Written by Patrick Hart

                   

President Tom Zengeler opened the meeting with a pledge and a prayer.

 

 

Tom Zengeler bragged that our winter fundraiser had raised almost $80,000.00 for charity including $34,000.00 for Mother’s Trust.

 

Jeff Harger bragged that this week marked thirty years for him as a member of the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club.

 

Ron Lapin reported that he has now been in business for eighteen years, and that the Illini are doing great, having just beaten Michigan. 

 

I need to apologize, because someone bragged about marrying off a daughter, but from my seat in the Zoomer Gallery, I failed to identify who it was.  Congratulations though to the lucky father of the bride.  Having married off three daughters, I know what a joyous and traumatic experience that can be.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The club will hold a board meeting on March 9 at 5:00 p.m. by Zoom.

 

Thanks to everyone one who supported the Fundraiser. Special kudos go to Diana Taylor for engineering Zoom, to Patricia Bleck for managing social media, to Tom Miller for handling the money, to Steve Risley for storing auction items, to Howard Jaffe for arranging restaurant meals, to Tucker Olsson and Doug Fendon for MCing the auction.  (my Word spell checker says MCing is not a word, but the internet says it is.)

 

Ron Lapins says the club golf league will start again sometime in April.

 

 

 

Jon Robb went into surgery the morning of our meeting. An updated report states he made it through the procedure and the pump is working.

 

Service Partners of Lake County is having a virtual beer tasting fund raising event on March 15.  Look for email from Diana Taylor for information how you can participate.

 

 

 

 

Jeff Harger told us that he was one of three members who joined the club in 1991, and that the United States eradicated polio in 1994.

 

 

Our speaker this week was Michael Bates from Youth and Family Counseling.  Youth and Family Counseling had been in operation for fifty-nine years, and the organization provides affordable mental health care.  They have 14 counselors and an annual budget of $1,686,000.00.  They receive 50% of their income from fees and 50% of their income from philanthropy, including donations of $22,000.00 from the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary over the last decade. Youth and Family Services had to cancel their two major fundraisers in 2020 though.

 

2020 was a very challenging year for the health care provider.  With the pandemic mental health awareness and demand for their services skyrocketed.  They conducted 11,000 therapy sessions last year, sixty percent of which were teletherapy.  Mental health providers were largely forced to switch to teletherapy in 2020 because of the Coronavirus.  Based on the feedback he has seen, Mr. Bates believes that teletherapy has proven quite satisfactory to those who have used it, and he suspects that it will remain quite popular even after it is no longer a health necessity.      

 

The mental health costs of Coronavirus have been particularly harsh on young people.  High school students have seen large aspects of their lives cancelled with the curtailment of live classrooms, extra-curricular activities, sports, and social events.  Among 18 to 24-year-olds 62% have reported increased depression, and 25% have considered suicide.

 

Youth and Family Counseling is now in the experimental stage of a new service for 14 to 22-year-olds called YFC Thrive.  YFC Thrive enables young people to go to an app on their phones when they need support.  It is not traditional therapy or teletherapy, but it provides some help in times of stress and anxiety. 

 

Tim Dempsey won the $30.00 weekly prize, while Scott Adams failed to win the $170.00 progressive pot, when he drew the four of spades.

 

Greeter and Prayer:  Jim Hessenthaler

 

Fun and Frolics and Bingo: Pat Hart