The meeting was chaired by President Bob Baker. There were 18 members present along with the 3 guest speakers. Bob handled the “thought for the day” by referring to a quote given at a 1956 Rotary Convention about the importance of Rotarians using their minds, hearts and spirit in performing their duties as Rotarians.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

HAPPY BUCKS:   Barb and Patti reported on their role in recently hosting a Rotarian from the United Kingdom.  Barb mentioned that her visitor from the UK had been here all week. He is Director of a Volunteer Center in England.

Barb and Patti hosted a newly-formed group of volunteers at Little Honeycomb last Wednesday. The purpose of this group will be to do service projects in our communities, in the name of our Club. The intent is to raise awareness of Rotary in our Centennial year and to enhance our motto of Service Above Self. This is not initially intended to be a Satellite Club, but may evolve into one.

DIG N GRIN: Bill Leske handled this part of the program by giving us dates on which special world events occurred.

BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: Amy’s birthday was July 10 and Mary Lou Bilder-

Gold’s was July 14; Julie Tye celebrated 7 years and Patti 16 years as Rotarians.

GUEST SPEAKERS:  We are privileged to have three outstanding members from the Gleview Sunrise Rotary Club speak to us today.  Their home club meets weekly at 7:00am to do good things for Rotary.

MARCIA CEBULA started by explaining some of the projects undertaken by the Sunrise Club such as attending a Rotary International Convention on “peace and mental illness”.  Other topics covered there were eradicating diseases in addition to polio, providing needy communities with low cost medicine, clean drinking water,  quality medical care and education to the children.  Marcia also reported on the service trip that 10 members of  the Glenview “Sunrise” group took last February to Uganda with some other Rotary Clubs participating. Their main project was to help repair and construct a local school  attended by preschool to 7th  graders and to buy needed school supplies and sports/recreational equipment since the local government there only pays the salaries of the teachers but does not pay for any other expenses of operation.   Marcia also summarizied what Rotary is doing in Uganda to improve the health of expectant mothers and newborns.

DEE SANTUCCI  then explained her experience on this Uganda trip which included a safari in a

National Park where they were introduced to gorillas of all ages and sizes, but all were very

friendly as long as they had green trees/bushes to consume!  She also attended several days on

their school project as well as attending a local Rotary meeting (where the attendees seemed to

be more serious than their American counterparts!)

CECILIA HAGIST    (a Northfield resident and local school teacher who grew up in Mexico City and whose grandfather was a longtime Rotarian there)  then talked about the importance of engaging our “youth” in Rotarian activities and how much her 16 year old daughter, Anna, benefited so much by going on the Uganda trip described above. She also mentioned that the Interact program at New Trier High School was discontinued when the assigned New Trier teacher/advisor retired and has not been replaced.  She suggested that our Club may want to review and take action to reinstate this program at New Trier.  She then explained what she and her daughter, Anna, are ​doing to try to establish an Interact program at the Skokie Jr. High School in Northfield.  Through the efforts of the Hagist family and the Sunrise Glenview Club there may be many of the 40-50 students in the7th and 8th  grades at this Junior High School who would be interested in this extracurricular school activity if there is a teacher who is willing to serve as the advisor, which Cecilia is working on. Rotary requires a minimum of  5 members to start the Interact program.

   After a short Q and A period, the meeting ended around 1:30 with the recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.

 

 

 

 

Our Rotary speaker on Thursday June 29, 2023 was Terry Dason.  Below is a summary of her remarks:

Good afternoon –

Here are the happenings within the villages represented by the Winnetka-Northfield-Glencoe Chamber of Commerce

Beginning with Winnetka –

On Thursday, June 29, the WNG Chamber held a ribbon cutting for H. Marion Home at 896 Green Bay Road in Hubbard Woods. The shop recently moved to Winnetka from their previous location in Edens Plaza due to the Wayfair Store build out that consumed their previous space. 

WayFair is in Wilmette in Edens Plaza but will be a new addition to all of us on the North Shore. I am sure you have all seen the major construction site.  WayFair has been an online home store for furniture, décor, outdoors and more.  The new brick and mortar building will have 150,000 square feet and is now planning to open in Spring of 2024.

The store plans to feature “interactive experiences spanning 19 different departments, ranging from furniture and décor, to outdoor, home improvement and more.  This store will be featuring their first restaurant.

Back to Winnetka –

Fons Empanadas and Aciai Bowls has opened at 552 Lincoln Avenue in the East Elm portion of the business district.  I have heard excellent reports about their food.

There are plans to open a Vietnamese restaurant in the space previously used by Kaleidoscope Flowers on Lincoln Avenue.

Brittany’s Butters – a new bakery has changed their name and business model to be known as a bakery.  The new name is Lincoln Avenue Bakery, located at 544 Lincoln Avenue.

Hometown has opened their third coffee and juice shop location in Lake Forest. 

The previously called One Winnetka space is in process.  It will be a planned apartment mix consisting of three options: one bedroom plus den, two bedroom and two bedrooms plus den.  Nineteen units are planned for the second level, 21 for the third and 19 for the fourth.  Retail mix on the ground floor.

Café Fleurette – French Bakery in the Winnetka train station location has been purchased by a local resident, John McGrath.  He will be opening the shop sometime this fall.  He is currently a fixture at the Winnetka Farmers Market on Saturdays.  Get to the market early because he is generally sold out by 10:30 am.

EverEve opened in the old Kahler Location on Chestnut Street in the West Elm Business District approximately 2 weeks ago.  EverEve is a fashion and styling company that delivers joy one outfit at a time.  They offer modern and versatile clothing with just the right amount of edge.  They have 13 stores in Illinois. 

Chase Bank is planning to tear down their building and build a new bank.  In the meantime they will be renovating the building next to their drive through on Spruce where they will move their current staff into while the new bank is being built.

As a result, Compass and Archambault & Associates have had to move out of the building and find other space.  Compass is in the process of requesting a special use to move into the previous space used by Coldwell Banker Real Estate on Lincoln Avenue.

The music festival was a huge success in Winnetka this year.

Glencoe – Honey Butter Chicken will be opening a restaurant on Vernon in the heart of the business district. 

 

The Community House is collecting non-perishable foods and household goods for the New Trier Township Food Pantry. Club members and visitors to the Community House are encouraged to bring items on Thursday or whenever you are visiting the Community House. A large bin for drop offs is located at the front desk. Club members are asked to monitor the bin and take items to the Food Pantry when full. 

This new service project collaboration will be ongoing, with a new recipient identified quarterly.