“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.” ― Osho 

 

“Surround yourself with good people. People who are going to be honest with you and look out for your best interests.” ― Derek Jeter 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Notes provided by Allan Penwell)

Tod announced that December bucket money provided 600 snacks and 140 drinks for the men’s homeless shelter. Tod and Ed helped the New Covenant shelter with clean-up. Other volunteers are needed.

 

Phyllis is looking for volunteers at the Salt & Light thrift store on February 24th from 9-11:00 a.m.

 

Rotary Leadership Institute is on February 10th. Mary Kay is going! See the District 6490 website for more details.

 

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) is at Allerton from April 27 to April 29. This is for sophomore high school students who may not be the top leaders in a class but someone who needs a little push to the next level. If you know a student who fits, tell our club as we would like to send two students.

 

Tom Hodson is the district chair for ShelterBox which provides emergency disaster relief all over the world. He is an ambassador for ShelterBox and is pleased to make a presentation to a club or group.

 

Robb announced the fruit sale netted $9,100 for our charitable foundation. This is 30% over our goal and was an outstanding job by Robb and his committee as well as all of the club members. Give yourselves a pat on the back!

 

Bucket money for February is for the Community Center for the Arts. It is in downtown Urbana and is a music school dedicated to bringing people together around high quality music. It serves area students.

 

 

PROGRAM

Our own Ed Perry was the program this week and presented a slide show and narrative about the effects and aftermath of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. Shortly after the hurricane hit, Ed and his wife flew the 2,000 miles to San Juan and then hopped a 7-passenger plane to Vieques, a small island to the east of the mainland. His brother built a house on Vieques several years ago. The house was built to withstand hurricanes and was self-sustaining with solar power. Ed also owns property there.

Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1492 and staked the claim of Spain on the island. The Spanish were not kind to the local population, and the United States captured Puerto Rico and the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.

Vieques is 4 miles wide and 21 miles long. The eastern half was used by the U.S. Navy as a bombing range and to practice assault landings. Navy operations ceased in 2003, and the island is now being cleaned up and governed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The western side of the island was used by the Navy as an ammo dump, and it is also being cleaned up.

The population of Vieques is 9,000. It has beautiful beaches, but there are no resorts or fancy destination spots. Visitors stay in local homes and go to Vieques for the serenity and peace from our complex lives. Ed showed pictures of the damaged roads, trees, power system, and homes. He noted that cell phones did not work, but business was pretty good at the bars in the aftermath of the storm.

 

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  Feb 8th Feb 15th Feb 22nd Mar 1st
Introductions Mary Hodson Darrell Hoemann No morning Larry Johnson
Invocation Keith Brandau Ethan Chew meeting David Henry
Greeters Mary Hodson Darrell Hoemann due to Larry Johnson
Robb Patton Allan Penwell 5pm social at Ed Perry
Song Leader Adam Wright Candy Loyd Krannert  BJ Lytle
Notetaker Hodson Conforti   Perry

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

February 8th – Captain Anthony Corapi, Commanding Officer of US Navy ROTC at UIUC (Bob)

February 15th – Dr. Kim Kidwell, Dean, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, UIUC

February 22nd – 5pm social at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

March 1st – Micah Putnam, Superintendent of Grounds at Allerton Park (Bob)

March 8th – TBD (Charlie)

March 15th – Kevin Erickson, Associate Professor of Architecture at UIUC (Bob)

March 22nd – Stacey LeFeber, Girl Scouts (Jen)

March 29th – TBD – Club Social

April 5th – Dr. Marcia Pool will discuss the Cancer Scholars Program, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Phyllis)

April 12th – TBD (Tod)

April 19th – Darrell Hoemann, Cruising the Rhine and Germany’s Holiday Markets (Mary)

April 26th – Dennis Hesch, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Carle Foundation, will discuss  Carle’s expansion/development at the Curtis/I-57 interchange (Phyllis)

May 3rd – TBD (Charlie)

May 10th – Zayd Jawad, Business Buddies (Mary)

May 17th – TBD (Phyllis)

May 24th – TBD (Tod)

May 31st – TBD – Club Social