“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ― Albert Einstein

ANNOUCNEMENTS
(notes provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)

Our newest C-U Sunrisee, Julie Allen, was in attendance!

Robb reminded that Bowling For Kids Sake was Friday March 18 and he is still accepting donations.

Rod introduced us a new and easy way for any Rotarian to raise money in the fight to eradicate polio through the Rotary International Annual Fund: the Rotary VISA card.  Benefits include:

-For every Rotary VISA activated, Bank of America donates $100 to the RI Annual Fun

-You can use the credit card to make recurring gifts with Rotary Direct

-Cardholders receive 1% cash back on every purchase, 2% at grocery stores and 3% on gas

-There is no annual fee

–www.rotary.org/rotarycreditcard

Rotary Days Baseball, feature Chicago Cubs @ St. Louis Cardinals, will be on Monday 5/23/16 (7:15pm) and Tuesday 5/24/16 (6:00pm).  Tickets are $38 each for right field box seats.  Ticket reservations are due by 4/30/16.  Make checks out to Rotary District 6460, and mail them too: Baseball, 2001 Barberry Drive, Springfield IL 62704.  Don’t forget to include your name, phone number and email address.

Paul has organized a 2016 edition of the CU Sunrise March Madness Basketball Bracket pool with half the proceeds going to our Foundation.  May the best loser win!

PROGRAM

Laura introduced Steven Bentz, Director of the Virginia Theatre at the Champaign Park District.  Steve initially spoke of the renovation. If you have not been, it is a fantastic venue and a treasure for our community.

In December 1999, the Champaign Park District received a $900,000 grant from the State of Illinois to restore the theatre. Extensive work was done to bring the building up to current code, most of it not visible to the general public. In 2000, the curved movie screen that had been in place for decades was replaced with a smaller screen (50-foot wide viewable image) which can be removed offstage.  Additional restrooms were completed in 2001. Box office renovation, dressing room remodeling, and carpet replacement took place in 2002-2003.

The east lobby/storefront was remodeled during 2007, and the main lobbies and concession stand were renovated and redecorated in 2010, thanks to a considerable donation from Michael Carragher.  The decaying 1930’s-era neon marquee was removed from the theater on November 16, 2010, and it was replaced with a newly designed marquee in September 2011. Nearly $10 million has been spent on restoration since 2000.

Theater tours are held every Wednesday @ 10am.

The Virginia tries to fill its calendar with on average 3 events per week.

In addition to using its Panavision sized screen for classic movies, such as The Hustler (Tuesday 3/22) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Tuesday 3/29), The Virginia is used for a variety of both locally based as well as national stage show productions.  Upcoming events include:

Mavis Staples – April 1

Ebertfest – April 13-17

A Midsummer Nights Dream with Irish and Contemporary Dance- April 23

Jack Hannah’s Into the Wild Live – April 29

Melissa Etheridge – April 30

Chicago – August 24

steven.bentz@champaignparks.com
217-819-3902
http://thevirginia.org/events/list/

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

March 24th – Molly Delaney, Executive Director, C-U Schools Foundation, will discuss their first cross-district, collaborative grant

March 31st – Dee Brown, Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics, UIUC – Meeting will be held in the Savoy Room

April 7th – Laura Weis, Champaign County Chamber of Commerce

April 14th – TBD

April 21st – Megan McKisson, vice president of Illinois 2015-2016 Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team

April 28th – TBD

May 5th – TBD

May 12 – Prof. Christopher Barkan, Executive Director of the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center, UIUC, will discuss high speed rail travel and RailTec

May 19th – TBD

May 26th – TBD

June 2nd – TBD

June 9th – Megan Casey, Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy

“A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.” ― Nelson Mandela

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

Todd asked for volunteers to participate in Bowl for Kids Sake on March 18 at 6:00pm.  Contact him to sign up.  Each bowler is responsible for $100 donation so anyone who wishes to support a bowler can contribute individually or at our next meeting.

District Conference is May 21 and each club is to provide a basket for the auction.  Jen volunteered to put our basket together.

Dee Brown will be our speaker on March 31.  It is an excellent time to bring a guest so let Reuben know to make sure we have space.

Checks for $2250 each from our fruit sales were presented this morning to Daily Bread and to CASA.  Daily Bread serves 200 people a day and our contribution will feed them for the month of April.  CASA at present is providing advocates for 400 abused or neglected children.

Speaker

Mary Butzow, the EMS Education Co-coordinator at Presence and the EMS trainer at Parkland College, spoke to us about the urgency of stroke.  Having a stroke no longer means death or severe disability.  Stoke affects nearly 800,000 people each year and 25% of these people die.  There is one case of stroke every 45 seconds, and stroke is the #3 killer of women.  One quarter of women’s strokes occur before the age of 65.  Stroke is the #1 cause of long term disability.

