Announcements
(notes provided by the crafty and courageous Barb Lintner)

Janice Ateer from DSC accepted a check from CU Sunrise for $5,150 to pay for a software package which can be used to generate pictures for clients to take with them as an aid to communication.  CU Sunrise was awarded a Rotary District 6490 Grant for $2,000 and the club provided the rest to purchase the software.  Thanks to Rod for his work on this project.

Jen announced that the Fur Ball, the annual Humane Society fundraiser will be held on October 10 at the Hilton Garden Inn.

Remember to bring potential members to next week’s meeting.  U of I Women’s Volleyball Coach Kevin Hambly will be our speaker.

Volunteers are needed to help out at the Big Brothers, Big Sisters Run and Dye 5K race in October.

Special Note from Phyllis Mischo

Thanks to everyone who helped in the Decker Garden this year.  I’ve met a lot of people there who comment on the Garden, talk about Don Decker, or takes pictures.  Children dance on the keyboard and make music. The Garden brings joy and peace to visitors because of your efforts.

Last week I was working at the Garden and I talked with two people who knew Don Decker.  It’s not unusual to hear stories of Don–told with fondness and thoughtfulness.  Don must have been an extraordinary person to have left such wonderful memories with so many people.

More recently, Larry, Judy, Lou and I planted some tulip and daffodil bulbs and with luck we’ll see some spring color.  Lou packed up the hose which means it’s the end of the gardening season.

It’s been my pleasure to help with the Garden this season.  Gardeners are a bit like Cubs fans.  Some plants exceed your expectations and some don’t ever show up—but there’s always next year!

Club Assembly

Board members gave a brief overview and club members split into groups to hold committee meetings.

Club Service needs volunteers to plan and host the Christmas Party.  A club social is in the planning stages for this fall.

New Generations reported that they have a meeting planned with Liz Deetz, the new Interact advisor at Central High School

Community Service will be conducting the Fruit Sale again this year but are also open to new fundraising ideas.  Last year we sold 700 cases and made about $10,000.  This year it will be a 3 week sale with delivery early in December.

Project Development will continue to work with the Food bank, Decker Garden, Habitat, Big Brother, and the Idea Store.

Vocational Services:  Our scholarship has been upped to $2000 and expanded to nursing students.   Dave Krchak will be in charge of the Parkland Scholarship this year.

International Service:  We will work this year with the University YMCA which serves many international students.

Rotary Foundation:  The committee will meet by email and plans to sponsor programs this year.

Shelterbox:  Gary Olsen will speak about Shelterbox at a Women’s Club program in Monticello next month.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

October 2nd – Kevin Hambly, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, University of Illinois

October 9th – Heidi Leuszler, Associate Professor of Biology, Parkland College, will discuss her time in Costa Rica

October 16th – Robin Christian Peters will discuss directing movies, interactive media, and video development

October 23rd – Dr. Paul Diehl, Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science, UIUC, will discuss international relations

October 30th – Joe Hooker, Assistant City Attorney for the City of Champaign, will discuss the Mahomet Aquifer

November 6th –  Anne Sautman, Director of Education at Krannert Art Museum, will talk about KAM’s current exhibits of Goya prints and French WW I posters

November 13th – Carl Burkybile, Champaign Rotary World Community Service Co-chair, Caring for Kenya Director, Healing Hands International Director of Agriculture

November 20th – TBD

 ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

RYE Antonia Rivera and her host mom, Robin Ferguson, visited the club.

Todd introduced a prospective member, Judy Swanson.

Bob LaCharite gave the Rotary Minute. He grew up in Assumption, IL and graduated from the U of I in 1969. He then served two years in the Army at a Nike Missle site in the Chicago area. He worked for the FDIC and the IRS during his work career and was able to move back to Champaign from Massachusetts with the IRS in 2006. He served in the Champaign IRS office as a customer service specialist through his retirement in 2012. He now volunteers for Carle Hospital and as a tax preparer in the senior center during tax season. Since retirement, he has taken courses through OLLI and Parkand and has traveled to Japan twice to visit with his son David, who serves as an English language teacher in a Japanese school there.

PROGRAM

Phyllis introduced Todd Gleason, who is with the U of I Extension.  Todd discussed the challenges with modern farming, including the fluctuations in the commodity market, as well as the ever-adapting role of technology in our daily lives.

Todd was the 5th of 6 boys growing up on a farm in Logan County.   Four of his brothers and his dad still farm.   In 1986, Todd got a degree in Ag Communications from the U of I.

He gives the “Closing Market Report” and hosts “Commodity Week” on WILL AM 580.    The WILL 580 signal covers 138 counties in Illinois and Indiana.

