Our speakers on Tuesday were two women who are community leaders in their own right,
that run beloved Northbrook “institutions.” Meet Dale Duda & Alli Gilley!
Photos pre-covid, Patch.com, Dale Duda 2013, Alli and Book Bin founder, Alli in shop by Joel Lerner, JWC Media
First up was Dale Duda who runs the Northbrook Farmers Market. Thank you to the many Rotarians who volunteered at the market this year-that faced some incredible challenges due to Covid from the development of protocols, to implementing systems and processes to keep vendors and customer safe. The biggest challenge may have been that there was a noted increase in funding needed for the SNAP [formerly food stamps] recipients who receive a bonus match for food with their Link cards.
The market is operated by the Northbrook Farmers Market Association, an all-volunteer, tax-exempt, nonprofit Illinois organization. They have a mission to support local farmers, producers and artisans by providing and economic outlet, and to serve the greater Northbrook are by making fresh, high quality produce and other goods available for purchase. The goal is to educate residents on the benefits of buying locally, eating healthy, and living green, as well as supporting local farming families and entrepreneurs.
Dale gave us an overview of the good works she and her team are doing, for the last few markets. She also thanked both Donna Gulley and Mitch Portugal who not only encouraged, but prodded her to complete the grant application. “Your gift rescued the SNAP match program,” said Dale.
Then Alli Gilley – owner of the Book Bin for the past 5 years joined in! Alli was a longtime employee (23 years, 2 months and 1 week) – at the Book Bin where she found her first job at age 16 and has stayed ever since! In fact, the store opened in Northbrook before Alli was born.
A community supporter, Alli is a Northbrook Chamber Board Director and plays an important role in one of our favorite holiday programs created by Gary and Bev Moriello - Operation Santa Clause!
She shared some of the recent trials of running a retail store during a pandemic: increased customer service by phone and email; online ordering options; curbside pick up and now a store open with a clever hand sanitizing station that includes glove should you want to flip through pages (you will!). A local business grant allowed for the purchase of thousands of gloves that offer readers the opportunity to flip through pages almost like normal! Buying from an independent book seller is good for the community! It creates jobs and provides memories, and most importantly it shares kindness.
Another service offered now - as it was pre-covid - is the ability to order any book you want if it’s not in the shop! Just give a call, they will let you know when it is ready to pick up. In fact – this is one option for your Operation Santa Claus participation! You bring it to the elf…(I mean Alli) and she orders your selections, and will wrap them for you if you like, plus she’ll even arrange for Santa (I mean Gary) to pick up!
Alli believes that she shares kindness through books and she does: books are old friends, offer new adventures, and are wonderful gifts that can change a person’s world.
Show us how your members are taking action across the globe, in your community, and in yourselves. Share your best service projects and or leadership development activities to the 2020 Interact Awards! This year, we are accepting videos, photos, and essays as part of the Interact Awards!
Dr. Tunji Funsho, chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, joins 100 pioneers, artists, leaders, icons, and titans as one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People.
Rotary International Article by Ryan Hyland, Photo credits Reuters + Rotary
TIME announced its 2020 honorees during a 22 September television broadcast on ABC, recognizing Funsho for his instrumental leadership and work with Rotary members and partners to achieve the eradication of wild polio in the African region.
He is the first Rotary member to receive this honor for work toward eradicating polio.
A Rotarian for 35 years, Funsho is a member of the Rotary Club of Lekki, Nigeria, past governor of District 9110, and serves on Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. Funsho is a cardiologist and a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria with his wife Aisha. They have four children; Habeeb, Kike, Abdullahi and Fatima; and five grandchildren.
TIME 100 comprises individuals whose leadership, talent, discoveries, and philanthropy have made a difference in the world. Past honorees include Bono, the Dalai Lama, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, Angela Merkel, Oprah Winfrey, and Malala Yousafzai.
“I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabled 75,000 African children every single year,” said Funsho. “Eradicating the wild poliovirus in Africa was a team effort that required cooperation and dedication of governments, partners, Rotary members, hundreds of thousands of health workers, and countless parents who chose to have their children vaccinated against polio.”
As the chair of Rotary’s Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, since 2013 Funsho has led PolioPlus efforts in the country, building upon the work of his predecessors. He has worked alongside Rotarians in Nigeria to raise awareness about the importance of polio immunization, encouraged governments and public figures to support polio eradication, and served as a vocal leader and advocate for Rotary and its fight to end polio. He works closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative partner organizations: the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
As a member of Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on Polio, he has coordinated immunizations and advocacy campaigns with the Minister of State for Health and the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee for Polio Eradication. He has also worked closely with the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, the Dangote Foundation, the Traditional Leaders Council and the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association of Nigeria.
In August 2019, Nigeria reached three years without a case of wild poliovirus. Nigeria’s progress, led by Rotary, its partners and local and national governments, was the result of decades of sustained efforts, including domestic and international financing, the commitment of hundreds of thousands of health workers, and innovative strategies to immunize children who previously couldn’t be reached due to insecurity in the country’s northern states.
On 25 August, the African region was certified wild polio-free. This historic announcement means that five of the WHO’s six regions, representing more than 90 percent of the world’s population, are now free of the wild poliovirus. The virus is still endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
With Africa’s milestone, Rotary and its partners took a major step forward toward their goal of global eradication. Funsho told TIME magazine of the achievement: “The polio eradication program in Nigeria has gone through some difficult times, but I never once doubted that this day would come. Any time that we’ve experienced a setback, Rotary and our partners have been able to find solutions and develop strategies for reaching vulnerable children.”
He added: “One thing I know for certain, is if Nigeria could eliminate the wild poliovirus, any country can eliminate it.”
And from TIME Magazine:
BY JEFFREY KLUGER, TIME editor at large SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 9:34 PM EDT
It’s not often an entire continent eradicates a disease, but on Aug. 25, 2020, that happened when Nigeria was declared polio-free, clearing the virus from its last redoubt in all of Africa. The person who did more than any other to drive polio to continent-wide extinction was Dr. Tunji Funsho, a former cardiologist and now the chair of Rotary International’s polio-eradication program in Nigeria.
Funsho could have retired years ago, but in 2013, with polio still paralyzing children across Nigeria, he decided to step up to lead the Rotarians’ effort. Together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, the CDC and UNICEF, Funsho and Rotary helped lead National Immunization Days, getting millions of doses of the polio vaccine to children in cities and villages around the nation. They also sponsored health-education initiatives at community centers, mosques and even birthday parties. This summer, the country marked four years without a case of wild polio, qualifying it for its polio-free certification, leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan as the only places in the world in which polio remains endemic.
“Certification will be an achievement,” Funsho told TIME in 2018. “But we’re not in a hurry for that. We’re in a hurry to make sure no child is paralyzed.” In Nigeria and in Africa as a whole, that moment has arrived.
The Rotary Network provides Rotary and Rotaract members with resources that will help them through the COVID-19 economic crisis and beyond. Watch theintroduction videoto learn more about the program and explore it below. The video is on our Facebook page or please click here: https://therotarynetwork.org/
