“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” – Emily Dickinson – 1830-1886 – Poet

 

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” – James Allen – 1864-1912 – Author

 

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus – 50 AD-135 AD – Greek Stoic Philosopher

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

 

President Mary Kay thanked members who participated in the food repack on March 27.   It was a great opportunity to meet each other’s family members.  Please let her know if you have ideas for service activities for April and May.  

 

Jerry announced that the new By Laws were approved.   They are effective as of April 1, 2021

 

The next Bucket Bucks will go to CU at Home.   Jarrod explained how CU at Home at Home and the Champaign Park District have partnered during the pandemic.  After the Douglas Center was closed, CU at Home used it to provide additional socially distanced shelter for the homeless.   And since they often sleep in Champaign parks, the CU at Home staff now travel from park to park to talk to the homeless.   That keeps the Park District staff from having to call the police.

 

PROGRAM

 

Thanks to Jarrod Scheunemann for providing an innovative new idea for a Rotary program.    We played Park District Jeopardy!

 

At one time, Jarrod’s dream was to become a park ranger.  But Rotarian Robin Hall advised him, “If you want to make a difference in people’s lives, you have to work with park systems that people have access to.”   Jarrod says that the State of Illinois has created one of the best local park systems in the country and world.  There are 348 park districts in Illinois.   Ours is one of the few with a separate tax.

 

Jarrod has visited over 1,000 park facilities around the state and through the Jeopardy Game, he shared what he has learned, such as:

 

There are 62 parks in the Champaign Park District.

 

Champaign Urbana is located in the Mississippi Flyway for migratory birds.  Over half of American bird species have been spotted in two of our local parks, Busey Woods and Crystal Lake Park.

 

Our Leonard Recreation Center has the lowest fees of any park district facility in the state.   One dollar of every Park District program fee goes towards scholarships for low-income families.

 

Champaign and Urbana partnered in the 1990’s to form CU Special Recreation.  The Bicentennial Center across from the Leonard Center provides sports opportunities for individuals with disabilities.   

 

The Virginia Theater sells 35,000 tickets per year to people from out of town.   The Park District has used the time during the shutdown to install air conditioning, a new roof and a state of the art sound system at the Virginia.

 

At the state level, Millennium Park is the most visited location in the Midwest.  The Midewin National Tall Grass Prairie on the site of the former Joliet Arsenal is the largest restoration program in Illinois.

 

 

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

*All meetings via Zoom unless otherwise noted*

 

April 15th – TBD (Cary)

April 22nd – John C. Stark, Artistic Director and Derek Munson, Managing Director, Illinois Shakespeare Festival (Charlie)

April 29th – Club Social – no morning meeting

May 6th – Winnie Stortzum will discuss her trip to Portugal (Mary)

May 13th – TBD (Tom)

May 20th – TBD (Bob)

May 27th – TBD (Cary)

June 3rd – TBD (Charlie)

June 10th – TBD (Mary)

June 17th – TBD (Ondine)

June 24th – Pass the Gavel ceremony