Hank Pietraszek isa visiting Rotarian from Naples, Florida. His talk is titledCrossing the Lineand is about alcohol addiction and recovery. Hank has told this fascinating story to many Rotary clubs in Florida and Illinois
Our new president, Chuck Norton commenced the meeting at 12:18 welcoming 8 year old Leslie Birkenstein as our special guest for the day.
Announcements:
Rich Lalley: (a) Dues notices are going out today
(b) Contributions to Operation Warm thru July 7 are being matched up to $1,000.
(c) Rich announced that WNRC Foundation reached 99.95% of its goal for the year ending 6.30.2020!
Robert Mardirossian told of the death of long time Rotarian Alan Ramsey.
Marie Kuipers welcomed Chuck Norton as our new president and thanked everyone in
the club for a wonderful year.
Birthdays and Anniversaries: Julie Tye has been a Rotarian for 4 years
Happy Bucks: John Thomas received a great report from his doctor. He is getting younger every day.
Thought of the Day: David Birkenstein gave us a timely quote from Winston Churchill.
Dig and Grin: Laura Cunningham treated us to a Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson
discussion.
Bio of the Day: Tony Kambich was featured. Tony’s father came to America from Slovenia at age 13 and worked in the steel mills (when he found out the streets were not paved in gold) for the next 50 years. Tony grew up in Joliet attending Joliet HS. At age 16, he had a try-out with the Cleveland Indians baseball team, but his father told him he was going to college. Being the good son, Tony attended Northern Illinois University where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Phys.Ed. and met his wife, an NIU cheerleader. After college, the Army called Tony where he became a paratrooper, a ranger and later earned his Class A Uniform (the forerunner to the Green Berets). After the Army, Tony became a teacher and coach at Deerfield HS for 6 years and then the leader of the Deerfield Park District. At the Park District, Tony was one of the founders of the North Suburban Special Recreation Association helping our special needs families enjoy the benefits of sports. Tony continued with a few more Park Districts before starting his own real estate development company. Along the way, he helped to found 3 Montessori Schools and be a member of Rotary for 51 years. At Rotary, he became involved with the International Division and helped found, among other endeavors, Rotary’s Micro-Lending in Africa program. Along the way, Tony met Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, Bruce Rauner and Daniel Walker, among many others.
Speaker for the day: was Mike Zanillo of the Illinois Citizens Climate Lobby (ICCL). The ICCL seeks to address the Climate Change problems on a Bi-Partisan basis. The earth has experienced climate change before. That is not new. What is new is the pace of the change. It is happening much quicker and the environment cannot adapt quick enough. There are three ways to realistically address the problem: (1) More new Regulations; (2) a cap and trade system and (3) a carbon use tax. The ICCL believes that Regulation will be confusing, inefficient and prone to partisan politics. While the cap and trade system would work, it will not work fast enough. The best system is to price the Fossil Fuel Carbon use at a higher cost level thru taxes and then pay those taxes back to the citizens. Such a system will be revenue neutral, will produce jobs and significantly reduce carbon use. It must be bi-partisan so it will not be constantly subject to political changes. It will allow the free markets to work. You can obtain more information at energyinnovationact.com.
The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield has met weekly at the Winnetka Community House since 1924. That streak ended in mid-March, when the club suspended its weekly lunch meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, this did not stop the club from continuing to meet and live up to its well-earned reputation as People of Action. Almost immediately, the club began to meet on Zoom every Thursday at its regular 12:15 time, and the club’s board and committees did so as well.
Over the club’s 96 years, it has undertaken many notable service projects. So, it is no surprise the club quickly responded to the needs of those affected by COVID-19. Supported by donations from members and friends of the club, and a grant from The Rotary Foundation, the club took the following actions:
Supported the local food pantry and provided financial assistance to families experiencing severe financial need through a $5,000 donation to the New Trier Township Angel Fund.
Helped provide infant formula to 50 Chicago area food pantries, shelters and social services through a $3,000 donation to Infant, Inc., a Winnetka based nonprofit.
Supported homeless families and children in foster care by providing weekly meals from Donna Goodman Events (the club’s regular caterer) to Good News Partners in Rogers Park and Lydia Home in Irving Park.
Provided 300 pairs of new children’s shoes from Operation Warm to homeless families served by La Casa Norte of Chicago.
“Rotarians are People of Action who live the long-time Rotary motto of ‘Service Above Self’, and our club fits that to a tee,” said Club President Marie Kuipers.
Chuck Norton, President Elect of the club, adds “We have a long history of humanitarian service- locally, in our region, and internationally. We are long term supporters of Rotary International’s work to eradicate polio, we have supported many international humanitarian projects in Africa, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia. Every year, we provide hundreds of Chicago area children with the gift of a new winter coat through our Operation Warm project, and for over ten years we have sponsored the large, all-day Kids Against Hunger food packing event at the Winnetka Community House. Our longstanding Community Grants program annually provides financial grants to nonprofits that are nominated by our members and are doing work that aligns with our values.”
