ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the venerable Neal Chamberlain)

Meeting called to order by President Jeff.

Invocation by Curt:  Thought for the day.  “Always do right, this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” By Mark Twain.

Happy Birthday to: Molly Delany and Ben Mast

CUSR membership anniversary:  Rod Roberts – 4 years.

CUSR was awarded the International Service Award Banner at the District Conference – the banner was presented to President Jeff by Ata.

Tod spoke of the spring planting progress at “Sola Gratia Farm”.  He provided an information folder, including “Shareholder Agreement” forms for anyone interested in investing in the “Community Supported Agriculture” garden. Produce from the garden will be distributed to shareholders during the 26-week growing season.

Gary reported the success of the Rotaractors efforts at the conference in which the collected approximate $6000 for Shelter Box.

Phyllis (and Andrew) reported their participation in the RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) retreat at Allerton Park in Monticello.  One of the areas emphasized at RYLA was helping students learn the Do’s and Don’ts of the resume and interviewing process when applying for a job.  It’s been reported that after the guidance received from Andrew the unemployment rate is soon to dramatically increase.

Mary spoke of Ed Futa’s speech at the RYLA gathering in Bloomington.  Mr. Futa is the previous Secretary General of Rotary International.  Mr. Futa described the Peace Park in Ramadan Palestine and the Friends Forever groups’ Peace Walk and Lunch.  Mr. Futa also spoke at RYLA and is both an inspiring speaker and amazingly easy person to talk to.

Barb mentioned the upcoming appreciation even for the Book Menders.  Thank you to all the Rotarians who volunteered for this wonderful activity.  If you haven’t had the chance to read to these youngsters then please consider doing so next year.  It’s a lot of fun!

President Jeff presented the “Paul Harris Fellow” award to Tod Satterthwaite.  Congratulations Tod – you make CUSR proud.

Benny reported that he is going to be in Israel for two weeks.  He also reported that his wife is to become a United States citizen next week.

Eric Batsie wished to remind everyone about the Golf Fore Kids’ Sake event at 1pm on May 17th at Lake of the Woods in Mahomet.  Registration is $95 per person, or $380 for a foursome.  Lots of local sponsors will be on the course, including BMW, JT Walkers, Uncle Buck’s, and others.  Please talk to Eric for further information.

PROGRAM

Elizabeth Buckley presented the program for the day. Elizabeth’s topic was “Women 4 Women”, committee of Provena Covenant Medical Center Foundation.  This is a relatively new group, in CU, organized to leverage their support for helping women with health issues. Elizabethmentioned several of their main thrusts which are:

-Collaborating with Crisis Nursery – Help women who are in rehabilitation access services.

-“Smile Healthy” – Assisting and providing dental care.

-“Learning is Sweet” – Recognition, care and prevention of diabetes.

-”Access Points” – assisting with screening health issues and where to go for health care or medication.

Elizabeth ended her presentation with a Margaret Mead quotation: “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, in fact that is the only thing that ever has”.

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Upcoming Schedule

May 2nd – Ida Simila, Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student

May 9th – Debbie Hirschi from Champaign West will discuss their project with the Ministerios de Fey Vida Nueva in Honduras

May 16th – David and Dorothy Deem will discuss upholstering and furniture

May 23rd – Dr. Tom Ramage, President of Parkland College

Announcements
(notes provided by the crafty and courageous, Barb Lintner)

We received a thank you from Champaign County Casa for March bucket money. April Bucket Money will go to the March of Dimes.

Our exchange student Ida Simila announced that she is collecting money for Shelterbox. An envelope was passed for donations.

The Mahomet Rotary golf outing is May 9 at 1:00. The fee is $75. See President Jeff if you are interested in joining a lively group of CU Sunrise members for the day.

The District Conference for Rotary 6490 was held on April 19-20, 2013 in Bloomington-Normal.  Mary and others will share details at our upcoming meeting.

The Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) camp took place on April 19-21, 20013 at Allerton Park.  The camp helps young people further develop their leadership qualities.  High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors from around District 6490 are nominated to attend and are sponsored by local clubs.  Andrew will share details at our upcoming meeting.

