The meeting was called to order by Chair Norton at 12:15 PM. There were 17 members present. Greg Nelson gave the thought of the day which was a quote from Harry Truman that “you can accomplish lots in life if you don’t care who gets credit for it.”
Connie Berman was celebrating her birthday and 19 years as a Rotarian and Pat O’Day, one of our honorary Club members, joined our Club 42 years ago.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Barb reported that the Winnetka Music Fest is going to be changed somewhat this year. It is being called “Emerge Winnetka” and will be held one day only, September 11, at Skokie Play Field. It will be honoring not-for-profit organizations by contributing to them $5 for every ticket purchased. The WCH and the Volunteer Center are among the participating organizations. Scott Myers and Val Haler are heading up the program and more information is available on the “Emerge Winnetka” website.
SPEAKER—DONNA LEE GULLEY from Shelter Box Program: Donna has been one of the leaders of the Shelter Box program (herein referred to as SB) which is celebrating its 20th birthday. It has partnered with Rotary since 2012 and is now an independent operation which has served over 2 million victims worldwide. It provides disaster victims with “shelter boxes” containing essentials such as food, clothing, tents, tools, etc. so that these victims can create their own “homes.” The program has been very active during the current pandemic. These disasters can be caused by both physical and political conditions.
Other points made by Donna were: Burma and Syria are two areas where these boxes have been used extensively; vocalist-musician Susan Werner sings a very appropriate song about “providing a roof over my head and helping others get a roof over their’s with dignity and hope”; in providing assistance the SB staff talks with families about their needs, helps families rebuild after the disaster and learns new techniques from each disaster; victims are helped to build homes for their families and to return to their work, with their homes often doubling as a place to live and work; during the last year SB has been active in 100 countries involving 300 disasters and close to 2 million victims; there are currently about 88 million people worldwide displaced from their homes due to disasters with the two biggest problems being getting them adequate fresh water and cleaning supplies (especially soap).
Donna then thanked our Rotary Club and District for “helping so many disaster victims whom we have never met”. Our District 6440 is among the top 20 Rotary Club supporting the SB programs. In answer to questions, Donna mentioned that the shelter boxes are protected with maximum security in these foreign countries by SB and the countries themselves—she mentioned that the Scouts (both Boy and Girl Scouts) play a big role in providing security for the boxes; that donations to SB should be done through our local Club or District and that her name should be mentioned to make sure our District is credited with the donation; that her background is in high school counseling work where she learned how to diagnose and solve problems and needs of others; that SB’s iconic green plastic boxes are also used by victims as bathtubs, libraries and storage lockers; that SB has affiliations with 19 countries and ships lots of supplies out of Panama to these foreign countries. Donna was thanked by Chuck and others for her very informative presentation.
RETURN TO REGULAR MEETING: Robert handled the “dig n grin” by summarizing all the events involved in the Club’s upcoming virtual benefit June 4th which includes several raffles and auctions. He said that before the benefit starts at 6:30 on Friday, members should make sure they have registered to attend and declare which raffle they want to participate in (Sports, Wine, Restaurants or Outdoor Activity Equipment). He ended his presentation by playing a video of Louis Armstrong playing “Hellsapoppin”.
Chuck then announced that the amended Club Bylaws have been presented to all members for their review, with special thanks to the efforts of John Thomas helping with the review. Upon motion duly made and seconded, the amended bylaws were unanimously approved by all members in attendance. Chuck then congratulated our new Club co-presidents, Bill Leske and Greg Nelson, who will be taking over his job June 30th and wished them well for the coming year. He then lead in reciting Rotary’s 4 Way Test and adjourned the meeting at 1:15.
