“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”― Marcel Proust 

 

“Did you know there’s a difference between being busy and being fruitful? Did you ever stop to think that just being busy – running around in circles all day but not accomplishing anything – is the same as wasting your time? It’s frustrating to expend so much energy and time and not have any fruit from your effort!” ― Joyce Meyer 

 

 

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins.” ― Charles Stanley 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

 

No meeting on May 31.    Meetings on June 7 and 14 will be held at Good Shepard Lutheran Church at the corner of Prospect and Devonshire.

 

David Henry invited everyone to attend an event to be held on June 1-2 at Clinton Lake for Rotary Youth Exchange.

 

Dues of $240 are due on July 1.

 

Pass the Gavel will be on June 28 and installation of District Officers will be on July 8.

 

 

PROGRAM

 

Mary introduced Rachel Rasmussen, Volunteer Coordinator for Books2Prisioners.  Books2Prisoners was started 14 years ago by a group of teachers and retired librarians.   They are currently housed in the basement of the IMC building in Urbana, where volunteers respond to an average of 250 book requests per month.  To date, they have sent over 20,000 books to people incarcerated in Illinois prisons.   Books2Prisoners also runs lending libraries in the two local jails.   They collaborate with Reading Reduces Recidivism, an organization that puts books in libraries in correctional facilities.   

 

Books2Prisioners accepts donated books in good condition.  Donation bins are located in Lincoln Square outside of Common Ground and in the Post Office at the IMC.   They do not accept encyclopedias, large volume sets of books, journals, textbooks over five years old, CDs, DVDs or tapes.  Volunteers shelve the books that are appropriate to be sent and the rest are sold at one of two semi-annual sales held at the IMC building.   Proceeds from those sales are used to cover operating expenses such as mailing costs.   

The book most requested by prisoners is the dictionary.   Books2Prisoners purchases boxes of softcover dictionaries to meet the requests.  Other books in high demand are GED preparation books, urban fiction, Spanish books, books about addiction and recovery, the trades, how to write, Norse mythology, American sign language and thrillers by Patterson, Grisham and Koontz.   

 

Volunteer sessions are held on Tuesday evenings, Thursday afternoons and two Saturdays per month.   See the Books2Prisoners website for more details.

 

Education is the most effective intervention in breaking the high rate of recidivism among prisoners.   Part of the Books2Prisoners mission is also to provide a quality experience that gives volunteers an opportunity to connect with incarcerated people.

 

Rachel read several moving letters from incarcerated people who expressed their gratitude for the books they had received and described how reading had changed their lives.

 

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  May 31st Jun 7th Jun 14th Jun 21st
Introductions Angie Schoonover Jen Shelby Lou Simpson Jeff Van Buren
Reflection Phyllis Mischo Scott Paceley Robb Patton Allan Penwell
Greeters Angie Schoonover Jen Shelby Lou Simpson Jeff Van Buren
Michelle Barbey Keith Brandau Ethan Chew Paul Conforti
Song Leader Jeff Van Buren Adam Wright Oktay Baran Michelle Barbey
Notetaker Hodson Conforti Perry Penwell
Decker Weeding Baran Kamerer Loyd Shelby
Next Weekend        
Decker Garden Simpson Simpson Henry Henry
Watering        

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

May 31st – No morning meeting – Club Social instead

June 7th – Alternate Location – Dr Pauketat, U of I professor of Anthropology and Archaeologist at Cahokia World Heritage Site

June 14th – Alternate Location – Micah Putnam, Allerton Park and Retreat Center (Mary)

June 21st – TBD (Charlie)

June 28th – Annual Awards and Pass the Gavel Ceremony

July 5th – Mary and Darrell will discuss the Rotary International Convention

July 12th – TBD (Mary)

July 19th – TBD (Phyllis)

July 26th – Dr. Darren Pascavage, Founding Head of School, Academy High (Tom)

August 2nd – TBD (Bob)

August 9th – District Governor Pennie’s visit

August 16th – TBD (Charlie)

August 23rd – TBD (Mary)

August 30th – No regular meeting

September 6th – TBD (David)

September 13th – TBD (Phyllis)

September 20th – TBD (Tom)

September 27th – TBD (Bob)

October 4th – TBD (Charlie)