1999-2000 - President, Bernie Michna
The club assisted in the fundraising for the shipment of a forty-foot container of supplies for children in Kosovo, and raised $14,000 for grants to area social service agencies. Funds were also donated for the development of the Wilmette-Kenilworth Rotary Club. Again WHRC sponsored the Interact Club at New Trier High School, including a peace essay contest and the students' onsite work in Central America with the Hearts to Honduras program. The club donated $7500 for a literacy project in La Pampa, Argentina; a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant brought this to $15,000. Polio surveillance stations in western Africa received $3,000; and along with the help of other local Rotary Clubs and a matching Foundation grant, $19,000 went to provide drinking water for a new school near Campana, Argentina. Other charitable monies were donated to a medical clinic in a remote village of Peru ($1500), a music school for disabled children in Poland ($1500), and a revolving loan fund for young businesspeople managed by a Rotary Club in the Dominican Republic ($1500). Funds were also given for a hydroelectric generator for a Honduran school, for lighting and computers, and were also donated to Operation Amazonas, Venezuela to combat malaria.  A G.S.E. Team from Poland was hosted. Rotarian George Carpenter served as Inbound Chair for the G.S.E. Team from the Philippines. (In later years, he served in numerous capacities assisting the G.S.E. program.) Vocational and Community Service projects were numerous. A butterfly garden was established in Gillson Park. A local high school student's expenses to a R.I. International Peace Conference were also covered, and two students were sponsored at the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference. Again the club participated in the Wilmette Community Fair with a food booth, to raise charitable monies. Rotarian Walter Reed served as District 6440 World Community Service Chair, promoting District-wide Matching Grant programs. Rotarian-of-the-Year: Alan Gerstner.