The Club will conducting regular meetings by Zoom only until the regular meeting scheduled for March 9, 2022. The Harbor Club in Gillson Park, which is the venue for all Club regular meetings, will be closed for repairs during that time and in person regular meetings will NOT be held.
Starting on the regular meeting scheduled for March 9, 2022, unless otherwise specifically indicated regular morning meetings will continue to be held at 7:30 am in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park or by Zoom. The link to the hybrid meeting will be emailed to members, guests and others within the community who express an interest in attending.
Upcoming Events and Meetings
February 23, 2022 Regular Meeting -- A "Community Conversation"with Kari Cremascoli, Superintendent of Schools, Wilmette Public Schools District 39
Kari Cremascoli, Ph.D. will provide an update of developments at Wilmette Public Schools District 39. This presentation will be the first of the Club's 2022 "Community Conversation" series. Please note that this Community Conversation meeting will be held in Zoom-only manner.
March 16, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Anna Wright, Purple Valley Farm
Anna Wright will discuss bees and her Purple Valley Farm apiary located in Jonesborough, Tennessee.
May 4, 2022 Evening Meeting -- Senta Plunkett, Wilmette Village President
Senta Plunkett, Village President of Wilmette, will present the second in the Club's 2022 series of "Community Conversations."
More About the Club's Community Conversation SeriesEach Community Conversation provides an opportunity for one or more community leaders to discuss important developments the community. The Community Conversations also present an opportunity for those in attendance to ask questions and offer comments. Interested members of the community are invited to join us.
The Club usually will be holding Community Conversations on the last Wednesday of certain months at 7:30 am at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park, and also usually be available by Zoom in hybrid meeting form (although please note that some events in our Community Conversation series will be held in the evening on the first Wednesday of a month).
Our first Community Conversation was held on June 30, 2021 and featured Steve Wilson, Executive Director of the Wilmette Park District. Our second Community Conversation, held on July 28, 2021, featured Anthony Austin, Director of the Wilmette Public Library. Our third Community Conversation was held on August 25, 2021, and featured John Jacoby with an interesting presentation about his new book Wilmette at 150. Our fourth Community Conversation, held on September 29, 2021, featured Julie Wolf, Chair of the Wilmette Environmental Commission. Julie offered an enlightening description of the development of the Village of Wilmette's Sustainability Plan. Our fifth Community Conversation was held on the evening of November 3, 2021, when Club hosted a Community Conversation on Race: A Welcoming Community. This panel discussion panel furthered the Club's continuing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative.
At the Club's November 2, 2021 Community Conversation, Van Gilmer of the Wilmette Human Relations Commission moderated an informative and lively discussion. The panelists were as follows:
Miya Hasegawa, Healing Everyday Racism in Our Schools (HEROs) member
John Jacoby, Village of Wilmette Historian and former Village of Wilmette President
Rev. Erin Raska, Associate Minister at Glencoe Union Church
Gerry Smith, Chair, Village of Wilmette Human Relations Commission
Recent Meetings
February 9, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Melissa Custic, Chicago Region Trees Initiative
Melissa Custic, Chicago Region Trees Initiative Operations Manager in affiliation with The Morton Arboretum offered a presentation on "Urban Forest Update: What's Going on with our Trees?"
Melissa provided a great presentation on the Chicago Region Trees Initiative. Anyone who would like to see a copy of Melissa's powerpoint presentation should please contact Mike Bailey at mike@mbaileylaw.com.
February 2, 2022 Evening Event -- Environmental Committee Book Discussion -- 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
The Environmental Committee of the Club hosted a discussion of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan. Ben Ivory led an engaging an informative discussion of the book and of the history and current condition of the Great Lakes. The group discussed the steps ordinary citizens can consider to help to preserve the Great Lakes and how the themes of the book relate to the Rotary test "Is it the truth?" Particular thanks to Ben Ivory for arranging this event and for preparing a video and interesting slides for discussion by the group.
January 26, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Annual Meeting and Club Forum
The Annual Meeting of the Club included election of officers and directors for the 2022-23 year. Club members present unanimously elected the slate, including John Kay as President Nominee (to serve as President-Elect in 2022-23 and President in 2023-24) and Heidi Vorhees as Club Secretary starting in 2022-23. We thank and congratulate John, Heidi and all of the other officers and directors.
January 29, 2022 Book Drive
The Environmental Committee held a very successful Book Drive on January 29, 2022, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am. The Club particularly thanks other local Rotary Clubs and Go Green Wilmette for participating in this Book Drive.
January 19, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Joe Ferguson, Former Inspector General of the City of ChicagoJoe Ferguson, former Inspector General of the City of Chicago, made a compelling and informative presentation to the Club, describing his service as Inspector General and the current status of the Inspector General and other government oversight functions in Chicago.
Joe Ferguson recently concluded a 12-year tenure leading the Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG), serving under three mayors. Chicago OIG is a nationally regarded municipal oversight agency with a professional staff of over 100 people conducting independent administrative and criminal investigations, government performance audits and program evaluations and inspections of operations and personnel (over 35,000 employees, officials, contractors, vendors and licensees) of the City of Chicago and associated governmental entities. Ferguson worked in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois where he investigated and litigated a wide array of criminal and civil cases and held multiple management posts including as Deputy of the Financial Crimes Section, Chief of the Money Laundering and Forfeiture Section and Terrorist Financing Coordinator. He has held teaching posts. He presently is a lecturer at Loyola University (Chicago) Law School, where he is a founding Co-Director of its National Security and Civil Rights program. He also has taught at the UIC John Marshall Law School, Lake Forest College, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) National Advocacy Center and the DOJ Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training. Ferguson received a J.D. from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and B.A. from Lake Forest College. Ferguson presently is a Pritzker Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.