Skalski, John Thomas,Barb Tubekis, and Patti Van Cleave, Carl Yudell. * signifies a Major Donor+ signifies Paul Harris Society ($1,000 per year)
There are many reasons to give to the The Rotary Foundation:
Contributions support humanitarian and educational projects initiated and run by Rotary Clubs and Districts in six areas of focus- Disease prevention and treatment, maternal & child health, education & literacy, water and sanitation, economic & community development and peace & conflict resolution. Learn more by reviewing the Foundation’s annual report.
Contributions come back to support projects of our club's projects, like our coats for kids, Kids Against Hunger and International grants projects like our breadfruit tree project in Haiti, the water and sanitation project we helped fund for school in Guatemala, and the digital x-ray/community health clinic project organized by District 6440. This year, we received nearly $4,000 for our Kids Against Hunger project! But we must give to receive.
Giving to The Rotary Foundation is an easy way for you to participate in Rotary’s service work beyond our club, providing you a personal connection to this great organization and the good it does throughout the world.
It’s easy to give. You can donate with a check or credit card at lunch; you can send a check to “WNRCF” (mark TRF in the memo line) to our club at 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka; you can donate via PayPal by clicking here, or you can donate directly to The Rotary Foundation at www.rotary.org or by calling 866-976-8279. One very convenient way to give is by making a recurring monthly gift on your credit card, which you can set up on Rotary’s website.
If you have not already supported The Rotary Foundation this year, please do so now.
If you have any questions about The Rotary Foundation or how to give, contact Rich Lalley.
We are pleased to announce our formal agreement with the Rotary Club of Les Cayes, District 7020, Haiti, to partner on a Global Grant project that will bring sustainable jobs and locally grown protein rich food to the Jeremie region of Haiti.
We are looking to raise approximately $20,000 for this project, which when matched $2.50 to $1 by The Rotary Foundation, will provide $70,000 in funding for this project. Rotary Clubs interested in participating should email info@wnrotary.org.
Areas of Focus
¨ Economic & Community Development
¨ Maternal & Child Health
¨ Bonus: Positive Environmental Impact
Project Objectives
¨ Restore and expand breadfruit production in Jeremie region of Haiti that was devastated by Hurricane Matthew
¨ Create a local, solar-powered breadfruit processing facility
¨ Provide vocational training to farmers, facility workers
¨ Develop the domestic and export market for breadfruit products
Planned Activities
¨ Propagate and grow 5,000 breadfruit saplings
¨ Provide ready-to-produce tress to small holder farmers and coop orchards
¨ Fund processing equipment for new facility (building funded by cooperating NGO)
¨ Provide packaged breadfruit breakfast meals to local schools
¨ Provide vocational training to farmers and workers
Expected Outcomes
¨ Produce 2.5 - 5 million lbs. of breadfruit annually
¨ Economic impact on region- $470,000 - $900,000 annually
¨ Good jobs and businesses for local population in poorest region of Haiti
¨ Provide nutritious meals to school children
¨ Develop an export industry for Haiti
Contribute to this project with the button below. Donations will be matched 2.5 to 1 by The Rotary Foundation.
Areas of Focus