American farmers provide the bulk of the food for 320 million Americans, plus exports.   In 1800, there were about 2 billion people on the earth.  By 1900, the world population was 3 billion.  Today there are 7 billion mouths to feed.    Todd explained how farmer’s incomes go up and down, tied to oil prices and weather conditions.   During the drought, corn sold for $8 a bushel.  Today the price is $3.41.    A tractor costs between $85,000-100,000 and a combine typically costs between $500,000-700,000.  A typical farm family must farm around 800- 1200 acres and have at least one job off the farm to survive.

Todd gave several examples of how he and farmers use technology in their lives.    The first is by using SKYPE.    His phone interviews are done by SKYPE.   He also uses it to keep track of his invalid father.

Todd uses Twitter to communicate with farmers.   Farmers don’t sit in front of computers all day.   They get information via their phones.    Todd has over 1,000 Twitter followers all over the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia.    He also blogs and set up his own website using Google.

Finally, Todd proudly explained how he has lost between 35-40 pounds using his “audible diet”.    He walks for an hour, almost every day of the week.  Although he walks the same route or uses a treadmill, he never gets bored because he listens to books on tape!   He has listened to 35 books since last October.

Flag Exchange

Geoffrey Rugege, brother-in-law of Iblaimu Kakoma, visited the club and presented a flag from the Kigale Virunga Club in District 9150 in Ruanda.   His club would be interested in working on projects with ours.   Geoffrey’s email is rugege@gmail.com.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

September 25th – Club Assembly

October 2nd – Kevin Hambly, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, University of Illinois

October 9th – TBD

October 16th – Robin Christian Peters will discuss directing movies, interactive media, and video development

October 23rd – Dr. Paul Diehl, Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science, UIUC, will discuss international relations

October 30th – Joe Hooker, Assistant City Attorney for the City of Champaign, will discuss the Mahomet Aquifer

November 6th –  Anne Sautman, Director of Education at Krannert Art Museum, will talk about KAM’s current exhibits of Goya prints and French WW I posters

November 13th – TBD

 Announcements

(Notes provided by Allan Penwell)

Last week Betsy Barringer, who is the wife of deceased Rotarian Larry Barringer, visited our club.  Betsy presented a contribution to Gary Olsen on behalf of the Barringer family for ShelterBox.  We thank Betsy and her family for the generous gift.

Our next volunteer opportunity will be a clean-up at the IDEA Store on Saturday, September 27^th.  Molly passed around a sign-up sheet for this event at 28 East Springfield and please help.

August bucket money goes to the University YMCA which will fund educators in Africa for the ebola virus.

Ata invites everyone to join the Rotary Veterans Day 1 on 1 event planning committee on Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 at 4:30pm at First Federal, 1311 S. Neil Street in Champaign.  The event is open to all Rotarians.

Program

Our program for September 11^th was Dr. Judy Weigand who is superintendent of Champaign Unit #4 schools.  She has been in the school system since 1987 and has served in several positions including principal of Centennial High School.  She is a Champaign West Rotarian.  Dr. Weigand discussed the issues related to the pending vote for the $149 million expansion of the two high schools.

It has been an eight-year journey to acquire the appropriate land and lay out plans for the construction of a new Central High School on North Neil Street and Interstate Drive and a remodel and expansion of Centennial.

The Unit #4 board reviewed the issues related to the two projects.  They are a growing student population; a need for upgraded science labs and technology advances; existing temporary facilities (trailers); and need for new career programs such as industrial technology.  There are many other issues such as an outdated swimming pool at Centennial, and Central has no sports fields on campus and shares the Centennial football field.

At present, Centennial is using 14-15 trailers to accommodate students, and it is operating at 104% capacity.  Projections show that in 6 to 8 years, the school will be at 120% capacity.  Central is operating out of an old building with lack of sports fields, parking, and no air conditioning.  Statistics show that Unit #4 students have 115-122 square feet of space per student.  This compares to other conference schools with 288 SF per student.  The two high schools skew the overall average significantly downward as the square foot per student at Central is 97.7 SF per student and 51.3 SF at Centennial.

As to the crowding issue specifics, the Central band room was designed to accommodate 40 band members, but there are now 100+ musicians in band.  In a recent News-Gazette article, Champaign High School graduates spoke out about their facilities.  It noted classrooms so crowded with desks that it’s impossible to slide between them.  The heat on 90 degree days is unbearable, and classes have to be let out early. The locker rooms are inadequate for all of the teams that use them.  Use of the swimming pool at Centennial is unpredictable because of maintenance issues with the old filtration system.

