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 13th 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 13th 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.