• The technical term for prisoner is offender
• 95% of offenders will be released, but 43% will be reincarcerated.  Of those reincarcerated, 19% will be convicted of a new crime, and the remainder will be sent back on a technicality.
• The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world.  In Illinois we currently have 40,000 inmates.
• In Illinois, inmates must have someone claim their clothes and possessions within 30 days of incarceration or they will be thrown out.  As a result most offenders are released in grey sweats with canvas shoes and $ 10.  
• The prison population is disproportionately minority and poor.

• Don’t forget that there is no meeting next week.  Instead of our regular lunch meeting, we will be meeting at Peggy Kinane’s from 6-8 pm for our “First Thursday” social networking.  Registration is required.  If you have not yet registered, you can sign up by clicking here.
• The club is exploring ways that our club can financially assist victims of the recent River Trails fire in Prospect Heights both through the District and directly as a club.  For those wishing to provide hands on assistance, here are two opportunities to help sort and stock shelves with clothing and other items that have been donated:
  • Ruffalo’s Grocery at the corner of Palatine Rd. and Milwaukee.  Friday, July 28 10:00 am
  • River Trails Condo Association Building, 811 Apple Dr, Lower Level,  Prospect Heights,  Friday July 28 9am- 9pm.
• The Chicagoland Korean Club will be celebrating their 10^th Anniversary with an evening of traditional Korean entertainment to be held at Christian Heritage Academy, Northfield. The reception will start at 4:00 PM with a light meal of  Korean cuisine followed by the performance at 6:00 PM.  One of their sponsors has made it  possible to offer special discounted tickets for all Rotarians to promote  Korean music and dance.  ($10 for the performance, $30 for the performance and reception).  If you are interested in attending, please contact John Kim Johnkim797@yahoo.com.
• Volunteers and foursomes are still needed for the golf outing on September 13.   There will not be a regular meeting that day due to the golf outing, so if you are not a golfer, please plan to volunteer.  See Brian Meyer for more information.

On July 19, 2018 the speaker at our Rotary club lunch meeting with Beth Mosher, the Director of Public Affairs for AAA Auto Club.  AAA was founded in 1902 and now consists of 30 affiliated clubs across the US.  AAA has 58 million members, which is 25% of all drivers, and is the largest paid membership organization and United States.  AAA is involved in insurance, banking, travel planning, discount and rewards programs, driver education, and traffic safety.

The AAA traffic safety foundation focuses on driving and traffic safety for kids, teens, and seniors.  The kids program includes a focus on car seat installation and safety, the school safety patrol program, bicycle and helmet safety and the new bike repair program.  The foundation’s senior program focuses on keeping seniors on the road as long as safely possible, and the CarFit program that familiarizes seniors with the updated technology and basic equipment of cars.

The foundation’s teen program includes significant research regarding distracted driving, which has revealed several levels of “mental distractions”.  Mild distractions include the car radio and audiobooks, and moderate distractions include talking on mobile phones. The most dangerous distractions include the use of voice activated texting systems.  The foundation’s research has shown that these voice activated systems create, rather than cure, safety problems primarily because of the cognitive distraction that occurs when using the systems.  AAA works with automobile manufacturers to make the systems safer.  Teens are the most at risk group, and the foundation’s research shows that the biggest distraction among teens isn’t a teen drivers use of a mobile phone while driving, but rather the presence of other teens in the car.

More information can be found at https://www.aaa.com. 

• Do you know a Rotarian, (or non-Rotarian) who you would like to recognize at this year’s Installation Dinner?  Time is running out to submit your recommendation.   President Jim Thomson is accepting forms until next Tuesday’s Board meeting.  Click here to download a form.
• THERE WILL BE NO MEETING ON THURSDAY, JUNE 14.  Instead new officers and directors will be sworn in at the Installation Dinner on Saturday, June 16.  Registration for the Installation Dinner closes at noon on Friday, June 8.   If you’re reading this after June 8, please note there will be no accommodations for late registrations or walk-ins.
• Mary Kendall is looking for volunteers to teach financial literacy to elementary students on June 26 from 9am- 12pm.   She will provide training for the volunteers.  If you’re interested in volunteering or learning more, please contact Mary.
• The Elk Grove Rotary Fest is next  week.  They can use volunteers as well as guests.

The speakers at our May 31, 2018 Rotary lunch were Mike Kerley of Road Home, the Care Center for Veterans and their Families at Rush University Medical Center, and Danny C., a veteran and participant in Road Home programs.  Mike is the Road Home outreach manager and described how service members have been impacted by the invisible wounds of war. Since 9/11, over 2 million service members have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 850,000 of those deployed have been deployed at least twice; 31% of those deployed suffer from PTSD or a similar war-induced mental health issue.  As many as 20 veterans per day commit suicide, and between 2005-2009 an active duty service member committed suicide every 36 hours.  The goal of Road Home is to provide the necessary care to service members and their families to heal the invisible wounds of war and reduce these statistics.  One of the major programs of Road Home is the intensive outpatient program (IOP), which is a three-week in patient program that includes a holistic approach (including yoga and nutrition), individual therapy, and group therapy.  The final week of IOP involves the participation of family members that will have the biggest impact on the participant’s healthy recovery.

Danny C. delivered an emotional message about Road Home that left us all speechless.  He spoke of his combat experiences in Afghanistan and how those experiences have resulted in significant post dramatic stress disorder for him.  In short, Danny’s life and relationships were destroyed as a result of his experiences in Afghanistan, and he has found that only Road Home allowed him to be able to start to recover.  In Danny’s words, Road Home “saved his life.”  Especially helpful to Danny was the education he received at Road Home about his symptoms from people who really cared, and even the fact that the Road Home chaplain is ex-special forces.  Rotary members can help Road Home by completing IOP participant welcome bags (we stuffed 100 bags after lunch), volunteering for IOP outings, donating funds to host dinners at the IOP guest house, and donating tickets to area sporting and cultural events.  For more information, see https://roadhomeprogram.org/