All of these changes come at a cost.  Estimates show that a $100,000 home in Champaign would have an annual increase of around $160 in property taxes.  This correlates to about $.51 per $100 of assessed valuation which according to the school district, the rate would still be the fourth lowest in the high school conference.  However, it is noted that in general citizens want their public buildings to be top notch and generally have approved previous requests for improvements.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

September 18th – Todd Gleason, Farm Broadcaster, UIUC, will discuss the commodities markets

September 25th – Club Assembly

October 2nd – Kevin Hambly, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, University of Illinois

October 9th – TBD

October 16th – TBD

October 23rd – Dr. Paul Diehl, Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science, UIUC, will discuss international relations

October 30th – TBD

November 6th – TBD

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)

Jeff Van Buren is having a happy birthday/ meet and greet for Antonia at his house on Thursday, Sept. 11^th at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday is Antonia’s 17^th birthday.  Pizza and refreshments will be served. The address is 1807 Bentbrook Drive, Champaign.  Please RSVP either way.

Molly Delaney introduced Suzanne Linder, the new WILL Education Outreach Coordinator.  Suzanne thanked the club for its service in the past, and asked for volunteers again this year to serve as book reading mentors. Several sites are available, but there is a particular need at the Savoy location.  Mentors are asked to arrive a little early before reading and doing an activity for thirty minutes.  The overall commitment is one hour, including your transportation time.  Contact Suzanne at 217-333-2870 or slinder@illinois.edu

Despite ample opportunities, Allan Penwell stood firm in his desire to not divulge details about his birthday golf outing.

Ata invites everyone to join the Rotary Veterans Day 1 on 1 event planning committee on Tuesday, September 16th, 2014 at 4:30pm at First Federal, 1311 S. Neil Street in Champaign.  The event is open to all Rotarians.

PROGRAM

Molly Delaney introduced David Thiel, Content Director for WILL TV, AM & FM.  David reviewed the fall TV schedule on WILL.

September 14-20
Ken Burns returns with an intimate 7 night, 14 hour look at the “The Roosevelts”. The film weaves the individual stories of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor spanning over 100 years.

Illinois Pioneers returns Thursday’s @ 7pm
Shozo Sato – Japan House, Rainer Martens – Human Kinetics, IU Professor Fred Kummerow – anti-trans fat scientist, Ed Scharlau – Busey Bank, Mark Rubel – music producer, May Berenbaum – UI entomologist

Doc Martin follows @ 8pm: Big city surgeon with a blood phobia becomes a country doctor

Miss Marple starts season 7 on 9/21

Beginning September 23, Tuesdays @ 7pm

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates is a 10 week series exploring the ancestry of 30 guests including the likes of Derek Jeter, Anderson Cooper, Carole King, Tina Fey, George Stephanopoulos and Ben Affleck.

Beginning September 30, Tuesdays @ 8pm
Makers – Season 2 shares the stories of women in six spheres of influence, comedy, Hollywood, space, business and politics.

September 28th and Sundays @ 8 (8 part series)
Season 2 of Masterpiece Classic: The Paradise

October 15
How We Got to Now, with Steve Johnson (like the old Connections series)
A six-part series produced for PBS by Nutopia and hosted by the popular American science author and media theorist, explores the power and the legacy of great ideas. Topics explored in the series include why and how ideas happen, and their sometimes unintended results, including how the search for clean water opened the way to invention of the iPhone, and how the nagging problem of overheating in a New York printing business led to the invention of air conditioning, which inspired mass migration and a political transformation.

October 26 & November 2
Masterpiece Mystery – Death Comes to Pemberly (the sequel to The Pride and The Prejudice)

Downton Abbey returns January 14th!

Not to mention NOVA, American Experience (well I mentioned it with The Roosevelts), Nature, Frontline, Antiques Roadshow, American Master’s, and lots more!
All programming can be found at will.illinois.edu/.  And you can reach Dave Thiel at:
Illinois Public Media
300 N. Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217-333-7300
FAX: 217-244-2656
Email: dthiel@illinois.edu

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

September 11th – Dr. Judy Wiegand, Superintendent of Unit 4 Schools

September 18th – Todd Gleason, Farm Broadcaster, UIUC, will discuss the commodities markets

September 25th – Club Assembly

October 2nd – Kevin Hambly, Head Women’s Volleyball Coach, University of Illinois

October 9th – TBD

October 16th – TBD

October 23rd – Dr. Paul Diehl, Henning Larsen Professor of Political Science, UIUC, will discuss international relations

October 30th – TBD