Co-President Rich Lalley opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Bob Baker shared a thought for the day, and Rich led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
After lunch, our Greeter, David Grant, introduced two visiting Rotarians – Mary Bak (Past District Governor) and Jeffrey Allen, President-Elect of the Barrington Club.
Rich shared that Fred Schwimmer fell recently and broke his arm; he is currently in a rehab facility and would welcome phone calls from fellow Rotarians.
Announcements:
The induction of our incoming President, Ken Drummet, will be June 26 at our regular lunch meeting.
Please buy tickets (click here) and invite friends and family to our Trivia Night Fundraiser. It will be held July 17 at 6pm at the Valley Lo Club in Glenview. We will have a buffet dinner, trivia, raffle items, and a 50/50 raffle. The proceeds support our Community Grants Fund. Everyone is asked to bring a bottle of wine to an upcoming lunch meeting to contribute to the raffle.
It is one month from the end of the Rotary year and Rich asks that every member contribute to the Rotary Foundation every year. If you have not yet done so, you can click here, select Annual Fund – SHARE, and complete the donation process.
Robert Mardirossian also reminded people to give to the PolioPlus fund each year. You can do that here by selecting the PolioPlus box and continuing through the donation process.
Patti Van Cleave reminded everyone that on June 3 at 6pm, we are meeting at St. Joseph Church in Wilmette to pack lunches for the homeless. Bob Baker and Patti Van Cleave are shopping in advance, and we could use more people to pack lunches. This is an ongoing project, the first Tuesday of every month.
David Grant pointed out that July 3 is a Thursday this year; the Club agreed not to meet that day.
Thomas Applegate shared that our Club now has a page on LinkedIn and asks current members who use LinkedIn to follow that page.
Both bike racks – at the Northfield Park District and Winnetka Park District – have been installed. Debra Campbell is working on a press release and a photo op.
Ken Drummet shared a few quips about college in honor of his granddaughter’s graduation for Dig-N-Grin. Happy bucks were shared by Robert Mardirossian, Mary Bak, and Moha Bouacha.
Rich re-introduced Mary Bak and Jeffrey Allen, our speakers, who shared information about the Rotary Friendship Exchange program. They have presented to several local Rotary Clubs recently to share their experience in India, where they visited January 9-23, 2025. Friendship Exchanges are cultural exchanges and usually also involve a service element.
Mary and Jeffrey shared several fascinating and heartwarming anecdotes and photographs from their trip. They were able to visit charities, hospitals, cultural landmarks, a textile factory, and various social events – and shared in incredible local food along the way. They found the cultural immersion experience to be extremely meaningful. If you’d like to revisit their slide deck, you can do so here. Our District has administered several Friendship Exchanges in recent years and has many resources available on the District website.
The meeting adjourned with our usual recitation of the 4-Way Test.
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.
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.
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