October 26th, 2017 Newsletter

“Be generous. Give to those you love; give to those who love you, give to the fortunate, give to the unfortunate – yes, give especially to those you don’t want to give. You will receive abundance for your giving. The more you give, the more you will have.” ― W. Clement Stone 

“When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation — it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams.”
― Les Brown 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the unorthodox and unconventional Paul Conforti)

Cary Woolard accepted the proposal to become CU Sunrise President elect from President Bob. Congratulations Cary, the honor is well deserved (a committee is being formed to devise a way for Cary to continue as chief football guesser and bucket-money-go-to-person all while occupying the club’s presidency).

Tom Hodson (Champaign West) announced his club’s annual poinsettia fundraiser sale. 6” pots with 5+ blooms all for $10. Order deadline 11/22 with pick up scheduled for 12/1 at Reynolds Towing Service offices on Keynon Rd. Email cwrpoinsettia@gmail.com and mention Tom as the contact. Make checks out to “CWRC”.

Adam announced that our club’s participation in an Eastern Illinois Foodbank repack on 10/25 went great. We had eight members in attendance.

There was an area wide collection on 10/25 to raise money within our community in the fight against polio. Our club donated $200 towards the local area advertising of this event (billboards and banners).

The Rotary Veterans Luncheon will be 11/10 at the Hilton Garden Inn. Tickets are $20. Please contact Ata for more information.

Robb reviewed our club’s annual fruit sale fundraiser goals. Our club’s goal is to raise $7,000 this year selling fruit. We are looking for 100% participation which is 14cases per person or the cash equivalent. This fundraiser fuels our Rotary efforts for the entire year.

Guest, Molly Davidson introduced herself. Molly is from the Douglas County Rotaract Club. Her club is in its 7th year and has 15 members. They have about four fundraising projects per year. Currently they have partnered with Community Blood Services of Illinois to host a blood drive at Tuscola High School. They also have plans for a coat and shoe drive.

PROGRAM

Dr. Rick Davidson, District Global Grants Chair, discussed a unique opportunity for local clubs to participate in a Rotary Global Grant that will actually take place in Indianapolis.

Dr. Davidson (Rick) is well known in our area for coordinating many Rotary outreach programs to the country of Jamaica, specifically in the area of dentistry. This new opportunity will focus on a great need in Jamaica, which is training local teachers at the middle school level on how to better handle school conflict issues.  School conflict in Jamaica contributes to the nation’s high dropout rate and corresponding low literacy levels.

Rick has secured a Rotary grant that will bring Jamaican teachers to the Peace Learning Center in Indianapolis. The Peace Learning Center (PLC) specializes in training teachers in peace building and communication skills.

We can help, by participating.

This global grant will allow our club to sponsor a teacher, social worker or administrator from our own community to participate in this program.

This global grant, the first for District 6490 to take place in the USA, offers local clubs the opportunity for participation in community service, vocational service and international service all at the same time. It would involve our club in helping our local school system address one of the most complex issues in our schools. Conflict resolution and restorative justice is a skill technique to help schools and their students. While everyone has faced conflict at one time or another, the difference with our children today is that they can be subjected to it 24/7 through the internet. Bullying is one component in conflict resolution along. Conflict resolution also is involved with the causes of increased levels of suicide and the proliferation of guns among our youth.

Those who participate in the program will take part in a mulit-day, dynamic learning event centering on activities in conflict resolution, communication, and social justice. All participants will receive a manual and will be able to train other teachers and youth workers. Upon completion participants will receive a certificate for 30 hours of continuing education.

This training event will take place at the PLC in Indianapolis July 22 through 27, 2018.

Expense to our club if we participate: $200 per person (teacher, social worker, administrator) that we send. The global grant provides training, workbooks, continuing education credits, room and board for participants, transportation to and from hotels and the PLC training center, and a first and last night’s social.

The estimated global grant cost is $46,000 (from which a significant portion will be used to bring the Jamaican participants to Indianapolis). This cost will be shared by Rotary districts 6490, 6560, 7020 and the Rotary Foundation World Fund.

—

—

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

November 2nd – Derek Fultz, Director of Facilities, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, UIUC will discuss the renovation of the Natural History Building (Phyllis)

November 9th – Kari May, Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center (Mary)

November 16th – Adelaide Aime, Executive Director, RACES