Rotarian Rick Rosenfeld is Proof of “Service Above Self”
Come Thank Him on Tuesday
Last year Rick Rosenfeld, a Glenview Rotarian, helped our club’s John Cavanaugh redirect our Coat Off Your Back drive to support the Afghan refugees coming to the Chicagoland area. We had a gift from the Village in the Illumination Night where an additional 300 plus coats were collected. Now three months later there are still coats being redirected. They have found their way to local Afghan refugees, shipped to Ukraine and now to WINGS. Rick has kept us informed all along his effort and we appreciate it! Below is a “journal” of his pivots.
March 3rd
There is a massive clothing drive this weekend in Carol Stream. There will be a cargo container being shipped to Poland next week for early April arrival for Ukraine refugees. We plan to reroute all the coats we just picked up from the Park District two weeks ago and take them to Carol Stream for onward shipping to the Ukrainians. We also will send a portion of the spring/fall coats that were collected in November/December that we were holding for Afghan refugees until spring. There will be more than enough remaining for the local refugees here.
March 6th
Today, seven volunteers in five packed-to-the-gills SUVs departed Holy Cross in Deerfield for Carol Stream where Give Back Box was collecting this weekend. The SUVs contained all the coats from the “13th Barrel” at the Northbrook Park District, along with half of the spring coats that we collected during Coat off your Back, as well as overflow clothing donations for Afghan refugees. Give Back Box will be sending a cargo container to Poland next week with clothing for the hundreds of thousands of Ukraine refugees who have crossed the border. Rotarians and community members who donated to this winter’s coat drive now can take some comfort knowing that they have supported both Afghan refugees here and Ukraine refugees abroad.
Photo of the volunteers and their packed vehicles.
March 10th
After the big “5 SUVs” drop off of coats and clothes for Ukraine/Poland last weekend, we would like to do a distribution of coats to Wings, the local 4-star Charity Navigator non-profit that specializes in support for victims of domestic violence. Coats may go directly to women and children serviced by the program and others will go into their resale shop to generate cash for the organization. My family has personally supported Wings with small donations for the past five years and have confidence in them as an organization.
Thank you Rick for your dedication and follow through on this important initiative. Join us Tuesday when Rick will be the speaker at our lunch. Here is what he will share then:
Tuesday's Topic: What does 'safe return to international travel' look like?
Rick Rosenfeld, President of Journey Softly will share how a Travel Health and Safety Manager assesses risk in an endemic world. He will walk through four key questions and answers you should think about when planning international travel.
With 20 years of experience in the travel industry Rick has returned to planning international travel following a four-year stint as Executive Director of Hands of Peace. Rick has a global network of partners who are focused on creating meaningful and safe travel experiences for individual travelers and small groups.
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