Written by Patrick Hart

                   

Today in deference to the threat of Coronavirus we held our first virtual meetings, with President Greg Hill presiding, Diana Taylor serving as our Zoom host, and John McDonald leading us in a prayer.

 

GUESTS: We were joined this week by Sam Martinez our district assistant governor.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Our winter fundraiser was held on March 13 after a significant portion of the state was shut down, and we experienced a lot of no shows. People were still able to bid on line though, no one asked for a refund on tickets, and we were able to donate the uneaten food to the fire department.  Our net profit was approximately $40,000.00, which was $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 below last year.

 

Our charitable giving banquet is canceled.  We are hoping to send out checks to the charities in early May, but the giving committee still has some decisions to make, especially in light of the health crisis, which has created a lot of unanticipated needs for charities.

 

The summer beer fest has a lot of unknowns to be worked out at this point.  Tom Zengeler and Rick Mittelman are heading up a committee to organize the event, and they are encouraging any member who is interested to step forward and join the committee.

 

The club sent out membership invoices last week, which included a $70.00 credit for meals at meetings, which have been cancelled.  Our president encourages everyone however to pay the $70.00 as a donation, which will be divided between Lambs Farm and the food pantry.

 

Our painting project at the American Legion has been postponed, but we are hoping to reschedule later.

 

The club has been asked to help with the Alzheimer walk on October 3.  We should have more details in the coming weeks.  

 

The Misericordia candy sale cannot be held this year because of the shutdown.  However, please read the email sent out by Rick Babjak asking for alternative contributions.

 

Thru our vocational avenue of service the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club will be awarding two vocational scholarships this year along with providing tool bags to IBEW apprentices.

 

Our fifth Wednesday event for April has been cancelled. 

 

David Potts announced that he is still seeing dental patients in emergency situations in the hope of not putting another burden on hospitals during this crisis.  He urges anyone who needs emergency dental work to call him.

 

Pat Schwartz gave us some updates on the non-profit community of Lake County.  ICU units at Lake County hospitals are full and some patients are being sent to other hospitals. The Northern Illinois food bank is short on supplies because certain surplus inventory that grocery stores normally donate to the food bank are being purchased by hoarders.  At the same time twice as many people as usual are visiting food pantries. Pat invites you to email him if you are looking for opportunities to make donations to or volunteer at community service organizations.  

 

Doug Fendon and Ron Lapin are working on our Monday evening golf this summer, although the starting date is indefinite at this point.

 

Patricia Bleck reminded everyone that our Facebook page is still up and is a good way to share news.

 

We had no Fun and Frolics this week.  I was surprised that Greg Hill did not find a way to fine people on line, but he is no doubt working on that for next week.

 

Our program this week was Steven Frusolone , who spoke to us on digital marketing.  Steve has fifteen years of experience in digital marketing, and he advises small businesses on the subject.  Most buying decisions are now made on line especially by younger individuals.  While seventy-five percent of people over forty still have confidence in referrals as a means of deciding who to do business with, seventy-five percent of people under forty no longer use referrals.

 

Digital marketing is thus very important to small businesses, and one must keep in mind that ninety percent of all internet activity starts with searches.  Thus the main goal is to make your business more likely to come up on searches, and there are numerous means to enhance your internet visibility. Diligent use of your website, blogging, Facebook and Linkedin can help achieve this goal.   In designing your website you must also make sure that it is readable on mobile devices and that it has the type of information that will respond to voice searches, since fifty percent of all searches are now done by voice.  It is also essential that every business claims its google listing, which is free.

 

Dennis Kratohwil was a bit agitated, when our president did not call for the usual song at the opening of our meeting.  After all he had come all the way from sunny Florida and an eighty-two degree temperature just to lead our musical efforts. However, Greg had just adjusted the time of our rendition, and today we sang right before we adjourned.  To be honest our first attempt to conduct this ritual over Zoom was a bit of a disaster; however, as a history buff I can vouch for the fact that when mankind reaches for high tech advancement in this world, there usually are a few bugs to be worked out, and knowing what a determined go-getter Mr. Kratohwil is, I am confident that we will see a vast improvement, when we again break out in a joyous melody next week.

 

We dispensed with the raffle today. I assume this is because raffle tickets might be a vehicle for spreading germs, and doing it on line would no doubt present another technical hurdle that we have not yet mastered.