The Oct. 27, 2020, virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse was called to order by President Chris at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with ringing his bell followed by reciting Why We Are Rotarians. 

 

These thoughts for the day were from Steve Goranson:

 

Decide to be happy today, to live with what is yours - your family, your business, your job, your luck.

If you can't have what you like, maybe you can like what you have. Just for today, be kind, cheerful, agreeable, responsive, caring, and understanding.

Be your best, talk softly, and look for the bright side of things.

Praise people for what they do and do not criticize them for what they cannot do. If someone does something stupid, forgive and forget.

After all, it's just for one day. Who knows, it might turn out to be a nice day.

AND smiling is like yawning. You yawn. They yawn. You smile. They WILL smile.

 

Chris Joyce (From our District Director, Lyle Staub)

 

Saturday was World Polio Day.  Thanks for your work to raise awareness and funds.  At 7 p.m. Saturday night I had three computers going, each streaming different club events!  The full (I think) list of D6440 World Polio Day events is here.  The last I learned of: a combined walk for the two Evanston clubs, a theater marquee in Park Ridge promoting WPD, proclamations on Buffalo Grove and Park Ridge, a Creekside cleanup in Carol Stream, and District Polio Chair Glenn Garlick was featured in Woodstock’s video interview series.

 

River Cities promoted WPD and asked the community to join them in donating in an article in the Daily Herald.

 

Watch the World Polio Day Global Update – “A win against polio is a win for global health.” The program provided an update on Rotary and our partners’ polio eradication efforts and explained how investment in polio eradication is critical for other global health initiatives. 

 

Foundation Minute: Using your Club’s DDF for Global Grants – When donations are made to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund – SHARE - a portion is later returned to D6440 for clubs to use for local and global projects.  If you are from one of the many clubs that have never participated in a Global Grant, think about it!

 

Ann Weatherhead: Rotary continues to support both affordable housing and taking care of the homeless in our community.  The focus is two-pronged: 

A separate, more detailed, summary of actions will be sent out via ClubRunner. 

 

Bruce Baumberger: The storefront for the Holiday Sale is expected to be up and running by Nov. 1. 

 

Katherine Peterson: The weekly fellowship walk will now start at the Evanston Ecology Center – 224 McCormick Blvd.  This week, it starts at 5:15 p.m. 

 

Linda Gerber: Joining Forces for Affordable Housing has new videos to see.  Check out their web site.

 

Taste of Evanston restaurants are helping to serve food to 200 poll workers on election day. C&W Market and YoFresh need two volunteers at each location to help with traffic.  The times are 6-8 a.m. for C&W Market and 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at YoFresh.  Let Linda know if you can help.

 

Chris Joyce:  The Nominating Committee has the two club treasurer slots to fill and is looking for volunteers. 

 

Partick Mbullo: The International Service Committee met on Monday, Oct. 26.  Several new grants were discussed.  Pram Chakraborty presented a grant opportunity in India.  The next meeting will be on Saturday, Nov. 21, time to be announced later. Patrick has asked for a volunteer to co-chair the International Service Committee with him.

 

Ann Searles: She is collecting yellow prescription pill bottles and 2021 calendars.  Please contact her for drop-off instructions. 

 

 

Joan Borg boasted Bob Teska for his “Open House Chicago” presentation discussing his book – Design Evanston.

 

Fran Caan boasted Don Gwinn for connecting her with the school in Guatemala that we support.

 

Patrick Mbullo boasted himself for being interviewed by a radio station in Kenya and for applying for a fellowship in global health.

 

Bob Teska boasted Joan Borg for her comments on his presentation at “Open House Chicago.”  His book is available on the book’s web site. 

 

Nick quizzed us on the longest-running TV shows – The Tonight Show has that distinction.

 

 

 

 

Carol, a member of our club, has been the director of Rotary International's Polio Plus program since 2005, overseeing the day-to-day operations.  She reported there were more than 6,000 World Polio Day celebrations worldwide. 

 

She also reported that there was a first-time meeting with District Governors from Afghanistan and Pakistan to talk about Polio eradication.  These are the last two countries to have reported polio cases.  She mentioned later that Rotary has not been able to connect with as many as 4 million children in Afghanistan due to the political situation there.  Door-to-door visits are prohibited, but new public health clinics are being opened to allow access for people.

 

Carol showed the Drop To Zero documentary and an animated film showing the polio program logistical structure.  Links to both were sent out separately by Bruce Baumberger.

 

The very robust worldwide vaccine distribution network is coming into play with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Discussions are ongoing about using this distribution system to deliver COVID-19 vaccines around the world.  The polio delivery program was stopped for a few months due to the coronavirus pandemic, but has since restarted in September.   

 

Carol says the pandemic and travel restrictions are both a help and a hindrance.  Using Zoom, meetings can be held anywhere very quickly.  The downside is that needed face-to-face communications are not available, which slows the work down. 

 

 

Mary Bak – District 6440 Governor Designate

Glenn Garlick – District 6440 Polio Chair

Marguritta Swigert - Nigeria

 

 

Randy Usen – 26 Years

Sam Lovering – 26 Years

 

Kristin Brown -  +8