Rotary Bulletin May1 (Apr. 24, 2025)

Meeting Notes April 24

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Moha chaired the meeting.

Announcements: Moha welcomed the many social service organizations attending the meeting. He encouraged them to consider joining Rotary in addition to all the good they already do!

Events: Debra invited us to her opening reception on May 1st from 4-6pm for an exhibition of her art held at the North Shore Senior Center. Discover the beauty of Mosaics!

Community Grant Award Presentations: Bob Baker explained what our WNRCF is, and some of the great service projects we sponsor. The microphone was passed to Patti to hand out the checks to representatives of each organization. In no particular order, Patti called them to the stage, and each organization succinctly summarized how they would use their awards:

Samaracare providing care for anxiety and uncertainty
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic funding on-staff lawyers
Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired education
Family Promise Chicago North Shore Shelter for emergency homeless
Our Place of New Trier Townshipadults with learning disabilities
Pickles Group to help kids whose parents have cancer diagnosis
The Record Community News Group journalism
SaLT: Service and Learning Together student driven service opportunities
Deerfield Free Store aid to 5-10 refugee families per week
The Volunteer Center days of service & website matching service
Special Gifts Theatre stage productions for kids with disabilities
Counseling Center of the North Shore mental health services
Trees That Feed Foundation plant breadfruit trees around the world
Hunger Resource Network provide protein for other food pantries, shelters, etc.

Support The Rotary Foundation!

At the March 6 meeting, Rich Lalley presented an overview of the work of our two foundations- the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Foundation (WNRCF) and The Rotary Foundation (TRF) of Rotary International. You can review that presentation here.

The club's board has set a goal of achieving 100% participation in supporting TRF this Rotary Year. To reach this goal, every active member needs to donate a minimum of $25 to The Rotary Foundation. You can do this online by clicking here.

We also aspire to be a 100% Paul Harris Fellow Club. For member who are not yet a Paul Harris Fellow, once your donation level reaches $250 and you have made a contribution this year, our club will celebrate you with a Paul Harris Fellow Award.

We appreciate all of our members who have contributed generously to The Rotary Foundation and to our club's WNRCF foundation. Thank you!

Paul Harris Fellows

Bob Baker, Wes Baumann, David Birkenstein*, Moha Boucha, Debra Campbell, Ken Drummet, Tom Evans, David Grant*, Tony Kambich*, Marie Kuipers, Rich Lalley, Bill Leske, Robert Mardirossian, Ned Meisner, Chuck Norton, Lee Padgitt, ArLynn Presser, Fred Schwimmer*, Heidi Sibert, Peter Skalski, Liz Taylor, Barb Tubekis, Patti Van Cleave.

Bold indicates donation made this Rotary Year. * indicates Major Donor.

Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club Creating a Women's Clothing Cooperative in Morocco

The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield is teaming up with The Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Rabat in the capital city of Morocco to establish a women's clothing cooperative in the village of Tomoulilt. This will be a project funded in part with a Rotary Foundation Global Grant (GG#2571461).

The program's objectives are to:

Create a revenue-generating cooperative run by stakeholders of village women/girls;
Empower women to run and manage a long-term sustainable and profitable business operation.

The project funds new equipment and training for the cooperative's participants. Training will encompass technical use of the equipment, entrepreneurial skills, business planning and management, sales and marketing planning, and financial management. The program's vision is to create a self-sustaining long term business enterprise for the participating women in Timoulilt.

Overall program budget is $100,000. The club is seeking cash and District Designated Funds (DDF) support from Rotary Clubs and Districts.

For more information, contact Club Co-President Moha Bouacha at m_bouacha@yahoo.com. Cash contributions may be made online by clicking here.

Meeting Assignments

Posted by David Grant

May 1

Greeter	Bill Leske
Thought & Sgt.	Tony Kambich
Dig-n-Grin	Chuck Norton
Scribe	Amy Skalinder

May 8

Greeter	Lee Padgitt
Thought & Sgt.	Liz Taylor
Dig-n-Grin	Heidi Sibert
Scribe	Patti Van Cleave

May 15

Greeter	Barb Tubekis
Thought & Sgt.	Thomas Applegate
Dig-n-Grin	Michael Ambrose
Scribe	David Grant

If you are unable to fulfill your assignment, please find a substitute.

Rotary Mental Health Initiatives

The District 6440 Task Force on Mental Health Initiatives is proud to announce a series of monthly speakers on mental health topics.

ALL presentations will be made on ZOOM, a different topic on the first Monday of each month from 12:00 - 12:30.

THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO ROTARIANS AND NON-ROTARIANS, and there is no charge.

We have changed the reservation process-no advance reservation needed. Here's the new information:

https://rotary6440.org/sitepage/mental-health-task-force/calendar-monthly-speakers

Upcoming speakers are listed below:

5/5/25 - Tish Rudnicki, MSW, Executive Director of North Shore Senior Center. "Issues of Aging"

6/2/25 - Erin Tegge, LCSW, PEER Services. "Substance Use, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery"