Written by Patrick Hart

 

With the twilight descending on his peaceful and prosperous reign, President Rich Schoeneman presided over this week’s meeting, and we opened with a pledge, a prayer, and a singing of an original Dennis Kratohwil song, called “Happy Father’s Day” to the tune of “Happy Birthday”.   Speaking as a father, who has had many birthdays, I found it a highly emotional moment.

 

Bill Taranowski bragged that his son just completed a year as senior patrol leader for his Boy Scout troop.

 

John Blair talked about his trips to San Francisco where he saw the Rosie the Riveter Exhibit and a lot of cool golf courses.

 

Howard Jaffe bragged over his trip to northern New Jersey, where he watched his grandson graduate from 8^th grade.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

This week club members John Blair and Greg Hill both celebrated their Rotary eighth anniversaries.  I do not remember receiving invitations to either of their parties, but I understand how they probably did not have room to invite everyone.

 

We also took a moment this week to honor all fathers in the room.

 

Lyle Staab, our past district governor, visited us by Zoom this week and updated us on the February World Wide Rotary golf outing to raise money for Polio.  Because of our geographical limitations, our district could only play simulated golf that month, but we participated with great enthusiasm, and our club produced the winning team for the district.

Howard Jaffe reminded us that the Rotary Foundation year is about to end and urged people to contribute before then.

 

Our Best Fun & Frolics contest ended this week and you are requested to quickly cast your ballots, so we can move forward with the selection of a winner.

 

The installation dinner will be next Wednesday evening at Tom Zengeler’s house, beginning at 5:00 p.m.  There will be no morning meeting next week.

 

Installation golf will be on Thursday, June 30.  Contact Doug Fendon, if you wish to sign up.

 

This week the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club had the privilege of inducting two new members:  Mary Cole sponsored by Elliot Pinsel and Jim Curtis sponsored by Richard Schoeneman.

 

Mary Cole is a lawyer, and she grew up in Deerfield.  Mary has spent most of her career with public service organizations, but last year she went into private practice.  She is joining Rotary because she believes the organization will help her become more engaged with the community.

 

James Curtis is recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry, and he and his wife have lived in Libertyville for thirty years. They are now empty nesters.  James has a long history of volunteering for charitable organizations, and one of the features that attracts him to Rotary is that like him our club is a big supporter of food pantries and PADS.    

 

Bill Taranowski tested our dexterity skills with a challenge to pile as many nails as possible on top of a single base nail.  This test is very popular with Boy Scout troops, some of whose members apparently do very well.  Watching most of my peers in the room trying to compete though, I could not help thinking that we should probably give up any fantasies that we would make great Boy Scouts and concentrate on being good Rotarians.

 

Today we presented checks to  several charities who were beneficiaries of our fundraising efforts.

 

The recipients were:

 

The Adler Art Center.  The  mission of this organization is to bring art to the community through preservation and education.  The center is currently conducting a summer art camp.

 

Lake County Children Advocacy.  This group strives to help abused children and works closely with other agencies involved with this crisis such as the Lake County Sheriff and the DCFS.  Among the services they provide are individual and group counseling sessions and the provision of  food and clothing to the families of the victims.

 

Super Jake Foundation, whose mission is to provide assistance to people suffering from certain forms of  pediatric cancer and to help fund research in the field

 

Youth Conservation Corps.  The Youth Conservation Corps works with Lake County youth and has a summer program that hires young people to do projects with the forest preserve.  It also runs a youth build program which has enabled many disadvantaged young people to learn construction trades. 

 

 

Mothers Trust.  This organization makes grants to help children acquire certain advantages that they might not otherwise have access to.  Right now they are making numerous grants to enable children to attend summer camps.

 

GIGI’s Playhouse, which assists people suffering from Down’s Syndrome

  

Samaritan Counseling Center of Northwest Suburbs, which offers psychological counseling.

 

Art Impact Project.  The project provides therapeutic art programing, and among other recipients they administer services at schools, at the Lake County Jail, and at veterans organizations.  They are very busy with the increase in mental health challenges triggered by the pandemic.

 

Allen J Lynch Medal of Honor Foundation.  The foundation helps veterans with financial problems.

 

Youth and Family Counseling. Youth and Family Counseling provides mental health counseling for individuals who might not otherwise be able to afford it, and demand for their services has also boomed with the pandemic.

 

Blue Star Recycling. Blue Star Recycling has two missions; recycling electronics to help save the environment and providing jobs for the disabled.

 

John McDonald took another trip to the wheel this week for failing to take home his microphone last week.  Personally, after looking at the microphone, I could see how one might “forget” to claim this ”prize,” but our usual blood thirsty crowd was not in the mood for showing mercy.

 

This week we had $27.00 in our weekly drawing, and with its continued growth, our progressive pot reached $523.00. Jon Robb chose the safe money when his ticket came up first, and no doubt secretly smiled in appreciation of the wisdom he had shown, when Doug Fendon pulled the three of Diamonds and blew his chance for the big bucks.

 

No morning meeting next week.  Installation dinner will be held at Tom Zengeler’s house on Wednesday morning.

 

QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

“BEING A GREAT FATHER IS LIKE SHAVING. NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU SHAVED TODAY, YOU HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN TOMORROW.” — REED MARKHAM