“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” ― Richard Bach 

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” ― Martin Luther King, Jr. 

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ― Albert Schweitzer

“If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.” ― Lyndon B. Johnson 

“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.” ― Henry Ward Beecher

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND PROGRAM

There was no program last week due to Thanksgiving.

Bob La Charite has changed his email address to <boblacharite305@gmail.com> and asks that his fellow Rotarians to update their records accordingly.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

December 1st – Club Assembly

December 8th – Janice Jayes, Instructional Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, will discuss the state of ISIS today (Bob)

December 15th – Isak Griffiths, Executive Director, Courage Connections (Laura)

December 22nd – Mitch Davis, Muscular Dystrophy Association (Mary)

December 29th – No AM meeting; evening social instead?

January 5th – Family Meeting? (Phyllis)

January 12th – TBD (Tod)

January 19th – TBD (Tom)

January 26th – Josh Whitman, Athletic Director, UIUC (Bob)

February 2nd – TBD (Laura)

February 9th – TBD (Mary)

February 16th- Nick Osborne, Director, Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education, UIUC (Phyllis)

February 23rd – TBD (Tod)

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.  – Edward Everett Hale

PROGRAM NOTES
(notes provided by the inimitable Allan Penwell)

November is Rotary Foundation month.  Members of CUSR have continually been active in donating to The Rotary Foundation.  Over the years, our club members have donated just $366.45 short of $100,000 to The Rotary Foundation. It’s not a lot compared to other clubs, but it’s significant in total.  Current club members account for almost $50,000 in donations.

·  A Paul Harris Fellow is a Rotarian who has donated $1,000 to our Foundation.  There are 30 generous members of our club who are Paul Harris Fellows which is 81% of total membership. Our club matches the first $500 of member contributions for the member to become a Paul Harris Fellow.  This is a great way to start.

·  Seven members of our club are multiple Paul Harris Fellows.

·  A sustainer is a Rotarian who contributes $100 each year to the The Rotary Foundation.  In the first four months of this Rotary year, ten of our members are Sustainers.  Last Rotary year, there were 13 of our members who were Sustainers. We need all of you to become Sustainers.  It’s $100 per year or $.27 a day, $1.89 a week, or $8.33 a month.  EREY stands for Every Rotarian Every Year.  It would be nice to have 100% Sustainers in our club.

·  Four of our members are benefactors of the Foundation which indicates that Rotary is in their estate plans. If you are working on estate planning, now is the time to add The Rotary Foundation.

Please consider the Rotary Foundation.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

November 24th – Thanksgiving, no AM meeting

December 1st – Club Assembly

December 8th – Janice Jayes, Instructional Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, will discuss the state of ISIS today (Bob)

December 15th – Isak Griffiths, Executive Director, Courage Connections (Laura)

December 22nd – Mitch Davis, Muscular Dystrophy Association (Mary)

December 29th – No AM meeting; evening social instead?

January 5th – Family Meeting? (Phyllis)

January 12th – TBD (Tod)

January 19th – TBD (Tom)

January 26th – Josh Whitman, Athletic Director, UIUC (Bob)

February 2nd – TBD (Laura)

February 9th – TBD (Mary)

February 16th- Nick Osborne, Director, Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education, UIUC (Phyllis)

February 23rd – TBD (Tod)

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” ― Bob Feller 

“You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.” ― Maya Angelou 

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

There will be no meeting on November 24 and no meeting on December 29.  We will have an evening Holiday social in December.  Please invite guests to the January 26 meeting when Josh Whitman will be our speaker.

Rob announced that Fruit sales are underway.  Order forms and information have been emailed to club member.  Every member will have about three weeks to sell or donate.  Use your email contacts to make the selling process easier.  Cases are $25 and our profit per case is about $11.  The money from sales and donations this year will go to the Times Center and to our CU Sunrise Foundation to fund scholarships and charitable donations throughout the year.

