Written by Patrick Hart

 

President Rich Schoeneman led this morning’s meeting, and we started off with a pledge, a prayer, but no song.

 

Rob Likus bragged that he just had a son born, a fine lad named Christopher.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Our plans for a holiday party have undergone some changes from last week.  We are now planning to gather at Nirvana on Tuesday evening, December 7. 

 

A final report on our wine tasting event showed that we netted just under $25,000.00.

 

Doug Fendon requested that everyone send him a picture of himself with a celebrity, so that he can use it with his November 17 Fun & Frolics.

 

Donations are still being accepted for the Rotary end polio campaign.

 

Elliot Pinsel passed out ornaments today for his annual holiday gift drive, which he uses to purchase gifts for residents of several institutions which serve the less fortunate.  Covid has made it more difficult to solicit donors this year, and he has scaled down the number of ornaments he is distributing from five hundred to four hundred.  He is hoping to pick up any gifts which club members contribute at our December 1 morning meeting.

 

The club will again be soliciting contributions to help the Libertyville Township food pantry purchase holiday meals for the hungry.  Details should be coming shortly.

 

Bob Zamor attended the Rotary Summit Training on October 23.

 

This week the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club held its first annual, or maybe its once in a century Crazy Hat Day.  I do not think anyone has figured this point out yet.  Anyway all our members wore colorful creative hats to breakfast on Wednesday, except for a few stick in the mud types, who do not know how to have a good time, and these individuals were appropriately wheeled for their grumpiness.  By popular vote the winner of the Crazy Hat Contest was Tom Gore with his pirate/buccaneer headpiece.  

 

For Fun & Frolics Tony Collins organized a game which was a combination of musical chairs and flip the plastic cup.  I was bitter when I was the first person eliminated, but having had a little time to cool down, I am acknowledging that it was fun.

 

Our speaker this week was A.J. Voth, a member of the Saint Charles morning Rotary Club.

 

Mr. Voth is helping with a project by Engineers in Action (EIA), a 501c3 organization, which is attempting to improve sanitary facilities at schools in the Guangaje area in Ecuador.  He is working on a $70,000.00 Rotary grant to help support this program.  Guangaje is in the Coastal Highlands of Ecuador, and it occupies approximately 50 square miles. The area has 34 communities and approximately 24 schools. The EIA project is beginning with the three largest of these schools.

 

Worldwide approximately two and a half billion people lack access to either adequate clean water or adequate sanitation facilities, and as Mr. Voth pointed out as an illustration of the problem, there are more people on earth who own cell phones than who own toilets.

 

Guangaje is an underdeveloped area, where 94% of the population lives in extreme poverty and 40% are illiterate.  Since 2012 the authorities have been conducting a push to increase the number of children attending school, which has been very successful.  However, a challenge that accompanies this educational progress is that the school buildings do not have adequate wash facilities to accommodate the larger number of children. The EIA is attempting to put more toilets, hand washing stations, and other sanitary accessories in the schools, and they are working with local institutions to promote hygiene education.

 

This week we had $34.00 in our weekly pot, and $1,194.00 for the progressive prize with fourteen cards left.  Robin O’Conner took a chance on winning the big bucks, but she only managed to draw the four of clubs, forcing her to put her dreams of new found wealth on hold for at least another week.  Then Danny Caldwell quietly won the weekly drawing.

 

Greeter and Prayer:  John McDonald

 

Fun and Frolics and Bingo: Tim Dempsey

 

QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

"The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion."  Thomas Paine