Dawn Schaefer, Executive Director of the Kishwaukee Special Recreation Association, spoke to club members on February 16, sharing an overview of the organization and its future.
The club's Board of Directors values your input, as we seek to raise funds and perform service projects to the causes and organizations that matter most to you!
This week's speaker was Dawn Schaefer, Executive Director of the Kishwaukee Special Recreation Association. Dawn described KSRA as a DeKalb County "park district for special needs kids and adults, ages 5-85, offering therapy through fun."
One of KSRA's most significant efforts has been running Camp Maple Leaf at a DeKalb Park District property for 45 years, and serving 30-60 children each summer. The organization has also partnered with the Sycamore Park District on many occasions, most recently in its development of a sensory room at the Sycamore Community Center. $15K in materials have already been purchased for the new space featuring bubbles, music, smells, and more. Dawn is hopeful they will be able to raise funds to install a floor projection game which she and others have seen elsewhere and found very impressive and impactful.
In addition to local park districts, KSRA partners with the Disability Studies and Speech Pathology departments from Northern Illinois University.
Dawn shared that parents often say "I never thought they could do this", when they see what their children can accomplish with KSRA's opportunities, support, and encouragement. One of the activities offered is bocce. A team of participants was formed in order to compete in the Special Olympics in DeKalb. During their preparations for the Special Olympics, the participants competed with board members on Halloween (dressed in costume!), and then won fair and square!
KSRA has a $350,000 budget, two employees, and typically (pre-COVID) serves about 600 people each year. However, Dawn believes 2,000 residents of DeKalb County would benefit from KSRA's services, and is working to increase their funding and staffing through the creation of a 501(c)(3) foundation. She wants to ensure donations can be collected and accepted from any person or organization, but with an eye toward Amazon, Facebook, and other large companies in the process of adding facilities and employees to the county.
KSRA will be hosting a golf outing on Friday, May 20, using the marketing message "Golf in May with KSRA".
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.
Posted by Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation on Jan 12, 2022
We see the decision to vaccinate as a civic and humanitarian imperative. Rotary is not a political or religious organization, it is a service organization and this is the lens through which we are advising you of our position.
Global vaccination is the path to ending the pandemic and the emergence of new variants. Rotary endorses and strongly encourages vaccination for all individuals including our members who are currently able to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In areas where COVID-19 is surging, communities are facing extreme challenges, health systems are overwhelmed, and contentious rhetoric is dividing us. It is critical that the virus be contained so that the world may begin to heal. To that end, the purpose of this statement is to reinforce Rotary’s position.
Misinformation has become an “infodemic” that hinders the fight against COVID-19. In line with our Four-Way Test, Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation are committed to providing our members with science-based information.
Rotary International staff at One Rotary Center were required to be vaccinated by 10 October 2021, as a criterion for employment after that date. RI’s employee vaccination rate stands at over 99 percent.
Globally, Rotary is actively engaged in assuring equity in vaccine access to all people. Our efforts have included advocacy with the G-20, and a proof-of-concept program with GAVI/COVAX to leverage our frontline experience with polio eradication to facilitate vaccine delivery in several low- and middle-income countries where Rotarians are active. While we know many clubs are already deeply involved in COVID-19 prevention, we are working on additional strategies to multiply our collective efforts. GAVI/COVAX is a partnership including WHO and UNICEF focused on global access and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.
Those children for whom vaccines are not currently available are at significant risk. Until vaccines are available for all children, the vaccination of adults is the best way to protect children who cannot be vaccinated. Pediatric admissions for COVID-19 are rising precipitously in areas of low vaccination.
Rotary salutes health care workers everywhere as they continue to provide lifesaving services. Local recognition of these heroes by each of our clubs can help to encourage them to continue their important work. Rotary abhors any harassment and attacks on healthcare workers.
Rotary and Rotaract clubs are encouraged to
set good examples by being exemplary role models;
redouble their efforts to support COVID-19 treatment, prevention, and vaccination efforts.
Vaccines have proven to be one of the greatest advances of modern medicine. The World Health Organization estimates that vaccines save between 2 to 3 million children’s lives each year, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative estimates the polio vaccine has saved more than 19 million children from paralysis. Vaccines are safe, effective and are responsible for eliminating or controlling many other vaccine-preventable diseases such as smallpox, measles, rubella, and Ebola. And now, there is the opportunity to end the COVID-19 pandemic through vaccines.
The eradication of polio remains a goal of the highest order for Rotary. We can apply the lessons we have learned in fighting polio to the efforts in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
February 14, 1818 – African-American abolitionist, lecturer, and editor, Frederick Douglass, who was also an escaped slave, is born in Talbot County, Maryland.
February 15, 1809 - Inventor and industrialist Cyrus McCormick is born in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He invents a horse-drawn mechanical reaper contributing to development and cultivation of vast areas of the American Great Plains. His reaper forms the basis of International Harvester Corporation.
February 15, 1820 – Pioneering women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony is born in Adams, Massachusetts.
February 18, 1892 – American politician Wendell Willkie is born in Elwood, Indiana. He was the Republican nominee for President in 1940 waging an unsuccessful campaign in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s bid for an unprecedented third term as President.
February 14, 1929 – The infamous St. Valentine’s Day massacre occurred in Chicago when seven members of the Bugs Moran gang were gunned down by five of Al Capone’s mobsters posing as police.
February 15, 1898 – The U. S. Battleship Maine was blown up while in Havana harbor with 260 crew members lost. Inflamed public opinion (“Remember the Maine”) led to a declaration of war against Spain.
February 15, 1933 – An assassination attempt on newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt occurred in Miami, Florida. A spectator deflected the gunman’s aim, but Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was shot and killed instead.
February 16, 1923 – English archaeologist Howard Carter enters the sealed burial chamber of the ancient Egyptian ruler King Tutankhamen culminating a five-year search for the boy-king’s tomb. The tomb’s interior treasures were untouched after more than 3,000 years with King Tut’s mummy the most perfectly preserved ever discovered.
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