Our volunteer project this month will be the 5K Race at Crystal Lake Park on November 19.  Volunteers are needed to set up and register runners from 8:30 to 10:00, to man Water Stations, and to clean up afterwards.  Sign up next week or let Todd know if you can help.

See Scott or Darrell  to schedule your opportunity to shine.  Video segments on why you are a Rotarian are being shot now.  Check out our Facebook page to see the progress.

Speaker

Maureen Reagan, the Assistant Director of Marketing at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts entertained us with interesting facts and details.  The center, at a cost of $21 million opened in 1969.  It was funded by Herman and Ellnora Krannert to educate through the participation in culture, a needed experience in complex times.   Herman Krannert, head of the Inland Container Corporation, was an engineering graduate of the University of Illinois and his wife, Ellnora held multiple arts degrees.  Max Abramovitz was the architect but the Krannerts were involved in the design as well.  

Today it is funded mostly by private and foundation donations and grants with some state funding and is known as being at the forefront of performance arts though out the world.  Krannert Center is a unit of the University of Illinois College of Fine and Applied arts but was built to integrate the arts across campus and provide a way to enhance the diversity of experiences, spur creativity, and become a center for student self discovery. 

There are five stages at Krannert including the acoustical gem – the Foellinger Great Hall. which is built on three foundations to create sound isolation.  The center is the home to a world renowned guest artist series and is a collaborative in fine arts, theatre, music and dance on campus.   It is a full production facility including classrooms, rehearsal spaces, studios and offices. 130 courses are taught per year, 450 students are employed, and 600 students use the facility daily.  The capacity of the one and a half acre lobby is 4,000 people and it includes a café, bar, and gift shop.  80 professionals are employed to manage over 400 performances and events a year attended by 3000 people. 

The Krannert Center for Performing Arts serves as a classroom, laboratory and public square presenting world class artists, fostering creativity, and preparing students for leadership roles in art.

Some innovative projects at the center include one funded with a Mellon Grant. FA110 is a series of team taught classes across the curriculum involving sciences and other departments as well as the arts with a focus on the creative process.  Another creates residencies to foster the development of new original work.  The Ellnora Guitar Festival which will take place on September 14 – 16 in 2017 brings together local and global artists with a wide variety of styles.  The 50th Anniversary celebration of the center will take place from September 2018 to May of 2020.

There are free tours at 3pm daily and the center has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so there are many ways to explore.  Information about the 2017 season will be finalized sometime in January.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

November 17th – Mike Hirschi, Champaign West, will discuss the Foundation (Allan Penwell)

November 24th – Thanksgiving, no AM meeting

December 1st – Club Assembly

December 8th – Janice Jayes, Instructional Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, will discuss the state of ISIS today (Bob)

December 15th – Isak Griffiths, Executive Director, Courage Connections (Laura)

December 22nd – Mitch Davis, Muscular Dystrophy Association (Mary)

December 29th – No AM meeting; evening social instead?

January 5th – Family Meeting? (Phyllis)

January 12th – TBD (Tod)

January 19th – TBD (Tom)

January 26th – Josh Whitman, Athletic Director, UIUC (Bob)

February 2nd – TBD (Laura)

February 9th – TBD (Mary)

February 16th- Nick Osborne, Director, Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education, UIUC (Phyllis)

February 23rd – TBD (Tod)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

The club voted to accept Michelle Barbey as anew member.

Rod reminded everyone that the Veteran’s One on One event will be held on November 11.

Rod announced the beginning of the club’s annual fruit sale.   He asked each member to sell at least 17-18 cases.   The price is $25 per case.   Orders are due before Thanksgiving and you will be able to pick up the fruit around December 6-7.   Proceeds will go to The Times Center and other CU Rotary Foundation charities.

Josh Whitman will be our guest on January 26.   Please bring a guest.

November bucket money will be donated to Shelterbox.

