“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isaac Asimov -1920-1992 – writer, professor

“Most people think they want more money than they really do, and they settle for a lot less than they could really learn.” – Earl Nightingale – 1921-1989-Author-Radio Personality

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire – 1694-1778 – French Writer

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)

President Mary Kay presented annual CU Sunrise Rotary Vocational Scholarship Award in the amount of $1,500 to Champaign Central Senior Kyleah Rogers. Kyleah has been accepted to UIUC. Kyleah has been a leader at school. She is a member of the African-American Club, Zero Degrees of Separation, the National Honor Society, band, track and has had a part time job the past three years.  Kyleah’s scholarship application talked about not just finding her own way but about bringing up others along the way.  Kyleah has been invited to join our June 10^th Rotary meeting.

CU Sunrise will resume in person meetings on Thursday, June 3 at 6:30am at Lodgic.

PROGRAM

Tom Ulen introduced our speaker Jake Bowers, Associate Professor, in Political Science at UIUC.  Jake primarily studies how methods and data from science can apply to the world of public policy making.

His presentation was an overview of university and government collaborations in evidenced-based policy making. To quote a statement from the Brown University Policy Lab, of which Jake is a part of, “…It is common nowadays to agree that policy should be evidence-based. But how to deliver on that rhetoric in practice is harder. We need not only the highest quality scientific methods, but also a pragmatic mindset geared toward designing learning agendas that can concretely inform decision-making within the bureaucratic and political trenches…”

 The US Social and Behavioral Science Team (SBST) was founded in 2015 under President Obama (also known as The Office of Evaluation Sciences). Per their website, SBST translates findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences into improvements in Federal policies and programs. Jake was a part of this team which eventually morphed into the Brown University Policy Lab. The Policy Lab is comprised of professionals from government, education, and community groups. They collaborate on research presenting evidence-based research about how to improve policies and programs.

One example of this intersection would involve the introduction of the HPV vaccine. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. Widespread immunization with the HPV vaccine could reduce the impact of cervical cancer worldwide. Public policy crafted by using scientific evidence can lessen resistance to getting the vaccine because of unsubstantiated assumptions that the vaccine would only promote sex.

Jake is also a science fiction enthusiast and concluded our discussion this morning with an open discussion of the topic. Authors such as Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars trilogy), Kornbluth & Pohl (The Space Merchants) and Issac Assimov (too many to list).

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

*All meetings via Zoom through May*

May 27th – April Ranger, C-SPAN (Cary)

June 3rd – *Begin in-person meetings* Teresa from Lodgic (Charlie)

June 10th – Mike Step, District Governor

June 17th – Jon L. Seydl, Director of Krannert Art Museum (Ondine)

June 24th – Pass the Gavel ceremony

July 1st – Club Assembly

July 8th – TBD 

July 15th – TBD (Bob)

July 22nd – TBD (Cary)

July 29th – Club Social

August 5th – Club Assembly

August 12th – TBD (Charlie)

August 19th – TBD (Mary)

August 26th – TBD (Ondine)

September 2nd – Club Assembly

September 9th – TBD (Tom)

September 16th – TBD (Bob)

September 23rd – TBD (Cary)

September 30th – Club Social

October 7th – Club Assembly

October 14th – TBD

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain – 1835-1910, Writer-Humorist

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho – Author

“It’s really fun to scare people.” – Sabine Schmitz – 1969-2021, German professional motor racing driver and TV personality

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

Please invite a guest to hear the Director of the Krannert Art Museum, who sill speak on May 17.

In-person breakfast buffet meetings will begin in June at LODGIC.

The Grammy award winning daughter of former member Iblaimu Kakoma, Laura, who sings under the name of Somi, was featured on Friday’s PBS program, “We Are Family: Songs of Hope and Unity”.  Her website is SomiMusic.com.

PROGRAM

Mary introduced Charleston Rotarian Tom Vance.   A native of Danville, Tom earned degrees from EIU and the U of I before serving 28 years as Site Director at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site.   Since retiring, Tom has pursued his interests in classical guitar performance and historic preservation.   His preservation projects have been the Five Mile House, one of the oldest surviving buildings in Coles County, the Will Rogers Theater and most recently, the Illinois Amish Heritage Center.

The Center began in 1995 as the Amish Interpretive Center.   When it relocated to Rock Home Gardens, Tom was hired to design the exhibitions.   After Rock Home Gardens went insolvent in 2014, they bought land for a new site between Arcola and Arthur.    

