GARY SAYS: Rubber Duck raffle tickets have been distributed to all members, either at the meetings this week or through the US Mail. If members need additional tickets, they simply need to contact me.
MORE: Below is a link to Sign-Up Genius that sets out the dates, times, and places where we can sell Rubber Ducky tickets. Most of the shifts are 1.5 hours, so hopefully every physically capable Rotarian will be able to volunteer for at least one shift. There are two sign-up slots for each shift, so that if you wish, you can team up with someone else (Rotarian or non-Rotarian). Teaming up makes the shifts much more enjoyable.
NOTE: A table and two chairs will be provided ONLY at the following venues: Tuesday's in the Park, National Night Out,Party on the Green, and Northbrook Days. At all other venues, we will need to bring our own folding table and two chairs. (Please see Gary or Denis if you need help with this.) You will receive QR chips to give to anyone interested in Rotary along with our written explanation of the purpose of Rotary. Make sure you have Ducky posters.
Here is where we are (see Sign-up Genius for availability of locations):
1. MARIANO'S AT WILLOW AND SANDERS- 7/11, 8/7 and 911. The shifts are 11 to 12 ,1 to 2:30 and 2:30 to 4.
2. JEWEL AT WILLOW AND PFINGSTON- 7/17, 8/14 and 9/18. The shifts are 11 to 12, 1 to 2:30 and 2:30 to 4.
3. TUESDAYS IN THE PARK (VILLAGE GREEN)- 7/18, 7/25 and 8/8. The shifts are 6:30 to 8 for all three dates.
4. STARBUCKS AT LAKE-COOK AND WAUKEGAN- 7/26, 8/16 and 9/13. The shifts are 9 to 10:30 and 10:30 to 12.
5. WATERWORKS- 7/15, 8/19 AND 9/9. The shifts are 9 to 10:30 and 10:30 to 12.
6. SUNSET FOODS- 7/21, 8/11 AND 8/25. The shifts are 1 to 2:30 and 2:30 to 4.
7. NATIONAL NIGHT OUT (The Meadow Hill Aquatic Center)- 8/1. The shifts are 6 to 7:30 and 7:30 to 9.
8. NORTHBROOK DAYS- 8/2, AND 8/3. The shifts are 6-8 each day.
9. PARTY ON THE GREEN (Village Green Park)- 8/12. The shifts are 4 to 5:30, 5:30 to 7 and 7 to 8:30.
10. North Suburban YMCA- 7/18. The shift is 4 to 6.
<<<<We have table signs that illustrate the offer, and indicate the rules and regulation for the $50,000 win. You can pick them up on Tuesday at Rotary.
After your event-share the signs will other members please, or see if the shop will allow you to hang up.
Satellite Update
NEW MEMBERS:
Installations of Irwin Friedman (sponsored by Mitch Portugal) and Tim Schotke (sponsored by Andy Vass) were performed by Rick Rivkin at our recent meeting.
PROGRAM:
Jim Karagianis - Introduced Michelle Jimenez (Development Officer, Maryville Academy) and Sean Madden (Chairman of the Board, Maryville Academy) as our program for the evening. Michelle and Sean told us about the Jen School at Maryville Academy and their new initiative - the Walsh Academy and Career Tech High School.
The Jen School is a therapeutic school that provides challenged teens with a supportive high school to suit their individual needs. This applies to kids with IEPs, social and emotional challenges and/or academic issues. The Jen School will move locations this Fall and become The Walsh Academy. In addition to what they already provide, a focus is the teaching of the trades.
SMALL BUSINESS EXPO - members invited
The Business Expo brings together a wide variety of entrepreneurs and professionals for an evening of networking with small bites, drinks, and entertainment to enjoy. Attendees will have a unique opportunity to explore the latest trends and innovations while connecting with a variety of professionals serving the North Shore.
A range of companies from home improvements, gifting, skin care, technology, finance, private schools, non-profits and banking will have representatives on hand so you can find out what you want firsthand, no pressure. Rotary is exhibiting too!
Experience excellent networking, fabulous food and drink, raffles and prizes.
The Expo takes place on Monday, July 24 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Hilton Chicago/Northbrook.
Highlights of the 2023 Business Expo include:
● Exhibitor Showcase: The Expo will feature over 50 exhibitors representing the wide range of industries in the Chamber’s membership. Exhibitors will offer product demonstrations, samples, contests, and the opportunity to have questions answered.
● Networking Opportunities: Attendees can engage in productive discussions, establish partnerships, and collaborate with other professionals to explore potential business opportunities.
