Cradles to Crayons is driven by a focused and all-important goal: to make life better for children in need. To make this happen, it takes a wide variety of individuals and groups coming together to make a difference in their local communities. Nearly 200,000 children in Chicago live in poverty.
This week’s meeting was held at the Mallinckrodt Center in Wilmette since the Community House was hosting the Antiques + Modernism Show. Twenty-five Rotarians were in attendance and no guests this week. The Village was represented by Mark Hornstein, Winnetka’s Interim Police Chief, while the WYO was represented by Melanie Challberg, their Program Director.
Mark Kotz gave the Thought of the Day and asked for prayers for those affected by the terrorist attack in New York City.
The club sang to Tony Kambich who was celebrating his birthday. He announced that he saw an orthopedist that had spoken to our club about an alternative to knee replacement surgery. On Monday he was given an injection of stem cells for his knee problem. He said he felt better, but a member asked him to report back to us in one year. Fred Schwimmer announced that he was invited by Keith Reed to the New Trier – Loyola state playoff game where New Trier scored 22 points in the last 10 minutes of the game under the leadership of Keith’s grandson – NT’s quarterback. (NT lost 35 – 32)
President Tom reminded the club of the benefit sponsored by some of our neighboring clubs for the District’s HealthRays project for Guatemala. The event will be held this Friday night, November 3 at Pinstripes for an evening of bocce ball and conviviality. Rich Lalley reminded the members that our club will be involved in distributing coats from Operation Warm and giving each child two books at two locations in Chicago this coming Saturday and Monday. Rich also announced that he attended a Rotary Zone conference last weekend and was able to introduce RI’s President-Elect, Barry Rassin, from the Bahamas, to the Winnetka couple Mary and Mike McLaughlin, originally from Jamaica. They are the couple that recently presented the work of their foundation, “Trees that Feed.” As it turned out Rassin and the McLaughlins have many friends in common. This unplanned meeting will likely result in a Global Grant from Rotary to support their project.
Happy Buck$ this week were given by: Barb Tubekis who was grateful for the success of the Volunteer Center’s Make a Difference Day which exceeded the goal of collecting 20,000 items by 4000. She thanked all the volunteers for their great work and members who stopped by to drop off their donations; Wes Baumann for Robert Mardirossian for wearing a sports jacket; Fred Schwimmer for Barb’s great leadership of the Volunteer Center’s successful Make a Difference Day; and finally Robert Mardirossian who reminded the club that in the ‘old’ days members were ‘fined’ when they had positive things happen that were in print.
Unfortunately our speaker did not show up. Mark Hornstein volunteered to use some of the time to speak about the results of a new state law that requires towns under 25,000 to consolidate their 911 facilities. The purpose of this law was to provide cost savings to the residents and greater efficiency and coordination. Last June Northfield, Glencoe, Kenilworth and Winnetka joined together and determined that it would be more cost-effective to sign a contract with Glenview who already was already serving Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Highland Park. Glenview has a large modern facility and up-to-date technology that will be able to provide the required services. While our community’s 911 calls will go to Glenview, their operators will be able to direct the proper emergency services to the site of the incident being reported as quickly or more quickly as when Winnetka had their own 911 facility. Mark Kotz who visited the Glenview police station (as a vistor) confirmed that the 911 facilities was quite impressive. Thanks Mark for filling in so compentenly!
Nearly one in five American children live in poverty. More than 400,000 in the Chicago metro area.
For these families, deciding between food, rent, heat and medicine takes priority. Many children have to go without a coat during the cold Chicago winter.
You can help to bring hope,happiness and warmth to children living in need in Chicagoland with the gift of a brand-new winter coat. Your gift will help to improve a child's self-esteem, school attendance and overall wellness.
Our Goal is to Give 500 Children Brand-New Winter Coats Give today at www.operationwarm.org/wnrotary Or send a check payable to WNRCF to Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka IL 60093
We partner with schools and non-profits serving disadvantaged children, including Inner City Impact in Cicero, Holy Family Ministries school in Chicago, Hope Community Church in Chicago, Open Arms Mission in Antioch, Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook (holiday gift program), Jewish Council for Youth Services in Highwood and Family Promise Chicago North Shore.
This year, we are also partnering with the Chicago Public Library on an innovative program that gives a new coat at the libratry, bringing children into a library of the first time.
Your donation will go to Operation Warm, our partner since 2009. They provide us with brand-new, high-quality, warm winter coats for our children. Operation Warm is a GuideStar Platinum-rated nonprofit and has helped over 2 million children since 1998.
The video below was sent to us last winter as a gesture of THANKS from Holy Family Ministries.
How many children can you help keep warm this winter?
Our Rotary Club's Charitable Foundation is now accepting tax deductible donations for our Hurricane Relief Fund. Donations may be made by credit card here:
Our Foundation's Board will take direction from Rotary Leaders regarding where to direct our funds. Here is a letter received from our represntative on Rotary International's Board of Directors Robb Knuepfer:
Dear District and Zone Leaders:
As you have been reading in the news, severe rainfall has caused historic flooding along the Texas coast, including in Houston, the fourth largest city by population in the United States. Deluged towns in the region are in desperate need of aid as thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes. About 6.8 million people have been affected by the hurricane, which made landfall on 25 August.
Late last week, Presidential Aide Don Mebus and Past RI Director Greg Podd hosted a strategy conference call with governors from Districts 5930, 5840, 5890, 5910 and 6200 in Texas and Louisiana to develop a cohesive response.
A Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund (DAF) has been established by Greg Podd and President-Elect Barry Rassin through The Rotary Foundation to collect relief contributions. Don and Greg are working with leaders from the affected districts to create a process for disbursing DAF funds to their respective district foundations or local 501c3 organizations to support local relief efforts.
Updated information about contributing to the Gulf Coast DAF is available on the Rotary website. This page will continue to be updated as needed. Contribution information is also attached to this email.
ShelterBox, Rotary’s partner for disaster relief, is providing tents for use as ‘privacy tents’ to be pitched within the convention centers housing families that have been evacuated.
Please circulate the news about Rotary’s relief efforts to Rotarians in your district. Please direct inquiring Rotarians to the web story on Rotary.org for the most up-to-date information or to contact RI by writing to relief@rotary.org.
