Quick coat count update! The Week 5 haul was 291 coats which puts us at 1311 coats with one week to go. Surely we will hit 1500 as the drive wraps up in a week!! This weeks coats will be split between Chi Welcome and Connections for the Homeless.
On Monday, December 11th, I will be sending out IMPORTANT instructions for the final week including information on drop off, sorting, and barrel pick up.
I’ll have a small task list for each club as well. Home stretch!! Thanks everyone!! Rick
MONDAY DECEMBER 11TH INSTRUCTIONS
Hi everyone, thanks for the nice words yesterday. This is a day earlier than I expected, but I wanted to get this information out today before a busy work week for me. Here is what Week 6 will look like:
Monday 12/11 – Two Men will deliver Week 5 coats to Chi Welcome and Connections for the Homeless
Thursday 12/14 – Normal drop-off time: 3:30 p.m.
Saturday 12/16 - Normal drop-off time: 8:30 a.m., Normal sort time: 9 a.m.
Monday 12/18 – Two Men barrel and straggler coat pickup in Northbrook and Glenview in morning. I will shadow the truck and help with the pickups. Coat delivery in afternoon.
REQUEST #1: Unless it is not possible, if coat collectors can clear barrels on Friday afternoon and deliver coats on Saturday morning, I would appreciate it. You can deliver just once on Saturday – or you can deliver both on Thursday and Saturday. My goal is to have as few “straggler coats” as possible when barrels are picked up. The more straggler coats, the more additional work needed after the final sort – and the fewer coats next week’s charities will receive.
REQUEST #2: As collectors are picking up coats, remind the organization that the coat drive is ending and that barrels will be picked up on Monday morning 12/18 – unless specified differently below.
DEERFIELD – Unless I hear differently from Ray or Kent, Deerfield will pick up their own barrels, so should communicate appropriately to the barrel locations. (Ray and Kent – As I was checking out at Jewel this morning, a woman filled the barrel with coats, so I cleared the coats and have them in my car.)
GLENVIEW - Library, Ace Hardware, Ice Center, Tennis Center all Monday 12/18 pickup. Glenbrook South – I am picking up barrels from Siyona and Kylie either on Thursday or Friday – and will be in touch to finalize.
NORTHBROOK – Monday 12/18 pickup with the following comments:
Lifetime Fitness – I will pick up 12/16 and 12/17 since this is a geographic outlier.
District 28 – Sandy or Gary – please find out if we will pick up barrels from each of the 4 schools, or if they will be back at the District office on Monday morning for us to pick up. If each school, please let me know where the barrels are located, so we can quickly find them when the truck arrives at the school.
Churches – Sandy or Gary - Please let me know if any of the churches won’t be open and available for the barrel to be picked up. Methodist church can leave their barrel outside under the awning. (It generally lives outside already).
Presentations and workshops at COP28 highlight community-led solutions, partnerships.
By Etelka Lehoczky
Rotary experts are hosting more than two dozen sessions at the 28th United Nations climate conference, addressing how a changing climate intersects with health, poverty, and other factors. Rotary International President R. Gordon R. McInally will discuss the mental health effects of climate-linked disasters.
The two-week conference in Dubai, also known as COP28 (short for Conference of the Parties, now in its 28th year), is the world’s highest decision-making process addressing climate issues. It brings together more than 70,000 delegates from 197 countries and geographical areas as well as thousands of nongovernmental organizations, companies, and others. Rotary is taking part in the conference for the third time, highlighting community-led solutions, partnerships, and dialogue.
“The record global temperatures this year have underscored the immediate need to take action on climate change,” McInally says. “They have also demonstrated the massive destructive toll that climate has taken on global mental health.”
McInally notes studies connecting extreme heat to greater rates of violence and incidents of mental distress. His presentation will also address the anxiety that younger people feel because of climate change.
Recognizing the central role of young people in shaping a sustainable future, Rotary is sponsoring 22 youth volunteers to attend COP28. This amplifies young voices in the climate discussion and offers the volunteers learning opportunities and international experience.
Rotary’s 28 sessions include presentations by members of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers. Meenakshi Venkataraman, a member of the Rotary Club of Nilgiris West, Tamil Nadu, India, will discuss how invasive species cause biodiversity loss. Salvador Rico, a member of the Rotary Club of South Ukiah, California, USA, will offer an introduction to community-led watershed protection efforts.
In addition, Elif Selin Calik, author of “The Renaissance of Smart Energy” and a member of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group, will talk about how artificial intelligence can revolutionize areas like energy, agriculture, and disaster resilience.
Other sessions focus on food systems, Indigenous land rights, and related topics.
From supporting vulnerable populations to forging partnerships across the public and private sectors, Rotary members are motivating progress and inspiring action on the environment. Members in the United Arab Emirates are planting 50,000 mangrove trees in partnership with the government. The restoration of mangrove forests, which help protect coastlines and marine life, is a Rotary priority.
