Rotary Bulletin April 10 (Apr. 02, 2025)

Meeting Notes April 3

Posted by David Grant

Co-President Moha chaired the meeting. He encourages us to sign up to participate in the Wilmette Rotary Hope Walk scheduled for Saturday, May 3. Details are in the story below with a link to register!

Community Service Project: Barb reported on a very successful evening service project with the Wilmette Club which was held on Tuesday, April 1 at St. Joseph’s Church in Wilmette, which is the site of their Club’s monthly service project of preparing lunch bags for Connections for the Homeless. Barb and her committee helped pack 160 lunches, which will be distributed by Connections for the Homeless.

Speaker: Darrin Utynek is the new Executive Director at Paws for Patrick, which is a Winnetka social service agency operating in all 50 states. Paws for Patrick uses Emotional Support Dogs to help alleviate the burden on individuals seeking to acquire an Emotional Support Animal to aid them with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health diagnoses.

Wilmette Rotary Hope Walk

The Wilmette Rotary is hosting Hope Walk for the Homeless on Saturday, May 3 at Gillson Park. Rotary members from the Wilmette, Winnetka-Northfield, Evanston Lighthouse and Skokie Valley Rotary clubs, friends, and neighbors will gather for a Fun 5k Walk. It will start at 10am in the Wallace Bowl area of the Park. All proceeds will go to organizations that provide services to the homeless in Evanston, Chicago, and the local area (e.g. Connections for the Homeless, La Casa Norte, Fraternite Notre Dame, Interfaith Action of Evanston and others). Registration fee is $30 per person, $50 for a couple, $100 for a Family, and $25 for Students. Leashed dogs are welcome!

REGISTER HERE for the Hope Walk -- tell your friends and neighbors -- this is an easy way to make a difference in your community.

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

April 10

Greeter	Thomas Applegate
Thought & Sgt.	Michael Ambrose
Dig-n-Grin	Barb Tubekis
Scribe	Patti Van Cleave

April 17

Greeter	Wes Baumann
Thought & Sgt.	David Birkenstein
Dig-n-Grin	Terry Dason
Scribe	Amy Skalinder

April 24

Greeter	Debra Campbell
Thought & Sgt.	Ken Drummet
Dig-n-Grin	Robert Mardirossian
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:

3/3/25 - Youth Services of Glenview/Northbrook

4/7/25 - John Kilner, PhD will speak on peace of mind by creating Advance Directives. "Access to Medical Decision Making"

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"

Apr 10, 2025

Beth Gunzel, Development Officer

World Bicycle Relief

Beth represents an international development organization dedicated to providing bicycles to individuals in rural communities, opening up access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. Their work reaches some of the world’s most underserved regions in the world--aligning directly with Rotary’s commitment to serve the global community and create lasting, positive change.

Apr 17, 2025

Bill Hayes

Energy: what is new and what Winnetka and other communities are doing.

Apr 24, 2025

Patti Van Cleave & Bob Baker, Co-chairs

WNRCF Community Grants Award Ceremony

May 01, 2025

David Kerpel, Founder

Furever Home Dog Sanctuary

May 08, 2025

Sheila Weinburg, Founder

Truth in Accounting