Home Page | Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield

WELCOME TO OUR CLUB! CELEBRATING 94 YEARS OF SERVICE. COME JOIN US CONNECTING FOR GOOD.

Service Above Self

We meet Thursdays at 12:15 PM
Winnetka Community House

620 Lincoln Avenue
Tyrrell Room (winter) 111A (summer)
Winnetka, IL 60093
United States of America

Email:

Meeting Recap for November 8

Posted by John Thomas

The meeting in the Winnetka Community House was opened at 12:16 by President Bill Leske. An interesting Thought for the Day came from Robert Mardirossian before the pledge of allegiance was led by Brooke Peppey. There were several visitors and 30 members present. Lunch was served at 12:24 and the meeting then started at 12:40.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: President Bill noted anniversary’s of 34 years for Michael Wurzburg, 30 years for Jeanne Beckman, 25 years for Lee Padgett, 14 years for Rich Lalley and 9 years for David Birkenstein. A variety of announcements included:

- Ned Meisner spoke to international projects he had recently seen in his

Ecuadorian journey. He offered the thought that without international

projects, Rotary might be but a “social club”.

. Barb Tubekis noted volunteers were needed for the Thanksgiving set-up and for several other Rotary forthcoming efforts.

- Tony Kambich noted there would be a Veteran’s Day program at 5:00 in the WCH.

- Christina Gikas said an Adults Comedy Hour fund raiser for the Winnetka Youth Organization will be at the Wine Box in Glencoe on Nov. 15 at 8-9:30 PM.

- Rich Lalley noted the NTHS Interact club sent a donation to Operation Warm.

- Patti Van Cleave reminded us another Scribe was still sought.

DIG AND GRIN- Felicia O’Malley provided three anecdotal bits of humor using a Thanksgiving theme. She was rewarded with semi-serious applause.

HAPPY BUCKS – Generous contributions were supplied by Messrs. Wes Baumann and Robert Mardirossian

SPEAKER – Our speaker was Member Rick Boerjesson whose topic was Chiropratic and how it relates to general health. He started with an outline of “Flight and Fight” vs. “Rest and Digest” or more simply stress vs. healing. He went on to describe various aspects of those two arenas and how Chiropratic aims to help an individual develop healthy habits. In a Q&A he noted Yoga is a solid complement to Chiropratic. He also noted that Chiropratic is still not well known in Sweden (his home country) although very well known and accepted in the U.S.

The meeting closed at 1:28 with a recitation of the Rotary 4-way pledge.

Meeting Recap for November 1

Posted by Keith Reed

There were 28 members present and the meeting was held at the Winnetka Park District office. Representing New Trier HS were Melissa Duffy and Steve Belford. Guests were Nancy Badger (Sam’s wife) and Jacob Derrig and Tiffany Dolby from the Charles Schwab office (David Birkenstein’s guests). Tom Nash handled both the “thought of the day” and the meeting’s “dig and grin” segments.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Tony was celebrating his birthday and provided a contribution for the occasion. Our server, Jill Joyce, was also celebrating her birthday. Ned Meisner reported on his visit to Pichincha, Ecuador to help with the Club’s project of expanding markets for organic farming in that area, including development of market strategies, transportation system, and an educational program for consumers on the benefits of organic products. Ned is trying to raise $138,000 to support the program and he is hoping Club members will learn more of the program and support it with donations. Ned reported that Rotary clubs in Ecuador are very active and he brought back a flag from one of the clubs for our collection of club flags.

Rich reported on the Operation Warm event scheduled later today at the Daley Library in Chicago which will involve passing out winter coats and new books to the children who use the library—this is one of the 12 libraries participating in this project and Rich encouraged all members to sign up for at least one of these library presentations. Rich also mentioned that the Club has finished its annual tax return thanks to the donation of expertise from Murray Krugman, a local accountant.

Members were reminded of the New Trier Swing Choir visit to our December 13^th meeting. Patti Van Cleave showed the “local pane markers” that are available for distribution to businesses to put in their windows or for members to put in their car windows. Tom Nash announced a free seminar sponsored by his bank on “how the new tax laws affect you” on November 13 from 9 to 10 AM at the Evanston Community Bank, 901 Grove St. in Evanston—reservations can be made at 847-920-3105 or email sross@wintrust.com. Connie Berman announced that her bank, CIBC, will be giving a seminar on November 13^th at 7:30 AM (including a light breakfast) at Michigan Shores Club on the topic of “cyber security”. Barb Tubekis announced that our Club will again be partnering with Good News Partners on our Thanksgiving project of packing food for needy families to be distributed the week following Thanksgiving—last year we provided 40 bags of food and we are now collecting money for Barb and her committee to buy the food that we will be packing around the holiday (more details to follow). Barb also reported that the “Make a Difference Day” held recently at the Indian Hill train station was a big success and she thanked the 6 Club members who helped her with that event.

