“An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the roughest weather.” ― Washington Irving 

 

 

Announcements

(notes provided by the crafty and courageous Barb Lintner)

 

Lou will send out a schedule for weeding and watering the Decker Garden this summer.  Please sign up to help us keep it looking great.

 

 

Program

 

Our program today was the presentation of the CU Sunrise Outstanding Citizen Award for a person from our communities who exemplifies “Service Above Self.”   Each year a donation is given in honor of the recipient to the charity of his or her choice.   This year we honored Janet L. Kane who selected a feeding program in Haiti.  We were pleased to present the award to Janet and to hear about her service to the community and to the world.

 

Janet told us that she wanted to receive this award as an honor to Service.  As a Christian, she feels she has not just been called to be in service, but has experienced a way of finding God, especially in areas of need such as Haiti.  She made her sixth trip to Haiti this January as she participated in a vision clinic which takes new lenses and frames to patients who wait in long lines in the sun to be screened for both readers and glasses for distance vision.  Lay people are trained by a Bloomington church on the devices used to pick lenses and they travel to Haiti.  The clinic hired one of the fewer than 50 Haitian eye doctors to determine health needs and perform surgeries during the clinic. 

 

In addition, Janet is involved in a feeding program in Haiti.  Five years after the earthquake there, those who were formerly in the tent cities are now in plywood cities with many needs including food.  The feeding program started out helping 50 to 60 young children by supplying enough food to feed them 4 to 5 times a week.  Many young people would not accept this food while their older siblings had none, so the program was changed to include those up to age 12 with food supplied twice a week. 

 

Janet is also involved in Austin’s Place, a women’s shelter which is open mid-December through mid- April in our community.  She drives and also spends time staying overnight, when she is able to visit with the women and serve as a needed listener to their stories.

 

She participates in the Backpack program sponsored by Trinity Lutheran Church which for the past 6-7 years, which has provided food to 10 Wiley School students.  The program has done more than just supply food on the weekends; it has provided more stability for the children.  In the past few years the turnover rate of children has plummeted as an unintended but much desired consequence of this service.

 

In addition Janet has served as a substitute reader in the same Book Mentor program in which many CU Sunrise members participate.

 

 

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  May 26th June 2nd June 9th June 16th
Introductions Tod Satterthwaite Lou Simpson Billy Stull Jeff Van Buren
Invocation Paul Conforti Molly Delaney Ata Durukan Diana Dummitt
Greeters Tod Satterthwaite Lou Simpson Billy Stull Jeff Van Buren
Harold Adams Julie Allen Laura Auteberry Oktay Baran
Song Leader Jeff Van Buren Cary Woolard Harold Adams Julie Allen
Notetaker Conforti Perry Penwell Hodson

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

May 26th – (meeting held in Savoy Room) TJ Blakeman, President, Champaign County Historical Society

June 2nd – Geri Wirth, representing Avicenna Community Health Center

June 9th – Megan Casey, Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy

June 16th – TBD

June 23rd – TBD

June 30th – TBD

July 7th – TBD

July 14th – TBD

July 21st – TBD

July 28th – TBD

August 4th – TBD