Program

Karen Kane and Yvette Whitely from the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen were our speakers. The Daily Bread Soup Kitchen has its roots in the St. Jude Catholic Worker House. It is a nondenominational volunteer organization addressing food insufficiency and hunger in our community.

Food is served at New Covenant Fellowship from 11 to 12:30 daily to 150 to 200 people. The food is donated by restaurants and super markets or purchased economically from the East Central Illinois Foodbank. The organization exists solely on donations; there are no paid employees. Volunteers cook, help those in need, and do the fundraising. At present the costs for utilities and maintenance alone is about $11,000-$12,000 a month. The hope for the future is to exist in a building which the organization would own.

For three years they have distributed 1500 new or gently used backpacks at Christmas which contain sweatshirts, underwear, sox and toiletries. These items are collected early in December and handed out closer to Christmas.

One year ago they began a program with a mobile van set up in parking lots which now serves around 200 sack lunches a day.

In September of last year they received a grant from Provena to set up an assistance center at New Covenant where help in obtaining bus passes, state IDs, legal assistance, and food stamps is available. Also exams from dental and other health providers are often available at no cost in the center.

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Upcoming Schedule

April 25th – Elizabeth Buckley, Developmental Specialist at Provena Covenant Medical Center, will discuss Women4Women

May 2nd – Ida Simila, Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student

May 9th – Debbie Hirschi from Champaign West will discuss their project with the Ministerios de Fey Vida Nueva in Honduras

May 16th – David and Dorothy Deem will discuss upholstering and furniture

May 23rd – Dr. Tom Ramage, President of Parkland College

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson

President Jeff introduced Jennifer Large from the American Cancer Society. She invited members to participate in a cancer research study. Participants will initially complete a survey and give a blood sample. After that, they will complete a survey every three years for the next 20-30 years. See www.cancer.org/cps3 for more information.

Jeff invited members to join his team at the Mahomet Golf Outing, scheduled for 1 PM on May 9. See Jeff for more information.

Rod introduced Kelly Hill from the Habitat for Humanity. She invited CU Sunrise members to spend a Saturday helping build a Habitat House.

Eric Batsie asked members to join him on April 27. He will be helping Washington School pack in preparation for its upcoming move.

PROGRAM

President Jeff introduced University of Illinois Baseball head coach Dan Hartlieb. The coach is beginning his 8th season as head coach. He talked about his team and current fundraising efforts.

The team has 35 players, up to 27 of whom are on a partial scholarship. The Coach does not believe in giving full scholarships. By giving only partial scholarships, he can keep his commitment to the families of players who may not turn out to be as good as hoped. He believes that the Big Ten conference is the most ethical conference in the nation.

The “Dug Out Club” sponsors a “Honor and Serve” event serves a needy group in honor of a branch of the military or a military organization. Last year’s event honored U of I recipients of the GI Bill and raised $7600 for The Boys and Girls Club. This year’s event scheduled for April 28 will be held in honor of Purple Heart recipients. Game Day T-Shirts will be sold. Additionally, the team will wear special jerseys which will be auctioned off. The proceeds will go to The Round House.

Coach Hartlieb hopes to find donors who will share his vision for a new base ball stadium. He would like to expand seating so that the U of I can host regional events, put in 2 concession stands, raise the press box and add suite boxes.

He would also like to raise enough funds to take his team to The Dominican Republic once every four years. This give them 10 more training days and the opportunity to see what it is like for players who come from the Dominican Republic.

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Upcoming Schedule

April 18th – Karen Kane and Yvette Whitely, Daily Bread Soup Kitchen

April 25th – Eliabeth Buckley, Developmental Specialist at Provena Covenant Medical Center, will discuss Women4Women

May 2nd – Ida Simila, Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student

May 9th – Debbie Hirschi from Champaign West will discuss their project with the Ministerios de Fey Vida Nueva in Honduras

May 16th – David and Dorothy Deem will discuss upholstering and furniture

May 23rd – Dr. Tom Ramage, President of Parkland College