President elect Greg Hill presided at our meeting today and opened with a pledge and a prayer but no song.

 

BRAGS:

 

Jon Robb informed us that his wife is getting out of the hospital and appears to be recovering.

 

Doug Fendon mentioned that he had just talked to Scott Hezner who is recovering well from his knee replacement.

 

Bill Rickert bragged that he had just read Steve Magnusen’s book about the Civil War and found it very exciting.

 

And speaking of knee replacements Teri Dreher had one done in November and is having the other one done in April.  She is also becoming grant chairperson for the district, which will once again bring us a district officer in our midst.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

 

March 1 is our winter fundraiser.  We need people to sell tickets and bring auction items.

 

Scott Hezner urges everyone to return the club survey which he sent out.

 

There will be no morning meeting on January 30.  Instead we will have an evening gathering at North Shore Sports Club for target shooting.  See Rick Mittelman’s email for details.

 

 

Bill Rickert brought a game today he called Rotary Chaos, where everyone stood up, and threw cards in a bucket after doing stupid things.  It took him about a half hour to explain and about two minutes to play.  I never did understand what was going on, but people seemed to like it.

 

 

Today we welcomed Polly Grover as a new member of our club.  Ms. Grover is a vice president of Libertyville Bank & Trust.  Her husband has been a Rotarian for over thirty years, including stints as club president and assistant district governor.  She has two adult daughters.

 

 

Our speaker this week was Michelle Lussmann who oversees volunteers at Home of the Sparrow.  Home of the Sparrow has been in existence for thirty-two years, and it provides support and basic necessities for homeless women and children in Northern Illinois.  It has over 1,000 volunteers.  They maintain a shelter in McHenry County which can provide temporary living quarters to 40 people.  The shelter serves individuals in need across a wide area, and they assisted 57 residents of Lake County last year.

 

Home of the Sparrow also attempts to help their clients seek employment and they do a lot of networking toward this goal. The obstacles the women face in finding jobs include obtaining transportation to work, since the shelter is in an area without a lot of available public transportation, and securing day care for their children.  Home of the Sparrow does subsidize child care expenses for some of their clients just starting to work.

 

 

 

I was unable to stay for the Raffle, because my neighbor broke both arms and needed me to come walk her dog.  However, since I heard no screams of ecstasy as I drove up Saint Mary’s Road, I assume no one won the big pot.

 

 

Greeter and Prayer: Diana Taylor

 

Fun and Frolics and Bingo: Sam Rinella

 

Program: Mike Gattone, USA Weightlifting

 

 

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”     Benjamin Franklin