BULLETIN - November 5, 2025
By Dennis Kratohwil
President Tom Gore rang the bell and we all rose to give the pledge led by Kim. Greeter Dennis Kratohwil, filling in for Larry Neal, gave the prayer and recognized the veterans present in honor of Veterans’ Day next Tuesday.
Song Meister Kratohwil also celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps coming up on the 10th by leading us in singing the Marine Corps Hymn.
Sergeant-At-Arms Howard Jaffe introduced our guests – Jeff Bobroff – and then ten West Point Vets, Court Harris, Doug Katz, Herman Bulls Jr., Kelly Hanahan, Mike Crane, Rick Cook, Ross Docksey, Tom Mangine, Ryan Kur, and Laurin Darnell. These guests all stood as announced and at the end exclaimed in unison “Go Army Beat Navy!”
President Tom explained our format – brags, fun & frolics, and “The Wheel” to our guests and barely escaped being wheeled for taking too long.
BRAGS:
Kyle McCarthy first lauded his 12-year-old son’s football team for beating Cary last week and is now going to play Huntley, and that his involvement with the Libertyville High School mock interview made him proud of the students he interviewed, who were organized planned out and active in sports and activities.
Elliott Pinsel celebrated that his oldest son got married this past weekend and fellow Rotarian, Marco attended for moral support.
Steve Risley bragged that he was going to attend an Honor Flight luncheon today which was primarily for recruiting participation in this great program.
Robin O’Connor bragged that she was encouraged by the high school interviews and recognition of our club’s participation, and that instead of the usual Pumpkin Fest free pumpkin handout as in prior years, this year over 100 families benefited from trick or treat handouts at Main Street’s event. Finally, the Interact Club ran the Power of the Purse event for young women.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Elliot also had the last of the ornaments available and he will be picking up the gifts with the ornaments attached at the December 3rd social event.
Jeff Harger requested Thanksgiving and Christmas food basket contributions. The baskets are $68 each and 50 or more are needed for each holiday. Give checks made out to our foundation to Jeff or Howard.
Jeff also related that the Hurricane Melissa devastation in Jamaica left many people homeless and that over 5,000 Shelter Boxes have been delivered. Give checks made out to ShelterBox USA to Jeff.
President Tom had us pass around the Waukegan To College and A Safe Place fundraiser events’ program booklets in which our club is recognized as a sponsor. Also, that GiveNKind, which takes overstock items from stores et cetera and distributes them to those in need can use volunteers for the holidays. Here is more information and contacts:
We are seeing a heavy increase in orders and goods coming in our door as the holidays are upon us and the community need is heightened. To meet the need and our desire to move more product out so more can come in. Rather than organizing a group, we are looking to increase the number of volunteers we have during our regular volunteer hours this holiday season. Volunteer sessions are available on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at GiveNKind (1000 Asbury Dr., Suite 5, Buffalo Grove). Sign up here: www.givenkind.org/volunteer
FUN and FROLICS:
Carol August delivered an abridged-for-time version of a quiz on animal name linguistics.
PROGRAM:
Dave Westlake announced speaker Dean Wegner. They were friends at West Point where they played on the hockey team together. Dean, who is a Rotarian, served seven years of active duty in the Army Rangers as a helicopter pilot. In 2017 he founded Authentically American® to help bring manufacturing jobs back to America by selling premium, competitively priced, apparel that is ALL Made in USA, no exceptions.
This past August he and his wife Kelly celebrated their first 31 st wedding anniversary.
They have four children with their youngest, a now, 15-year-old son adopted from Ethiopia. Kelly and he were watching a program where it was cited there were 150 million orphans in the world and he and Kelly talked and prayed about it and decided to adopt a child.
Dean titled his talk “Sing Second” which derives from the largest attended and most significant rivalry in football Army - Navy.
After the game each year, both teams gather to sing their alma maters. The losing team sings first, and the winning team stands with them and sings their own song second. The winning team sings their alma mater second as a sign of respect, honor, and dignity for the losing team.
Dean illustrated these key points with powerful anecdotes.
You can Sing Second in Life, When you …
1. Make your faith and family a priority!
2. Establish a clear and impactful mission and meaningful values!
3. Begin with ‘Why’ and create a higher sense of purpose!
4. Have a ‘Ranger Buddy’ to tackle life's most difficult challenges with you!
5. Find something you truly love and pursue your passion!
6. Strive to make a difference and serve others!
7. Establish your ‘niche’ and know whom you are going to serve!
8. Deliver a superior product and customer service experience!
9. Have a tireless work ethic!
