“When we approve of ourselves, rather than always seeking approval of others, we find happiness.” – Unknown

“The words you use are far less important than the energy, intensity, and conviction with which you use them.” – Unknown

“All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” –

Victor Hugo – 1802-1885 – Poet-Novelist-Dramatist

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut, Pedwar Errie)

Larry thanked the volunteers who signed up for helping in the Eastern Illinois Food Bank Operation Orange repack.

Scott sold the club’s packet of Rotary District Polio Day Raffle tickets. 

Robb announced that he has been contacted from the supplier of this year’s fruit for our Annual Fundraising Fruit sale. The price for this year’s fruit should be close to last year’s. More information on the sale will be coming in a few weeks. Robb also noted that CASA is looking for sponsors this year and anyone interested should see Robb.

Michelle thanked those who had their cars washed by the Champaign Central High School Interact Club as they raised over $300 in this year’s car wash. Michelle also noted that Central’s Interact Club will have their annual 5K run on Saturday, November 16, and volunteers from our club will be needed to help during the race. 

Diana mentioned she will be going to the Membership Meeting at this year’s annual Rotary District Conference on October 18th to attend a meeting on membership. She also noted that she would be happy to have 3 more club members join her and ride with her to the meeting. See Diana for details.  

PROGRAM

Ondine introduced our speaker today, Meghan Gentry. Meghan went to high school in Arcola where she was an “Arcola Rotary Senior Of the Month” and thanked our club for the opportunity this morning to talk about Foster Care in Champaign-Urbana.

Megan received her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Illinois and is currently the social worker at Centennial High School and is also a foster parent.

Meghan noted that the first mission of foster care is to reunify children with parents is a safe and stable environment. This is commonly done in several ways, by placing the child with a Kinship/Relative of the family, a traditional Foster family environment, a specialized foster care home for those with special needs or in Group Residential Homes such as Cunningham Children’s Home in Urbana. This year there are 329 youth in foster care in Champaign County alone and 16,318 in the state of Illinois.

The percentage of the age groups in foster care are as follows:

          Age                       %    

0 to 5 years old              44%

6 to 12                            31%

13-17                             19%

18+                                 6%

Of this group, 46% are white, 44% are African American and 8% are Hispanic.

These children are in care for various reasons due to neglect, drug abuse, caretaker’s inability to support or behavior problems. Children may be hyperactive, angry, withdrawn, runaways and lack social skills. The emotional needs of these children can also vary as they may have had various traumatic experiences including family violence or community violence. Finding a stable, loving home environment is a key.

Meghan stated that we all should care as the risk factor for these children is high as they become older and may enter a world of violence, sexual abuse and sex trafficking. The juvenile justice system is full of youth that were not supported as children.     

Foster parents can reach out for help from schools, friends and support groups. There are many local foster care support systems in the area including CASA (court appointed special advocates for children), Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Crisis Nursery, Courage Connection, Salt & Light, and Cunningham Children’s Home.  Individuals can also help by supporting these groups by volunteering and by donations.  

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

October 3rd – Lisa Wilson, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC) (Mary)

October 10th – Club Assembly

October 17th – TBD (Cary)

October 24th – Rob Dalhaus from CU at Home (Charlie)

October 29th – Tuesday – C-U Sunrise Rotary Charter Anniversary banquet at Biaggi’s

October 31st – No regular meeting (5th Thursday) – 

November 7th – Shannon O’Rourke Kasali, who was both a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and A Rotary Peace Scholar (Mary)

November 14th – District Governor Julie Dobski

November 21st – “A geneticist’s perspective on how the brain works” – Dr. Stephanie Ceman, Associate Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UIUC, and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. (Ondine)

November 28th – TBD 

December 5th – John Paul Buzard from Buzard Pipe Organ Builders will speak to our club about building organs (Bob)

December 12th – Club Assembly

“The mind is the seed of creativity but the heart is the soil. That seed cannot grow without an open heart.” – Shah Rukh Khan – Actor-Producer

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore – Fictional Character

“It’s not so much what we have in this life that matters. It’s what we do with what we have.” – Fred Rogers – 1928-2003 – Musician-Puppeteer-Writer-Producer

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)

Eastern Illinois’ “Operation Orange” 12 hour repack is this Friday Sept. 27th at the foodbank warehouse.  Operation Orange is a 12-hour food repack event in support of and to kick off Hunger Action Month. The following from our club registered online to work the 4-6 p.m. shift:  Phyllis, Michelle, Mary Kay, Charlie, Tod, Lou, Ed, Oktay, Rod, Judy & Larry.

Mary announced that our District 6490 is supporting this years October 24th World Polio Day with a raffle. From the District World Polio Day Committee: Our club will receive the raffle tickets by mail. The winner will receive 4 prime tickets 50 yard-line tickets to the November 30th Northwestern v. ILLINIOS game. The raffle winner will be announced at District Conference. These great seats are in Section 127, Row 41. Great for any football fan, but more importantly, the proceeds will go to the Polio Plus program and be eligible for the $2 for $1 match from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  If we sell all the tickets we will net over $7,000, including the match.

