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Upcoming Events
Membership Committee meeting
Zoom
Feb 07, 2022
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
 
Community Service Committee Meetings
Vitrual (Zoom)
Feb 08, 2022
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
 
Club Service Committee - Zoom
Zoom
Feb 09, 2022
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
 
International Service Committee (ISC)
Via zoom
Feb 28, 2022
7:15 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Community Service Committee Meetings
Vitrual (Zoom)
Mar 08, 2022
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
 
Club Service Committee - Zoom
Zoom
Mar 09, 2022
7:30 AM - 8:30 AM
 
Al Tillery
ZOOM
Mar 16, 2022
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
 
Alvin B. Tillery, Ph.D., presented by Evanston's 3 Rotary Clubs DEI Task Force
Zoom
Mar 16, 2022
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
 
International Service Committee (ISC)
Mar 21, 2022
7:15 AM – 8:30 AM
 
View entire list
The Light for February 1, 2022
The Light for February 1, 2022
 
By Myra Janus
 
President Linda Gerber presided at the meeting and introduced Bruce Baumberger to recite Why We Are Rotarians and give The Thought for the Day from Ijeoma Pearl Ockoro, a Rotary friend from Nigeria who said that “Diversity is inviting everyone to the party. Inclusion is getting everyone to be dancing.”
 
Announcements
 
Linda Gerber welcomed Patrick Mbullo back to Evanston who shared the following:
 
"It has been almost two years since I travelled to Kenya. Although the years have been difficult due to the pandemic, I have had some challenges and achievements as well.
The biggest challenge was my experience with COVID. I think that shook me and changed the way I now look at things. Especially service to others.
 
"Speaking of service, I am happy to share that during my stay in Kenya I was able to follow up on some of the projects funded by ELRC. We increased our support to the children living with hearing disability. Now we are supporting 20 children and running life skills programs in the school.
 
"We also expanded our vocational and technical skills training to teenage mothers and now we are supporting almost 200 with business-start-up kits and leadership training.
 
"We have also initiated a tree-planting project to involve the youth in climate change activities. With our “one-dollar-one-tree” approach, we aim to plant at least 30 thousand trees by the end of the year 2022.
 
"Recently we started a youth talent and development center where we are engaging the youth in many activities, including digital marketing.
 
"Now I am back to finish my Ph.D., probably by the Summer Quarter. I have a postdoctoral fellowship at York University, Canada, which I will be starting by July 1, contingent on finishing my dissertation.
 
"That said, we will be looking for someone to co-chair the international service committee with Sue Bova."
 
 Linda Gerber welcomed the newest Plus One Paul Harris Fellow, Barb Miles. Linda also pointed out that Barb participates in the Ride Against Polio.
 
Helen Olorosa gave more information about the Rotary Foundation. Susan Gibson, the district governor from two years ago, chairs the district committee.  There is an opportunity for those who play golf to participate in a worldwide virtual golf tournament with 5,000 golfers playing 3,000 courses in 50 countries.  Golfers locally will be playing the back nine of Pebble Beach in California virtually on simulators at X-Golf sites during the week of February 14-20. The cost is $100 to register, $50 of which goes to the Polio Plus campaign. Food and drink will be available for purchase and February 9 is the deadline. You can play individually or as a member of a scramble team. Contact Helen for more information.
 
Helen also reminded members that they can sign up to be charter members of the Polio Plus Society. To do this, members pledge $100 initially and then $100 per year until polio is eradicated. If things continue on track, by the end of January, Pakistan will have gone 12 consecutive months with no new cases of the wild poliovirus, and their neighbor Afghanistan, as you might expect, has seen a slight uptick in wild polio cases for new cases identified
 
Bruce Baumberger reminded us of the great need for blood donations and asked for suggestions of how to encourage Rotarians to donate and whether anyone has experience in organizing blood drives. He asked if members would contact him with any information.
 
Linda Gerber gave a reminder to register for the Grants Management Seminar on February 5 from 9 a.m. – Noon.
https://rotary6440.org/event/grant-management-seminar as well as the Bystander Intervention Training on February 17.
 
Katherine Peterson: Please come to a fun outdoor afternoon of camaraderie around a warm fire at Emily Oaks Nature Center on Sunday, Feb. 6, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.  If you've missed the previous events at Emily Oaks, you'll get to discover why it's back by popular demand. It's a jewel of a local park at 4650 Brummel St. in Skokie, with easy parking, a short walk to our site, in a safe, lovely setting. We will have light refreshments around the fire. Feel free to bring goodies to share if you wish or just come prepared for the weather and enjoy.   We are limited to 30 attendees so please register soon at: agingpotential@me.com. The next Club Service Committee meeting will be on Wednesday, February 9, at 8:30 a.m. (new time) via Zoom. Contact Katherine for the link.

