“ Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have. ”  ― Winston Churchill

“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Scott is in the hospital.   He recently fell and broke his leg in four places.   We sent our wishes for a successful recovery.

The Community Center for the Arts is having a wine tasting benefit from 5-7 on Friday, Sept. 29.  Proceeds from the event will benefit C4A’s Scholarship Fund and Cultural Exchange Project  with the Sechura Youth Orchestra and the city of Sechura, Peru.  Details can be found at www.c-4A.

Also on Sept. 29, Meyer Capel and First Federal are sponsoring a BBQ Cook Off to benefit Courage Connection and Special Olympics of Champaign County.  The event will be held at the South Side of Lot 31, across from Memorial Stadium.   Food will be served from 3-8 PM.   

Diana is organizing Rotarians to help with “Generosity Feeds”.  The local event will be held from 10-2 on Sept. 30 at Lincoln Square Mall.   Volunteers must be preregistered.   Contact Diana to sign up.

Jeff announced that CASA’s fundraiser will be held on October 13.  In the meantime, he is selling raffle tickets.

Michelle will be organizing members to help with the Central Interact 5 K Race on November 18.

The Board voted to send $1,000 donation to Shelter Box.   This will come from the CU Sunrise Foundation.  We would like to raise enough from the members to send a second box.  If you would like to donate, make the check out to the CU Sunrise Foundation.

Cody and Candy Abbot made a guest appearance.   They shared pictures of the house they are building on the Snake River.

PROGRAM

Mary introduced Tim King from the Three Spinners charitable organization.   Along with his wife Megan Smith and their friend Alex VanDoren, Tim founded Three Spinners to help place refugees seeing a welcoming place in the US.

There are over twelve million people worldwide who live in refugee camps.  However, less than .01% of those will be repatriated or resettled.

Tim explained that in Europe, there are many websites at which individuals can sign up to house and help refugees.    However, in the US, there are only a handful of agencies that are authorized to place refugees.   There are six authorized agencies in Chicago and one or two in both St. Louis and Indianapolis.    Unfortunately, these are all high rent areas.  Tim and Megan have contacted these agencies to propose that refugees could be resettled in areas such as CU where the cost of living is not so high.  So far, they have helped one family move to this area.  That family later moved closer to relatives in Michigan.

Three Spinners has helped local refugee families in several other ways as well.  They help refugee children who are alone in the area either because they came here on their own or because their parents have been deported.  They recently held a back to school picnic and gave away back packs filled with school supplies.   The El Toro Restaurant provided the food for the event.

 Angie commented that about 17% of the Edison students are ESL students, mostly Hispanic and French Congolese.  

Three Spinners also partners with the YMCA’s Welcome Center.  The Welcome Center is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 AM to 2 PM.   The Center offers goods and services to immigrants and newcomers to the area. Services include small group language practice, ESL tutoring, computer training, resume preparation and job coaching.  Volunteers are needed.

Three Spinners plans to purchase a duplex to provide temporary housing for refugees to our area.   If they can do so, they will also welcome help in doing any necessary rehab work.

Tim encouraged us to “like” the Three Spinners page on Face Book and to follow them on Twitter.    To donate, or for more information, go to www.threespinners.org.

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

September 28th – Jim Rossow, Vice President-News, News-Gazette Media (Phyllis)

October 5th – State Senator Scott Bennett (Bob)

October 12th – Dr. Shirley Palmer, the co-pastor of Faith Methodist Church, will discuss the combined Rotary grant program to provide a men’s homeless shelter over winter months in C-U (Bob)

October 19th – Laurie Matheson, Director, University of Illinois Press (Phyllis)

October 26th – Rick Davidson, District Global Grants Chair, will discuss a vocational exchange between Indiana and Jamaica (Mary)

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

“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.” ― Henry Ward Beecher 

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” ― W. Clement Stone 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Notes provided by Allan Penwell).

The board meeting this month is September 20th from 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m at First Federal. There will be a full agenda.

The Lake Shelbyville party barge is September 23, and there are still a few spots available.  Talk to Keith for further details.

Diana is sponsoring a Generosity Feeds event on September 30th at Lincoln Square from 10:00am to noon. Generosity Feeds is a national charitable organization that is working to feed hungry children in every county across America so all children have the opportunity to thrive. The plan is to bag 10,000 meals in two hours. Sign-up is required, and Diana will register our volunteers.

Lou thanked everyone for their work on the Decker Garden. It looked great this year, and we look forward to next year.

One of our guests invited everyone to join in a celebration of the Baha’i faith Light of Unity Festival on October 21 (talk) and 22 (concert at Foellinger). For more information, call 217-337-1808.

PROGRAM

Our speaker for the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society was not available, but Ethan is a member of the local chapter that conducts simulated combat on the university campus. Members involved in this organization fight each other using foam-lined weapons. Participants typically use swords and shields, but can also use spears, bow and arrows, polearms, and hatchets. Many members decorate their shields to reflect their specific realm or their fighting unit. Ethan has been a participant for approximately two years and fights with a sword and shield.

Mary and Andrew attended the Heart of America Rotary meeting which was held in Springfield last weekend for Zones 30 and 31. Our zone is Zone 30 which is comprised of 14 districts and includes all or parts of Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee. Mary found it interesting that Rotary clubs in the zone have different sizes ranging from small clubs to the Birmingham, Alabama club which is so popular that it has a waiting list and caps membership at 650. It was surprising to learn that the Springfield area only has a total of 150 Rotarians, but there may be three times that many in C-U.