PROGRAM

Tom Ulen introduced Professor Michelle Layser from the University of Illinois Law School

Professor Layser’s primary research interest is at the intersection of tax law and social policy. Her current and yet to be released book is “The Problem with Place-Based Investment Tax Incentives”.

“Place based” tax incentives ease and or eliminate tax burdens in exchange for redirecting stock investments towards construction in low income “Opportunity Zones” commonly known as OZ’s.

Investors in Opportunity Zones can defer capital gains tax on stock sales until 2026. If the investment remains in place 5 years, 10% of the gains tax will never be taxed. If the investment remains in place for 7 years 15% of the gains tax will never be taxed. After 10 years profits from the OZ fund investment become tax free.

Other benefits from investing in Opportunity Zone funds are the relatively few restrictions place on the eligibility of fund projects.

Opportunity zones are designated by state governments. States can designate OZ’s in low income areas based on US Census data.  There are 7000 Opportunity Zones in the United States and 3 in Champaign County. Professor Layser displayed a map of Champaign County showing economically poor areas as designated by the US Census Bureau. The most interesting part of the map is that the entire University of Illinois footprint, including surrounding residential areas is designated economically poor.

The Census Bureau does not distinguish between poor year-round residents and poor students. The result of this designation, combined with the relatively few restrictions on where projects are selected has resulted in the recent high rise housing boom around the University of Illinois campus.

Campustown Opportunity Zone 1 is valued at $10,000,000. The projected return on investment after 10 years is 8% with an asset management fee of 2%. The minimum investment is $50,000.

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

September 26th – Meghan Gentry will speak about foster care in Champaign-Urbana (Ondine)

October 3rd – Lisa Wilson, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC) (Mary)

October 10th – Club Assembly

October 17th – TBD (Cary)

October 24th – Rob Dalhaus from CU at Home (Charlie)

October 29th – Tuesday – C-U Sunrise Rotary Charter Anniversary banquet at Biaggi’s

October 31st – No regular meeting (5th Thursday) – 

November 7th – Shannon O’Rourke Kasali, who was both a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and A Rotary Peace Scholar (Mary)

November 14th – District Governor Julie Dobski

November 21st – TBD (Ondine)

November 28th – TBD 

December 5th – John Paul Buzard from Buzard Pipe Organ Builders will speak to our club about building organs (Bob)

December 12th – Club Assembly

“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.” John Maynard Keynes – 1883-1946 – Economist-Mathematician

“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” – Paulo Coelho – Lyricist-Novelist

“Our civic society is really all we have by way of nationhood.” – Cokie Roberts – Broadcast Journalist-Author

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

October 24 is World Polio Day.  

President Darrell announced that we will schedule a club assembly for the second Thursday of each month.

PROGRAM

Charlie introduced “Know Your Rotarian”:

1) Ed Bridges went to Centennial High where he was on the track team.  Later, he attended Parkland College and worked for Mayflower.   During high school, Ed played in a band with Robb.   Ed has been to 16 countries and has met Pope Paul and Jessie Owens.

2) Lou Simpson was born on Forbes Air Force Base.  Growing up, he lived in Indianapolis, Palatine and LaGrange.  He got his undergraduate and MBA degrees at Western IL University where he was a member of the WEIU Newcomers Swing Choir.  He and Larry are members of the Lawn Rangers and performed in President Obama’s inaugural parade.

3) Keith Brandau is originally from Dixon and lived five years in Yorkville.  He wrestled and played football in high school.  Keith graduated from UIUC with a degree in structural engineering.   He spends his free time on his house boat on Lake Shelbyville.

Mary Jane introduced our “See You at Sunrise” membership campaign. She has divided the club into teams, each with a breakfast-based theme.   The winning team will be the one that brings the most guests to CU Sunrise between now and December.

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

September 19th – Michelle Layser, Assistant Professor of Law, UIUC will discuss tax law and social policy (Tom)

September 26th – Meghan Gentry will speak about foster care in Champaign-Urbana (Ondine)

October 3rd – Lisa Wilson, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC) (Mary)

October 10th – Club Assembly

October 17th – TBD (Cary)

October 24th – Rob Dalhaus from CU at Home (Charlie)

October 29th – Tuesday – C-U Sunrise Rotary Charter Anniversary banquet at Biaggi’s

October 31st – No regular meeting (5th Thursday) – 

November 7th – TBD (David)

November 14th – District Governor Julie Dobski

November 21st – TBD (Ondine)

November 28th – TBD 

December 5th – John Paul Buzard from Buzard Pipe Organ Builders will speak to our club about building organs (Bob)

December 12th – Club Assembly

“It’s not about perfect. It’s about effort. And when you bring that effort every single day, that’s where transformation happens.” – Jillian Michaels

“There is an unpanned gold in every soul you run into, no matter what walk of life they are from.” – Robert Downey, Jr.

