The meeting was online via Zoom and had 23 members participating. The “thought of the day” was given by Brooke Peppey who defined “good friends” and the benefits of people being “low key”.

 

ANNIVERSARIES: Rich Lalley is celebrating Club membership for 16 years and David Birkenstein for 11 years.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  Rich mentioned that our Club was recognized by District 6440 for being the second largest contributor to the Rotary International Fund and that special thanks should be given to Brooke and  past President Marie for all the work they have done in leading our gift giving programs.  Rich did mention that our Club was helped in gift giving last year with a sizable donation to the Rotary Disaster Fund  when the Caribbean hurricane occurred, an amount which was matched by the International Rotary.

 

Barb Tubekis reported on our Gift Basket program on Thanksgiving in connection with Good News Partners.  On Monday, Nov. 23 at 4:00, she, Amy Skalinder, Bob Baker, David Grant and any other volunteers will shop at Costco for basic food items to fill 100 paper bags to donate to Good News Partners who has arranged for many local families to receive on Thanksgiving.  Rich said that we need to raise about $2000 to pay for this food, at which time Patti and Robert Mardirossian each donated $100 to the cause.  The purchased food will be brought to room 101 at the WCH on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at noon for our members to pack in the 100 or so bags and loaded into the volunteers’ cars (social distancing and masking guidelines will be followed). Unlike in the past when we took these bags to Skokie School before Thanksgiving, our volunteer drivers will leave the bags in their cars and then take them directly to Good News Partners Thanksgiving morning.  (Speaking of bags, Bob Sanfilippo said that his business is accepting slightly used grocery bags  in case you don’t want to put them in your garbage bins.)

 

Rich reported that the Operation Warm Project just distributed 250 coats to needy students in the Highwood area.  (Rich will supply the other part of his report on this Project.)

 

HAPPY BUCKS: Fred Schwimmer reported that he recently had a great  experience that he hopes all grandparents are able to enjoy;  that was, to spend time with his 10 year old twin grandchildren (a boy and a girl) watching the election returns—thus, he contributed to our Good New Partners project.  David Birkenstein reported on a similar great experience helping his wife Mary celebrate her special birthday with many phone calls, videos etc. from friends and relatives.

 

DIG N GRIN: Bob Sanfilippo was so amused by a recent SNL skit honoring two celebrities who recently died, Alex Trebek and Sean Connery, that he somehow was able to hook it up on Zoom for everyone to enjoy.

 

WINNETKA/NORTHFIELD ROTARY TOWNHALL MEETING!—John announced that the scheduled speaker had some scheduling problems and was unable to speak to us on the topic of the use of Social media in  business consulting.  Rather than adjourning the meeting early, President Chuck asked the attendees “do you have anything you want to talk about?”  When have you seen a group of Rotarians not willing to talk! So we spent the remaining 45 minutes talking about possible discussion topics for our future meetings.  Mentioned were—the current and future economic condition of Chicago and Illinois and the “good, bad ugly” that will result from the rejection of the “fair tax” amendment;  the growing expansion of Illinois municipalities approving legalized pot dispensaries and their good and bad experiences thus far; how should families handle the Covid virus restrictions this Thanksgiving and  the pros and cons of the shutdowns experienced and proposed by the politicians;  an explanation of the metrics and models used to measure Covid’s progress in the State and Nation; what will Club members do for entertainment and activities  when it gets cold outside (at which point John mentioned that at our next meeting we will have the new Winnetka Library Director as our speaker to discuss good books, TV and movies—and then Rich mentioned that the Club’s informal Monday evening cocktail group also discusses these topics); should we be contacting Club members who are not participating in our Zoom meetings—(Robert reported that he had been calling many members as part of his Membership initiative and that only a couple of members have said that they are uncomfortable with using Zoom, but generally Zoom has been very beneficial to the Club during this year.) John Thomas is always open to discuss potential topics and speakers with anyone at any time. He reported that he does have speakers lined up for the rest of the year.  We won’t have a meeting on Thanksgiving.  And it was decided that there will be no meeting on December 24^th but there was no discussion about NYE falling on a Thursday.

 

There being no more discussion, President Chuck gave the 4 way test and the meeting was adjourned.

 

Continuing our club's long standing Thanksgiving tradition, we will once again partner with the Volunteer Center to provide post-holiday groceries for families in transitional housing who are served by Good News Partners in Chicago's North of Howard neighborhood. We will purchase groceries in bulk at Costco on November 23, so please donate by November 22.

 

Your gifts provide post-holiday groceries to these families in need. Donate by credit card or bank transfer here, or mail a check made payable to WNRCF to Rotary Club of Winnetka Northfield, 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka, IL 60093. If you mail a check, please email Rich Lalley with your pledged amount so your contribution will be included when we co our shopping.  

 

We hope to provide over 100 bags of groceries, and have a fundraising goal of $2,000. This will be easy if everyone contributes. 

 

The Winnetka Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation annually provides monetary grants to organizations that further Rotary’s mission to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace.

 

Applications are accepted each year from October 15th until December 25th. Grant awards are announced in March by our board. Grants range in size from $500 to $5,000, averaging between $1,000 and $2,000. Recipients are eligible for only two awards within a three year period. 

 

Areas of Focus: Our board is open to reviewing grant applications from any 501(c)(3) organization that has a club member sponsor. Preference will be given to organizations that meet one or more of the following criteria:

·       Support people living in need in Chicagoland

·       Have operating budgets under $1 million

·       Request funding for programs, not general operating expenses

 

While these areas of focus will guide the board’s decision making, the board may award grants to organizations that meet none of this criteria but have a strong club sponsor and compelling case for support.

 

Our grant application can be found here. 

 

Over the last two years, our community's generosity made it possible for over 2,300 children living in need to receive a new winter coat from our club. Member contributions and our Operation Warm Benefit Concert gave Chicago area children brand new coats. Here is a list of the organizations that received these coats, because of you.

The public health crisis prevents us from holding a live benefit concert this year. It also has resulted in the COVID recession and more families in need.  Our program matters now more than ever.

 

We're asking members and friends of the club to make tax-deductible donations to support our club’s Operation Warm program. We’ve already committed to sponsoring one Chicago library program this year, and hope to support two. And the nonprofits listed above rely on our support for the children they serve.

 

Make your contribution now at www.operationwarm.org/wnrotary. Checks should be made payable to WNRCF and mailed to Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka, IL 60093.