Some clubs are looked at as an elitist membership such as found in Europe and Asia. Other can be laid back such as one Rotarian who noted their club meets in the evening. Liquor is served, and many times just has a discussion rather than inviting a speaker.

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

September 21st – Meagan Smith, Three Spinners (Mary)

September 28th – Jim Rossow, Vice President-News, News-Gazette Media (Phyllis)

October 5th – State Senator Scott Bennett (Bob)

October 12th – Dr. Shirley Palmer, the co-pastor of Faith Methodist Church, will discuss the combined Rotary grant program to provide a men’s homeless shelter over winter months in C-U (Bob)

October 19th – Laurie Matheson, Director, University of Illinois Press (Phyllis)

October 26th – TBD (Mary)

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 – TBD

November 16th – Adelaide Aime, Executive Director, RACES

“My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors.” ― Maya Angelou 

“Ultimately, we actually all belong to only one tribe, to Earthlings.” – Jill Tarter

“My wife, my family, my friends – they’ve all taught me things about love and what that emotion really means. In a nutshell, loving someone is about giving, not receiving.” ― Nicholas Sparks 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Notes provided by Allan Penwell)

Football guessing this year is sponsored by Cary. This year the point spread is factored into your guess. In other words if you picked Ohio State last weekend with a point spread of +7.5, then OSU had to win by 8 points. As it turns out, OSU had its butt kicked 31-16 so that was a pleasure to see even if your pick was not very good. Good luck to all.

The board meeting this month is September 20th.

The Lake Shelbyville party barge is September 23. Sign up with Keith.

Diana mentioned a Generosity Feeds event on September 30th at Lincoln Square from ten to noon. Generosity Feeds is a national charitable organization that is working to feed hungry children in every county across America so all children have the opportunity to thrive. The plan is to bag 10,000 meals in two hours. Sign-up is required, and Diana will register our volunteers.

Betsy Barringer, wife of our late Larry Barringer, generously presented a check to purchase two Shelterboxes. A Shelterbox contains a family-sized tent and living essentials designed to withstand the elements and provide people with temporary shelter until they are able to obtain permanent housing. Shelterboxes are inventoried to airlift immediately in time of need to anywhere in the world. The Barringer family agreed to donate ten in Larry’s honor, and this donation fulfills their commitment.

PROGRAM

Marlon Mitchell and James Kilgore presented a program on FirstFollowers. FirstFollowers is a local program to provide assistance to those in our community who have been incarcerated or have a criminal conviction. A drop-in center was started in 2015 which is open twice weekly.

In 2014 the State of Illinois spent $1.2 billion for incarceration exclusive of salaries and benefits but very little money to rehabilitate those who were locked up. Re-entry into the job market is almost impossible which is key to moving criminals into the mainstream of our society.  Failure to help reintegrate these individuals has resulted in high rates of recidivism, or the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend and thus go back to prison.

In Champaign County there are 500 men and women on parole. Of those, less than 50% have a high school education, and most have limited literacy and math skills. Mental health issues affect 25% of parolees. Research shows that 82% of local parolees are black and 12% are white. Convicted felons make up 36% of the total.

In summer 2016 FirstFollowers conducted a survey to better understand the issues facing those who have been incarcerated as well their families, specifically in Champaign County.  Findings of the research include: (1) Transitional housing is needed. (2) Family relations are broken down. (3) It is difficult for felons to get a job. (4) Employers are suspicious of convicts.

The drop-in center is located at 401 E. Park Street and provides individual mentoring, assistance with employment searches, and helps connect those in need with resources.

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

September 14th – Joe Sebright, Belegarth Medieval Combat Society (Ethan) (Meeting in Savoy Room)

September 21st – Meagan Smith, Three Spinners (Mary)

September 28th – Jim Rossow, Vice President-News, News-Gazette Media (Phyllis)

October 5th – State Senator Scott Bennett (Bob)

October 12th – Dr. Shirley Palmer, the co-pastor of Faith Methodist Church, will discuss the combined Rotary grant program to provide a men’s homeless shelter over winter months in C-U (Bob)

October 19th – Laurie Matheson, Director, University of Illinois Press (Phyllis)

October 26th – TBD (Mary)

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 – TBD

November 16th – Adelaide Aime, Executive Director, RACES

“Peace begins with a smile.” – Mother Teresa

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” ― Joyce Meyer 

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”― Maya Angelou 

NOTES

Last week we did not have a regularly scheduled meeting.  Instead, there was an evening social on the Slow Ride machine.  See the club Facebook page for photos.

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

September 7th – First Followers (Ethan)

September 14th – Joe Sebright, Belegarth Medieval Combat Society (Ethan) (Meeting in Savoy Room)

September 21st – Meagan Smith, Three Spinners (Mary)

September 28th – Jim Rossow, Vice President-News, News-Gazette Media (Phyllis)

October 5th – State Senator Scott Bennett (Bob)

October 12th – Dr. Shirley Palmer, the co-pastor of Faith Methodist Church, will discuss the combined Rotary grant program to provide a men’s homeless shelter over winter months in C-U (Bob)

October 19th – Laurie Matheson, Director, University of Illinois Press (Phyllis)

October 26th – TBD (Mary)

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 – TBD

November 16th – Adelaide Aime, Executive Director, RACES