“Mangrove ecosystems in the tropics and subtropics around the world are in peril because of their position along coastlines,” says Christopher Puttock, chair of the Rotary Action Group for Endangered Species. “Because of the rapid sea-level rise we are experiencing, and the persistent need for human coastal development, these ecosystems are being squeezed out of existence. Working with governments and local communities, Rotary has the unique opportunity to assist in mangrove restoration projects.”
Rotary’s COP28 delegation includes Trustee Chair Barry Rassin and General Secretary John Hewko, as well as Judith Diment, dean of the Rotary Representative Network; Mohamed Delawar Aly, Rotary Representative to the Arab League; Yasar Atacik, chair of the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group; and K. Neil Van Dine, chair of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Rotary Action Group.
Rotary International has long worked to protect the environment by collaborating with communities to implement clean water and sanitation, alleviate poverty, and promote sustainable energy technologies. The Rotary Foundation has committed more than US$23.7 million toward environmental projects led by Rotary members around the world.
These dishes from around the Rotary world tell of community, culture, and camaraderie
Photography by Lucy Hewett Recipe testing and styling by Mollie Hayward
Neeps and tatties. That’s what a Rotarian mentioned he was planning to have for dinner during a virtual meeting of the Rotary E-Club of Innovation (East Anglia), and Jack Davis was puzzled. “I said what the heck is a neep?” recalls Davis, a retired police officer who is a member of the Rotary Club of Morton, Illinois, and an honorary member of the e-club that has a base in England. The explanation that it was a swede made even less sense to him. “Do you eat a swede?” he wondered. “It turns out it’s a rutabaga.” And tatties? They’re potatoes.
That simple banter in 2018 led to a yearslong project spearheaded by Davis and Caroline Dobson, a member of the Rotary Club of Inverness Loch Ness, Scotland, who is also an honorary member of the e-club, to collect and publish recipes.
“This being a Rotary club, somebody said, ‘We can turn this into a fundraiser,’” Dobson recalls. And somebody — Dobson blames Davis, and Davis blames Dobson — came up with the idea to get a recipe from every country and territory hosting a Rotary club. “What could go wrong, right?” Dobson jokes. “Luckily neither of us gives up easily.”
Davis put his detective skills to use, spending up to 14 hours a day tracking down far-flung Rotary members and trying to get copies of their recipes. In cases where finding a club member proved difficult, he tried to obtain recipes through other means. “I can give you the address and telephone of every embassy or consulate in the United States,” he says. “That’s how many we called.”
They had nearly finished the collection when they learned that a Rotary club had been chartered in Iraq. “I’m delighted Iraq is part of the Rotary family, but can you imagine how we felt?” Dobson jokes. Luckily, a member of Dobson’s club in Scotland had previously collected a recipe from Iraq that they were able to use.
It took three and a half years, but they finally collected at least one recipe from more than 200 Rotary countries and geographical areas and published the collection, Food the World Over, as a PDF in 2021. Proceeds go toward polio eradication and water projects.
On the following pages are adaptations of some of those recipes — along with the stories behind them — that you can use to create your own Rotary-inspired meal.
Here are two - but view this months Rotary Magazine for a wonderful list of recipes!!
Isle of Man
Manx Bonagh Howard Callow, Rotary Club of Douglas
Bonagh (or bonnag) is a traditional sweet bread served on the Isle of Man. For a number of years, the island off the northwest coast of England has hosted the annual World Bonnag Championships. “The first world champion was a man,” Howard Callow says. “Since then, the male competitors have been determined to prove the claim that men from Man make the best bonagh!”
The recipe that Callow shared came from a handwritten 1948 cookbook that belonged to his mother.
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder Pinch of salt 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
Preheat oven to 325 F.
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients with 1 cup buttermilk. Add additional buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together into a shaggy ball. Turn out onto a floured board and form into a ball.
Place in a round cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Bread should have a hollow sound when you thump the bottom with your hand.
Japan
Homestyle Japanese Ginger Pork - Kaori Murai, former Rotary Youth Exchange student
2 servings
Japanese ginger pork (shogayaki) is a common home-cooked dish and easy to make. The meal takes only 15 minutes to prepare and is great with steamed rice, Kaori Murai advises in Food the World Over. “At my home,” Murai says, “we add chopped garlic and onions in order to boost its stamina — and taste!”
7 ounces pork, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil ½ onion, finely chopped ¼ teaspoon ginger (or more to taste), finely chopped ¼ teaspoon garlic, finely chopped 5 tablespoons mirin (sweetened rice wine), or sake with 2 tablespoons of sugar 5 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and stir-fry onions, ginger, and garlic until they just start to brown. Add the pork and mirin, stir, then cover with a lid and steam for 1 minute on medium heat. Add the soy sauce and stir-fry until golden.
Serve with your favorite vegetables. Some sides are cabbage, tomato, or avocado.
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