“What is success? It is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.” –

Paulo Coelho

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut, Eddie Perry)

Darrell thanked everyone for helping with and attending this past week’s rededication of the Don Decker Garden. 

September’s bucket money will be going to C-U @ Home.

Darrell also reminded everyone that next week’s meeting will be a club assembly with the focus on membership.

Larry noted that our club is volunteering for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank’s “Operation Orange” on Friday, September 27th from 4 to 6pm. Sign up directly online with the Foodbank.

Phillis announced that she has prepared and sent in our club’s district grant application to help Promise Healthcare/Francis Nelson Health Center with food needs and medical help. The grant includes money donation and the donating of club volunteer services. Grants will be announced in October. 

PROGRAM

Cary introduced Katie Blakeman, Champaign County’s Circuit Clerk. Katie described the various functions and tasks of the County’s Circuit Clerk office. Included in the list are the preservation of all of the Circuit Courts records, the collection and disbursement of County fees and fines, and providing public access to these records. The Circuit Clerks office also handles the notification and actions needed for jury services, the County’s drainage district elections and the disposition reporting to state agencies.

The Champaign County Circuit Clerk’s office is the public face of the court system and has a staff of 40 full-time employees.  The office handles nearly 36,000 cases a year, has 750 to 2,000 visitors a day, averages over 600 phone calls a day and deals with a revenue of $9-10 million a year. They have court records going back to the 1830s, including cases in which Abraham Lincoln serves=d as an attorney, and all records must be preserved. They continuously micro-film paper documents for safe keeping.

Katie is active in various state organizations and committees focusing on issues and the need for improvements. Current technological improvements include electronic filing, E-filing, and electronic storage of records, E-Record. For certain traffic and conservation tickets one can plead guilty by using E-Plea/E-Guilty. Law enforcement agencies are moving to E-Citations for traffic tickets. Katie is working to update the court systems away from paper with E-filling, E-Citations, Auto Court date and payment reminders. Improving speed and public access are important issues.

Upcoming events that her office is taking the lead with are Amnesty Week on September 9 -13th for those with outstanding payments due. The additional late fees will be waived. For those eligible to expunge parts of their criminal records there will be Expungement and Record sealing meeting on October 5th at Stone Creek Church. 

Katie shared statistics showing that 1 in 3 people have been arrested by the age of 23. A criminal record can have a devastating effect on one’s future. 65% of employers will not hire a criminal and 47% of the landlords will not rent to someone with a criminal record, the result being unemployment and homelessness. The need for criminal relief is warranted for those wanting to improve their lives, find jobs and a place to live. Expungement for those with no conviction and the sealing of records on certain convictions is one way to open the door for possible employment.

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

September 12th – Club Assembly

September 19th – Michelle Layser, Assistant Professor of Law, UIUC will discuss tax law and social policy (Tom)

September 26th – Meghan Gentry will speak about foster care in Champaign-Urbana (Ondine)

October 3rd – Lisa Wilson, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC) (Mary)

October 10th – Club Assembly

October 17th – TBD (Cary)

October 24th – Rob Dalhaus from CU at Home (Charlie)

October 29th – Tuesday – C-U Sunrise Rotary Charter Anniversary banquet at Biaggi’s

October 31st – No regular meeting (5th Thursday) – 

November 7th – TBD (David)

November 14th – District Governor Julie Dobski

November 21st – TBD (Ondine)

November 28th – TBD 

December 5th – John Paul Buzard from Buzard Pipe Organ Builders will speak to our club about building organs (Bob)

December 12th – Club Assembly

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.” – Muhammad Ali

“Winning and losing isn’t everything. Sometimes, the journey is just as important as the outcome.” – Alex Morgan

“Anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.” – Misty Copeland

NOTES

C-U Sunrise did not hold our regularly scheduled morning meeting last week.  Instead, we gathered in the evening for a rededication of the Decker Garden in Mattis Park in Champaign.

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

September 5th – Katie Blakeman, Champaign County Circuit Clerk (Cary)

September 12th – Club Assembly

September 19th – Michelle Layser, Assistant Professor of Law, UIUC will discuss tax law and social policy (Tom)

September 26th – Meghan Gentry will speak about foster care in Champaign-Urbana (Ondine)

October 3rd – Lisa Wilson, Executive Director, East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC) (Mary)

October 10th – Club Assembly

October 17th – TBD (Cary)

October 24th – Rob Dalhaus from CU at Home (Charlie)

October 29th – Tuesday – C-U Sunrise Rotary Charter Anniversary banquet at Biaggi’s

October 31st – No regular meeting (5th Thursday) – 

November 7th – TBD (David)

November 14th – District Governor Julie Dobski

November 21st – TBD (Ondine)

November 28th – TBD 

December 5th – John Paul Buzard from Buzard Pipe Organ Builders will speak to our club about building organs (Bob)

December 12th – Club Assembly