September 22, 2021 Meeting -- Karen Tollenaar Demorest, Youth Job Center
The next regular meeting of the Club will be held on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 from 7:30 am-8:30 am at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park. The meeting will feature a presentation by Karen Tollenaar Demorest, Executive Director of the Youth Job Center. YJC’s mission is “Success for young people in the workplace and in life.” YJC is a leading youth workforce development agency in Cook County, founded in Evanston in 1983 and expanding services to Chicago in the last decade. YJC offers comprehensive workforce development services for youth and young adults ages 14-25, including job training and placement, personalized career advising, financial literacy training and coaching, work-based learning programs, career advancement supports for roughly 2,000 youth and young adults each year, the vast majority of whom are low-income Black and Brown youth. YJC is a certified Financial Opportunity Center through the Local Initiatives Support Corporation network and integrates financial guidance and literacy training into its programs and services. YJC programs are available to any youth who requests them, and the agency prioritizes serving youth from under-served and disadvantaged communities.
Karen Tollenaar Demorest has served as the Executive Director of the Youth Job Center (YJC) since August of 2014. YJC was founded in Evanston in 1983 to help youth find work and today, offers a robust set of services to youth throughout Chicagoland, designed to help participants identify and pursue career options while simultaneously supporting development of the skills, competencies, and resiliency to be successful in the workplace.
As has been the case for our recent meetings, the meeting be held in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person and 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. Those attending in person are reminded of recent Cook County directives relating to the wearing of masks indoors.
September 29, 2021 -- A "Community Conversation" with Julie Wolf
On September 29, 2021 Julie Wolf, Chair of the Wilmette Environmental Commission, will be featured in the fourth "Community Conversation" in our series.
Each 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 each month at 7:30 am at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park, and also be available by Zoom in hybrid meeting form.
Meetings will continue to be held in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person and 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. Those attending in person are reminded of recent Cook County directives relating to the wearing of masks indoors.
More About the Community Conversation Series
Our first Community Conversation was held on June 30, 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.
The fifth Community Conversation in our series is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, November 3, 2021, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The event will be a panel discussion furthering the Club's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative: "A Conversation on Race: A Welcoming Community."
Other Recent Meetings
At the September 15, 2021 meeting of the Club members of the Rotary Club of Wilmette and the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse joined us for lively and informative "Conversation Among Rotary Clubs." We shared information about the activities and goals of our clubs, and discussed how our clubs can better collaborate moving forward.
At the September 8, 2021, meeting of the Club Beth DeWall, Secretary of the Club, made a presentation on Pasek Garden, which is located in Gillson Park. Beth's presentation including an interesting discussion of the history of the garden, the various flowers and other plantings in the garden, and Club members who have contributed to its development and upkeep. Beth concluded with a walking tour of Pasek Garden.
Anyone who would like to obtain a copy of Beth's informative PowerPoint presentation on Pasek Garden is encouraged to contact Mike Bailey.
At the September 8, 2021 meeting, Club members also conducted a special election for our Club's President-Elect. The members of the Club present enthusiastically and unanimously voted to elect Brent Hendricks to be President-Elect of the Club, with his term as President starting on July 1, 2022. Brent will bring great enthusiasm, energy and new ideas to the leadership of our Club.
On Wednesday, September 1, 2021, Saima Abbasi led an outdoor Tree Walk in Gillson Park. Saima is a trained TreeKeeper with Openlands, has led tree walks in Wilmette since 2013, and has provided educational presentations about trees to many organizations. She is a Board Member of Go Green Wilmette and a founding member of Go Green Lahore.
We were fortunate to have beautiful weather and also to have been joined by an enthusiastic contingent of our friends from the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Club.
The Tree Walk and Beth DeWall's presentation on the Pasek Garden both furthered the mission of the Club's new Environmental Committee and is intended to be a part of our Club's implementation of the new environmental focus of Rotary International.
Environmental Committee News:
| Elmwood Dunes Volunteer Opportunity |
The Wilmette lunch club After Dark (RAD) group has a project to help preserve the native plants at Elmwood Dunes Preserve by pulling out the choke weeks that threaten the natural plants in the upper garden. They will be scheduling Saturday 10:30 am volunteer days and will welcome our club's support. Ben Ivory will share details of their next volunteer day. |
| Beach Sweep | ||
Our club will host the Springman Middle School students again this year on Saturday morning, September 25th. Chris Simcox is coordinating. Club members are welcome to participate. This year we will provide paper grocery bags for collection. Club members are asked to bring a couple of paper grocery bags to the Wednesday, September 15th meeting. Ben Ivory will collect and hold for the event. | ||
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Rotary September 22 Fundraiser
On SEPTEMBER 22, the Rotary Club of Wilmette (our sister Rotary Club in Wilmette) will hold a benefit concert to support Our Place. It will be held at the Wallace Bowl in Gillson Park, Wilmette from 5PM to 8PM. Three bands have generously donated a performance for our event: The Suzanne Cross Combo, a jazz combo from the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, and just added, a jazz combo from New Trier High School. This is an event you don't want to miss. We are so very fortunate that such talented groups cared enough about our event to donate their time and talent.
There will be a raffle with travel packages to include a week's stay in a private house in Scottsdale, AZ and a second raffle for a 4-night stay in a luxury condo in San Francisco. Each raffle package includes $500 cash.
Tickets are $25 per person. Raffle tickets are $50 or 3 for $100. Both event tickets and raffle tickets can be purchased online at a new link:
https://secure.givelively.org/event/wilmette-rotary-club-foundation/our-place-donor/our-place-benefit
There will be a raffle with travel packages to include a week's stay in a private house in Scottsdale, AZ and a second raffle for a 4-night stay in a luxury condo in San Francisco. Each raffle package includes $500 cash.
Tickets are $25 per person. Raffle tickets are $50 or 3 for $100. Both event tickets and raffle tickets can be purchased online at a new link:
https://secure.givelively.org/event/wilmette-rotary-club-foundation/our-place-donor/our-place-benefit