Grace Lehner, Director of Archives and Administration at the Evanston History Center, was our special guest via Zoom on June 11.  Grace shared a wealth of information about the Evanston History Center, with some highlights. The Center (originally the Evanston Historical Society) was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in the Charles G. Dawes House, 225 Greenwood Street, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. As a 501c3 organization, it does not receive funding from the city. Residents often visit the Evanston History Center to research homes and buildings, since records of all permits and other documents have been preserved since the 1890s. There are many categories of historic documents preserved by the History Center. The Sanborn maps are of particular interest for those researching the City of Evanston. The Center also received a grant to digitize content from the 1990s to the 2000s, converting VHS and other content to more stable media forms. Frank Foster, who was for many years a member of the club, was a major benefactor of the Center, and its reading room is named in his honor. It is worth a visit to the Center to learn about the past -- and for those who are creating history in Evanston today, consider bringing content to be preserved there! Many programs, events and lectures are offered throughout the year at the Center. For the latest updates, visit www.evanstonhistorycenter.org.
 

We were joined on May 28 by former Evanston City Council member Jane Grover, who is a Principal with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). We learned a wealth of information about CMAPs role in the allocation and prioritization of transportation funding and being organized to receive billions of dollars in federal funds to support transportation. There are 8.5 million residents in the Chicago Metropolitan region, which includes 284 municipalities. Two-thirds of Illinois residents live in our region. We have more than 20,000 miles of roads, traveled by 165 million vehicles per day, and our region is considered the “center of the universe” for national shipping, as half the nation's intermodal trains move through Chicago. Ms. Grover discussed CMAP's strategic visioning for the region, including transitioning transportation to a self-driving-vehicle model and encouraging pedestrian friendly communities, taking steps to help preserve and protect our water sources, dealing with climate change,  and balancing housing supply and demand. 

Andy Vass, Henry Fetta and Daniel Jariabka of the Hunger Resource Network joined us May 7 to share their insights about the issue and how their unique organization is helping feed those in need. The Network is an all-volunteer non-profit created 11 years ago and based in Northbrook. The Network started 20 years ago as a church effort to rescue unpurchased food from grocer Sunset Foods. Repurposing more than 50,000 pounds of food per year, they were able to help feed many Northbrook-area people in need. Their focus in recent years has been on supplying protein sources -- such as chicken -- for food pantries. 

 

Since then, the Network has reached out to other local non-profits and expanded significantly – now working with agencies in other communities, including Evanston. Partners include Hillside Pantry, St Mary’s, Hilda’s Kitchen, Ebenezer Soup Kitchen, Second Baptist Church, Connections for the homeless, and the Salvation Army.  They also rescue produce from the Evanston Farmers Market. To learn more, visit https://www.hungerresourcenetwork.org/.