“The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.” – Juliette Gordon Low – 1860-1927 – Founder, Girl Scouts of America

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela – 1918-2013 – President of South Africa 1994-1999-Humanitarian-Social Activist

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hold on.” – Thomas Jefferson – 1743-1826 – Former President of the United States

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NOTES

Last week was CU Sunrise’s first ever all online meeting – attended by eleven members.  Thank you to Darrell for the excellent coordination on Zoom.

It was agreed to continue to meet via Zoom on Thursdays at 7 AM until further notice. 

The members would like to find a service that could be performed during the shut down.  Darrell will talk with Phyllis about the possibility of participating in a food distribution. 

Charlie reported that several clubs will apply for a joint District Grant to help Shannon O Rourke Kasali’s NGO Books for Congo. 

The Program Committee will continue to schedule speakers. 

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No meeting duties this week.

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

April 2nd – Meeting via Zoom – Michael Murphy will discuss the situation in Crimea, the section of the Ukraine that Russia has controlled since 2014

*The following meeting dates and speakers are included for reference purposes only.  At this time, it is not clear which, if any, of these speakers will still be available to speak on the listed dates.*

April 9th – Club Assembly

April 16th – Rotarian Greg Gustafson and the U of I Chapter of Engineers without Borders, EWB UI Chichimuch, Guatemala Water Supply Project (Mary)

April 23rd – Diane Marlin, Mayor, City of Urbana (Bob)

April 30th – No meeting

May 7th – Debbie Hensleigh (Phyllis)

May 14th – Club Assembly

May 21st – TBD (Cary)

May 28th – TBD (Charlie)

June 4th – TBD (David)

June 11th – Champaign Rotarian Craig Rost will speak about the Clinton Lake Sailing Association

June 18th – TBD (Ondine)

June 25th – Pass the Gavel ceremony

“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa – 1910-1997 – Saint-Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson – 1803-1882 – American Essayist-Poet

“Remember that the future is not somewhere we are going, it is something we are creating. Every day we do things that make some futures more probable and others less likely.” – Ian Lowe – President of the Australian Conservation Foundation-Scientist

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Notes provided by Allan Penwell)

The Urbana Rotary Club has suspended its lunch meetings at Clark-Lindsey Village.

Darrell presented Bob with his PHF+1, and we now have added 12 levels of the Paul Harris Fellow recognition in our club this year.

Todd is looking for bowlers and a cheering section for bowling on Friday, April 17^th at Old Orchard Lanes. Time is 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

Bucket money for March is First Followers.

Eileen Jerutka of the Savoy Rotary Club has tickets at $5.00 each for their annual pancake breakfast on March 28^th at First Baptist in Savoy.

PROGRAM

Jen Shelby discussed the latest venture of Shatterglass Studios which is a short film named Hammer Down about a truck driver. Film location is California, and the shoestring budget is $50,000. The producing partner with Shatterglass is Simon Hatt who is known for his work on Guardians of the Galaxy. One of the actors on Guardians was Chris Sullivan who arranged the contact between Shatterglass and Simon.

There were several challenges for the small budget film, including finding a location, a motorcycle gang, and a classic cab-over tractor-truck, also known as cab over engine. The truck was rented from a collector who had over 50 pristine trucks. Make-up was applied to the truck to make it look old and dirty for the film. To find the motorcycle gang, the answer was simple—just call the local San Bernardino H.O.G. chapter. The Harley riders did not have far to ride to the shoot location because it was likely one of their favorite hangouts called The Screaming Chicken.

Jen believes Netflix may have an interest in the short which then would morph into a feature length film. Other options are to show the short at film festivals to be picked up by a large producer.

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

March 19th – CANCELED – Evelyn Shapiro of Champaign Public Library (Ondine)

March 26th – CANCELED – Gabe Lewis, Planner, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission will discuss the U.S. Census (Tom)

April 2nd – Michelle Stallmeyer, Community Banking Officer, Busey Bank, will discuss Money Smart Week 2020 (David)

April 9th – Club Assembly

April 16th – Rotarian Greg Gustafson and the U of I Chapter of Engineers without Borders, EWB UI Chichimuch, Guatemala Water Supply Project (Mary)

April 23rd – Diane Marlin, Mayor, City of Urbana (Bob)

April 30th – No meeting

May 7th – Debbie Hensleigh (Phyllis)

May 14th – Club Assembly

May 21st – TBD (Cary)

May 28th – TBD (Charlie)

June 4th – TBD (David)

June 11th – Champaign Rotarian Craig Rost will speak about the Clinton Lake Sailing Association

June 18th – TBD (Ondine)

June 25th – Pass the Gavel ceremony

“Life would be very dull without inspiration, and what inspires one person may seem fairly mundane to another.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru – Life Coach-Speaker-Author

“There is a time for peaceful contemplation; there is a time for dynamic action; and all the time the lake remains itself.” – Yung-Ming Yen-Shou – 904-975 – Chinese Zen Master

“Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.” – Dale Turner – Singer-Songwriter

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut, Edward Perry)

Darrell presented a check in the amount of $1,060 to Pat Dessin of CU Schools Foundation. This donation was the result of our Leap into Karaoke event last Thursday night. The club thanked Darrell and Lou for their inspiration, efforts and equipment in getting this successful fundraiser together. CU Schools Foundation will use the money for the music programs at our local schools.

