Steve Hollis, President, announced:

We had 38 participants at the high point during our Zoom meeting, GREAT!

Steve read off the month’s birthdays.

Alexis Portugal will be inducted into BBRC at the next meeting April 30.

Our May 21 meeting will have Rotary International President Mark Maloney (with his wife Gay); he will be our Guest Speaker.

Our BBRC meeting May 14 will take place at 6:30 pm to accommodate our guest speaker, Debbie Vance, from Ucluelet, British Columbia, Canada.

Club Announcements:    

• Margaret Debska spoke about a Rahab’s Daughters virtual event tomorrow evening: Family Trivia Night, Friday, April 24^th. A perfect opportunity to do something new with your family during quarantine. Tickets are available on Eventbrite for only $25 per household!
• Pat Hogan mentioned the Barrington Area Community Foundation online presentation May 5 at 10:30AM, the speaker will be Chris Voss, author of Never Split the Difference. Let Pat know if you want to register for one of 25 slots we have.
• Suzanne Gibson read from an Award Plaque to be given to Kris Young for Chairing the District Conference Committee for the last two years, GREAT JOB KRIS.
• Trudy Wehren updated us on the Stop the Bleed initiative, its history and current status. During the campaign to raise money for the STB kits, it was decided to add a backpack of emergency supplies to accompany the kits in all classrooms and other related areas. The Committee, under Trudy’s leadership, applied for a Grant from the Barrington Area Community Foundation (BACF) to cover the additional costs. After submitting the Grant proposal and taking part in subsequent interviews with campaign participants/sponsors, the BACF awarded the 220 School District with a check for $23,000 which will cover all of the costs for the kits and the backpacks.  Well done and congratulations to Trudy, Craig Winkelman, and the whole team. BRAVO!!!

Speaker Presentation:  

Sean Nelson, District 6440 RYLA Conference Chair since 2012
 
District 6440 has the second largest RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program in the U.S.  Sean talked about the history of the program and how it moved from almost being discontinued to where it is today. He also mentioned the important contributions of Rick Metzger to the success of the Program.  He talked about how intelligent the participants/HS students were and that to keep up they made the focus of the program on the participants and what they wanted and needed. Over the last 18 years they improved the quality of the speakers and listened to the student feedback as to whether a speaker would be invited back.
Chris Norton has been their final speaker for many years.  Chris is a nationally recognized motivational speaker, author, and the students give him rave reviews every year.
The program overall gets great ratings every year.
What has RYLA done for the District? Sean asked this question and then answered it.  He said that Interact Clubs in our District have grown from a few to 42 demonstrating an interest and benefit to students who want to give back and work on personal growth and leadership skills.  He said that Rotary is becoming more relevant and cooler to young people; they are volunteering more including international service trips as well as community activities. Some are getting involved with raising much needed funds for schools. The participants are realizing that everyone can have an impact and can be a leader in some way.
Sean mentioned that the next scheduled RYLA sessions are November 2020 (maybe), and March and April 2021.  He encouraged everyone to visit during the events.

Brag Bucks:

Steve Hollis recognized Trudy Wehren for work she did on the STB campaign.

Next Meeting: