Co-Chairs Patti and Barb presided at the meeting. Guests were the speaker Rick Rosenfeld, John Zeddies and Angel Gonzalez.  There were 15 members present and 3 on Zoom.

 

   BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES: Greg Nelson had a birthday on Nov. 26. Anniversaries celebrated were Jeanne Beckman – 34 years; Lee Padgitt--29 years;  Rich Lalley--18 years; David Birkenstein—13 years.

 

   ANNOUNCEMENTS:  Notices for payment of our last quarter dues will be sent out soon. Amy announced that effective next week the WCH will have a “QR” code that can be scanned by smart phones to contribute money to the Club for Happy Bucks, Dig N Grin, etc.

   Rich reported on several distributions of about 1800 coats at libraries and schools in the City and also Highwood schools.  Barb reminded us that next Thursday will be when we pack Thanksgiving meals for Good News Partners—and another piece of “good news” is that we can deliver such meals directly to the GNP location this year rather than moving them twice as we have in the past. We are hoping to be able to buy  about $2000 worth of groceries.

   Barb reported that she, Patti, Rich and several other Club members recently attended a Rotary recognition dinner and that most Clubs are continuing to contribute money towards the elimination of polio until it is completely eradicated.  This project started in 1924 and millions of dollars have been donated by Rotary Clubs over the years.

   It was announced that the New Trier swing choir will be entertaining us at the Dec. 8^th meeting and that another treat that day will be our noon luncheon being served by our former caterer, Donna Goodman—she is hoping to serve at least 50 meals that day, so this is a great time to bring guests to the meeting.

 

DIG N GRIN: Wes handled this by telling the male Rotary members present the difference in living with your wife as compared to living with your dog!!  First, the dog’s parents never drop by your house unexpectedly; the dog never questions you if you come home smelling like another dog; and the dog is always excited to see you when you come home no matter how late you are!

 

   SPEAKER RICK ROSENFELD:  Marie introduced Rick who is her very good friend and also a Rotarian in the Glenview Sunrise Club.  Rick was the main organizer of several volunteers around the North Shore to help find housing, food, clothing etc. for mainly refugees coming over to the area after the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021.  There were over 100,000 refugees who found their way to the U.S. and several thousand of those ended up in such North Shore communities as Skokie, Deerfield, Northbrook, etc.  Rick used the Next Door Neighbor facebook site, his friends and neighbors to start collecting items that these people needed to survive.  His first storage unit filled up quickly but he was able to find storage space at the Holy Cross Church in Deerfield.  He soon had dozens of volunteers who were able to help Rick collect furniture and winter coats for up to 160 refugee families-- and even Niles Township and the Northbrook Rotary Club contributed to Rick’s efforts. A closed church in Northbrook donated 100 pieces of furniture from its rectory.  Rick’s volunteers were able to get refugees into furnished apartments within 48 hours.  They continued to expand a church library into a “free store” where refugees have access to 7 rooms containing housewares, clothing, furniture, bedding, etc.  That store services over 160 refugee families, including some from Ukraine.  Five faith communities assign volunteer teams to run the store.

   The next phase of Rick’s efforts was to get language classes lined up for  the refugees so they could assimilate and operate within the Chicago environment—this included learning how to use public transportation, where to shop, etc.  Soon the refugees were able to get hired into service and store clerk type jobs and some are even training to be over the road truck drivers. Afghan refugees can get work permits much quicker than most refugees who have to wait 18 months.

    Marie ended Rick’s presentation by saying “he’s the one who did all these wonderful things for the refugees”.  The members thanked both Rick and Marie for all their efforts to help others in time of need.  Patti then led the group in the Rotary 4 Way test and the meeting was adjourned.

    (Note: Barb talked with Rick after the meeting about her volunteer activities and he sent her an email listing  “high level” needs that his group could use help on between now and the end of the year—for example—more winter coats, drivers to deliver coats and to drive refugees to doctor appointments, etc.; and volunteers to work in the “free store” taking donations, stocking shelves, and helping the shoppers. Contact Barb or me for a copy of Rick’s email.)

 

Barb led today’s meeting, which was held at Clarkson Park in Northfield.  We were delighted to be hosted by George Alexhof, the Executive Director of the Northfield Park District, who also spoke to us about the Park District.  George will be retiring at the end of this year after more than two decades as ED in Northfield.  He has a distinguished career at several other Park Districts including starting his career at the Winnetka Park District where he was involved in many new initiatives including starting the dog beach and renovating Skokie School.

 

As ED at Northfield, George supervised many exciting projects including:

George graciously attributed his many successful years to solid support and partnerships from the community of Northfield.  He is grateful for the cooperation of the Village, Schools, and other Northfield  municipalities through his years at the Park District.  Thank you George for your incredible impact in our community!

