BULLETIN – April 15, 2026
By Bob Zamor
President Tom Gore rang the meeting to order, and Tom Zengeler led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Greeter Doug Fendon (filling in for Mary Cole) led us in prayer and only the “sound of crickets” was heard when a volunteer was sought to lead us in song. There is a rumor that Song Meister Dennis Kratowhil will be returning May 5th!
BRAGS:
-Bill Taranowski and Scott Hezner bragged about attending the LHS Scholarship Award Ceremony last week where our Club distributed 6 scholarships!
-Doug Fendon bragged about his last 6-month vacation in Scottsdale with sojourns to Las Vegas and golfing in the Caribbean. So exhausting was this reprieve from Chicagoland winters that Doug will be leaving shortly for another vacation to Southern Africa!!!!
SPECIAL EVENT:
This morning, the Club inducted a new member: Courtney Hoffmann. Courtney has regularly attended our meetings for some time now, and still has chosen to join our ragged band ;). Sponsored by Tim Dempsey, Courtney works as the Development Manager at the Youth Conservation Corp in Waukegan. She lives in Libertyville with her husband Kevin and two daughters. Courtney gets personal satisfaction in helping others and we are glad that she has joined us!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-Happi Datt announced that the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff RC will be sponsoring 13 Rotarians from Sri Lanka over the Memorial Day Weekend.
Jon Robb announced that there will be a 5th Wednesday Fellowship this April 29th!
Ron Lapins reminded members that the Four Way Testers Golf league is starting soon.
FUN & FROLICS: President Gore (filling in for Kyle McCartney) challenged us to a word scramble game using Rotary-related words.
PROGRAM: When our scheduled speaker was a no-show, it gave Howard Jaffe full reign to give us a complete report on our recent fundraiser. He reported….
“Simply put, we set a record for our club in both gross and net revenue. However, let me share a few more details.
Revenue that we include is of course the event itself, which includes ticket sales, silent auction and the 50/50 raffle.
Also included are the net proceeds from our sponsor program and donations that our Club Donation actually receives.
First, our net sponsor program set a record for the highest total ever, with gross and net revenue of $82,000 and $77,500 respectively. We had a net 1 increase in the number of sponsors. This is a vital part of our fundraising and we do need everyone’s help in identifying and securing new sponsors. This is an important effort during the last 4 months of the year.
We also received over $27,000 in donations to the Club's Foundation. It is great that many look at our Club Foundation and how we administer it, as worthy of contributing. We also staged a Giving Tuesday campaign after Thanksgiving that brought in over $8,500 in contributions.
The event went great. We sold 609 tickets and 657 people (including the balcony) saw the show. Ticket revenue increased over 15% from last year. The silent auction set a net record proceeds exceeding $32,000 for the first time ever. The Club did a great job in meeting the goals Rich Schoeneman established for the auction, and thanks to the club members contributing or facilitating over 130 silent auction items (not consignment), the results speak for themself. The 50/50 raffle ticket sales were up over 20% and along with former Rotarian and Raffle winner, Marty Neal's generously donating back part of his proceeds, net raffle results exceeded $5,300
In total, fundraising revenue exceeded $211,000; smashing our highest previously total over $184,000.
Our net after expenses exceeded $170,000 breaking our previous largest total ever $154,000.
What this means is our charitable giving's committee will have that much more in support of all the organizations we fund.
It’s amazing to me, and I'm sure to you that in our 4 years of our Second City event, we have generated over $733,000 in total revenue and netted (and give away as support) over $594,000 in these four years. Our Club is making a huge difference, not only in financial support, our reputation in the community, and now staging what is becoming quite a community event - partnered with local restaurants and an after party all enjoy.
Everyone is our club can be proud of all we do, and your support and involvement makes this all possible.
I want to thank the committee of Tom Miller, Rich Schoeneman, Kim Smith, Jon Robb and Tom Gore for making this all happen. For all those who volunteered on event day or at our ticket distribution events, those who put up posters, those who emailed and help market, those who brought in silent auction items, those who attended the event, those who bought raffle tickets and silent auction items, those who introduced sponsors or contributed to our club foundation..........thank you to all. I'm quite certain that covers each one of you.
Finally, if you know a NEW organization that would benefit from our club’s support, now is the time to let either Steve Risley or myself aware - so we can get them our application for giving and our guidelines (also on the club website) in advance of our allocation of this year’s proceeds.
RAFFLE:
-Daily: $37 won by Tucker Olson
-Progressive: With over $1,110 and 21 cards, Doug Fendon, with coaching help from Scott Hezner, chose the 8 of Clubs!! ROLLOVER!
NEXT WEEK:
-Greeter and Prayer: Hank Clemmensen
-Fun & Frolics: John McDonald
-Program: Shane Schneider from Lake County Transportation
FOUR WAY TEST: led by Tucker Olson
QUOTE FOR THE DAY: “I’d be willing to bet, if I was a betting man, that I never bet on baseball” Pete Rose“
