President Chuck Norton chaired the meeting commencing at 12:15.
Bob Sanfilippo started the meeting with the Thought of the Day entertaining us with favorite Dr. Seuss quotes.
There were no birthdays. Joe Fell celebrated 28 years as a club member.
Announcements: Rich Lalley reminded us that our club in conjunction with Rotary International is sponsoring a shoes for kids program. You can donate your money or you can donate some of your time to write notes to the recipients of the shoes. Rich is printing cards which will be left at the Community House. Maybe take 5 or 10 and write some warm notes to the children. Robert Mardirossian contributed happy bucks in recognition of his favorite Dr. Seuss quote.
Dig and Grin: Keith Reed gave us gave us some facts for Woman’s History Month.
Our speakers for today were Krysten Warnes for the Winnetka Youth Center and Hannah Warren for the Jhoole Cooperative in India. Take Aways:
Winnetka Youth Center:
It has been a challenging year for the Winnetka Youth Organization.It is clearly harder to engage the youth when you cannot meet with them in person
On the other hand, there has been a positive side to Covid.
WYO has risen to the challenge by inventing new ways to interact.
WYO has increased On-Line Programing
WYO created the fitness challenge; Picking Trash; Valentines for Vets; and dropped off materials at the youths homes when the youths could not leave their homes
The Key is being more creative in the WYO offerings and ways to engage
Krysten has come to realize the Winnetka youth are a very giving group and she cannot wait to meet in person again.
Jhoole Cooperative:
As a Rotary youth ambassador to India, Hannah met a group of women weavers that were so poor they could not wear the saris they were weaving.
With the help of Rotary, a fair trade cooperative was created.These same women who would have earned $150 a year are now earning $150 a month weaving beautiful silk scarves and table runners.
This is a project that is investing in the local womenand helping to eliminate poverty in the region.
Thank you for donating and you can help even more by going to Jhoole.org and buying some of the fair trade products.
The committee has set aside $700 to match additional donations by our members. If you would like to make a donation and have it matched, email Rich Lalley with the amount of your donation and which organization you are supporting. The foundation match will be awarded on a first come, first served basis, and is capped at $200 per member and $700 total. Contact Rich if you have any questions.
Our club will be providing brand new shoes to children living in need as part of the Rotary District 6440 Warm Soles project. Each pair of shoes requires $6.50 when match by a Rotary District Grant. Our goal is to raise $1,000 to provide new shoes to 150 children. Shoes will go to NICASA North Chicago, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church and Cool Learning Experience in Waukegan.
Nearly one in five children live in need. For their families, paying for food, housing, heat and healthcare takes priority. Many children may have to go without the cold weather essentials they need to stay healthy and active. Replacing quickly out-grown shoes can be extremely difficult for low-income and below poverty families.
One of the nice features of meeting virtually is that our meetings can be recorded. This of course depends on your meeting host (me) remembering to start the recording (sometimes I'm a bit late in starting it).
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