 

   Co-Chairs Patti and Barb presided at the meeting. Guests were the speaker Bill Kmiecik, Rotary District Governor, and former Rotarian John Zeddies who has committed to returning as a Club member.  There were 20 members present and 3 attended by Zoom.

BIRTHDAYS, ANNIVERSARIES AND HAPPY BUCKS: Michael Goldenberg and Tony celebrated  birthdays, Greg Nelson celebrated his 6^th anniversary as a Rotarian,  Happy Bucks were given by Tony for his wife’s birthday 2  days after his, by Marie Kulpers  for a very pleasant and safe trip to the East coast, and by Barb for all the help she got from Moha for her “make a difference day” at the WCH.

   ANNOUNCEMENTS: Our next meeting on Nov. 3rd will be held at the Lodge in Clarkson Park in Northfield at the regular time of 12:15 and the speaker will be George Alexoff, Executive Director of the Park District; Robert reminded everyone that the park is named after long time local educator James Clarkson who was also a long time Rotarian;  Rich said that the coat distribution at the Ukraine Library in Chicago has been set for Nov. 12^th during the day and that another coat distribution is scheduled at a elementary school in Highwood during parent-teacher conferences.

   Barb reminded everyone that the Good News Partners packing day for Thanksgiving will be Nov. 17^th and that Bob Baker and David Grant will again be directing the purchasing and packing as in past years.

   DIG AND GRIN:  Lee Padgitt handled  with a couple of observations on what caused the recent pandemic and proper attire during the ordeal!

   SPEAKER  Bill Kmiecik, District Governor:  Bill started off by noting how fast our lives can change as we experienced with the recent pandemic.  Within one month after the start of 2020, most of us were staying at home for almost 2 years.  He said that Rotarians are supposed to be creating change, not be the victims of it!  He gave examples of those Rotarians who are known for their ideas and efforts to make changes: he mentioned Rotarians Randy who constantly seeks and gets many Global grants for our area Clubs; Shawn who continues to run the RYLO program in Wisconsin even though his job took him to Michigan; Linda who gets service clubs to team up with her Club in their community activities; and he also mentioned our Rich Lalley who has also been willing to help other Clubs with their activities.

   After having a career in insurance, other corporate jobs and even running his own company, he became the District Governor which  involved considerable International travel. He described some of the trips and the effect they had on him as follows:

   Guatemala: This was a very positive experience where he and a crew of other Rotarians built 8’ x 10’ cottages for kids to live in while attending a school to learn such service jobs as waiters and bartenders.  The cost to the students for room, board and tuition was $1 a day. The students appreciated the opportunity to learn and get these jobs—they were well dressed, well groomed and smiled a lot.

   Peru: Bill’s crew went up 12,000 feet into the mountains to build a community center without any power tools—just picks and shovels. They were lucky to have local help to do most of the carrying and digging for them.  They were rewarded with a guinea pig dinner (taste like chicken). They were told by the locals that they were the first white visitors who were willing to do something other than take pictures of the local residents.

   Uganda: These people needed more protein in their diets so they were being assisted in developing aquaponics fish ponds to improve their diets. Lots of post holes were needed and the locals again did the heavy lifting—Bill was told that one of the workers wanted to buy a new pair of flip flops, so Bill gave him an extra pair that he had and in return the worker wanted to give Bill a live chicken which was not able to make the trip back to the states!!

    Bill’s travels have changed the way he sees many things.  He has tried to change things in Rotary such as more visits to the 66 Clubs in our District; an emphasis on trying to stop the membership loss at several Clubs; adding Rotorat Clubs for seniors (Wheeling now has one) as he recognizes that the high school and college Rotorat Clubs loose members as they graduate from school; combine activities with other Clubs in such areas as collaborating on grants and  service projects; continue to encourage contributions to the International Rotary Foundation, the Paul Harris program, and the Polio project.  He also mentioned that he is trying to form focus groups to advise on whether Rotary should be doing something in the area of “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

    Some time was left for Bill to take questions, and then the meeting was adjourned by recitation of the Rotary 4 Way Test.

 

1. Call to Action! The New Trier Township food pantry needs our support. The pantry is low on essential items that support Township residents and workers. We will be collecting non perishable food items and hygiene supplies at each Thursday meeting. Donations can also be dropped off at the Community House every other day of the week. This service project will run through the end of September. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever that we support and uplift one another. 

 

2. Additional items that we will be collecting at each Thursday meeting are pop tabs from aluminum cans and bread clips. The pop tabs will be donated to Ronald Mcdonald House for recycling and they go towards offsetting the costs of helping children and their families. 

 

The bread clips will be donated to 'Scarcely Resourced' who will be recycling them in partnership with 'Danielle Cares for Chairs'. A few thousand of these bread clips will purchase a wheelchair for a child in need. The bread tags are also now being utilized by a prosthetic clinic to strengthen the molding process of making a prosthesis.