HAPPY BUCKS: Wes Baumann donated for the 6 members who helped Barb with “Make a Difference Day”; Patti donated for the great job Donna and her husband Al did in serving food for the opening of the Winnetka Club’s new office located in the WCH; Ned donated due to a successful and safe trip to Ecuador; Felicia O’Malley donated in honor of the Club providing coats to children at the Chicago school where her daughter teaches; David Grant donated in honor of all the work Barb Tubekis does in the community, including the “Make a Difference” program; Barb donated in honor of the “Make a Difference” program giving away over 25,000 items to needy people, about a 25% increase over last year, and to thank the 6 Club members who helped her; and Keith recognized Jill Joyce (who also was celebrating a birthday) for her providing DJ music for all the 400 or so Northfield kids who traversed the Northfield Avon/Riverside Street route on Halloween.

SPEAKER JULIE PETERSON: Julie is a Northshore resident who is an Emmy award winning producer of videos that inspire, educate and touch the hearts of her viewers. She has worked in the TV/media field for several years including a stint with CNN when her family lived in Atlanta for a short time. She formed Audlank Media, named after her two children Audrey and Langston, which is a 501(c)3 not-for profit that produces and creates thoughtful videos that appear on TV and the Internet on such forums as YouTube. She uses a few professionals in making the videos, but she, herself, does most of the writing, producing, interviewing, camera work, etc. Julie feels that people in our communities should talk with one another more and she tries to shine a light on interesting people and issues that we all need to know more about, including many of the people who provide services every day in our communities without much recognition. Examples of these “feel good” and informative videos involve a local violin maker, a barista worker, Zengler Cleaners, Boris the shoe repair person in Kenilworth, Jeanne Nolan an organic gardener in Northbrook, interviews with Northwestern athletic personnel on how they are able to keep their successful coaches, a family experiencing their child’s opioid addiction, a NT senior class project building a Habitat Home and the family occupying same, and a presentation about the three women named Elizabeth who caused the town of Elizabeth, Illinois (on the way to the Galena Territory) to give it that name. Julie is working on a video depicting the marvelous career of local celeb Barb Rinella who has entertained worldwide with her acting renditions of famous books and characters.

A highlight of Julie’s presentation was the showing of her video featured on local TV and YouTube about her favorite “garbage collector”, Ron Turner. Briefly, she featured Ron who has been a collector for Winnetka for many years—he commutes 2 ½ hours to/from work every day but he is satisfied that he is providing a valuable service to the best of his ability and prides himself on doing many extra things for his customers (Club member Louise Holland was featured in the film conversing with Ron). When Julie started this project Ron mentioned that he had never been outside of Illinois and that if he could be granted one wish, he would like to visit Germany. The word got around about Ron’s relationship with and service to his Winnetka customers and Tony Perry and his wife (from Perry Construction in Wilmette) decided to raise enough money to give Ron his wish. Julie compares this story in her video to the old Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” when Jimmy Stewart’s friends all pitch in to save his bank. The video was shown on YouTube before Christmas last year and it truly is a “feel good” story that brought out the emotions of all the Rotarians at our meeting. Julie says if you have a story similar to any of the above themes, email her at julie@audlankmedia.com or write her at PO Box 368, Winnetka, Illinois 60093.

Meeting Recap for October 25

Posted by Patti Van Cleave

President Bill called the meeting to order at 12:15. After lunch, Greeter Wes Baumann announced the following visiting guests and Rotarians: Neal King, Visiting Rotarian from Skokie Valley Club; Jessie Butler, wife of our speaker Peter Butler, who noted that they share the same birth DAY, and that she is 6 hours older than her husband; Jeff Wahl, representing the Winnetka Community House.

No birthdays this week, and one anniversary: Randy Reeves, 6 years.

Announcements:

--In recognition of World Polio Day, several Rotarians collected at the train station on 10-24. Thanks to Bill Leske, Rich Lalley, Crystal LeRoy, Sam Badger and Anna Helfman.

--Our meeting on November 1 will not be at the Community House due to the A+M show. Watch your email and bulletin for location.

--Make A Difference Day is Saturday, October 27 from 9-12. Rotarians are needed to help to unload and organize donations.

--Operation Warm coat distribution events will be occurring at Chicago Public Libraries in the next 6 weeks. Signup sheets were available and Rich also sent out an email with a Signup Genius link.

--Note that our Holiday Luncheon is on December 13^th, featuring the New Trier Swing Choir as usual.

--Patti invited all to a ribbon cutting on the 25^th at 5:00 in the new office of The Winnetka Club, room 203 at the Community House.

