|
Meeting Notes for Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Presiding was President Steve Goranson and the Thought for the Day was presented by Susan Prout.
Announcements
Steve Goranson announced that the club will not meet for breakfast next week. Instead, the club will join the Evanston Noon club for a joint meeting on Thursday, May 26. Steve will email the details before the meeting.
Bruce Baumberger announced that the Rotary Club of Evanston will hold its annual Pizzafest on Wednesday, May 18, from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Gigio’s Pizza of Evanston located at 1001 Davis St. Proceeds will benefit the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, the Moran Center, Mudlark Theater, Ridgeville Park District Foundation, The Second Baptist Church of Evanston, and the Rotary Club of Evanston Charitable Fund. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children for all you can eat pizza and soft drinks. Ada Kahn, a member of the club, gave Bruce four tickets that he auctioned during the meeting. The tickets went to Don Gwinn and Ann Searles. The proceeds will go to the club’s foundation.
Bill Glader updated the club on the progress of activities for the Taste of Evanston (TOE). He encouraged members to continue to invite friends and family as the sales are progressing slowly. He distributed a postcard with detailed information for the TOE, including a QR code that, when scanned with a smartphone, will access the TOE website for ticket purchase. A request was made to place the event on Facebook for ease of sharing.
Don Gwinn reported on the successful activities of Rebuilding Together that took place last weekend. Don thanked the many members who participated in the event. Of special note, Don mentioned Steve Carlson who is a co-founder with a member of the Noon club and has consistently been involved in these activities; John Searles, for organizing the paint job; Linc Janus and Kate Collison who successfully convinced the resident of one of the buildings to part ways with many of the things that cluttered her
house. Don also made special mention of Bill Vernon and Mike McGuire, who were assigned the tough task of cleaning the bathroom drains. They also replaced many items in the bathroom.
Gary Peterson announced that the Golf Road clean-up will take place this Saturday, May 21. Assembly will be at 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot of TJ Maxx. The activity will last about one hour.
Ken Green announced that he will hold a 45-minute Campus Kitchen training session this coming Sunday afternoon, May 22, at 2 p.m. He will meet attendees in the parking lot of Northwestern University's Allison Hall dormitory, which is on the north side of Clark Street between Orrington and Chicago Avenues. He will show how to pick up the meals to be delivered to about 10 elderly people who live in two different Cook County Housing Authority apartment buildings in Evanston. He will also show where
the buildings are, where to park, how to enter, and how you go about delivering the meals to the resident clients. Ken will send an email with all necessary information. Please call or email Ken if you are joining him this Sunday so that he will know to look for you outside in the parking lot. Ken also thanked all those who volunteered at the Second Baptist Church event last week.
Sam Lovering requested the assistance of an additional fellow club member to help him and Jim McGuire move his boat from Waukegan to Chicago. A basic knowledge of sailing is useful, but not necessary. Charlotta Koppanyi also reminded the club that Sam will make a sailing trip on his boat available as one of the auction items at the Taste of Evanston.
Roasts and Boasts
Bill Vernon boasted his daughter who was accepted in the Honors Program at the University of Kansas. She will start college in the fall.
Sergeant at Arms Zbig Skiba quizzed the audience on several topics from Clean Air legislation to wildlife and endangered species.
Program
Randy Mayne and Bill Kendra – Quad Indoor Sports:
Brad Weiss introduced Randy Mayne and Bill Kendra and thanked them for making an indoor sports facility available in Evanston as he has had personal experiences traveling with his sons across the area in search of a suitable indoor sports facility.
Randy introduced himself as a long time Evanston resident who has raised three children in Evanston and knew at some point that they would benefit from an indoor sports facility in the area. He and Bill, who both worked in the financial trading industry and were at a transition point in their careers, decided to open Quad Indoor Sports located on Oakton Street, (next to James Park) near McCormick Blvd. and across from the Home Depot store.
The facility opened on Jan. 27, 2016, and they were able to capture just a small piece of the winter sport business. They had to overcome many challenges from the financing dealings with the bank to the construction of the facility. Randy made a point to highlight the excellent support he and Bill received from the City of Evanston in realizing this project. While they always had to abide by the many rules and regulations, the city supported them in overcoming many challenges.
Quad Indoor Sports is a new, state of the art sports and multi-purpose facility serving the greater Evanston area: Chicago’s North Side, North Shore and Northwest suburbs. The facility (app 200 ft. by 350 ft.) is constituted of a concrete slab covered by an air-inflated rubber dome. The facility is temperature and pressure controlled. Four natural gas operated generators provide a power back-up system that kicks-in automatically in response to a power outage. The main load design conditions are wind and snow. The design and construction can withstand a 90-mph wind condition. The entryway and bathroom facilities are fixed buildings that can provide shelter in case of an emergency.
The facility is suitable for youth and adult soccer, lacrosse, youth recreational flag football, field hockey and special events including birthday parties. Randy, Bill and their staff are dedicated to providing an environment that allows athletes of all skill levels to have fun, train, play competitively, and continually improve their skills.
The field can be configured to accommodate several types of sports and event the year round. However, the facility was not built to accommodate golf due to the nature of the construction with the rubber dome and the fact that a driving range facility exists nearby in Skokie.
Randy and Bill answered many questions from the audience addressing many remaining challenges. They still need to spread the word to achieve better name recognition. They are in Facebook and are about to place a sign outside the facility. Randy and Bill had many other pressing items to address, pushing sign and other outreach activities to a lower priority. They are now looking forward to the coming winter to better understand the interests of the community. They are also reaching out to District 65 even though some challenges remain as Quad Indoor Sports is a for-profit entity and certain restrictions exist regarding working closely with the school system. The plan also includes summer programs.
They also mentioned that the dome is not considered a building but a property from a real estate tax perspective.
Randy and Bill thanked the club for the opportunity to speak about their facility and hope to continue such outreach activities in order to publicize Quad Indoor Sports within the community.
Bill Kendra, Steve Goranson, and Randy Mayne
Guests and Milestones
Visiting Rotarians
Tim Lee, Greenwood Indiana Rotary
Kim Kim, Hendersonville Rotary club
Pat Freeman, Coronado Rotary
Lee Freeman, Coronado Rotary
Lee and Pat Freeman exchange a banner from their Coronado, CA club
Other Guests
Dave Simmons, Evanston guest of Don Gwinn
Alexandra Reyes, prospective member - guest of Jackie Mack
Randall Mayne, Quad Indoors
Jean Saunders, RI guest of Kristin Brown
Kathleen Rush, KRA guest of Raissa Eirich
Ari Polstein, Symphony of Evanston - guest of Steve Steiber
Ashley Roberts, guest of Kristin Brown
Birthdays
Next Week’s Assignments
No meeting on Tuesday, May 24. Joint meeting with Evanston Noon Club on Thursday, May 26, at One Rotary Center, at noon
|