Michelle noted that our club participated in this year’s Read Across America activities. Six club members read children’s books to the young listeners at Lincoln Square Mall.

Phyllis passed around a signup sheet for this coming Thursday morning’s volunteering activity for Promise Healthcare’s Food is Medicine program. Volunteers will help distribute healthy food to families in need.

A special presentation took place as 11 members of our club were awarded as new or multiple Paul Harris Fellows.

Please keep the evening of April 17 open for an entertaining evening of  Bowl for Kids Sake at Old Orchard Bowling Lanes. Our club will have a least one team of semi-bowlers taking part in this fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Bowling skills are not needed to participate; over the years this has been a fun night for the bowlers and fans. See Tod for more information.     

PROGRAM

Mary introduced WILL/Illinois Public Media’s Sarah Edwards and Danda Beard. Sarah Edwards in the producer/director for the new documentary “Illinois Country” on WILL-TV that airs this week.

Sarah is a Champaign-Urbana native who began working in the film industry in California.  She then worked with CNN as a filming/reporter/editor, went back to making music videos in Los Angeles, and has since been recruited back here by WILL. 

Sarah explained how she worked on the idea of a country music documentary that tells the story of Illinois’ singular role in the history of country music.  Sarah wanted the one-hour documentary to be broken into three parts that tells the story about the roots, innovators and those who have made the big time in country music.

Sarah talked about the research done with DJ Roach and Isaac Musgrave. She also discussed the dozen of interviews with prominent country singers, song writers and musicians as well as the travels throughout Illinois and to Nashville to gather the needed information for the documentary.

The film tells of the beginnings in the early gathering halls and small-town hoedowns, to Chicago’s WLS National Barn Dance, Champaign’s Farm Aid and on to today’s Illinois’ Grammy award winners. She named several local area greats like Smiley Burnette, Jenny Lou Carson, Jerry Milam, Marvin Lee and Alison Krauss who contributed to the documentary.  

An original song, Backroads, is part of the film. Five-time Grammy nominee Graham Edwards and Nashville songwriter John Pennell teamed up to write the song. Recording artist Mo Pitney performs the song with Nashville performers including Alison Krauss, mandolin star Sam Bush, dobro player Jerry Douglas and renowned fiddler Andrea Zonn. 

The amount of time and work needed to put together a documentary is significant, especially with just a relatively small number of people.  The film was basically funded by local sponsors and the Friends of WILL. Throughout the filming, Sarah Edwards and DJ Roach used behind the scenes footage to make a six-part web series which provides additional stories and great performances.

Go to will.Illinois.edu/illinoiscountry for more information. 

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

March 12th – Jen Shelby

March 19th – Evelyn Shapiro of Champaign Public Library (Ondine)

March 26th – Gabe Lewis, Planner, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission will discuss the U.S. Census (Tom)

April 2nd – Michelle Stallmeyer, Associate Director, Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County, will discuss Money Smart Week 2020 (David)

April 9th – Club Assembly

April 16th – TBD (Mary)

April 23rd – TBD

April 30th – TBD

May 7th – TBD (Phyllis)

May 14th – Club Assembly

May 21st – TBD (Cary)

May 28th – TBD (David)

June 4th – TBD (David)

June 11th – Club Assembly

June 18th – TBD (Ondine)

June 25th – Pass the Gavel ceremony

NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

There was no regular morning meeting last week due to our karaoke fundraiser.  Thank you to Darrell, Lou, and all the others who helped make the event a success.

Phyllis shared that the next food distribution at Promise Healthcare Food as Medicine program will take place from 9:00am-10:30am on Thursday, March 12.  A few volunteers are needed to unload produce at 8:00 a.m.  Please let her know if you are available.

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

March 5th – Sarah Edwards or Danda Beard from WILL (Mary)

March 12th – Jen Shelby

March 19th – Evelyn Shapiro of Champaign Public Library (Ondine)

March 26th – Gabe Lewis, Planner, Champaign County Regional Planning Commission will discuss the U.S. Census (Tom)

April 2nd – TBD (David)

April 9th – Club Assembly

April 16th – TBD (Mary)

April 23rd – TBD

April 30th – TBD

May 7th – TBD (Phyllis)

May 14th – Club Assembly

May 21st – TBD (Cary)

May 28th – TBD

June 4th – TBD (David)

June 11th – Club Assembly

June 18th – TBD (Ondine)

June 25th – Pass the Gavel ceremony