There were 49 persons in attendance at the March 12 meeting, which included 33 members, one visiting Rotarian, Scott Rose from Northbrook, one guest, Carol Fessler, Village Trustee, and 14 recipients of our Club’s grants.
Rich Lalley spoke of the good work of the Rotary International Foundation and told the audience about Paul Harris Fellowships. He then gave two Paul Harris Fellowships to honor two fellow Rotarians, Heidi Sibert and Gina Sich, for their tremendous work coordinating the Kids Against Hunger program for the past five years. It was Gina’s second Paul Harris. Heidi then spoke of the KAH program and told everyone that in a little over a week we would be packing over 100,000 nutritious meals for children of Nicaragua with the aid of 400 volunteers. Gina then thanked the members who supported the guest bartender program at Little Ricky’s last week. Gina and Liz Taylor were able to raise $382 for KAH.
We celebrated Mark Kotz’s birthday with our version of Happy Birthday. President Baker also recognized the 9th club anniversary of Chuck Young and the 1st anniversary of Jake Ieuter.
Happy Buck$ this week came from Tom Nash, Robert Mardirossian and Bob Baker.
The President then turned over the meeting to Patti Van Cleave, the chair of our Community Grants committee. She introduced the rest of her committee. Patti said that today we were presenting a total of $31,000 in grants to 15 community organizations. She told the audience that in addition to the community grants the club has sponsored the Kids Against Hunger program for the previous four years and have also supported the Operation Warm project whereby our special contributions have purchased hundreds of new warm coats for children whose parents can’t afford them. Our club also participates in a number of service projects, many in conjunction with the Volunteer Center.
Following is a list of the organizations that received grants, the name of the person representing the organization and the name of the club sponsor:
| Organization |
Recipient |
Club Sponsor |
| Angles (formerly LINKS) |
Amy Skalinder |
(Van Cleave) |
| Blues Kids Foundation |
Fernando Jones |
(Lalley) |
| Erika's Lighthouse |
Heather Freed |
(Leahy) |
| Good News Partners |
Jan Hubbard |
(Tubekis) |
| Hadley School for the Blind |
Colleen Wunderlich |
(Willian) |
| Jewish Council for Youth Services |
Micky Baer |
(E. Birkenstein) |
| Lawrence Hall Youth Services |
Kim Luckey |
(Van Cleave) |
| Literature for All of Us |
Karen Thompson |
(Van Cleave) |
| Midwest CareCenter |
Peggie Roberts |
(Holland) |
| North Shore Center/Performing Arts |
Michael Pauken |
(E. Birkenstein) |
| Operation North Pole |
|
(Lalley) |
| Right to be Free |
Lori Dillon |
(Lalley) |
| Samaritan Counseling Center |
Jane Huels |
(Tubekis) |
| Volunteer Center |
Barb Tubekis |
(Sich) |
| Winnetka Youth Organization |
Mary Walden/Kristen Leahy |
(Thomas) |
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Plans are underway for our 5th Annual Kids Against Hunger Food Packing Event. Participant registration is open and solicitation of sponsors is underway. Please help us make this signature event for our club a success by recruiting participants, making a tax deductible donation or being a table sponsor. Huge thanks to those members and businesses that have already stepped up to commit to sponsoring this wonderful community event that supports the hungry..JPG)