Time is of the essence.  Of those elgible for treatment only 2% are given a tPA thrombolytic or clot buster due to the short window of time in which it is effective.  From onset the patient has 6 hours if experiencing a heart attack but only 180 minutes if experiencing a stroke.  Since there is often not tremendous pain present people often wait but should not.

It is imperative to have a CT scan immediately to determine if you are a candidate for clot busters.  In 2015 56% of those experiencing stroke arrived at an emergency room by private vehicle which causes delays.  It is best to call 911 in order  to have a medical professional at your door who can bring the ER to your house and alert the hospital to what services you need immediately on arrival  The slogan is “Don’t Guess Call EMS.”  Think of stroke as a brain attack.  It is truly a race against time.

Indicators of stroke include a drooping smile, inability to hold both arms out straight at the same level (shows weakness in one arm), and/or slurred speech or inability to repeat a phrase.  Some risk factors that can be controlled are:  smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, and atrial fibrillation.  Risk factors that cannot be controlled are age, gender and genes.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

March 17th – Steven Bentz, Director, Virginia Theater, will discuss upcoming shows

March 24th – Molly Delaney, Executive Director, C-U Schools Foundation, will discuss their first cross-district, collaborative grant

March 31st – Dee Brown, Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics, UIUC – Meeting will be held in the Savoy Room

April 7th – Laura Weis, Champaign County Chamber of Commerce

April 14th – TBD

April 21st – Megan McKisson, vice president of Illinois 2015-2016 Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team

April 28th – TBD

May 5th – TBD

May 12 – Prof. Christopher Barkan, Executive Director of the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center, UIUC, will discuss high speed rail travel and RailTec

May 19th – TBD

May 26th – TBD

June 2nd – TBD

June 9th – Megan Casey, Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ― Mahatma Gandhi 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

The Savoy Pancake Breakfast will be held at the Savoy Baptist Church on Saturday, March 12.  Tickets are just $5.00 for all you can eat pancakes and sausage.

PROGRAM

Ed first read about UIUC Professor Naira Hovakimyan in the NY Times when it was reported that she got a $1.5 million grant from the NSF to explore the use of drones for simple chores in elder care.

Professor Hovakimyan got her MA from Yerevan State University in Armenia and her PhD in Physics and Mathematics from the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, majoring in optimal control and differential games.  She is currently W. Grafton and Lillian B. Wilkins Professor of Mechanical Science and Engineering at UIUC.  In 2015, she was named as inaugural director of the Intelligent Robotics Lab of CSL at UIUC.  She is co-founder of IntelinAir, Inc., a company that commercializes data-drones for delivering actionable information from aerial imagery for various industries.

Professor Hovakimyan explained that although the iPhone was invented as a cell phone, it can be used for any purpose for which an app can be written.  She talked about four applications for controlling drones.

Her NSF grant is being used to explore the use of drones with the elderly and disabled.   Specifically, they are researching safety and “perceived safety” by using virtual reality simulation to determine how close and in what patterns a drone can fly around humans.    Once the app is developed, an iPhone could be used to notify an elder that it was time to take his or her medications.  Then the app would notify a drone to deliver the medications.  Testing for “perceived safety” will also tell retailers what trajectory should be used when delivering packages by drones.

Professor Hovakimyan is also working with the U of I Fire Science Institute.  On average, it takes four minutes from the time a 911 call is made to the time firefighters arrive at a fire or accident scene.    An iPhone alerted and laptop controlled drone can arrive sooner and get closer to assess the situation.   In a fire, a drone can inspect the roof and sides of a tall building to assess what is going on.   In the case of a accident involving tanker trucks, drones can check for fuel or chemical leakage and read tag information.  These applications will save the lives of many Fire/Safety personnel.

She also talked about her work at Edwards Air Force Base, where she has developed an application to monitor and control “lifting body” in aircrafts.

And at the Research Park, Dr. Hovakimyan has a digital agriculture/precision farming start up company.  After planting, drones will be used to determine the number of seeds germinated vs. planted.  Drones will also scan for 22 kinds of emergent weeds determining if those weeds are herbicide resistant or not.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

March 10th – Mary Butzow, Presence Health

March 17th – Steven Bentz, Director, Virginia Theater, will discuss upcoming shows

March 24th – Molly Delaney, Executive Director, C-U Schools Foundation, will discuss their first cross-district, collaborative grant

March 31st – Dee Brown, Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics, UIUC

April 7th – Laura Weis, Champaign County Chamber of Commerce

April 14th – TBD

April 21st – Megan McKisson, vice president of Illinois 2015-2016 Vis International Commercial Arbitration Team

April 28th – TBD

May 5th – TBD

May 12 – Prof. Christopher Barkan, Executive Director of the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center, UIUC, will discuss high speed rail travel and RailTec

May 19th – TBD

May 26th – TBD

June 2nd – TBD

June 9th – Megan Casey, Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy