Rotary Meeting Scribe Notes – Thursday, April 30, 2026
President Ken Drummet opened the meeting at 12:17pm and welcomed everyone. Chuck Norton shared humorous thoughts for the day. Ken introduced a special guest Mariana Alfar, District Governor Nominee, and member of the Rotary Club of Wilmette.She recounted the story of her vision in starting the walk and encouraged all to join in. Bob Baker shared inspirational quotes from Ho Chi Minh on the eve of May Day.
Announcements included:
Thomas Applegate offered a reminder that the gala for Counseling Center of the North Shore is Saturday, May 16th at Michigan Shores Club and ticket sales end Tuesday May 5th. Also, CCNS is ordering the AED funded by the club along with an acknowledgement sign thanking the club.
Rives Collins sang a song to remind us to sign up for the 5K Hope Walk on May 9th at 10:00am in Gillson Park to fund support for the unhoused by our club, Wilmette, Evanston Lighthouse and Skokie Valley. $40 individual, $100 family of 4, $20 18 and under. Hope Walk signup link: [https://pci.jotform.com/form/260597117044053]
President-Elect Debra Campbell shared that she went to Rotary HQ to welcome cyclist and Rotarian Felipe Meza as he completed his cross-country bike ride in support of Rotary’s campaign to eradicate polio.
Sean Nelson gave an impassioned update on RYLA / Rotary Youth Leadership Awards in our District 6440. For 23 years, Sean has organized the weekend conference for 300-400 youth leaders, and RYLA in our area focuses on high school students. Our club sends students to RYLA and in some years funds other RYLA participants. Sean’s central strategy for amazing outcomes is to “listen to the students” and bring back the best speakers and volunteers based on those surveys. The best means of getting into a high school that is not participating like New Trier is to find a teacher to champion the first participants, and then the returning students will carry it forward. Sean encouraged us to volunteer at RYLA and invite RYLA participants to speak at our club. RYLA’s fundraiser, Tee It Up For Teens Golf Tournament, is coming up Friday, May 29th RSVP: https://rotary6440.org/events/tee-it-up-for-teens-golf-tournament-may-29-2026/
Our Club’s charitable foundation, the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation, recently completed our annual Community Grants process. We are pleased to report that this year with a budget of $18,000, we awarded 12 grants to local non-profit organizations that serve our community. Links to these those organizations are:
312 626 6799; Meeting ID: 198 435 237; Password: 798428 (note, if asked for User ID, press #).
Reminder- you can give happy bucks, dig n grin, birthday donations and other donations to our foundation at https://wnrotary.org/page/donate/ or by texting DIGNGRIN to 44-321.
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.
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 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.
Gillson Park
