President Brad Weiss called the meeting to order.  Yves Lassere shared the Thought for the Day from Abraham Lincoln at the Republican Convention in Chicago in 1860:  “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

 

 

Helen Oloroso announced that the Club Service Committee is working on a new, team-oriented structure for the weekly meeting Duty Roster.  Details will be presented later this month.  Scribe training is also being planned for those who are interested in volunteering or those who might be interested if they knew more about the process.  Details to follow.

 

Ilana Seligman is looking for volunteers for our upcoming soup kitchen at Second Baptist Church, 1717 Benson St., on July 3.  It is a hot lunch, and she will need about 12-15 volunteers to work from 10-12 and 12-1:30.  There may be additional volunteers from the church assisting during the lunch service, but we are responsible for preparation and clean up.  Signup sheets will be on the breakfast meeting tables in the next few weeks.

 

Kristin Brown announced that poster size Post-It notes are hanging on the walls of the room and members are encouraged to add their “Big Ideas” for our club’s service engagement to help us meet our visioning goals.  Kristin also encouraged members to attend the Evanston Community Foundation’s “Grant Awards Celebration & Annual Meeting” on Tuesday, May 30, in the Crystal Ballroom at The Merion, 529 Davis St., Evanston.  The reception begins at 5:30 p.m. and the program begins at 6:30 p.m.  The event is free but reservations are required (www.evanstonforever.org).

 

Marv Edelstein encouraged members to attend the District Assembly and Training program this Saturday, May 20, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oakton Community College.  For more information, visit the District 6440 website.

 

 

Due to the shortage of time, Roasts and Boasts were postponed until next week.

 

 

Lincoln Janus became our newest Paul Harris Fellow, and Stephen Goranson was given recognition for attaining Paul Harris +6 level for his continuing support of the Rotary Foundation.  Brad Weiss presented the honors and Steve Steiber spoke of the work currently underway at TRF which benefits directly from our contributions.

 

 

 

Three new members were inducted into the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Club and were welcomed by Brad Weiss and the club.  The members and their sponsors are:  Lucas Albright (Neil Gambow, sponsor), Miguel Hernandez (Kea Gordon, sponsor) and Suzy McNamara (John Osterlund, sponsor).  We all look forward to getting to know Lucas, Miguel, and Suzy.

 

 

 

Bill Glader gave an update on the progress that the committee is making towards the Taste of Evanston, our club’s semi-annual fundraiser.  The event will take place at the Dawes House (home of the Evanston History Center) from 4p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 9.  To date, 16 restaurants have signed on to provide food to sample, and 10 organizations are sponsoring the event.  In order to realize our goal of $50K, attracting more sponsors will be crucial.  Ticket sales will also be important, but the immediate goal is to attract more sponsors.  Bill solicited ideas from the members present and encouraged each to coordinate with the sponsorship subcommittee – Dale Bradley, Randy Usen, and Mike Merdinger – for outreach.

 

In addition to sponsors and more participating restaurants, Charlotta Koppanyi is looking for items to be donated to the silent auction and the raffle.  Forms for in-kind donations were distributed on the tables. Once sales begin, we will be aiming to sell 300 tickets.

 

 

 

 

Yves Lassere gave a recap of the 2016-17 grants disbursed in support of the international service projects supported by the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Club.  These projects relate to four of the six areas of focus promoted by the Rotary Foundation:  providing clean water & sanitation; saving mothers & children; supporting education, and fighting disease.

 

A key strategy of the committee has been to leverage matching grants and partnerships.  A total of $15,000 was allocated during the 2016-17 club year, some of which will be matched by RI district and global grant resources.

 

Following Yves’ summary overview, Linda Gerber presented a more detailed description of the SmileTrain project in the Philippines which has received a total of $5,000 from the 2015-16 and 2016-17 budgets.  Ten surgeons have been trained in Manila on cleft palate and cleft lip repairs, enabling them to return to their local communities and perform surgeries on 177 children to date.  Linda also spoke of the upcoming SmileTrain project in Mexico, for which a District Grant will be submitted in June.  If awarded, our grants of $5,000 will be augmented by $3,500 from District 6440.

 

Kathy Tate-Bradish recently returned from a month in Kenya in which she continued the work of the program, “The ABC’s of Sex Education.”  Kathy spoke of the efforts being made to make the program one which is wholly “owned” by the people of Kenya.  The purpose of the program is to teach people that AIDS is real, and not witchcraft or a curse. 

 

Harold Bauer gave an update on the club’s support of the organization, “Right to Be Free,” and its efforts to end child enslavement in Ghana.  The organization works to rescue child workers in the fishing trade, provide for their medical rehabilitation and to educate them in schools run by the organization.  They also work with impoverished families who “sell” their children, and with the fishermen who acquire the children to keep their labor costs down.

 

Gary Peterson spoke about the Haiti Outreach Global Grant that the committee manages on behalf of the club.  Haiti Outreach does extensive work on identifying the locations of water wells in the country, determining which ones need to be cleaned and/or repaired, and where new wells should be dug.   From its working base in the city of Pignon, the projects are focused on increasing sustainable access to clean water in the center, north, and northeast communities of Haiti.

 

On behalf of Gary Shultz, Gary Peterson also reported on the progress and obstacles involved in the construction of a residence hall at the St. John School in India.  Delays due to local authorities’ demand for bribes has caused the project to be put on hold.  In the interim, the school will continue to serve the existing student population until the residence hall can be built and the number of students served can grow to the goal of 200

 

Yves Lassere announced that Linda Gerber will become the new chair of the International Service Committee for 2017-18 and already has plans to host a meeting of the committee at her home in June

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Harold Bauer called upon the club to show its gratitude towards Yves Lassere for his outstanding leadership of the committee during this past year and the club responded with a round of applause.

 

 

 

 

V.L. Albright and His wife Mary Helen

Emery Bonga, guest of Kea Gorden

Dan Coyne, guest of Kristin Gorden

Suzy McNamara, guest of John Osterlund

Miguel Hernandez, guest of Kristin Brown

Dave Kornhauser, guest of Kristin Brown

Cassie Tingley, exchange student

Luiz Abrev, exchange student

 

 

Carol Pandak, 12 years

 

 

Setup: Elaine Clemens and Kate Collinson

Greeters: Mike Merdinger and Barb Miles

Breakdown: Louis Allred and Jacob Bachman