Local citizens interested in learning more about the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield may join the club’s weekly lunch meetings on Thursday’s from 12:15 – 1:30. Each meeting features an interesting and topical speaker and opportunity to deepen friendships. Learn more at www.wnrotary.org.
Until meetings resume at the Winnetka Community House, email info@wnrotary.org to get the Zoom access link. Membership is open to anyone of good character who is interested in making new friends and taking action to create lasting change in the world.
Attendees: President Marie, President Elect Chuck Norton, Secretary/Treasurer Rich Lalley, David Birkenstein, Eric Birkenstein, Rik Boerjesson, Laura Cunningham, David Grant, Bill Leske, Brooke Peppey, Peter Skalski, John Thomas, Barb Tubekis, Patti Van Cleave
Prepared by: Rich Lalley
The meeting was called to order. As no minutes were prepared for the previous meeting, none were reviewed.
Financial reports for the club and WNRCF were reviewed.
As of June 3, the club has just under $4,000 in cash. Fiscal year to date, the club is running a $3,600 deficit, with about $5,200 in dues yet to be paid by members.
As of June 3, WNRCF has over $38,000 in bank accounts, with $5,600 in funds reserved as prior year restricted donations. Fiscal year to date, the foundation is running a $21,000 surplus. At year end (June 30), donations made for Kids Against Hunger, the Peru school supplies project, RYLA and our Community Grants Fund will be placed in to prior year restricted donation accounts.
Motions we made and passed to accept the Treasurer’s reports.
President Marie announced she has formed a “Social Justice” committee which will meet for the first time June 8. She invited any interested board members to participate.
President Elect Chuck made the following comments during his minute:
Several club members have committed to make donations to our Community Grants fund to help make up for the postponed spring benefit. However, to fully fund the program, we need all members to donate what they would have spent on benefit ticket(s), raffle tickets, etc.
The club needs a President Elect for the next Rotary year. Without someone assuming this position, the club’s future is in jeopardy.
A rousing THANK YOU was made to President “Queen” Marie for her outstanding leadership this past year. All members seconded the sentiment.
Committee Reports:
Membership: John Peterson will be the new Park District head. Patti knows John well and will reach out to confirm he should assume the Park District’s membership.
Programs: John Thomas will continue book a combination of outside speakers and bios to be presented via Zoom through July. John proposed having one or two bios each week we have a speaker in response to the positive reception the bios have gotten from the members. Also, we discussed possibly using video (e.g. Ted Talks on You Tube) to provide interesting speakers.
Foundation: Brooke is preparing files to turn over WNRCF leadership to David Grant on July 1.
District Grant: A committee has been appointed. Based on club survey input, the foundation will use the District Grant to make donations to the New Trier Township Angel Fund and Infant, Inc. A final recommendation on donation amounts after reviewing a detailed financial report of COVID-19 donations and club meal revenue. Rich Lalley will make those donations and submit the District Grant application before the June 15 deadline. A press release will also be issued.
Community Service/COVID Relief: We continue to distribute weekly meals from Donna Goodman to Good News Partners and Lydia Foster Home. We will continue this practice until in person meetings resume. We provided weekly meals from Stormy’s to North Shore Hospital ERs for six weeks, ending May 23. We will not be continuing that program in June. Also, David Birkenstein expressed an interest in exploring a plan to secure naming rights for a Winnetka Park. David will connect with the Park District and Rich will work to get a listing of District 6440 club who have named parks in their communities.
Communications/Bulletin: We will reinstate weekly assignments (Thought of the Day, Dig n Grin, scribe) and include these in the weekly bulletin. TO make scribing easier and promote briefer stories, a meeting notes template will be created. Also, meeting on Zoom will be reordered so those not attending can view them. Links will be included in the weekly bulletin.
International: Peru continues to be shut down, so the school supply program is on hold. The Ecuador grant application has been resubmitted to The Rotary Foundation.
One of the nice features of meeting virtually is that our meetings can be recorded. This of course depends on your meeting host (me) remembering to start the recording (sometimes I'm a bit late in starting it).
If you would like to attend our Rotary meetings being held on Zoom, and are not sure how to do this, I can help. Let me know by return email or give me a call and we can schedule a time for me to walk you through the process and you can join a test meeting. After you do this the first time, it be much easier to join future meetings.
Note, everyone can join a Zoom meeting. You can join via a computer, tablet, iPad or smartphone that has internet access, or you can join via a plain old fashion phone.
I am confident that with a one on one session, we can get you onto Zoom so that you can continue to be a part of our club during these uncertain and trying times.
Let me know if you would like assistance.
Rich Lalley Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield Club Secretary; WNRCF Treasurer 224-305-3684
Helped provide infant formula to 50 Chicago area food pantries, shelters and social services through a $3,000 donation to 
Provided 300 pairs of new children’s shoes from Operation Warm to homeless families served by 
