The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Greg Nelson. There were 17 members present along with 3 on Zoom. There were no guests.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Robert Mardirossian announced his 27th wedding anniversary and his 68th birthday, which totaled 95-- which he then rounded up to a very much appreciated $100 gift to Rotary. Thanks Robert—who even requested that we sing the Happy Birthday song which he seemed to enjoy.
- Clyde Willian, former Rotary member, recently passed away and today there was a Celebration of his Life held at Skokie Country Club, to which our members were invited, as announced at our last meeting.
- The Wilmette Rotary Club event is rescheduled to September 29 at Gillson Park to benefit Our Place, a center for teens and adults with certain disabilities. Tickets are $25 per person and there are travel packages to be raffled off for $50 each or 3 for $100.. Three bands have donated their talents for the concert with one of them being the New Trier High School Jazz Combo.
- Rich reminded us of the October 15 concert at Valley Lo with Gerald McClendon “The Soulkeeper” to benefit Operation Warm—the cost is $60 for dinner with a cash bar.
- Terry Dason announced that the Chamber is sponsoring a trip to Hanoi and Saigon next March 1—it lasts 10 days and costs about $2499 for airfare and the hotels will all be Star 4 or 5 hotels. Contact Terry for further information.
DIG N GRIN: John Thomas told a cute story of a conversation between God and a scientist about how each had the capability of creating “man” (ala Adam and Eve)--but the discussion was cut short when they couldn’t agree on who would furnish the “dirt”.
SPEAKER JOE COUGHLIN, Editor in Chief of The Record North Shore: Joe explained his background with the 22nd Media Organization and how it ended up going out of business the first part of 2020. He started the Record in June 2020 to cover events in the New Trier Township communities. It is a 501c(3) not-for-profit organization. Advertising revenues were not enough to sustain its predecessor and the Record currently depends primarily on subscriptions and grants. It is still growing-- as of the first of this month it had more than 780 subscribers. Its news people cover local community activities, local sports, new businesses, library events, sidewalk sales, and new restaurants and their menus. Their most popular stories usually involve family pets and things they sometimes do! This up to date information is passed along online, but the Record also has a newsletter each week (soon to be increased to two a week) to cover 'breaking news.' Current Record subscription rate is $60 per year. The Rotary audience was very interested in this new source of local current events and were very appreciative of Joe’s presentation.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT: At 1:35. Greg led everyone in the Rotary 4-way test and adjourned the meeting.