Rotarian Don Clayberg was recognized May 13th when the Sycamore High School Guidance Counseling Center was officially named in his honor for his tenure of service from 1978 to 1993. Retired school superintendent Bob Hammond recounted the special event and good-naturedly added his own personal contacts with Don that dated back to 1971 when Hammond was doing a school evaluation where Clayberg was employed (Don later gave Bob a special Rotary cup as a thank you for his speech). After retiring from the school district, Clayberg served 12 years on the school board. He has been a member of Rotary for 38 years and served as District Governor in 2002-2003. Several current members of Sycamore Rotary remembered their school counseling under his direction. Congratulations on this special honor, Don!
Plans for ROTARY DRIVE-THRU DINNER coming together!
Date: Thursday, June 23 (times TBD)
Menu: Pork chop sandwich, baked beans, cole slaw, and snickerdoodle salad (from Country Store & Catering)
Ticket Price: $15 each
Pick Up Location: St. Mary's Parking Lot
DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport Manager Renee Riani explains the activity, opportunities, and impact the facility has on the region during Wednesday’s Rotary meeting.
Beginning June 1, our Wednesday meetings will be held at St. Mary's Parish Activity Center located at 312 Waterman Street in Sycamore. We will no longer be meeting at Blumen Gardens.
Words like recreation, education, training, charter flights, business travel, and maintenance all came up as DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport Manager Renee Riani spoke at this week’s Rotary meeting. Riani, an aviation graduate of Purdue University, became airport manager two years ago. She was no stranger to the airport having spent time as an aviation instructor for the Kishwaukee Education Consortium (KEC) which maintains classroom and airplane simulator facilities at the site. Although she originally envisioned a career as a pilot, she found her career took her on a path of being a flight instructor and then spent time in marketing and management for DuPage Airport.
Although there are no regularly scheduled commercial flights at the DeKalb Airport, Riana went through an extensive list of aviation related activities that can be found on the property since it is categorized as a General Aviation Airport. These include several types of flight school programs in addition to the KEC offerings. One of their tenants does skydiving instruction for the military. There are several maintenance operations, serving both public and private aircraft. Charter and corporate flights are also part of the mix. For example, Target Corporation is a frequent user because of their large distribution operation in DeKalb and the NIU basketball team flies out of the airport for certain games (although the more elaborate needs of the football team prevent their use of the facility for the time being). A recent addition to the airfield is the ComEd helicopter unit used for aerial repairs of high voltage power lines.
Revenue for airport operations comes from fuel sales plus lease of city-owned hangers and support buildings on the property. The city also leases some land to companies who then build their own structures on site. Riani believes the economic recovery from Covid should put airport operations on break-even basis. Dollars from the Federal Aviation Trust Fund have been used for a $4.8 million refurbishing of the 25-year-old north-south runway system (the original runway layout was from east to west). Next in line is use of Federal dollars for rehabbing the adjacent north-south taxi-way system keeping the airport a vital part of economic activity in the region.
Posted by Sallyann Price, Rotary International on May 20, 2022
Rotary members in Ukraine are helping neighbors return to their homes, distributing supplies from other countries, and organizing long-term aid — all despite being affected by the war themselves.
Since Russian military forces entered the country in late February, Rotary members have been holding regular video calls to coordinate relief work. Mykola Stebljanko, a member of the Rotary E-Club of Ukraine and the editor of Rotary's Ukrainian magazine, Rotariets, says they are focused on three main activities: supplying medicines and electricity to hospitals where wounded civilians are seeking care, finding shelter for displaced families, and managing the flow of incoming humanitarian aid.
Recent efforts by members in District 2232, where Stebljanko is the public image coordinator and a past governor, have focused on cities that residents are now returning to after fleeing Russian attacks earlier this spring.
"Ukrainians are coming back home to their towns and cities in ruins," says Stebljanko, who in a March interview had told Rotary magazine about being awakened by air raid sirens at night and taking shelter with his family in the bathroom of their home in Odesa. In early May, news reports said that city had been struck by missiles.
"It's hard to describe how much destruction there is in some cities and the work that needs to be done to bring them back," he says.
The district has acquired and distributed dozens of high-powered generators to help restore power to hospitals, businesses, and some homes. Clubs have also organized the transportation of several donated firetrucks from other countries in Europe. In addition to being used to respond to fires and other emergencies, Stebljanko says, the trucks have ladders that allow utility workers reach power lines that need repair.
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 15, 1937 – America’s first female secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, is born in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
May 18, 1872 – British philosopher, logician, and social reformer (and winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Literature for his varied and significant writings) Bertrand Russell is born in Trelleck, Monmouthshire, Wales.
May 18, 1897 – Hollywood director Frank Capra, known for “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and “It Happened One Night”, is born in Bisacquino, Italy.
May 19, 1930 – Playwright Lorraine Hansberry, whose work “A Raisin in the Sun” was the first drama by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway (in 1959), is born in Chicago.
May 17, 1875 – The first Kentucky Derby horse race is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
May 17, 1954 – In Brown v. Board of Education, the U. S. Supreme Court unanimously rules the segregation of public schools “solely on the basis of race” denies Black children equal education opportunity. The case against segregation was argued by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
May 19, 1980 – The Mt. St. Helens volcano erupts in Washington State, its first major eruption since 1857, sending steam and ash eleven miles into the sky.
May 20, 1927 – 25-year-old Charles Lindberg takes off in the “Spirit of Saint Louis” and becomes the first person to complete a solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. On this same date in 1932 Amelia Earhart would become the first woman to complete a solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic.
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