● Food, Raffles & Entertainment: Guests at the Expo will enjoy appetizers and drinks along with music provided by A-Z Entertainment. Hourly raffle drawings for valuable prizes will keep the excitement high throughout the evening.
Registration for the Business Expo is now open on the Northbrook Chamber’s website,http://northbrookchamber.org. Admission is complimentary for Northbrook Chamber members, (our club is a member -so you can register for free, feel free to call the chamber for help) and $20 for the public (& your non-member guests) before July 22, and $40 for the public at the door unless sold out. For more information, contact the Chamber office at (847) 498 5555 or info@northbrookchamber.org.
The second Rotary president from Scotland embarks on his hope-filled agenda
RI Article By Dave King Photography by Monika Lozinska
A young bagpiper parades out of a hotel banquet room playing the familiar refrain of "Scotland the Brave." Behind him, carrying a plated ceremonial haggis and wearing blue, green, black, and yellow Gordon Modern tartan, is 2023-24 Rotary International President Gordon McInally.
It's Burns Night, celebrated every January with folk music, drams of Scotch whisky, enthusiastic renditions of the songs and poems of Scotland's greatest poet, Robert Burns, and, of course, haggis with neeps and tatties (turnips and potatoes). It is quintessentially Scottish, and McInally is in his element with friends as he marks the occasion in Galashiels, a town in Scottish Borders close to his home in Yetholm.
Heather McInally, his wife of 42 years, is wearing a sash of tartan — checks of green, light blue, and dark red — created for the 1997 Rotary International Convention in Glasgow. A classically trained former professional opera singer and music teacher, she belts out songs by Burns learned from childhood.
Contented wi' little, and cantie wi' mair,
Whene'er I forgather wi' Sorrow and Care,
I gie them a skelp as they're creeping alang,
Wi' a cog o' gude swats and an auld Scottish sang
Now the haggis is something else.
It is made of a sheep's pluck — the heart, liver, and lungs — minced with onions, oatmeal, suet, salt, pepper, and other spices, mixed with stock and then, originally, boiled in the animal's cleaned stomach. It sounds like a culinary nightmare, but on their travels the McInallys have been spreading word of haggis's appeal throughout the Rotary community.
Heather McInally explains how, on their visits to the States, they have sourced local supplies of haggis and even warmed up the Scottish delicacy in their hotel room microwave. "The smell of haggis lingered in the room the entire week," she recalls. "We served it to other RI Board members while in Chicago.
Everyone seems to love it, even though they were not quite sure what they were eating."
Gordon McInally grew up in Portobello, a picturesque seaside area of Edinburgh, notable for its beautiful beach with light-colored sand and wooden groynes (barriers to protect the shoreline) jutting out into the water of the Firth of Forth. His mother owned and operated a private nursery, and his father worked for Macdonald & Muir, which makes Glenmorangie whiskies. His late brother, Ian, was three years younger, and the two spent much of their childhood playing and watching rugby.
Gordon and Heather met in their late teens, and their relationship blossomed on a trip to Florence, Italy, with a combined choir from their separate schools in Edinburgh. "We're not in each other's pockets; we do our own thing," Heather McInally says. "Even with Rotary, I belong to the Borderlands passport club [a satellite club of the Rotary Club of Selkirk], and Gordon is a member of South Queensferry. Our lives have always worked like that, largely due to work commitments, where we go off in different directions. We're both independent people, but we always come home at night and tell each other what we've been doing."
Her husband agrees. The couple have two daughters, Rebecca and Sarah, and two grandchildren, Ivy and Florence. He describes Heather as "a very, very tolerant lady who has been a great support to me over the years."
He adds: "She's always a good sounding board. I can rely on Heather to tell me it as it is. If I give a presentation, everyone's going to tell me it was great, but Heather will always tell me the truth! I know I couldn't do this job without her support."
When they married at Craigsbank Parish Church in Edinburgh, Gordon McInally became a member of the Church of Scotland, having previously been a member of the Methodist Church. Now an elder and trustee in the church, he has also served as a presbytery elder, chairman of his parish congregational board, and a commissioner to the church's general assembly.
"My parents instilled in me and my late brother a sense of helping and caring for others that has remained with me for life," he says. "My personal faith, and my upbringing within a family with a similarly strong faith, has definitely impacted my life choices and career."
McInally owned and ran a busy dental practice in Scotland's capital for more than three decades, retiring in 2016. He held teaching and examining posts and served as a branch chairman of the British Paedodontic Society (now the British Society of Paediatric Dentistry). After living for many years in South Queensferry, the McInallys relocated to Scottish Borders when he stepped back from day-to-day practice. The move was over 30 years in the planning.
