Angela Moy is Cultural Event Coordinator at Mid-USA Falun Dafa Association (NFP).  Angela grew up in Guangzhou, China and worked for Procter & Gamble in China for several years before immigrating to the U.S. in mid-1990s.  She later earned a bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Although living in the U.S. for the last 20 years, Angela's interests for traditional Chinese culture grew stronger and has been passionate about educating American people on authentic Chinese culture.  As a Cultural Event Coordinator, she has given presentations on traditional Chinese dance and music throughout the Chicagoland area in various organizations including public libraries, rotary clubs, senior centers and schools since 2012.  She will be presenting to the members of the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club about Chinese music on September 17.  The presentation will cover the follow topics:

1) The origin of Chinese music 

2) The healing power of music 

3) Introduction of traditional Chinese instruments 

4) East meets West 

- See more at: http://wnrotary.org/Speakers#sthash.5La64lop.dpuf

 

We had 36 members in attendance at this week’s meeting.  Chuck Young had two guests, Deb Guy of Glencoe and Vicky Young of Winnetka, both representing the Winnetka Women’s Exchange.  Joe Fell brought Albie Minns, a friend and a retired English barrister.  Rhonda Miller from One Communications was David Grant’s guest.  Steve Saunders, Winnetka village engineer, was in attendance representing the Village.  It was also good to see Louise Holland who was able to attend this week.  

 

President John Thomas presented Bernie Michna with his 7th Paul Harris pin.  Way to go Bernie!

 

Robert Mardirossian gave a paid announcement for the upcoming benefit being held by Family Service of Winnetka-Northfield.  The event will be held on Friday, September 18th at Clarkson Park in Northfield.  It will be a wine and craft beer tasting event.  There will be many great items to bid on to help this local agency.

 

Birthdays celebrated this week included Todd Stephens, Wes Baumann and Elizabeth Taylor.  

 

Happy Buck$ this week came from Mark Kotz, Heather Higgins and Joe Fell.  Mark announced that he is being transferred out of the Winnetka Branch of First Bank & Trust and will be going to the Evanston Branch.  The good news is that former member Bill Leske will be assuming Mark’s position at FB&T, so we hope to get Bill back into our club.  The club will be sad to see Mark leave.

 

The speaker for the day was Karen Kaplan, the author of a memoir, Descendants of Rajgord: Learning to Forgive.  He father was a Holocaust survivor who, while hiding in his home, witnessed the murder of his mother and sisters by the Nazis and was permanently psychologically scared by the event.  He escaped into the woods and survived in the forests until the end of the war.  He finally managed to get to the U.S. in 1951.  He was filled with rage and revenge.  Karen reported that her father was very abusive to his family – physically, psychologically and even sexually towards his wife.  Karen did what she could to avoid him.  

As a single and unhappy mother, Karen realized that some of her father’s rage was consuming her.  In the ensuing years she struggles with the idea of forgiving her father.  However, it was customary among Orthodox Jews that the person who wronged another person had to ask for forgiveness.  Thus there was no need to forgive a person unless they had asked, and her father had never approached that point.

 

After spending some time in therapy and keeping a journal she realized that she has inherited her father’s ‘survivor mentality.’  Karen finally decided to forgive her father on his deathbed.  Karen also related that she suffered a home invasion in Deerfield by three armed men.  Her daughter, in her own bedroom and hearing her mother’s screams, dialed 911.   When the armed robbers discovered what she had done they immediately took off without harming her family.  Though the police arrived very quickly the bad guys were never apprehended.  Karen realized that justice would not bring peace.  She concluded by stating that children of the Holocaust have more issues to deal with than other Jews.  She is willing to forgive, but she cannot forget the experiences.

Again this year, we ill be bringing the happiness and warmth of new Operation Warm winter coats to children living in need in the Chicago metro area. In 2014, our club provided new coats to over 600 children.  This year, our plans are to provide coats to children served by several local organizations:

When children have a new coat, their self-esteem gets a boost and they are empowered to attend school and partake in outdoor play on cold winter days.  This simple and inexpensive gift does so much for a child.

 

Only through the generosity of our members and their network can we accomplish our goal for providing new coats to 700 or more area children.  Please donate generously; each $20 gift allows another child to receive the gift of warmth.