President Cynthia Plouché called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by the singing of “America the Beautiful” and the reciting of Rotary’s “Four Way Test”.

Cynthia asked the members whether the Club should hold a meeting on Monday February 15, given that it is President’s Day, a federal holiday. A majority of members present voted yes, and so it was decided that we will hold a meeting that day. 

 

For the February 15th meeting, in honor of President's Day, and to support Happy Dollars, members are asked to bring in pennies (President Lincolns) that you might have around your home. Jars welcome!

 

Len Tenner presented a Paul Harris pin to Gerry Brin in recognition of his contribution to the Rotary Foundation. He then followed up with an amusing presentation of a Paul Harris pin to himself in recognition of the same. These contributions to the Foundation are essential to sustaining and growing Rotary programs worldwide, and come back to our Club in forms of matching District and Global grants. Congratulations Gerry and Len!

Stacey O’Malley, Director of Development at Feeding America was the Club’s guest speaker. Feeding America began in 1979 as a clearinghouse for national food donations and is now the largest hunger relief organization in the United States, operating a network of 200 food banks across the country. According to a Feeding America study conducted in 2014, their network provides service to 46.5 million people in need each year, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. Through a network of 5800 food pantries, meal service programs, and other charitable food  programs, Feeding America reaches one in seven people in the country. The organization is focused not just on addressing hunger, but on eliminating food insecurity as an issue in working families as well. Stacey shared that 77% of food recipients are employed, and at a local level, 2 out of 3 recipients work in one of the 13 border counties surrounding Chicago and Cook County.

 

Because of Feeding America’s corporate partnerships with companies like Walmart, Kraft and others, and its scale and superior logistics, Stacey suggested that donations to Feeding America are a much more efficient way to combat hunger and food insecurity than donating food to the local food pantry or food bank directly. For example, each $1 donated, Feeding America provides 11 meals, with 98%+ of every dollar raised going directly to the people in need. She also addressed the ongoing focus on long term health, and the shift of food supply distributed from shelf stable commodities to fresh produce and other perishables, and the challenges this entails.

 

Those Rotarians that are interested in joining Feeding America’s efforts can do so in three ways: 1) join the organization as a volunteer 2) advocate to bring awareness  to hunger as an issue and 3) donate needed funds.