HARBOR LIGHT NEWS LETTER 2014-09-24

PRESIDING:  Heidi Voorhees

 

 

GREETERS:  Margaret Wein and Carolina Perillo (our exchange student)

 

THOUGHT AND PLEDGE:  Carol Wells

 

ATTENDANCE: Sue Watson

 

GUEST:  Marcy Goldstein

 

VISITING ROTARIAN:  Rich Lalley, Northfield–Winnetka Club

 

 

Carol Wells:  October 17, 18, 19 at the Dr. Seuss Gallery, Water Tower Place; 10% of sales to benefit Rotary’s End Polio Now program; the gallery is exhibiting the never-before- seen hat collection and art works by Dr. Seuss

 

Margaret Wein:  Erika’s Lighthouse Rock & Rally Walkathon; Sunday September 28^th at Hubbard Woods gazebo; registration starts at 12:30pm; benefits suicide prevention.

 

George Pearce: 

(1) visited Ben Ivory at his club in Prague; George exchanged club banners;

(2) there will be no artisan fair fundraiser this year, but planning has begun already for the big holiday fundraiser which will kick off in late October or early November.

 

Margaret Wein:  the Shenanigans collection today and at the next three meetings will benefit Operation Warm, which gives winter coats to impoverished young children.

 

Ellen Greenberger (and John Baker in abstentia):  Annual Beach Sweep (Sept. 20^th) was a huge success, collecting 68.5 pounds of trash that included 552 cigarette butts, 402 bottle caps, 124 cigar tips, and 1334 small plastic pieces. There were 215 volunteers plus 10 Rotarians, which earned the distinction of being the largest of all the groups cleaning beaches around the Great Lakes that day. Great Lakes Alliance

 

Ellen Greenberger:  looking for a leader for the Food Pantry drive on October 11^th from 10 to 2.

 

Rob Davis:  an anonymous Rotarian in District 6440 once again has offered to match your $500 donation to the Rotary Foundation so that you can earn a Paul Harris award. The form and instructions can be found on the front page of the club’s website.

 

Joanne Aggens:  talked about her participation in the New York City Climate March with 400,000 other concerned citizens.

 

SHENANIGANS:  Hank Hufnagel shared with us the winner’s definition of “political correctness” for an competition sponsored by Bond University in Australia.

 

 

 

 

Rich is responsible for the overall direction of the organization, which includes: development, coat procurement and manufacturing, communications and organizational strategy and developing strategic partnerships and community programs.

 

Rich began by describing his life journey from a normal work-centered career to becoming a member of Rotary Club to being a fully engaged Rotarian and then to being all consumed by Operation Warm.

 

Operation Warm was founded in 1998 by Richard Sanford, an entrepreneur (Intelligent Electronics, a 3.7 billion dollar company) and philanthropist. Sanford started by purchasing winter coats for children living near his home in SE Pennsylvania. By 2002 Sanford created a 501c3 because he realized the huge need that existed nationwide. Over time the volume of coats purchased gave OW leverage to purchase directly from manufacturers in China at substantial discounts – only $18 per coat. OW also purchases some coats made in the US for distribution by firefighters. In 2014 Operation Warm will distribute 300,000 coats nationwide. To date, OW has given new winter coats to over 1.4 million children throughout America.

 

The children receiving these winter coats come from impoverished families and don’t own a winter coat or have to share one with one or more siblings. Besides the health benefit, the self-esteem gained contributes to better performance in their schoolwork.

 

How big is the problem?

Chicago: 200,000 children live in poverty

Cook county: another 200,000 children

Nationwide:  16.4 million children (of those 9.0 million children come from families living in extreme poverty – income under 12,000 per year)

Operation Warm will distribute 25,000 coats in the Chicago area this year.

 

OW works through donor managed groups such as Rotary clubs, PTAs, and corporations who raise the funds to purchase the coats and distribute them locally. OW also receives funding from large foundations such as the Chicago Community Trust.

 

The Chicago Housing Authority goes another step beyond. When CHA distributes the coats it also organizes over 50 service agencies to be present to help the families of the 10,000 children receiving a coat.

 

The Weinberg Foundation (Baltimore), after constructing two new libraries for two elementary schools and providing funding for staff, decided to provide additional funding to purchase winter coats for these students.

 

 

 

 

NEXT MEETING CLUB DUTIES for October 1, 2014:

 

Greeters:  Michael Bailey and Joanne Aggens

 

Thought for the Day: Joan O’Neill

 

Shenanigans:  George Pearce

 

 

Attendance:  Tom Ryan

 

Scribe:  Maureen Barry