“Happiness is not a goal, it’s a by-product of a life well lived.” – Eleanor Roosevelt – 1884-1962 – Former First Lady of the United States

“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the present.” – Roy T. Bennett – 1939-2014 – Author

“Being happy never goes out of style.” – Lily Pulitzer – 1931-2013 – Fashion Designer

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Scott announced that families are needed for hosting incoming Rotary Exchange students. Host families should be in the Champaign Unit 4 school district. See Scott for more information.

March 4 – Read Across America – see Michelle’s email for details

March 9 – Our first scheduled evening meeting is at 5:30 PM meeting at the Holiday Inn (no AM meeting that day)

March 15 – Eastern Illinois Foodbank Repack, Larry passed around the signup sheet.

The Sunrise Foundation Fund Drive continues now through March 15.

March 25 – Central HS Interact Trivia Event

April 1 – RYLA (Leadership training for HS sophomores)

April 15 – Newspaper folding for Humane Society (bring any newspapers to Ed Perry at any Thursday meeting.)

PROGRAM

Bob introduced Dr. Donald Wuebbles as our speaker this morning. Don grew up in Illinois and did his undergraduate and graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He then earned his doctorate at the University of California, Davis in Atmospheric Sciences.

Don served as head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois, and now is currently an Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois. Don is an expert in atmospheric physics and chemistry, with contributions to over 500 scientific publications including being a coordinating lead author in many national and international assessments. Don has received many major awards and served as Assistant Director with the office of Science and Technology at the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C.

This morning’s program was titled Our Changing Climate: A Focus on Illinois. Don strongly noted that our climate continues to change at a rapid pace. Severe weather is becoming more intense and sea levels are rising and oceans are being affected. The main contributors to this rapid change are human activities and the associated pollution. Climate will continue to change over the coming decades with significant impact on urban and rural areas.

Don presented many charts and graphs with historic and current information from the Illinois assessment report.  More precipitation, flooding, heat waves, drought, winds with more intense storms will occur in the decades to come. These changes will affect our public health, agricultural crops and livestock, water quality and quantity, animals, and changes in all of nature and plant life. More research is currently taking place on what can be done to better handle these changes such as creating agricultural crops that can hold more moisture in times of drought.

.As individuals we can become more energy conscious and efficient, continue to move away from fossil fuels and move towards other forms of power such as solar. We can speak up about the need to act now and continue to think about the future and how we can help slow down these climate changes. 

To access the Illinois assessment report please visit:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/illinois/stories-in-illinois/tackling-climate-solutions/

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

March 2^nd – Club Assembly

March 9^th @ 5:30PM– Kirk Banner, retired air traffic controller (including stints at Willard), will talk about AirVenture, the annual gathering of aircraft at Oshkosh, WI

March 16^th – Peter Newman, Peak Wealth Planning, will discuss Common Mistakes to Avoid for Retirement (Jerry)

March 23^rd – Marching Illini director Barry Houser (Joe)

March 30^th – TBD

April 6^th – TBD

April 13^th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Lisa)

April 20^th – Lorrie Pearson, Executive Director, Champaign County Forest Preserve District (Mary)

 April 27^th – TBD (Tom)

May 4^th – TBD

May 11^th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Bob)

May 18^th – TBD (Cary)

May 25^th – TBD (Joe)

June 1^st – TBD

June 8^th @ 5:30PM – TBD (Charlie)

June 15^th – TBD (Lisa)

June 22^nd – TBD (Mary)

June 29^th – TBD

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

March – No club birthdays

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which [they have] overcome while trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington – 1856-1915 – Educator-Reformer

“Sometimes the biggest accomplishment in life is to find yourself.” – Luisa Fernanda Cicero – Television Presenter

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick – Short Story Writer-Novelist-Essayist

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Notes provided by Lisa Crane)

Ata Durukan celebrates a birthday on February 14^th.

February bucket bucks will go to Cunningham Township’s Angel Fund.

The Annual Fund Drive will take place now through Mar 15. Our club will match donations.

Our first evening meeting time will be at 5:30pm on March 9th. Will probably be at our same meeting location; more details to come. Evening meetings will be at 5:30pm on the 2nd and 5th Thursdays of each month.

We had two honored guests at the meeting.  First, District Governor Elect Janet Ellis Nelson joined us and spoke about a Rotary Leadership opportunity for sophomores from 9am-1pm on Saturday, April 1^st.  And second, former CU Sunrise Rotarian Benny Lapid visited.

UPCOMING CLUB VOLUNTEER/SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

We are a Sponsor of the Central Interact Trivia Event on March 24. Michelle will give more info.

We will continue to sponsor the Parkland scholarship.

Feeding our Kids 10-11:30am on Feb 1-11 at the Hope Center. 

Read Across America will take place on March 4^th.

There will be an EIF food repack on March 15^th.

More info to come on the I READ/ I COUNT event.

PROGRAM

Speaker Tiffany Warmoski gave a presentation entitled How Rotary changed our lives for the better.  Technical difficulties prevented her from sharing photos.

She joined the Jacksonville Active Rotary club in 2005.  The club is 104 years old.  They have hosted and sponsored exchange students.  She was the youth exchange officer of her club.

She shared some myth busters about Youth Exchange:
-No club is too small to host
-You can share an exchange student with another club to cut costs
-Clubs can sponsor outbound or take in bound students
-Find your niche in your club
-Youth Exchange is a district program
-Don’t have to be a Rotarian to host

One of Tracey’s great quotes was: The only thing that happens when you wait, is you get old!

Tiffany and her husband Steve lived below their means, sold, donated, and put items in storage and started their journey arriving July 30 in Munich. They then visited: Slovakia, Berlin, and Denmark.  Schools in Europe make it very hard to do home schooling. People would ask about why their son was not in school.

They also visited Gadansk, Poland and met husbands relatives.  They came home at the end of November.  They were off again in mid-December to spend Christmas in Transylvania, Romania.

They are now back in Illinois. They postponed a South America tour.  Be sure to check out their website and Facebook page. 

They requested assistance with a global grant in Romania for NICU equipment.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

February 16^th – Governor Designate Mike Martin will speak on 100 in 100

February 23^rd – Dr. Donald Wuebbles, Harry E. Preble Emeritus Professor, UIUC  (Bob)

March 2^nd – Club Assembly

March 9^th – TBD (Cary)

March 16^th – Peter Newman, Peak Wealth Planning, will discuss Common Mistakes to Avoid for Retirement (Jerry)

March 23^rd – Marching Illini director Barry Houser (Joe)

March 30^th – TBD

April 6^th – TBD

April 13^th – TBD

April 20^th – Lorrie Pearson, Executive Director, Champaign County Forest Preserve District

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

February 14 – Ata Durukan