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The thoughts and prayers of so many of us are with the courageous people of Ukraine. 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 March 9, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Raul Guzman, Blue Star Recyclers Raul Guzman, Plant Manager of Blue Star Recyclers at its nearby facility, will provide a description of the mission and activities of Blue Star Recyclers. Blue Star Recylers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to create jobs for adults with autism and other developmental differences, along with providing established electronics recycling services. Blue Star handles most types of electronic waste. More information can be found at the following: bluestarrecyclers.com 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. April 6, 2022 Evening Event -- Wilmette Theatre Tour and Talk Amy Falkowski, Program Director of the Wilmette Theatre, will provide a tour of the Wimette Theatre, including recent renovations, and a talk describing the programming and activities of the Wilmette Theatre. The Wilmette Theatre is located in downtown Wilmette at 1122 Central Avenue. 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 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 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 Community Conversation meetings generally will continue to be held in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person 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. Recent Meetings March 2, 2002 Evening Event -- Visit to Block Museum "A Site of Struggle" Exhibition On March 2, 2022 members of the Club and guests toured a powerful and compelling exhibition at the Block Museum on the Northwestern University campus for the Club's "first Wednesday" event for March. The exhibition is A Site of Struggle: American Art against Anti-Black Violence and the visit was in furtherance of the Club's ongoing DEI initiative. Further information about the exhibition can be found at the following: https://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/exhibitions/2022/a-site-of-struggle.html After the visit to the exhibition the Club hosted a gathering to discuss the exhibition. The Club thanks the Block Museum for providing an introduction to the exhibition and for welcoming our group. February 23, 2022 Regular Meeting -- A "Community Conversation"with Kari Cremascoli, Superintendent of Schools, Wilmette Public Schools District 39 Kari Cremascoli, Ph.D. provided an update of developments at Wilmette Public Schools District 39. Dr. Cremascoli provided an engaging update of District 39's strategic plan, recent changes in policies relating to masks and other developments. This presentation was the first of the Club's 2022 "Community Conversation" series. 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 Chicago Joe 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. January 12, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Ten Thousand Villages Robb Geiger and Joseph Meyer, both from the Ten Thousand Villages store in Evanston, provided a lively and informative introduction to principles of Fair Trade, discussed examples of fair and unfair trade, and described Fair Trade products available at their stores. Robb Geiger has been volunteering at the Evanston store since 2010, and he has been on the Board of Ten Thousand Villages for seven years; he is the current Chair. Joseph Meyer has been manager of the Evanston store for seven years; has has over 30 years of retail experience, both in large and small stores. |
