Menu: Pork chop sandwich, baked beans, coleslaw, and snickerdoodle salad
(from Country Store & Catering)
Ticket Price: $15 each
Pick Up Location: St. Mary's PAC Parking Lot
Wine Winners! Past District Governor Ruth Lee (photo center) represented her Rock Island Rotary Club as she delivered auction winnings from the recent District Conference (held in East Moline) during this week’s meeting. Winners of packages containing a trio of wines included visiting Rotarian Jane Goetz (left) from Sunrise Ottawa and our own Sycamore Club President-Elect Tim Neubert (right). Money raised by the Rock Island Club through the auction at the District Conference was directed toward student scholarships.
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) returns. District 6420's RYLA retreat was once again an in-person event this year and included four participants sponsored by our club. Lily Krushnick, Ashley Olson, Lili Jennings, and Annie Brandt (pictured left to right) gave an overview of their RYLA experience during this week’s meeting.
Our Wednesday meetings are now being held at St. Mary's Parish Activity Center (312 Waterman Street in Sycamore). We are no longer meeting at Blumen Gardens.
Sycamore High School Interact President Ashley Olson and members Lily Krushnick Lili Jennings, and Annie Brandt this week presented a detailed PowerPoint on their experience at RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards). Their three-day experience was the first Rotary RYLA event since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. The District 6420 program was held May 6-8 at the Lorado Taft center near Oregon.
The presenters summarized each day’s intensive training as well as food highlights. Day 1 focused on team building. This included several activities under the banner of SurvivoRYLA with names like “Minefield” and “Chicken Game.” Motivational speakers Carl and Dianna Cole urged attendees to “seize the day” with service to others. The day included a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Day 2 included speakers Andrea Gibbs, explaining how to prepare for professional interviews, and Kirstin Pope on using Yoga as a tool to step out of one’s comfort zone. Rotarians Tom Brooks and Gary Francque did a presentation highlighting Rotary Youth Exchange, Water Projects, and Interact. Day 3 began with what were described as “formidable” cinnamon rolls and involved awards presentations (some acknowledged to be on the humorous side). Closing speaker Bill Johnson urged attendees to “make a difference NOW” as they departed for home.
Olson, Krushnick, Jennings, and Brandt all remarked on how participating in RYLA made them learn more about themselves and how to step out of their comfort zones. They said their camp experience makes them want to go out and make a difference in the world.
The following Rotarians (in alphabetical order) have so far signed up to work shifts during the Drive Thru Dinner fundraiser in the St. Mary's Parish Activity Center parking lot on Thursday, June 23.
The Louverture Cleary School, a 360-student secondary school near Port-au-Prince, has used solar power since 2005, but it lacked batteries capable of providing dependable energy. Kent Gilges, a member of the Rotary Club of Canandaigua, New York, saw this need while volunteering with his family at the school, which is run by education nonprofit the Haitian Project. “I was passing the dormitory,” Gilges recalls. “I looked in the window and there were 40 kids in one room, and they were all trying to study by one lightbulb.” In late 2020, Gilges’ son and his son’s friend took up the effort to provide reliable power as a school capstone project, supported by the Canandaigua club as well as other clubs in District 7120 (New York) and the Rotary Club of St. Petersburg, Florida. The batteries, wiring, inverters, and other equipment were procured from a company operated by a Louverture Cleary graduate. “A big storm can blow through and they can still run their power needs for three days,” Gilges says.
Canada
When Canada suspended the export of potatoes to the United States from Prince Edward Island because of a fungus found in two fields, Rotarians in Ontario rallied to help farmers offset their losses. Dozens of clubs coordinated the purchase, transport, and distribution of the still-edible crops to food banks. The Rotary Club of Bracebridge began the effort, tapping local government connections to arrange for a provincial grant of about US$9,000 to cover the acquisition and transport of 4,000 10-pound bags of potatoes from one of the growers. On 19 February, members of five area Rotary clubs and one Rotaract club gathered in a warehouse to offload the spuds, sort the bags, and deliver them to 14 food pantries. Some 800 miles away, at his family farm near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Rick Sanderson marvels at the thoughtfulness of those who worked with him to salvage a portion of his harvest. “I just really appreciate Rotary helping us out here in the time of need,” Sanderson says.
Ghana
In the immediate aftermath of an explosion that leveled a village in southwestern Ghana and killed at least 13 people, Rotary clubs across the country rushed in with aid. The Rotary Club of Tarkwa brought in clothing, food, soap, and other items just one day after the January disaster, which had been triggered by the collision of a motorcycle and a truck carrying mining explosives. The club’s involvement was not a one-off, says Abdel-Razak Yakubu, a club member. Later, Yakubu says, they learned that nearly 200 children had lost their homes — and with them, essential school supplies such as uniforms, books, and stationery. Using nearly $4,500 donated by Ghanaian clubs, the Tarkwa Rotarians were able to replace the supplies in February.
Netherlands
Celebrating national foodstuffs is a tradition among Dutch Rotary members. Clubs produce and sell such goods as beer, wine, and coffee to generate money for charity, says Pieter Schut of the Rotary Club of Naarden-Bussum, a past governor of District 1570. After taking a field trip to view bee cabinets managed by club member and part-time apiarist Erik Berkelmans and the local beekeepers’ association, club members had a honey of an idea: They began processing and marketing jars of honey as a fundraiser. Berkelmans, Schut, and two other club members packaged and sold the first 60 jars, each with 18 ounces of honey, for about $8 each, with the proceeds funding an information board near the beekeepers’ stand at the Goois Nature Reserve.
Australia
For the patients of the Men’s Health Education Rural Van, the free and confidential 10-minute screenings for blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol are a literal lifesaver, notes Graeme Hooper, a member of the Rotary Club of Warners Bay and the van team coordinator. Recently, the nurse-staffed, two-room trailer returned after a pandemic hiatus. Over seven weeks in February and March, the caravan toured 23 towns and saw 730 patients. “Of these, 26 percent were requested to see a doctor, while 2 percent needed to see a doctor urgently,” Hooper says. Warners Bay Rotarians plan the route and coordinate onsite volunteers, local publicity, and accommodations for the nurse.
Donations are currently being requested for the Sycamore Food Pantry. Bring a bottle of laundry detergent...or $10 for Julie Sgarlata to purchase one. Money is easier to handle.
Personal hygiene items (bar soap, shampoo, etc.) are also being sought.
May 29, 1917 – Naval hero, congressman, senator, and 35th U. S. President John F. Kennedy is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
May 31, 1943 – American Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (who led the New York Jets to a Super Bowl win in 1969) Joe Nameth is born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
June 1, 1926 – Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe is born in Los Angeles (her given name is Norma Jean Mortensen).
June 4, 1783 – King George III is born in London – he rules England for 60 years from 1760 to 1820, including the time of the American Revolution.
May 30, 1868 – The first national observance of Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is inspired by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic for the purpose of honoring Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. It is now observed on the last Monday of May as a federal holiday for mourning all military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces.
May 30, 1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated featuring the compelling statue of a “seated” Lincoln along with carved inscriptions of his Gettysburg address and second inaugural address.
June 3, 1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson (as King Edward VIII he abdicated the British throne the previous December to avoid a constitutional crisis by marrying a divorced woman).
June 4, 1989 – The Chinese government ordered troops to open fire on unarmed protesters in Tienanmen Square, Beijing, with an estimated 3,000 killed and 1,600 arrested.
.png)
