Co-chair Greg Nelson called the meeting to order at 12:15 pm.  There were 21 members present at this Zoom meeting. Brooke Peppey gave the “thought of the day” that even ringing bells with a crack are inspirational because the crack lets in the light. Greg lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.  There were no birthdays but there were two anniversaries of long time members Jean Wright and Markie Gekas.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS: The visitation for John Thomas will be from 4:00 to 7:00 pm this coming Saturday (Jan. 8^th) and the memorial service will be this coming Sunday at 2:00 pm, both at the Scotts Funeral Home in Wilmette.

  

HAPPY BUCKS:  Wes Baumann said he would donate $1 if his computer could show Fred’s full face rather than just half of it; Eric Birkenstein said he would donate an additional $2 if neither half of Fred’s face was shown; and Keith Reed said he would donate $5 in honor of David Birkenstein’s old snow blower which David gave to Keith about 15 years ago and it is still running!

 

DIG N GRIN:  Being inspired by our recent snowfall, Keith presented several Q and A: where do snowmen like to dance--at snowballs; why do snowmen never stay in the middle of large lakes-- snowman’s an island; what the cops yell when they see a snowman stealing--freeze; where do snowmen put their money--snowbanks; and what two words scare snowmen--global warming.

 

SPEAKER SAFIYYAH HASSAN:  Safiyyah is the new Executive Director of the Winnetka Youth Organization. She grew up in a small town in North Carolina at the foot of the Appalachian mountains; she received her Bachelor’s degree from U. of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and her MBA in Healthcare Management at Davenport University; and she has worked in the Illinois Department of Human Services, The Night Ministry and YWCA prior to coming to the WYO. In those positions she worked with and assisted Chicago residents in need of housing, food supplies, medical care, child care, wound care, drug treatment, etc.  Her activities at the WYO have included cooperating with other organizations (such as the Warming House in Wilmette,  the local police departments, the New Trier Township, and the Volunteer Center) in meeting the “life experience” needs of people on the North Shore—these activities include people of all ages but especially the young people in the area who need help in the areas of mental health, life skills, computer training, etc. She is broadening the WYO work beyond just the neighboring communities so that the WYO can be eligible for possible funds from the State.  She is hoping to add a couple of people to her staff which has been reduced over the last several months due to Covid.  She is also hoping to find volunteers who can perform some of the fundraising and administrative duties that were performed by our former Rotarian John Thomas who was a long time member of the WYO Board of Directors.  Everyone has been impressed with Safiyyahy’s knowledge and experience in all the areas mentioned above and look forward to supporting and working with her to perform all these necessary services.

 

    After Greg lead everyone in the Rotary’s 4 way test, he adjourned the meeting around 1:00 pm.

 

  

Greg Nelson called our fellowship zoom meeting to order.

 

Club Birthdays:  Happy Birthday to Lee Padgitt & Trisha Kochanda

 

Thought of the Day:  Tony Kambich shared a few words of advice on peace, forgiving your enemies, and forgiving yourself.

 

Dig ‘N Grin:  Peter Skalski explained how the Christmas Angel got put on top of the tree.

 

Co-chair Greg Nelson called the meeting to order at 12:40 pm. There were 18 members present plus 7 on Zoom.  David Birkenstein introduced his guest Addie Ruey, a Winnetka resident for 30 years, and former member of the WCH Board and former employee of the old Continental Bank. Also present was Lyle Staub, past District Governor of Rotary, who presented our Club with a banner in recognition of it having the largest per member financial contributions to Rotary from within our entire District this last year.  He also reviewed important parts of the District’s Strategic Plan for the years 2021-2024 which included encouraging more fellowship among Clubs and the District, publicizing that Rotary is a service and philanthropic organization, encouraging clubs to consider service projects in lieu of meal meetings, and growing membership by 10% a year and retention by 20% a year.

 

Club membership anniversaries included Mary Lou Bilder (honorary) 26 years, Rodg Morris 49 years, and Amy Skalinder 2 years.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  The Club received a very nice “thank you” from Christina Calderon, Director of Development at Good News Partners, for our project of delivering 100 grocery bags of food  to needy area  families  for Thanksgiving; Greg mentioned that the Club is considering a Christmas donation to our caterer; Fred Schwimmer said he would be leaving for his winter trip to Florida but that he would continue to remain active in our meetings by Zoom because the Club’s philanthropy is very important to him; Barb gave a special thanks to Rich, David Grant, Moha, Sylwia (and husband) for helping shop, collect and distribute the bags of groceries for our Thanksgiving project—Barb also reminded attendees that her Volunteer Services group has many projects and organizations that accept gifts/donations throughout the holiday season, including such groups as Lambs Farm, Beacon Place and local food pantries—December 6^th is the deadline for most of these contributions; and Greg announced that the New Trier High School swing choir will again be providing the lunch entertainment at our December 16^th meeting.  Barb added some information about the catalytic converter thefts occurring on the North Shore, including her own Prius—and that there are now shields available to prevent such thefts.

 

HAPPY BUCKS: Bob Baker, Moha and, Bill Leske  made donations in recognition of all the coats our Club has given children through libraries on Chicago’s South Side and Rogers Park.

 

SPEAKER DONNA GULLEY—SHELTER BOX AMBASSADOR. Donna is a Northbrook Rotary member who has travelled and spoken extensively on the activities of the Shelter Box (SB) organization.  Rotary is now a partner with SB and is its biggest fund raiser.  There are a couple different sizes of  boxes but they provide housing and living needs for people throughout the world who lose their homes through natural disasters and other causes. Currently there are thousands of these SB being used as housing in such countries as Burma, Haiti, Syria, Ethiopia and Mozambique.  There are over 200 distribution points for these SB materials with the United Kingdom being the central location.  As of March of this year, there were 113 million people using these SB who were displaced due to natural disasters and over 84 million people using them who were displaced due to political conflict.  Donna said that the SB slogan is to “serve to change lives”.  In addition to financial support, there are many volunteer opportunities to help support SB programs, such as serving on one of its response teams. Donna’s power point was very informative and will be available soon on our Club’s list of Rotary meeting presentations.

 

Questions were taken and then Greg adjourned the meeting at 1:30 with the recitation of the Rotary 4-way test.