They have moved two Amish family farm homes to the new site.   The Moses Yoder family was one of the three original families that came from Holmes County, Ohio in 1865.   The Daniel Schrock family was part of the second wave of Amish who came in 1882.   Arcola Rotarian Wilmer Otto, a descendant of Daniel Schrock, serves as president of the board of the site. This spring they moved the 1920 Miller Amish German School.   The move, accomplished with a combination of tractor and horse power, has had over 6 million views on You Tube.

More donated homes and barns will be moved, and a visitor center and gift shop are planned.

Special events have been held at the site since 2017.   The spinning group from the Five Mile House reintroduced spinning skills to the Amish and they are demonstrated at the “Sheep to Clothing” event the first weekend in July.   A steam threshing event is held every other summer.   The “Harvest to Home” fall event will be held this year on the October 8-9 weekend.   

Friday/Saturday tours begin on June 4.   You can register at 217-268-3043 or www.illinoisamish.org.

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

*All meetings via Zoom through May*

May 20th – Dr. Jake Powers, Political Science, UIUC will talk about how universities can serve as think tanks for making public policy (Tom)

May 27th – April Ranger, C-SPAN (Cary)

June 3rd – *Begin in-person meetings* Teresa from Lodgic (Charlie)

June 10th – Mike Step, District Governor

June 17th – Jon L. Seydl, Director of Krannert Art Museum (Ondine)

June 24th – Pass the Gavel ceremony

July 1st – TBD 

July 8th – TBD 

July 15th – TBD

July 22nd – TBD

July 29th – TBD

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” – William Blake – 1757-1827 – Poet-Painter-Printmaker

“Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.” – Auguste Rodin – 1840-1917 – Sculptor

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius – Chinese Philosopher

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

Mary K noted that this month’s Bucket Bucks are going to “Feeding our Kids” and noted the plan for beginning in-person club meetings in June. Here are her email notes that she sent out after the meeting: 

The Board met yesterday, and we wanted to share our plans for coming back in person on June 3.  We’ll be meeting at Lodgic, but at the big room at the back where we held the Christmas party in the past.  There will be round tables where we can spread out a little more.  That being said, we would still hope that only those that are fully vaccinated would attend in person.  Masks are still required when coming into Lodgic. We will keep the Zoom space going for those that would like to keep attending virtually.

To start we won’t be having a buffet but instead pre-wrapped individual meals.  For that reason we will need to make reservations.  We’ll send a sign-up out every week to find out if you’re coming and whether you would like a vegetarian option.  The meal price will be $12 a week.  However, while we’re all getting into the routine, the Club is taking care of the cost for the whole month of June.  That will give us 4 meetings to get feedback and continue working with Lodgic to see what will serve our members best.

Starting with the new Rotary year on July 1, we will ask members to prepay the meal price by quarter or year if they can.  The Club must pay Lodgic for a minimum of 20 members each week.

Speaker schedule for June:

June 3—Theresa from Lodgic

June 10—District Governor, Mike Step and Paul Harris recipients

June 17—Jon Seydl, Director of the Krannert Art Museum

June 26—Pass the gavel

Please contact Mary Kay if you have any questions or comments.

PROGRAM

Mary Hodson introduced Winnie Stortzum as this morning’s speaker. Winnie is a Charter member of the Arcola Rotary club, a past president and remains very active in Club and District Rotary offices and activities.

Winnie’s program was about her trip to Portugal in February and March of 2020. She, her husband, and part of their family spent 11 days in Portugal, 9 of which was with Global Travels and 2 days on their own.

They traveled throughout Portugal and her presentation was not only informational but beautifully presented with photographs and commentary. They landed in Lisbon and traveled by bus northward along the coast, headed east, then south and then returning to Lisbon. They stopped in towns such as Tomar, Fatima, Coimbra, Evora, and Algarve and some of which had UNESCO sites. 

She shared with us the beauty of the country, its history, and the influences in their culture and architecture by the ancient Romans, Moors and Christians. Portugal’s has a rich history of explorers and ocean navigation and as a result, Portugal’s influence can be seen in many parts of the world.

Her photographs captured exteriors and interiors of historic buildings, monuments, churches, monasteries, castles, cobblestone streets and residences. Her description included comments about the food,  how tile is used, cork processing, sardines, and this author’s