Written by Patrick Hart

President Greg Hill presided at the meeting and Dennis Kratohwil, who was eager to celebrate recent birthdays for folks like Ron Lapins, Larry Neal, and Patricia Bleck led us in humming the Beatles version.

 

BRAGS:

 

Greg Hill bragged about what a great season it had been for the club’s weekly golf outings.

 

Carol August bragged that her second great nephew had been born.

 

Patricia Bleck told us that her house had been struck by lightning in our recent storms.

.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

Wine purchased at the North Shore Wine, Beer, Cigar & Food Festival may be picked up on at Main Street Social.

 

John McDonald said that he was missing a copy of the book “First Wave” which he apparently left at a previous meeting, and he requests that if anyone knows anything about it they should contact him.

 

A Rotary training Summit will be held on October 29 at Harper College, enabling members to obtain information on such topics as membership, public image, and Club Runner.

 

Tony Collins has launched a determined campaign to clean out our closet, and he found a huge supply Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Caps which are available for members who are interested.

 

 

Since it was Ron Lapins birthday, he presided over one of his favorite birthday party games, Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I guess the donkey won, because everyone else had to pay three dollars.

 

 

 

Our speaker this week was Megan Van Treeck who related her story of career transition and personal growth.

 

Ms. Van Treeck studied to be a graphic designer and worked at several jobs, before spending twenty-two years running her own business, the Irish Connoisseur in Glenview.  The store sold collectibles, and Megan found great satisfaction in working in the shop.  However, the collectible business declined, and she had to close the operation at the end of 2017.

The trauma of suddenly being unemployed with little idea of what came next was difficult for Megan.  It took her a couple of weeks to work up the energy to go to her first interview, and she broke down after the session.   

 

Megan realized that she was in a state of grieving, and she mentioned reading the book “Make Your Bed” in an effort to help understand what she was going through.  The title was based on the premise that you should always make your bed, so that you can feel that every day you have accomplished at least one thing, and in the evening, when she and her husband discussed what they had done that day, she frequently found herself mentioning that she had made her bed. 

 

She decided that she had to start meeting more people, if she was going to find a path forward, and she held about seventy coffees in the year 2018.  She found a lot of encouragement from the support that other people gave her, and she mentioned in particular members of the Chamber of Commerce in Glenview, whom she had gotten to know during her years in business there.

 

In her soul searching Megan realized that she loved customer service, and she was very impressed with the people she met at Northwestern University, who in 2019 offered her a position as a customer service representative.  She loves the new job and she has told herself that in this position, she will be a player, not just a participant.   

 

 

 

Tom Zengeler won the $24.00 weekly drawing, but Bill Rickert failed to win the progressive pot of $301.00 when he pulled the King of Spades.  Our sergeant at arms then announced a special extra drawing for a cook book he found while cleaning the closet.  Tom Zengeler also won the cook book.  So let us all hope that Mr. Zengeler will spend his $24.00 windfall to buy ingredients and will fix us all something very special for breakfast next week.

 

NEXT WEEK:

 

Fun & Frolics and Bingo– John McDonald

 

Greeter & Prayer – Doug Fendon

 

 

 

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” John Wooden