We will be needing Sycamore Rotarians to help out with our two major spring projects -- Rotarians at Work Days, and the District Conference.
Rotarians at Work will now be spread out over several weeks, in order to give our members the opportunity to chose one or more projects which fit their schedule. Work sites will include the Old North School on Brickville Road, Rotary Park at Sycamore Lake, the Pay it Forward House, Kishwaukee Special Recreation Association at Hopkins Park, and the Youth Service Bureau's bicycle auction.
We'll also need volunteer staff for the District Conference, to be held Saturday, April 28th at Faranda's in downtown DeKalb. Sergeants at Arms and registrars will be needed throughout the day; we will also need one or more Rotarians to monitor the display featuring an authentic iron lung...as part of the End Polio Now project.
Sign-up sheets will be made available over the next few weeks; for more information, please contact Jeff Petersen about the District Conference and Brian Adams concerning Rotarians at Work Days.
Youth Engaged in Philanthropy will soon convene its annual meeting, to decide how to divvy up $12,000 in grant monies from the DeKalb County Community Foundation...between a number of youth-oriented causes.
Steven Poorten (left), Libby Swedberg and Taylor Hull are familiar faces at Rotary, in part because of their dedication to serving the community. They are members of the YEP Board of Directors, helping to guide about 70 students each month through the grant-making process.
In addition to sorting through over $25,000 in requests, YEP gives the participants the opportunity to help out with several Outreach projects throughout the year -- ranging from Feed My Starving Children to the Youth Service Bureau's Royal Children's Ball.
The Sycamore Rotary Club plans on having a booth at this year's DeKalb-Sycamore Chamber Expo; it will be held on Thursday, March 29th from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the DeKalb High School Fieldhouse.
This event is open to participation by all DeKalb and Sycamore Chamber of Commerce members; the B2B portion runs from 3:00 to 4:00, and the event is then open to the general public from 4:00 to 7:00.
This will be a prime opportunity for our Rotary Club to show the public who we are and what we do, and perhaps convince some of our friends and neighbors to consider membership in Rotary.
The Sycamore Rotary Club's annual Hula-for-Loota draw-down raffle will be held on Thursday, April 19th; it will be from 6:30 to 9:00 at Chapel in the Pines, located at 15165 Quigley Road.
This annual evening of fun and furious negotiating will include dinner, cash bar, raffles, prizes and our featured drawing; there will be plenty of giveaways throughout the evening, so even if you're eliminated...you can still win!
Tickets will go on sale soon; all proceeds will go to the Rotary Club's scholarship fund.
We are entering the second semester of the school year for South Prairie Elementary, which has hosted Rotarians each week as part of our Rotary Readers project.
Each Thursday, Rotarians come to the school with two book selections; one is read to the students, and both are donated to the library. Each Rotarian also comes prepared to discuss his or her occupation, and what reading has meant to them in their lives. Each visit runs from about 9:45 to 10:30 a.m.
For those signed up to read during this second half of the school year, here is the remaining schedule:
March 1 Heidi Wright
March 8 Ray Dembinski
March 15 Eric Jones
March 22 Jim Buck
April 5 Sally Bruch
April 12 To be announced
Apirl 19 MJ Schwartz
Apirl 26 Lavarre Uhlken
May 3 Sally Bruch
May 10 Sue Emberson
May 17 Michelle Jurkovic
Rotary Reader Tips:
Be sure to arrive early enough to have time to pick out your two books and rehearse the one book that you will read to the third graders.
Engage the children by asking questions of them during the time you are reading. Add your own personal comments to what is being read about the story or happening to the characters.
As a reminder, the club is collecting your Rotarian Magazines (after you read them of course) to hand out to guests and others in order to share information about the great things Rotary does around the world.
If you have any spares, please bring them to one of our meetings and put them in the box by the badges.
Attendance Report -- February 28, 2018
Attendance: 56.52%
Visiting Rotarians: Gene Deisz (DeKalb); Robert Marsden (Madison), husband of Paulette Renault
Guests of Members:Bob Farley (Eric Jones); Julie Sommese (Riley Oncken, turned in application); Steve Ward (Jeff Keicher); Tracy Jones (Jeff Keicher); Steve Olsen (Suzanne Anderson, given application)
Other Guests: Jenny Ruff -- NIU Center for Asian Studies
