On Thursday, June 16th, the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield's 2022-23 Presidents Elect, Patti Van Cleave and Barb Tubekis, will be installed along with the 2022-23 Board of Directors.
This will take place in the evening, so there will not be a lunch meeting that day.
Bill Leske chaired the meeting. There were about 16 members present and 3 on Zoom. Guests were two representatives from the North Shore Art League, Denise Siegel, Past President, North Shore Art League Board and Sophie Candido, Communications Manager, who outlined the history and many activities of the Art League for the summer including Art Camps, Art Classes, Art Shows such as the current “Inspired by…”, the popular Abstraction Show, the Fine Arts Fair in Hubbard Woods Park in June and the Annual Members Art Show this coming October. They passed out information about how contributors can participate in the League’s 2022-23 Sponsorship Program.
SPEAKER BRUNO ABATE: the owner and chef of Tocco restaurant in Winnetka and founder of Recipe for Change. He is originally from Italy and mentioned that he visited Chicago 22 years ago and didn’t like it for several reasons. He tried the restaurant business but had a number of misfortunes such as the deaths of his brother and wife and his involvement in some bad financial investments. He finally leased a building for his restaurant in downtown Chicago and made friends with a woman whose father had killed his wife and was imprisoned in Italy but who worked for wages in prison and his daughter forgave him for his crime. Bruno said at that time he realized the importance of forgiving people who commit horrible deeds and end up in prison. He then saw a television program about kids in prisons; he then started to work with prison kids in St. Charles, Ill. who were 14 and under to give them the pleasure of doing something productive—in Bruno’s situation he taught them how to cook as part of his “kids in prison program”. Bruno started to get the attention of the media and was features on several television programs. He was also credited with writing a 10 page book on this subject, although he claims he received some divine guidance in that project. Unfortunately, the prison in St. Charles, Ill where he had his kids program was suddenly closed by the state without notice to him.
Bruno was then able to work through contacts he had made with Anne Burke, member of the State’s Supreme Court, and the brother of our County Sheriff, Tom Dart, to set up a similar program for adult prisoners in Division Eleven of the Cook County jail system. He continues to spend time each week outside his busy schedule with his Tocco restaurants teaching about 3000 inmates to cook and to make other living improvements at the Cook County jail.
His “Recipe For Change” program in prisons has brought him an award from the MacArthur Foundation. He not only teaches cooking but his program also has provided music appreciation and painting classes and is working on building an operation of food trucks for under-served areas of our communities.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Members were reminded of our Installation Dinner for our new officers this coming Thursday, June 16. Reservations should be made through Patti no later than this coming Sunday, June 12. Fred mentioned that a good friend of his and a former Senator from Illinois, John Porter, recently passed away and that he was a fine representative of the State-- Fred said that he liked his conservative approach to financial matters and his liberal approach to social issues.
HAPPY BUCKS: Bill Leske gave in honor of Patti, our new Club President. Tony gave because he appreciated the day as being a “very good day”. Several people thanked our guest, Ron Bernardi from the Northbrook Rotary Club for giving our Club the opportunity to sell popcorn at the June 18th Winnetka Music Festival, part of the proceeds being given to our Foundation.
DIG N GRIN: Bob Baker reported on a recent recipient of the MacArthur Darwin award which goes to people who sacrifice their own life to save others. Such award was given recently to Mike Sexton who, with a friend, tried to find a lost treasure of about 2 million dollars worth of gold coins in the mountains of Utah. They got lost twice and the second time Mike perished although his friend survived, but no treasure was found.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 1:30 WITH RECITING OF THE ROTARY 4 WAY TEST.
As the 2021-22 Rotary Year concludes, please join the millions of beneficiaries of projects funded by The Rotary Foundation in thanking our members who have honored their commitment of Every Rotarian, Every Year, contribute to The Rotary Foundation's Annual SHARE Fund.
These gifts support the local and international work of Rotary Clubs and Districts through District and Global Grants. A significant portion of these gifts support projects of our club like our recent contribution to Shelter Box, our annual Operation Warm coats and shoes for children projects, local COVID-19 relief efforts, Kids Against Hunger, and our Ecuador "Farm to Table" Global Grant.
Year to date, we are 41% of the way to Presidents Bill and Greg's goal of $12,000 for the 2021-22 Rotary year.
Please thank these 12 Rotarians for already making their annual contribution, especially those in bold who are Paul Harris Fellows:
Wes Baumann, David Birkenstein*+, Eric Birkenstein, David Grant*, Rich Lalley*+^, Robert Mardirossian, Lee Padgitt, Bob Sanfilippo, Todd Stephens, Liz Taylor,Barb Tubekis, and Patti Van Cleave. * signifies a Major Donor+ signifies Paul Harris Society ($1,000 per year) ^Bequest Society
There are many reasons to give to the The Rotary Foundation:
Contributions support humanitarian and educational projects initiated and run by Rotary Clubs and Districts in seven areas of focus- Disease prevention and treatment, maternal & child health, education & literacy, water and sanitation, economic & community development, protecting our environment, and peace & conflict resolution. Learn more by reviewing the Foundation’s annual report.
Contributions come back to support projects of our club's projects, like Operation Warm Soles, support for ShelterBox, last year's COVID-19 Response efforts, Kids Against Hunger and International grants projects like our Farm to Table eco-agribusiness project in Ecuador, the water and sanitation projects we helped fund for schools in Guatemala and Kenya, and the digital x-ray/community health clinic project organized by District 6440. This year, we received $3,671, and next year we will can receive $4,876. But we must give to receive.
Giving to The Rotary Foundation is an easy way for you to participate in Rotary’s service work beyond our club, providing you a personal connection to this great organization and the good it does throughout the world.
It’s easy to give. Bring a check to made payable to “WNRCF” (mark TRF in the memo line) to our club, (or mail it to our club at 620 Lincoln Ave, Winnetka, 60093); you can donate via PayPal by clicking here, or you can donate directly to The Rotary Foundation at www.rotary.org or by calling 866-976-8279. One very convenient way to give is by making a recurring monthly gift on your credit card or from your checking account, which you can set up on Rotary’s website.
If you have not already supported The Rotary Foundation this year, please do so now.
If you have any questions about The Rotary Foundation or how to give, contact Rich Lalley.
