Seven guests joined 35 members at this week’s meeting. The guests included visiting Rotarian Penny Fields from the Highland Park club; Penny brought a guest Bobbie Ruby a writer from Evanston. Carl Yudell, a Northbrook attorney was Sam Badger’s guest for the third time. Tim McCabe hosted Alana Flatley, the Director of Institutional Advancement at the Community House as well former Winnetka Rotarian, Joan Evanich who is the Chair of the WCH Board of Governors. Robert Farmer from the Winnetka Park District was the guest of Bob Smith. Finally, this week's representative from the Hadley School for the Blind was Chuck Young, their Executive Director, who made a donation of $50 to our club as Happy Buck$.
President Bob reminded the membership of the Club Assembly scheduled for January 29th. We will be conducting the annual election of officers and the Board for the 2015-16 Rotary year. He also reminded the Club of the “Kids Against Hunger” scheduled for March 21st. We still need $11,000 in sponsorship and we need all members to sign-up to work one of the three shifts to be held on that Saturday.
The Club celebrated Jean Wright’s birthday in silence, at her request. Singing apparently is not a strong suit for the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club.
Barb Tubekis reported on the fantastic success of the “MLK – Day of Service.” She reported that there were over 700 persons did volunteer work for 12 non-profit organizations.
Happy Buck$ this week were contributed by Chuck Young Barb Tubekis, Marie Kuipers , Jean Beckman, Tom Nash and Wes Baumann.
Our own Tim McCabe, the Executive Director of the Winnetka Community House, presented the day’s program. The Winnetka Community House has a long and important history in Winnetka and the North Shore. The Winnetka Congregational Church founded the Community House in 1911. It served as the first home of The Hadley School for the Blind, the North Shore Senior Center and the Winnetka Historical Society, three recognized organizations that now have their own permanent sites. It is the continuing home for the Winnetka Rotary Club and the North Shore Art League both founded in 1924 as well as the 47-year old Winnetka Youth Organization. Matz Theater also provides a performing venue for the Children’s Theatre in Winnetka, the Village Follies and the 74 year old Winnetka Children’s Hour. In 1965 the Congregational Church deeded both the building and the property to the WCH. In 1998 a major addition to the building was the result of a successful fundraising program. Again, in 2004 they upgraded the Garden Under the Arches. Now they are turning their attention to the oldest part of their facility.
Tim told us about the Second Century Campaign being initiated by the Community House. The purpose of the fundraising program is to address the infrastructure and program issues of the Legacy Building, that is the eastern half of the building. The Community House is a non-profit organization that receives no revenue from taxes. Their revenue comes primarily from contributions, program fees and rentals, both long term and single events.
The old section of the building currently serves a large portion of the programs, including rentals to three religious organizations, the North Shore Art League, the Winnetka Youth Organization, the Children’s Theatre of Winnetka to name a few. Unfortunately, the legacy building does not have air-conditioning so the preliminary plans calls for a complete redo of the HVAC system (including air-conditioning), electrical upgrades, new roofing and windows. Additionally, there will be considerable remodeling of the rooms in the legacy building and a redesigned Pine Street entrance. The result will be to bring this part of the facility into the 21st century, enhance rental opportunities and better serve the community.
The goal of the “Second Century Campaign” is to raise $7.5 million. Tim said they are in the ‘silent phase’ of the campaign – getting some initial large gifts before kicking off the more public campaign. Joan Evanich, the Chair of the Board of Governors, showed some preliminary sketches, that included the room we meet in during the cooler months when AC is not needed. We hope that the WCH reaches its goal so we can enjoy the remodeled facilities along with the entire community.
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Plans are underway for our 5th Annual Kids Against Hunger Food Packing Event. Participant registration is open and solicitation of sponsors is underway. Please help us make this signature event for our club a success by recruiting participants, making a tax deductible donation or being a table sponsor. Huge thanks to those members and businesses that have already stepped up to commit to sponsoring this wonderful community event that supports the hungry.