“Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. -1929-1968 – Social Activist-Minister

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”  – Ovid – Roman Poet

“The one thing I learned is to just give everything a shot.  You don’t want to live in regret.” – Chloe Kim – American snowboarder – two-time Olympic gold medalist

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CU Sunrise will resume in-person meetings on February 24.   If you haven’t already done so, you can bring your February bucket bucks to Lou on that day.

Read Across America – March 26

PROGRAM

Charlie introduced George Roadcap, president of the Monticello Railway Museum.   Since his retirement from the Water Survey, George has been volunteering at the museum.

Founded in 1966, the Monticello Railway Museum is an all-volunteer organization with an operational main line yard.    They are unique amongst railway museums in that they own their own track.  It is the only museum in the country that has a stair tower signal system with an active lever machine.   They also own the Paxton freight house.  

Restoring and maintaining their collection of over 100 engines and cars is expensive and requires volunteers with special skills.  The Monticello museum has the advantage of a large barn that can house their equipment during restoration.   They also have a contract with ADM to store their unused equipment.  Thanks to student volunteers, the museum now has an engaging website and Facebook page. 

People today are looking for experiences and come from all over the country to visit.  You don’t have to be a railroad buff as there is something for everyone.  Their goal is to get more families to visit.   It is something grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads can do with their kids.  Train rides, starting at the 1899 restored train station, are offered on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from April through October.   Special events, including Mother’s Day and Father’s Day trains, Dinner Trains, the “Fireworks Special”, “Donut Train” and “Polar Express” are scheduled throughout the year.   More information can be found at their website, www.mrym.org.

The museum also has space in downtown Monticello that can be used for special events.

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

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)

May 19th – Major General (ret) William L. Enyart (Mary)

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi – 1869-1948 – Indian Lawyer

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt – 1884-1962 – Former First Lady of the United States

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

Before the official start of this morning’s meeting Benny, our club’s representative in Israel, “Zoomed” in with a personal report from Israel. Benny gave a brief update on life in Israel along with photos, current and historic, of the area.  And he shared a weather report!

Ata’s reflection this morning centered on community service. It included an interesting and historical fact about Rotary’s first community service project. In 1907, under the leadership of Paul Harris, the Rotary Club of Chicago created a public comfort station at the corner of Washington and LaSalle.   

Phyllis reminded everyone of the Habitat Restore volunteer project this Saturday, 2/19/22, 10am to noon, in Urbana.

Darrell noted that our club is a major donor for the Read Across America project that will take place Saturday, March 26, 10am to 1pm at Lincoln Square in Urbana. Volunteer readers are needed. 

Bucket money this month goes to Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

PROGRAM

Nestor Ramirez, who is a valuable Rotarian in our community in so many ways, presented a wonderful program dealing with service above and beyond. He has always been a true believer in “Service Above Self”. 

This morning he presented a program “Life and Medicine in Southeast Columbia” in which he talked about his time serving as a young doctor in Columbia from 1973 to 1979. Fresh out of medical school, Nestor served the medical needs of San Vicente, El Doncello and Florencia in the Caqueta region. These small towns are located in the dense tropical areas of Columbia. 

As a part of the Rural Health Outreach program, he would travel to these areas by land, river or air. Nestor showed examples of these modes of transportation. By land, people and cargo were hauled by open air buses on dirt roads; by river, the boats were large canoes carved out from trees with powerful outboard motors to handle the loads and river currents. The DC3 aircraft was and still remains an important mode of air travel for people and cargo. He shared many photographs and stories of the various cargo that may accompany passengers such as food supplies, pigs, horses, cattle, and even dynamite. 

Nestor also shared information about the “local critters” he encountered in the tropics such as snakes, cockroaches, large crickets, tarantulas, piranhas, fruit bats and scorpions. Many times, as he traveled providing various medical needs, there would be a line of people standing and waiting for his arrival and medical care. He told stories of his personal encounters including the time he was kidnapped and taken by a group of resistance fighters. A hood was placed over his head and he was taken by mule to an armed rebel’s camp. He spent 3 days there providing medical care to a wounded rebel and after saving the man’s life, the rebel group paid him and safely returned Nestor.  

