President Kuipers called the meeting to order. There were 22 members present and no guests. Tony gave the “thought of day” by pointing out no matter what others may do or say we should always do the “right thing anyway”.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Marie mentioned that our Governor Suzanne would like to have all Rotarians have the Club Runner app on their Rotarian’s phone—so a minute was taken for a discussion as to how this was to be done.
Marie announced the Rotary Corn Maze Day scheduled for September 15 at the Richardson Adventure Farm where you can view the corn maze from an observation tower; eat donuts, fudge and kettle corn produced on the farm; ride the zip line; enjoy live entertainment; and even take a ride on the park train.
Marie also mentioned that Zoe Engles and Elana Greenberg of Write the Future are speaking to the Wilmette Noon Rotary Club on August 14 and our members are invited to attend, but should let Marie know you want to attend.
Rich Lalley mentioned that in 5 weeks there will be the annual Rotary BBQ and Cubs-Brewers baseball game in Milwaukee. He will circulate a sign up sheet for those who want to attend and/or to buy tickets for our veterans at $70 a piece.
Patti Van Cleave asked for volunteers to help on September 22 at the Winnetka Log House open house which is sponsored by the Park District, Village of Winnetka and the Historical Society. She also mentioned that we needed volunteers to help with the Village Farmers’ Market on August 24.
HAPPY BUCKS: Brook Peppey donated thanking member Laura Cunningham for attending her “horse openhouse”. Laura in turn donated because she was so pleased with the way her tree cutting and brush clearing project went, even though she picked up a little poison ivy! Bob Baker donated in thankfulness that the huge storm that severely damaged the MaKaJaWon scout camp in Wisconsin resulted in only one injury to the 300 scouts attending camp there. Heather Higgins donated in celebration of her 50th anniversary of coming to this country and living in Winnetka. Rich Lalley donated in celebration of his 10th year of joining the staff of Operation Warm.
DIG AND GRIN: This was handled by Fred Schwimmer who did some one line commentaries about politics over the past couple centuries. He ended by saying that government was like a new born baby—that is, “big appetite to feed at one end with no responsibility for what comes out the other.”
SPEAKER NICK ROBERTS: Nick has been the Scout Executive & CEO of the Northeast Illinois Council, Boy Scouts of America, for the last year. This includes all scouts from Evanston on north into Wisconsin. He’s been a professional Scouter for 20 years in Missouri, Illinois and now is based in Vernon Hills.
Nick mentioned that W.D. Boyce founded the BSA in the U.S. in 1910 after being helped by a boy scout in London who refused to take a tip for his good deed. In Britain the Boy Scouts organization was used to prepare boys for military service. In the U.S. the purpose of BSA is still to help boys and girls make ethical and moral decisions based on the values set forth in the in BSA Oath and BSA law. (This information is all set forth in Nick’s power point which is available by contacting Keith Reed at: Keithreed341@gmail.com).
There are 270 Local Councils in the Scouts and the organization now accepts kids of all races, genders, sexual orientation, creed or religion. The Cub Scouts started accepting girls as members in 2018 and the result was 75,000 new members (mostly girls). The Boy Scouts accepted girls as members in 2019 and 22,000 kids were added to their membership. Wilmette actually has a separate troop of only girls, although most troops are co-ed. There are special programs based on age and there are new titles for such programs to supplant Boys Scouts of America, where appropriate. Nick’s power point showed all the various meeting facilities the Scouts now have in Illinois and Wisconsin. He described in detail what damage was done to the MaKaJaWon camp in Wisconsin on 7/19/19 when a “macro burst” with 80 mph winds hit the camp where 300 campers were staying. Fortunately, only one camper was injured. The camp had to close for the rest of the summer; 80% of the trees were destroyed; and there are now 3 logging companies trying to clear the area. A national fund raising program has already raised $125,000 to help pay for the damage.