By Tim Dempsey

 

President Schoeneman rang the bell, Dr Dave Potts gave the pledge and Dennis Kratohwil led us in a native American prayer. Doing double duty, Dennis directed us in the song: “That’s Amore”. Kratohwil doesn’t sound Italian to me!

 

-Diana Schnell from Equestrian Connections.

 

-Dr Tony Collins spent 4 days camping in Canada.

 

-Pat Hart was recognized for another successful Highway Cleanup. Tim Dempsey was recognized for Pumpkin Fest. Both received beautiful and collectible coffee mugs.

 

-Diana Schnell from Equestrian Connections received a check for $5000 to purchase an outdoor lift for participants in their program. The contribution came from our recent raffle.

 

-Wine sales are over $29k from our recent fundraisers.

 

Rotary introduces: “Polio Challenge”. Polio Plus began in 1985 with the goal of eliminating Polio Worldwide. Over $ 2 Billion has been contributed since then. There were 2 known cases of Polio in 2021. The Challenge asks us to contribute $100 per year for 5 years. Our own Jeff Harger will match our donations.

 

Rich Babjak had us “Guess the Rotarian”.

 

Today’s program was Dennis Burke giving us an update on United Way’s 211 Program. This program is a community partnership with United Way. 211 connects people with community services. United Way has 3 pillars in their strategy. Success by 6 is a program for preschool kids, Stay in School helps kids stay in school and UW is committed to creating safe stable families. 211 started in September 2019.

 

There are over 1000 social services in Lake County. There were over 50k contacts to 211 through June of this year from every zip code in the County. A caller calls 211 and a bilingual operator directs the caller to the needed service. They can also text their zip code to 298211. The 211-website has averaged 3000 hits per month. The service is available 24/7/365.

 

Caller’s race seems to be equally divided. Many people struggle. Think of 211 as an employee assistant plan. 12k calls translate to 18k needs. The top 3 requests are: help with housing, utilities and food. A 2-year review took place in September. Lake, McHenry and St Louis collar counties are the only participants in Illinois. Web site: 211lakecounty.org.

 

-Daily: $33.

-Progressive: $1128 with 16 cards. 7 of diamonds was drawn. ROLLOVER!

 

-Greeter & Prayer: John McDonald.

-Fun & Frolics & Bingo: Patricia Bleck.

-Program: Ann Moore from the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

 

Led by Dennis Kratohwil.

 

- “Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great” Niccolo Machiavelli