The program was filled with much more information including a story about delivering hogs in the jungle. Nestor has written a book about his Columbia exploits titled “If Pigs Could Fly’.  If you are interested in purchasing the book it can be bought directly from Nestor at the price of $15. Nestor donates all proceeds to the Rotary Foundation. 

(Notetaker’s note: I bought the book several years ago and it is an interesting and enjoyable read. After this amazing program this morning, I will definitely read it again).

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

February 17th – An official from the Monticello Railway Museum (Charlie)

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)

May 19th – Major General (ret) William L. Enyart (Mary)

“Not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do is the secret of happiness.” – J.M. Barrie – 1860-1937 – Author

“There simply is no substitute for having your own positive attitude.” – Gill Hasson – Author

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” – Rikki Rogers – Writer

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

February 23, 2022 marks the 117th anniversary of the world’s first Rotary meeting. On that date in 1905, four individuals, each of a different background and different vocation, met for dinner in the spirit of friendship and fellowship. Today there are between 1.2 million and 1.3 million Rotarians, organized into more than 35,000 clubs covering 6 continents and most of the world’s countries. It is almost unbelievable how much Rotary has accomplished in the last 115 years in Rotary’s 6 areas of focus – promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, child and maternal health, education, and local economic development (plus the seventh and newest one, supporting the environment).

Upcoming service opportunities include:

*Habitat ReStore: February 19, 10am – Noon, Habitat Warehouse on Broadway in Urbana

*We will partner with Central High School Interact to unload a Habitat truck filled with donated items and then sort/price items that will be sold at ReStore. These items were donated by a retro store that went out of business.

CLUB ASSEMBLY

Robb suggested we thank Larry Craig for the use of his warehouse during our fruit sale. Larry exemplifies service above self in his generosity as well as helping our club members unload and load fruit. All agreed to thank Larry with a $100 gift card.

Mary started a general discussion on membership. Mary is the Rotary District 6490 Membership chair. New clubs, satellite clubs and special interest clubs are part of Mary’s agenda. All agreed that our social activities and our service projects are club attributes that should be attractive to new members. Mary will keep us posted on her membership activities within the district.

There is a possibility that next year Florida’s fruit harvest may not be good due to colder than normal periods this season. We had a discussion on possible replacement activities. Robb will form a group to discuss possibilities and report to the club.

Charlie talked about a new Rotary Foundation grant supporting the Malaria Project in Zambia. Malaria follows polio as a disease that can be eradicated and Rotary International is taking a leadership role in that endeavor.  The grant will allow Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to strengthen the country’s health system by working with Zambian health officials at all levels and training health facility staff members, as well as training and equipping new community health workers. This will increase access to malaria diagnosis and treatment for the more than 1.3 million people in heavily affected areas in the Central provinces and greatly contribute to the national effort to eliminate the deadly disease.

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

February 10th – Dr. Nestor Ramirez  (via Zoom) (Cary)

February 17th – An official from the Monticello Railway Museum (Charlie)

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)

May 19th – Major General (ret) William L. Enyart (Mary)

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

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

February 3rd – TBD 

February 10th – Diane Marlin, Mayor, City of Urbana (via Zoom) (Cary)

February 17th – An official from the Monticello Railway Museum (Charlie)

February 24th – Tom Teper will discuss the new home for special collections at the undergraduate library at UIUC (Joe)

March 3rd – TBD 

March 10th – Ginger Mills and Marlin Livingston, Cunningham Children’s Home, will discuss housing refugee children from the border (Mary)

March 17th – AG Michael Harris will discuss visiting Rotary Clubs around the world (Mary)

March 24th – TBD (Tom)

March 31st – TBD

April 7th – TBD

April 14th – TBD (Bob)

April 21st – TBD (Cary)

April 28th – Jordan Dziura, the Executive Director at Illini Media Co., will discuss the Daily Illini’s 110th anniversary, upcoming reunion for IMC alums, and the future of college media (Charlie)

May 5th – TBD

May 12th – TBD (Joe)

May 19th – Major General (ret) William L. Enyart (Mary)