Greg Nelson chaired the meeting commencing at 12:17. 

 

David Birkenstein introduced his wife Mary and two friends all of whom worked with Moha Bouacha at the Allen Center of Northwestern University.

 

Birthdays:  Liz Taylor is celebrating a birthday and we celebrated with singing a song.

Anniversaries:  There were no anniversaries this week.

Happy Bucks:  Rich Lalley reported that last year there were only 2 cases of polio—one in Pakistan and one in Afganistan.

 

Bob Baker was in charge of Dig and Grin and gave us interesting facts about September 23 in history - including the fact that Typhoid Mary was born on September 23, 1869 and the Jetsons premiered on September 23, 1962.

 

David Birkenstein introduced our speaker, Moha Bouacha.

 

Moha spoke to us about the Timoulilt Morocco Project.

 

Moha was born in Morocco.  His first trip to the US was as an American Exchange Student for a year program.  Upon returning to Morocco, he became an English teacher.  He returned to the US to pursue a graduate degree and then started a marketing career for 6 years before finally landing at Northwestern University where he eventually became head of facility management for the Kellogg Business School’s Allen Center. 

 

Morocco is not an Arab country, but instead is 60% Berber with its own language although many speak Arabic and the language of business is French.

 

Moha grew up in Timoulilt which had a population at that time of about 500, and  which has grown to 5,000 today.  In discussions with the leadership group of the Rotary Club of Belvidere, Moha suggested that his hometown of Timoulilt could use a pre-school for children ages 3,4 and 5 years old.  There was nothing in town at that time.  For a total cost of $52,000 (much of which was paid by Rotary International Foundation), a fabulous school was build for the pre-schoolers.  Moha has many before and after pictures which included a Playground –something the town had never seen.  To sustain a program like this, more money is needed annually.

 

 

 

Let's turn out to support our friends from the Rotary Club of Wilmette to make the world a better place for people with developmental disabilities.

 

Originally scheduled for 9/22, and rescheduled for September 29, the Rotary Club of Wilmette is hosting a benefit concert to support Our Place.  It will be held at the Wallace Bowl in Gillson Park, Wilmette from 5PM to 8PM.  Three bands have generously donated a performance for our event: The Suzanne Cross Combo,  a Jazz Combo from the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory and the New Trier High School Jazz Combo. 

 

There will also be a raffle with travel packages to include a house in Scottsdale, AZ and a condo in San Francisco.  

 

Tickets are $25 per person.  Raffle tickets are $50 or 3 for $100.  Both event tickets and raffle tickets can be purchased here.

 

All proceeds will go to support Our Place, a center for teens and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to learn, socialize and be a part of our community.