PROGRAM

Phyllis introduced Dr  Karl-Heinz Schoeps.   He was born in Germany in 1935.   He emigrated  to the USA in the 1960’s and obtained a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.   He taught at the University of Illinois from 1971 to 2000.

Dr Schoeps gave us a synopsis of his OLLI course on the subject of German Resistance during WW II.

In 1933 when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he was welcomed as a savior from the economic disaster that Germany experienced in the 1920’s.  The conservatives who helped him come to power wrongly thought that they would be able to control him.  The Communists and Socialists fought each other instead of joining forces to oppose Hitler.

Initially, Hitler created jobs by rearming the military and building the Autobahn.

But he soon booted out the conservatives and killed tens of thousands of German civilians and military personnel who opposed him.   By the mid-1930’s, people already realized their mistake.

Goebbels controlled the media.   You could buy a very cheap radio which had one station controlled by him.  Professor Schoep’s parents listened to the BBC, which was prohibited.

Berliners had opposed Hitler’s rise to power and during the war.  Berliners helped thousands of Jews to survive, sharing their ration cards.

Most people have heard of the July 20, 1944, failed attempt to kill Hitler, but there were many other attempts.

In August, 1938, Ludwig Beck, Chief of the General Staff, resigned in protest of Hitler’s war plans.  He failed to persuade the other generals to resign.   Beck was part of the resistance, but to be effective, you had to stay in the military.

With the exception of the SS, most of the military despised Hitler.   Top generals planned a coup in 1938.  But they dropped their plot when Chamberlain  signed the Munich Agreement.   They could not succeed without Allied help.

In November, 1939, Erich Kordat, a German diplomat, tried to kill Hitler.

George Elser wanted to prevent war and came up with an elaborate plan to assassinate Hitler and Himmler.   He worked in a quarry to obtain explosives and a clock factory to obtain clockworks.   He fed the guard dog at a building where Hitler was scheduled to speak.   This enabled him to go undetected when he stayed in the building at night.  He hollowed out a pillar and planted his bomb inside.

Hitler gave the speech on November 8, 1939.   He usually spoke for two hours but on this day, he was given a message that due to fog, he would have to leave by train rather than by plane.  The bomb went off 13 minutes after Hitler left and eight people were killed.

Elser had been detained when he tried to cross the Swiss border.  Parts of a detonator were found in his pocket.  The police questioned him and were convinced that he acted alone.  But the SS were convinced that the British Secret Service were involved.  They tortured Elser until he agreed and eventually executed him.

His generals tried to dissuade Hitler from attacking France.   After 1940, the Colonels  took over where the Generals had failed.  The Generals had wanted to avoid war.  The Colonels were now outraged by Nazi atrocities.

Professor Schoeps discussed other failed plots, including two that involved hiding a bomb in displays of new uniforms.

Arvid Harnack was a German student at the University of Wisconsin.  He married Mildred Fisch.  They went back to Join the German resistance.   Mildred was the only American woman to be executed by the Nazis.   Her goddaughter Antia Kolodjie lives in Champaign today.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

November 10th – Maureen Reagan, the Associate Director for Marketing at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts (Tod)

November 17th – Mike Hirschi, Champaign West, will discuss the Foundation (Allan Penwell)

November 24th – Thanksgiving, no AM meeting

December 1st – Club Assembly

December 8th – Janice Jayes, Instructional Assistant Professor, Illinois State University, will discuss the state of ISIS today (Bob)

December 15th – Isak Griffiths, Executive Director, Courage Connections (Laura)

December 22nd – Mitch Davis, Muscular Dystrophy Association (Mary)

December 29th – No AM meeting; evening social instead?

January 5th – Family Meeting? (Phyllis)

January 12th – TBD (Tod)

January 19th – TBD (Tom)

January 26th – Josh Whitman, Athletic Director, UIUC (Bob)

February 2nd – TBD (Laura)

February 9th – TBD (Mary)

February 16th- Nick Osborne, Director, Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education, UIUC (Phyllis)

February 23rd – TBD (Tod)