Ann Searles - The Membership Committee will meet next Monday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. on Zoom. We have lots to discuss and would welcome others who are interested in working on membership. Contact Ann to get the Zoom link.
 
Ann Searles delivered a Sunshine Report: “I had a great talk with Horton Kellogg. He is very excited that his 7th great-grandchild was born recently, and this one has the last name of Kellogg. He is Cooper Kellogg and Horton reports that he is very entertaining. Horton has been following the club by watching the recordings of our meetings. He is in intensive therapy five days a week. He uses a walker, but his legs are better. His early Parkinson's is also doing better with a different dosage of his medicine.
 
Albert Menard has gotten the go-ahead from his doctor to start physical therapy. This is good news to get his leg back to full functioning.
 
A conversation with Ira Graham found him about the same and he sent greetings to the club.
 
Sue Bova reported about the meeting of the International Service Committee. Thirteen committee members attended. They welcomed Patrick Mbullo back to our frigid Evanston community. The committee voted and approved the Right to be Free project for $2,000.  Our guest, Jose Lopez, joined to present a housing project in the Dominican Republic, his home country.  The group agreed to formally consider the project for $1,000 in partnership with the Kalamazoo, Mich., club.   Three new projects will be reviewed at our next meeting in February: Healthy Water, Healthy Place (shelter for migrant women and children), Tijuana, Mexico; Water for Life – Cisterns for women, Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico; and Girls Gearing Up – Leadership program for disadvantaged teenage girls (Malawi)
 
Program
 
Topic: Glasgow Climate Conference
 
Speaker: Rachel Rosner of Citizen’s Greener Evanston
 
Rachel Rosner is a program consultant for It’s Our Future in Oak Park and chairperson of the board of Citizens Greener Evanston, which works to make Evanston a more environmentally just, sustainable, and resilient community with a goal to accelerate climate action in Evanston and empower individuals, especially young people, to address the climate crisis.
 
She came to talk to us about the climate conference that she attended in Glasgow, COP 26. She also gave us an introduction to Lily Aaron and youth in Evanston who are becoming leading voices in the climate change movement.  Rachel is the mother of Bella Hubbard, the outbound youth exchange student.
 
The Paris climate agreement was written at a UN Climate Summit when leaders from 197 countries around the world met to try to solve this crisis we're in.
 
They took five youth, including her daughter Bella, three girls from Oak Park, and a boy from CPS.
 
Among lessons learned: We need to keep the average global temperature rise from increasing more than 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 Fahrenheit and need to aim for net zero emissions by mid-century 2015.
 
At the same time, we need to make sure that our communities and natural habitats are adapting and getting ready for change. The fact that we need this is because droughts and flooding are making it hard for us to grow food and keeping food affordable.
 
Rachel was part of a delegation from It's Our Future, which is a youth-driven climate justice organization that's historically been based in Oak Park, but it's expanding into Chicago and Evanston.
 
We need to support biodiversity in order to sustain life.
 
Major financial commitments, especially from developed nations, are needed to reach the goals we set and help the more impacted nations.
 
Nations need to work together to achieve these goals, including reducing emissions. It is estimated that $100 billion will be needed to address this problem.
 
Women are on the front lines of this movement as demonstrated by a group of women farmers from Zambia. Composting and eating plant rich diets are ways we can help.
 
There were more delegates from fossil fuel companies than any single country at the COP. These lobbyists and delegates impact policies. For example, the phase-out coal becomes phase-down coal. Our youth were able to hear from five members of the U.S. cabinet and John Kerry, Gina McCarthy, and Al Gore.
 
Deb Haaland, who's the first indigenous cabinet member of the U.S. as the Secretary of the Interior, was on a panel of indigenous leaders from around the wo.rld. Indigenous youth from around the world were active questioners.
 
We should encourage residents of Evanston to use resources in our own community like Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse and the Art Supply Thrift Store next to ERW. We should support Edible Evanston, Environmental Justice Evanston, and Natural Habitat Evanston, which bring together people of all economic levels and people of color who may be impacted disproportionately.
 
We should identify ways that our Rotary Club can support these efforts, Rachel concluded.
 
Guests and Milestones
 
Guests
 
Georgia Vlahos
 
Jose Lopez, who is moving from Michigan in 3 ½ months and is “shopping” for a Rotary Club to join.
 
Birthdays
 
Sam Lovering – February 1
 
Chris Joyce – February 2
 
Keith Sarpolis – February 5
 
Zbig Skiba – February 6
 
 
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