President Brad Weiss presided at the meeting. Helen Oloroso presented the thought for the day, a quote from President Obama: “The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”

 

 

Visiting Rotarian Mark Gibson urged members to consider signing up for the Guatemala Service Trip taking place from Feb. 19 through 27, 2017.  An information meeting is being held at 6 p.m. on Nov. 2 in the Zimmerman Room located on the 2^nd floor of the Barrington Area Library. Participants will stay in Antigua, build a greenhouse with hydroponic and aquaponic components, conduct a literacy project, and teach girls to play chess.  The fee for the trip is $1,650. Don Gwinn and his wife have already signed up for the trip. Don went to Guatemala two years ago; he reports that Antigua is a lovely city.

 

Bruce Baumberger encouraged participation in the Guatemala trip as a way of looking beyond our Club.   He also encouraged participation in the One Rotary Summit taking place on Oct. 29 where attendees will be looking at synergy opportunities among club members, the Rotary International Foundation, and the “Public Image” of Rotary.  With respect to looking beyond the Club, Bruce praised Yves Lassere for his involvement with Haiti as the incoming board chair of Haiti Outreach.  Bruce stated that Rotary has a long history in Haiti through the Rotary Partnership for Haiti, which collaborates with Haiti Outreach.

 

In turn, Yves provided an update on Haiti relief efforts. He reported the club is donating $1,000 for setting up a shelter box. He said that members could send a check to Kate Collinson, made out to the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Foundation for Haitian relief. Brad thanked Yves for his hard work.

 

Gary Peterson announced the last Golf Road cleanup of the year taking place Nov. 5 at 8:30 a.m. Volunteers will meet in the T.J. Maxx parking lot.

 

Elaine Clemens spoke briefly and urged the Community Service Committee to consider aiding the relief effort in this country for those displaced by Hurricane Mathew.

 

Linda Gerber spoke about the upcoming tour of Evanston on Oct. 27, known as “Snapshot Evanston.”  Information can be found on the Evanston Community Foundation website.

 

Kristin Brown said that Dec. 3 and 10 are the holiday sale pick-up dates for flowers and food, respectively. She also encouraged members to donate via a link on the homepage of our website to support her ride to end polio. 

 

Brad asked for a volunteer to do the job of entering holiday sales into a spreadsheet. Anyone volunteering should contact Ken Green, Kate Collinson, or Marisa Naujoka. Up until now, Horton Kellogg has made these entries.

 

Joan Borg pointed out there was a sign-up sheet at each table for a club fellowship dinner for up to 12 members and their guests at Peckish Pig. The event is taking place beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20. Elaine asked Joan to consider changing the day of the week for the next dinner from a Thursday. Joan said she would do so for the November dinner.

 

Marv Edelstein showed a RYLA video reminding us of upcoming RYLA events.

 

 

Raissa Eirich made a presentation concerning ethics and her work for The Bradford Exchange. Raissa said she studied painting in college and began her career with the company in product development, which she now oversees.  She views the company as making art accessible to everyone and elevating people through art.  From an ethics perspective, Raissa said that she tries to facilitate the development of art that moves people. Further, she works with licensors and vendors of the art to make sure that the factories that make it do so in accordance with ethical work and environmental standards. She urged members to visit the company’s website, which features licensors ranging from Thomas Kincaid to Disney.

 

 

 

Fran Caan introduced our speaker, Michelle Larson, president and CEO of Adler Planetarium.  Fran said that Michelle first became entranced by cosmology when she looked at the moon through a pair of binoculars at age 22 and then proceeded to earn her PhD. in physics from Montana State University.

 

Michelle recounted how a vice-president of Sears Roebuck, Max Adler, was instrumental in the founding of the planetarium after seeing one in Germany. The Adler Planetarium became the first in the Western Hemisphere. Architect Ernest Grunsfeld, Jr. designed the Adler in the late 1920’s; his grandson John Grunsfeld is an astronaut today.

 

The Adler organizes its mission in part around hash tags carrying the theme of making astronomy and science accessible to everyone. Michelle recounted the success of that mission, with attendance exceeding over 500,000 people in 2015, a new record.  To encourage community involvement, Adler has a number of community-friendly events, such as yearly “Mars de Gras” celebrations and celebration of Pi on every 3/14.  In the fall of 2016, Adler also collaborated with the Kavli Foundation to present a lecture series that was shared live with many planetariums around the world through live, digital streaming. One dealt with the discovery of gravitational waves. 

 

Michelle said the Adler has an $18 million annual budget funded about a third through ticket sales, a third through foundations, and a third through the grants and monies from the Chicago Park District. In response to a question, she said that Adler astronomers undertake hard research that they make accessible to the public.

 

Brad thanked Michelle at the close of the presentation, stating that the club will donate an appropriate book to the Evanston Public Library.

 

 

 

 

Suzanne Gibson and Mark Gibson attended from the Barrington Breakfast Club.

 

 

Luis Abrev, Rotary International Student, attended today’s meeting as did his two guest hosts, Sky Ford and Joe Rebauchard.

 

Katherine Peterson and Katie Petzgar of Beacon Academy attended as a prospective corporate member and as the guests of Gary Peterson.

 

Ann Weatherhead attended as a prospective member and as the guest of Elaine Clemens.

 

 

 

Neil Gambow, October 16

 

 

James McGuire, 29 years             

Randy Usen, 22 years

Steve Steiber, 3 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past District Governor Michael Ericksen will speak on guiding ELRC’s strategic planning.