"All the time I was working as a dentist, we said it would be nice to ultimately make our home in the Borders, because it's where my forebears came from," he says. "My mother's family were farmers, and my mother was born on a farm about 15 miles from here. I've said to people since we came here that I feel as if my DNA has come home."
For McInally, this is a night off, listening to youngsters from Galashiels' schools deliver dramatic recitations of Burns' works, including the "Address to a Haggis" read by young Poppy Lunn, who then theatrically cuts it open. There's more pipe music and fiddle playing, plus community singing, until the evening rounds off with a hearty rendition of "Auld Lang Syne."
A few days later, McInally is at Abbotsford House, which towers over the gently flowing River Tweed in the heart of Scottish Borders country. The countryside is a tapestry of greens, and in the distance loom the three conical peaks of the Eildon Hills, steeped in Roman history. It's a beautiful spot and one of McInally's favorite places to take visitors, as he has done today.
Abbotsford House was the home of Sir Walter Scott, the novelist, poet, and historian, who popularized the wearing of tartan, created the historical novel, and counted Queen Victoria among his fans. Abbotsford's architectural style inspired many buildings in Scotland, including Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth II's summer home. Now, Scott's works such as Ivanhoe and Rob Roy have been adapted for the screen.
On this day, the 19th century Scots Baronial building with its crow-stepped gables, "pepper-pot" bartizans, and elements taken from medieval structures in Scotland, is shut to the public for the winter. Dust sheets hang over the furniture, and one poor soul is in the middle of cleaning the 9,000 books that line the library's shelves.
Scott's connection to the Borders began when he contracted polio at 18 months old. He was paralyzed in the right leg, and so his parents sent him to recover at his grandfather's farm outside Kelso. "It was because of polio that Sir Walter was brought to the Borders where he heard the stories and songs which would inspire his writing," explains Mary Kenny, Abbotsford's heritage engagement officer. McInally and Kenny agree that Scott would have made a great Rotary member.
The Rotary convention is where friendship and learning come together to inspire you. In Singapore you’ll connect with people of action from around the globe at Rotary’s biggest event of the year.
We’ll share fresh perspectives, inspiration, and hope – with each other and the world! The convention features world-class dining and cultural attractions, distinguished speakers, energizing breakout sessions, and much more.
Join us 25-29 May 2024 in Singapore where we’ll be Sharing Hope With the World!
I have been in Rotary for almost 30 years. I lost a club because people had crazy ideas about membership. I do not plan to lose another one.
I do not mind helping start another club. I have done it in the past and it is quite satisfying. As long as it does not diminish our own club.
Let me try to focus your attention on what I think it is important.
Time and time again Rotary International has conducted surveys of members. The only constant on all these surveys is the main reasons people join a club. They join for service to their communities and camaraderie.
At a certain stage in life people realize that a) they have the time, b) they have the means, and c) they could use some more friends. Prior to that moment family and work occupy most of their time and resources.
All service organizations require three things: good ideas to serve their causes, manpower to execute them, and funding. There are no shortcuts. People may be content executing somebody else’s ideas. They may work in some projects that satisfy their inclinations. They may provide funds or help raise them to pay for the projects. But the organization cannot do without all three.
Rotary, like any other organization, is not for everyone. Some find it difficult to make friends in this club. Others may not be happy with the projects offered and cannot come with ideas on their own. Finally, and despite what they say, some do not realize the cost of belonging.
The biggest problem Rotary and all the other service organizations have is retaining members. We can always find someone to come to a meeting or three. The problems is keeping them. For whatever reason people will leave. They may not find anyone they would like to know more, the projects are not what they expected, the cost is too high, etc.
One way to solve this problem is to offer something for everyone. Unfortunately, that is not possible.
When people join a golf club they can immediately play golf. This is the same for any other club. Except Rotary. You cannot play ‘Rotary’. So, we have to provide some other form of entertainment that will accomplish the same. Remember what they want, ‘service and camaraderie.’
Members do not come to eat lunch or hear a speaker. They come to be entertained and find commonalities with other members. Our Club Service is tasked with this.
Members want to serve. That is what Community Service is all about.
Not everyone enjoys opera, or dancing, or flying kites, to name some activities. On the other hand, people do enjoy a variety in activities. We cannot satisfy every desire every time, but we should strive to entertain people some of the time. The same applies to service opportunities.
We are approached to help other organizations and that is fine. However, we should initiate projects that capture the imagination of our members. Even the planning for a project may be quite enjoyable for some of the members that cannot participate actively in the activity.
Let us focus next year on activities that help us help others and foster camaraderie among members. If we enjoy what we are doing others will want to join us.
CLUB CORNER SUBMISSIONS
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