The virtual meeting was called to order by President Chris at 7:30 a.m. on the dot by ringing his bell followed by reciting Why We Are Rotarians. 

 

The thought for the day was presented by Ann Searles. It was a selection from Rotary Meditations and Prayers, by the Swarthmore Rotary Club”

 

“As Rotarians, we are aware of countless others, worldwide, who share our goals and for whom we give thanks. Keep us mindful of brothers and sisters who face harsher realities as they attempt to live out Rotary ideals. Make us truly thankful for them and doubly grateful to you for all the privileges we enjoy. Amen.” 

 

Announcements 

 

Chris Joyce: The Peace Corps and Rotary have a partnership agreement that started in 2015, inspired by a group of returning Peace Corps volunteers. The heart of the agreement is that Peace Corps and Rotary have almost identical focuses. Partnering for Peace is committed to developing that partnership agreement at the grassroots level. The organization’s vision is to help Rotarians, current international service volunteers and returned international service volunteers from various countries, to work together on projects that are consistent with the goals of both Rotary and such organizations. Through this collaboration, former Peace Corps volunteers, through Rotary clubs, can continue their international humanitarian service in the local villages and towns where they served. Partnering for Peace, by using our connections, and working through our clubs, hopes to identify former Peace Corps volunteers and their families and the countries where they served. This collaboration will nurture local projects in the volunteer’s former communities, working with the local Rotary Club. These networking activities between Peace Corps families in the US and Rotary clubs, and the offshore Rotary clubs has already resulted in projects benefiting the offshore communities.

 

Harold Bauer: Two Global Grants are in full swing: 1,  The HIV Prevention grant in Kenya, which our club co-hosts with the Siaya club of Kenya, and 2,  the Cleft Palette care grant hosted by the Curibita Bom Retire club of Brazil, for which our club serves as the international co-host, and which serves to train doctors to perform cleft palette surgery.

 

Two new grants were unanimously approved: 1. Co-sponsored by the Ramallah Rotary Club in Palestine and the Rotary Club in Genoa, Italy, will help train medical professionals to aid children suffering from loss of hearing (a $2,000 grant), and 2. A grant of $1,500 to Right To Be Free to help with the construction of a school in Wasakuse, Ghana, where there is currently no school, and no preschool learning in what is the nearest school 10 km away.

 

Kathy Tate Bradish: Research shows that  90% of the people who join Rotary do so because a friend invited them to do so. Research also shows that 90&% of Rotarians have never invited anyone to come to a meeting, let alone join.  Build that bridge to fix that problem and Rotary’s recruitment problems are over. Use the speaker list published on our Club website to help with recruitment. 

 

Bryant Wallace: The Chessmen Club of North Shore is holding a virtual gala on March 13 honoring Clarence Weaver and Jennifer Easton.  Contact Bryant for more information.

 

 

Troy Perkins – Boasted Don Gwinn for taking over his tech duties while Troy was in a meeting.

 

Kathy Tate-Bradish – Boasted Harold Bauer for his great International Service Committee report.

 

Myra Janus – Boasted Bruce Baumberger for helping her and Linc source a Covid -19 vaccine shot. 

 

Chris Joyce – Boasted Bill Glader for his work on the documentary, “Color Tax,” which is the first in a series about discrimination against Blacks in Chicago.  Three more segments are in the planning stage.  The documentary is available on YouTube. 

 

Chris also boasted the Club members who are participating in the United Way Equity Workshop.

 

There were a number of Club members recommending books that they are reading.  After the discussion, there was s suggestion to form a book club. 

 

 

 

 

Jevoid Simmons is a 40-year resident of Evanston. He and his life partner (wife) Dickelle Fonda, are proud parents of Seth Simmons.  Seth also resides in Evanston. 

 

Simmons retired two years ago after a 35-year career in management as a human resource professional.  The last 17 years were spent with the Art Institute of Chicago, where he served as Director of Employee Relations and Training for the School and Museum.  Central to his work was policy development, conflict resolution, managerial effectiveness and diversity equity and inclusion.  

 

Simmons considers himself to be a work in progress.  Embracing retirement, his mantra, is “I’m working to be the me I’m meant to be at this time in life.”   In this life segment, a good deal of his time is devoted to making art.  This has  been a life-long love for Simmons.  Though he has worked in a number of artistic styles, he considers his art making to be more in line with folk art and primitive styles.  Simmons paints and carves and has exhibited his work locally at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center (April – October 2019); Evanston’s Noyes Cultural Art Center;  the Evanston Art Center; Garrett Theological Seminary (Northwestern University);  The Art Institute of Chicago and Creative Coworking Gallery . 

 

Simmons volunteers in the local community and serves on the Evanston Art Council’s Art Equity Subcommittee.

 

Jeviod walked us through his story using his artwork to illustrate it.  He used his artistic talent to make sure his family knew their story. 

 

He was born in Lousiana with a dad who was a strict disciplinarian and a 6^th-grade education and a mom who had a soft personality but believed in tough love.  Because of a workplace incident, right afterward night riders came to his house two times looking for him  Fortunately his neighbor warned him so he was able to escape.  He bought a bus ticket to Rick Island, IL with money he received from selling a cow.  He lived with relatives until the family including Jeviod followed him about 9 months later after scraping up enough money to sent for them.

 

His father bought a house in Rock Island and raised his family there.  The house had a history going back to the Civil War.  It was used to provide a safe refuge for people coming up from the south.  One of his brothers actually found shoes from that period in a dry well under the house,  The house is still in the family and lived in by one of his brothers and his family.   

 

Here is his summary of his presentation:

 

As long as I can remember I’ve been an art maker.  I’m not grounded in any specific artistic system.  Art classes were a part of my educational experience from grade through junior high school. 

 

Of all the schooling received in those years, the art classes resonated with me; they fed my soul.   I’m always amazed with the art produced by others, past and present and incorporate learnings from them where it makes sense.

When painting I enjoy working in a primitive style.  It’s not tied to the necessity of precision.  It has a certain warmth and tranquility in the presence of turbulent surroundings and events of the day.  I have an affinity for the work of Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson). Her work and that of similar artists capture a snapshot of life and tell a story. 

 

As you view paintings that I have exhibited in  Chicago and the suburbs, you may see similarities to Grandma Moses’ style.  These and 14 paintings support a written narrative regarding my family’s migration out of rural Alabama in the early 1950s.   I was the last of four boys born in Alabama.  Twelve more siblings would be born in Iowa.  There’s a twenty-five year span between the oldest to the youngest sibling in our family.  This project has been an effort to connect our past, present, and future generations.   My hope is that other parents and family elders will share their own family story/ history with their children and grandchildren.  

 

The paintings are part of my upcoming book, Up from down Home: A Family’s Journey North.  The paintings were executed over a seven-year period with the last one completed in 2015.  My hope was that the warm, tranquil style will invite the viewer into the picture.  However;  the related written narratives convey the extraordinary hardships and the life and death struggle faced by Black folks living in the South under Jim Crow.   The book will be available mid to late March. 

 

In addition to painting, I’m a woodcarver and storyteller.  My carvings are ongoing and capture family, friends, acquaintances and other characters from the past.  The carvings are a part of a collection I call Sugar Creek Folks.  

 

To view my website go to http://www.sugarcreekfolkart.com/

 

 

 

Charlotta Koppanyi-February 21-9 years

Susan Patel-February 25-1 year

Neil Gambow-February 26-13 years

Chuck Bartling-March 1-25 years

Carol Pandak-February 27