President Linda Gerber called her seventh meeting of her year to order at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with the ringing of the bell.   

 

Vai Ravikumar read “Why We Are Rotarians,” followed by the thought for the day - “If ever there is a tomorrow when we are not together,  there is something you must always remember: You are Braver than you Believe. Stronger than you Seem. Smarter than you Think.   But the most important thing is even if we are apart, I will always be with you” — By Winnie the Pooh.

 

 

 

Bruce Baumberger – Rotary Minute, showed the progress of the polio eradication in Afghanistan and made a few comments on the continued efforts there in the face of the Taliban resurgence.  There has been one case there since January and 712,739 doses this year have been given through May.

 

Sue Bova - The International Service Committee will hold its monthly meeting next Monday, Aug. 23, at 7:15 a.m. via Zoom.  We will review a DDF request for the Ak’ Tenamit project from the Northbrook Rotary club and discuss plans for this year.  All are welcome to join. If you would like to join, please contact Sue for the Zoom Link.

 

Katherine Peterson - Everyone is invited to Perspectives Gallery, 1310-1/2B Chicago Ave, Evanston, on Sunday, Sept. 5, at 5:30 p.m.  We will hear from photographer Doug Haight, who spent two years with the homeless population, along with a speaker from Connections for the Homeless to talk about the issues of homelessness in our community.  One of the subjects of Doug’s photographs may be available to speak and answer questions about the experience struggling with homelessness.  Registration is required, please contact Katherine Peterson, agingpotential@me.com.

 

Bill Glader – Tickets are now on sale on the Taste of Evanston website.  Kelly Fidei is handling the social media for the event.  More to come later today from her via email and she will conduct a tutorial at the next meeting about the various platforms that will be used. Jim McGuire is completing the posters and postcards for this year and they will be available on Wednesday, Aug. 18.  He will send electronic copies to Bill who will forward them.  Hard copies of each will be available.  Contact Bill for them. 

 

Helen Oloroso is still collecting items for the silent auction.  Experiences are encouraged. 

 

For sponsors, if anyone knows a person at a local business to be contacted, let Bill and his team know and he will make the contact. The next ToE committee meeting is Thursday night, Aug. 19, on Zoom.  Contact Bill for the link.

  

Helen Oloroso (Rotary Foundation) – Our Club goal for this year is $19,000.  We have been very successful in recent years for exceeding our annual goal.  The easy, painless way to contribute is by signing up for monthly donations via credit card.  Even small amounts add up.  You can sign up for this on the Rotary International website.  Every Rotarian Every Year is our goal, too.

 

Don Gwinn – Awarded a Paul Harris +8 and relayed his long participation in contributing to the Rotary  Foundation through an automatic monthly credit card donation.  It adds up!!

 

Chris Joyce – The next Young Leaders meeting is on Wednesday, Aug. 18, at 8 a.m. via Zoom. Paul Harris, you can, if you have an IRA and you're in the required minimum distribution mode, you can do your $1,000 from that required power to be required minimum distribution and there will be no tax on that so that's a way of saving a little money to make it that late.

 

Joy Joyce -  There is a meeting Wednesday, Aug. 18, to learn more about the work of scientists and artists on climate change. It will be held at Brushwood Center.  Even though the meeting has already taken place, contact Joy if you have any other questions.

 

Steve Goranson – Lighthouse Beach cleanup will be Saturday, Sept. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon  and you can sign up directly on our Club website.

 

Ann Searles Sunshine Report – Chuck Bartling is having hernia surgery today (Tuesday) and is missing this meeting.  On Thursday, Chuck reports that he is still alive and that the pain from the surgery is gradually receding.

 

 

 

 

Jean has lived in Evanston since 1996, when she moved from Toronto for what she thought was a three-year international adventure. She quickly realized that Evanston was perfect for raising a family and extended the adventure indefinitely.

 

Jean has been a member of the marketing team at Rotary International for six years and works in the role of Account Executive for Membership Marketing. Her current work includes developing tools and resources designed to help Rotary districts and clubs grow public awareness and understanding of Rotary. This includes creating communications assets, guidance documents, and learning content for members. 

 

Prior to joining Rotary, Jean worked in marketing roles at Apple Canada, Bell Mobility, the Compass Group, and for Healthy Schools Campaign, a Chicago-area non-profit where she was the director of school wellness.

 

Jean is a committed environmentalist and has a keen interest in supporting local food systems. She is a member of the board of Citizens Greener Evanston. She is an avid cook, gardener, loves to sail and ride her bike.

 

Jean started by telling us about the Global Awareness Surveys RI has been conducting to strengthen the  Rotary Brand.  Globally, 75 percent of the people surveyed have heard of Rotary.  In the U.S., it is 47 percent.  “People are aware of our name,” she said, “but they don't necessarily know what we do and the impact we make so, for example, we asked are they familiar with our programs, including Rotary Clubs and in the U.S., about a little less than a third say they're aware of a local Rotary Club in the community, so that suggests to us that it's important that we really work hard on strengthening.”

 

Two years ago, R.I. commissioned the study right here in Evanston to look at awareness and understanding and Rotary. 

 

“We spoke to Chamber Members and also we looked at the general public,” Jean said. “Do they understand who we are and the impact we make, and we asked some questions about whether or not they were aware that our worldwide headquarters was here in Evanston and are they aware of some of the local work that we do. And so the great news here is among all Evanstonian's, 82 percent responded that they're aware of Rotary. Among the business community, it was much, much higher at 92 percent.”

 

R.I. is in the process of implementing and making our members aware of the action plan, so to build a stronger brand to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance our participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt.  There are four key strategies of the action plan.

 

The first strategy is to talk with one voice, which means that around the world, Rotarians speak about the work we do in a consistent and compelling way with a strong message and a clear voice.  We encourage clubs and districts to use the brand in a consistent way and it's part of the reason that R.I. created tools and resources including templates for clubs to tell our stories.

 

The second one is brand ambassadors, which are part of what Jean does at Rotary in the marketing team. We are all brand ambassadors in that brand is much more than just our logo. It's the experience that we give and the impact we have.  What we want to do at Rotary is provide the tools and resources so that everyone can speak about their Rotary experience and the work their club does. 

 

The next strategy is to help to strengthen clubs so that more clubs are like our clubs so that we can provide those experiences to members around the world to really deliver on that promise that we are people of action. 

 

The last of the four communication strategies is that we leverage what we call event-based activation. The Rotary Convention is a big part of this. Attending the Convention is to take that opportunity of 20,000 people in a city to leverage that.

 

Our Brand Center provides the opportunity for us to use the Rotary marks and templates that are available and apply them in a consistent way so that's a really important part of our one voice strategy.  If you haven't gotten a My Rotary account,  Jean would be delighted to help you do that.

 

Another resource on the RI website is Learning Center  There's an absolute treasure trove of resources, not just for Rotary leaders, but really for all of us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Janus - 1 year

 

 

Don Gwinn - +8