--Ned asked all Rotarians to visit his Facebook page to see what he has been up to in Ecuador.

Happy Bucks:

Rich provided a Happy Buck in honor of his son Alex, who received his Doctorate in Psychology last weekend.

Dig N Grin:

Fred filled in for Gerry Keenan with a humorous story.

Speaker: Peter Butler, Winnetka resident spoke on How Could the Mid-term Elections Impact Healthcare?

Mr. Butler is a nationally recognized health care executive with almost 40 years of experience in teaching hospitals and health care systems. In addition to being immediate past president of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Butler is currently professor and chairman of the Department of Health Systems Management at Rush University, which is home to the masters program in health care administration ranked 5th in the country by U.S. News and World Report. Before to joining Rush in 2002, Mr. Butler served as president and chief executive officer of the Methodist Hospital System (now Houston Methodist) in Houston, Texas, and as senior vice president and chief administrative officer of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Discussion was around the issues with healthcare: expense, lack of choice in networks, lack of coverage of pre-existing conditions, finding effective insurance that provides enough coverage.

18 states have sued to repeal Obamacare, but it is not clear as of yet what would replace it. In Obamacare, the biggest increase in coverage was placing more people on Medicaid: 18 million more people are now insured. Many states have adopted work requirements to be eligible for Medicaid; if you’re healthy, you have to have a job to qualify.

While turnout will be a determining factor, if the House is controlled by the Democrats after the election, there will be little forward progress as the focus will be on the 2020 election.

Democrats urge “Medicare for all”, while Peter believes that should be termed “insurance for all”, not necessarily Medicare, as the Republicans may term this as “socialized medicine”.

At the end of the meeting, Heidi’s ticket won the raffle and she pulled the King of Hearts.

The meeting ended at 1:30 with the Four-Way Test.

Volunteers Needed to Give New Operation Warm Coats and Books to Children

Posted by Richard (Rich) Lalley on Oct 16, 2018

Join us to provide a “Warm Welcome to the Library” to disadvantaged Chicago children.

Thanks to support from the Rotary Clubs of Winnetka-Northfield, Wilmette Harbor and Wilmette, IATSE Locals 2, 110, 476 and 769 and the Chicago Community Trust, over 2,000 children will receive a new winter coat, 2 new books, and an introduction to their neighborhood library branch.

Events will take place at 12 Chicago Public Library branches, beginning November 1 and running through December 15. We need volunteers to help set up the giving rooms, help children pick out their coat and books, and clean up after the event. Most importantly, volunteers will show these children and their families that we care about them, giving them hope and confidence.

Contact Rich Lalley with any questions. We look forward to seeing you at the library!

Charitable Foundation Grants Guidelines

Posted by Brooke Peppey

The Club Foundation Board has approved new guidelines to apply for grants, and a new 'Grant Request Form' which can be found on our Club Website at https://wnrotary.org Hint: Look in the lower left hand column under the heading 'Download Files' or find the 'Grant Request Form' by link here:

http://portal.clubrunner.ca/2417/Documents/en-us/06f81895-4422-4340-8408-4480f3a0c18a/1/

The deadline to apply for the 2018-2019 grants is November 30, 2018. Recipients are eligible for only two awards within a three-year period. Starting this year, our recipients will also be restricted to organizations that are (1) located in the Metro Chicago area; (2) have an annual expense budget of $1 million or less; and (3) have a specific project or program that is the subject of the request that must fall within the area of funding determined for the year. This year our area of funding will focus on providing services to or for children’s education and/or health; Awards will be made in March, 2019.

Record Giving to The Rotary Foundation!

Posted by Richard (Rich) Lalley on Jul 02, 2018

Thank you to the 33 members of our club who donated a total of $11,430 to The Rotary Foundation's Annual Program Fund in the 2017-18 Rotary Year, exceeding our goal of $10,000 and setting a record level of giving!

Please thank these Rotarians for making their annual contribution, especially those in bold who are Paul Harris Fellows:

Sam Badger*⁺, Wes Baumann, Jean Beckman, Mary Lou Bilder Gold, David Birkenstein*⁺, Laura Cunningham, Joe Fell, David Grant*, Heather Higgins, Tony Kambich*, Gerry Keenan, Mark Kotz, Marie Kuipers, Rich Lalley⁺, Denny Lauer, Bill Leske, Robert Mardirossian, Rodger Morris*, Tom Nash, Chuck Norton, Felicia O'Malley, Lee Padgitt, Brooke Peppey, Keith Reed, Randy Reeves, Bob Sanfilippo, Fred Schwimmer⁺, Heidi Sibert, Peter Skalski, John Thomas, Barb Tubekis, and Patti Van Cleave, Carl Yudell.
* signifies a Major Donor ⁺signifies Paul Harris Society ($1,000 per year)