President Debra called the meeting to order at 12:20. 

Pledge Debra led the pledge. 

    . 

Thought: Moha offered a thought.

Dig N Grin: Tony offered a smattering of humorous thoughts. 

Announcements:

• Rich presented Ellie with a Paul Harris Fellow, and noted Fred’s extensive contributions to our club and RI.

• Connections serving day is Sept, 1. Link to sign up will be in the bulletin. 

• Next week’s program is Bridget Lewis from the Volunteer Center. She will do a project with us on flower arranging from April Potterfield’s garden. 

• Members received a 7-day notice for Nancy Krueger from North Shore Community Bank-Winnetka. 

• Rotary Happy Hour - August 11 at Stormys!!

Program:  Stacy Deemar led us in exercises designed to highlight our ability to connect, interact and have FUN with each other. Fascinating and different program!

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 with the 4 way test.

President Debra Campbell welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Debra shared a few facts about this day in history.

A few announcements were shared:

• Amy Skalinder shared that Rock the Garden is on at the Community House tonight – stop by any time between 5pm-8pm!
• Ken Drummet shared that raffle tickets are still available for our E-Bike raffle.
• Visiting Rotarian John Baer is with us today, as is guest Ellie Schwimmer.
• Sean Lawless reminded everyone that we are having a community clean-up event this Saturday. Meet at 10am on Lincoln near the Winnetka train station to gather equipment and then head down to the train station. The group will head to Little Honeycomb for lunch at noon.

Tony Kambich shared The Optimist Creed as his thought for the day.

The new District Governor, Rick Reigner, sent a short video that all Clubs were asked to share; he shared his reflections on service and Rotary, along with a challenge to tell 10,000 stories about Rotary this year.

Moha Bouacha shared that details have been finalized for our trip to Morocco. The pricing includes hotel stays for 7 nights, daily breakfast, transportation by private coach with guide, some sightseeing in each city visiting, and tips for the driver and guide. It does not include airfare. The cost is $1,950 per person for double occupancy or $2,550 per person for single occupancy. 

Ken Drummet shared that David Birkenstein had a bad fall and is recovering at a rehab center where he is expected to be for a few weeks. If you’d like to stop by and visit David, please reach out to Ken for more information.

David Grant introduced our speakers today, from Assured Health Care Staffing: Leslie Kischer and Kim Menheer. They shared information about their model of caring for people in their homes, along with some of the issues people should think about to ensure plans for aging are in place. For more information, please visit their website: https://www.assuredcareathome.com/

The meeting concluded with our usual recitation of the Four-Way Test.

Newly installed President Debra Campbell opened the meeting with a welcome to all and the Pledge of Allegiance. Vicki Bittar shared inspirational thoughts-for-the-day. Wes Bauman offered new classic idioms for Dig-N-Grin. Happy Bucks brought forward again Vicki for whom June is a big month in her household including her 20^th wedding anniversary, her daughter’s 12^th birthday and Vicki’s own birthday. For that occasion the club sag “Happy Birthday” to Vicki. Moha was excited for the Moroccan team’s success in the World Cup. Barb celebrated the Winnetka Music Festival performance of Winnetka’s hometown singer who is also her nephew, Petey USA. Joining from Michigan, Robert is at his family reunion and thanked all involved in the prior week’s Induction Dinner.

Announcements:

• The club’s raffle of an excellent e-bike goes for another 3 weeks, so remember to buy tickets and share with friends.
• Rich Lalley reminded members to make their contributions to The Rotary Foundation before the end of the fiscal year on June 30^th. The goal is that all Rotarians make a contribution, which is referred to as Every Rotarian Every Year around the world.
• Patti announced that the club board increased lunch fees to catch up with increased costs to $20 per lunch for pay-as-you-go members and to $175 per quarter for pay-in-advance members. The new pricing is effective in the next quarter starting July 1^st.

Bill Leske introduced our speaker, Amy Stoken from NextLevel Exchange, a Chicago-based nonprofit that mentors business entrepreneurs as they move to the next level of growth. They partner with three organizations, Chicago Urban League, Sunshine Enterprises and Women’s Business Development Center, to compliment their early stage business development programs. Each year NextLevel gathers 3 cohorts of 25 business owners who have 2 years of operation, more than $25,000 in annual sales, and the business is their full-time job. The business owners are paired with mentors that provide critical social capital through a wholistic relationship. NextLevel Exchange is always looking for mentors to join the program. https://www.nextlevelexchange.org/

Debra closed the meeting with the 4-Way Test.

President Ken Drummet welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Amy Skalinder shared a thought for the day, shared here by request:

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity. For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.

― Kofi Annan

After lunch, there were several announcements:

• Amy announced that tonight’s Jazz in the Garden event is cancelled due to the expected severe weather. The next Music in the Garden event is July 9 featuring The Sonya Major Band.
• Ken noted that despite the inclement weather last night, our Club was well-represented at the Northfield Market and Music last night.
• Ken reminded everyone that we won’t have a lunch meeting next week – instead, we’ll have our installation dinner at Avli, starting at 5:30pm. Barb needs to know today if anyone else is planning to attend. Guests are welcome!
• Ken also reminded everyone that our bike raffle is still happening and we’ve sold 46 tickets so far. Please share widely! Patti Van Cleave shared that she took the graphic that was provided and shared it to her Facebook page. You can also email your friends and neighbors. Raffle tickets will be on sale until July 16. 

For Dig-n-Grin, Chuck Norton shared a story about an experience he and his wife Carole had during their recent trip to Paris, which involved a boat, the mayhem of enthused and celebratory soccer fans, and tear gas. If you missed it, ask him about it!

Happy bucks were shared by Patti Van Cleave, Heidi Sibert, Bill Leske, Tony Kambich, Barb Tubekis, and Richard Rosen (our speaker today). Kudos were given to Thomas Applegate for another fun Rotary happy hour earlier this week, and to Ken Drummet as today is his last meeting as Club President.

Ken introduced today’s speaker Richard Rosen, who is a member of the Wheeling Rotary Club and is also the District 6440 Literacy Chair. His presentation is entitled “How Early Childhood Literacy Will Save a Child from a Later Life of Poverty and Crime.” He noted that early childhood literacy starts at birth and continues until the child enters school.

Richard shared several concepts about how early childhood literacy is developed and statistics to help illuminate why it is important. He also shared ideas for how Rotary Clubs can help.

The meeting concluded with our usual recitation of the Four-Way Test.

Are you thinking about joining our club, but have some questions?  Or have you recently joined and want to know more about how things work?  Check our our new FAQs:

• Frequently Asked Questions for prospective members
• Frequently Asked Questions for new members

Still have questions?  Send them to info@wnrotary.org and we'll send you an answer and update our FAQs.