“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl – 1905-1997 – Psychiatrist and Author

“A dead end is just a good place to turn around.” – Naomi Judd – 1946-2022 – Singer-Actress

“If you can do what you do best and be happy, you are further along in life than most people.” – Leonardo DiCaprio – Actor-Producer

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Notes provided by  Lisa Crane)

Rotary member birthdays:  We sang to Happy Birthday to Jen, Rod, and Scott!

Please sign the thank you note for Larry Craig.  We are sending him the card and a gift card for loaning his warehouse all these years for the fruit sale.

Welcome our new members Garrett Colbert & JP Thompson!

Fruit sale distribution went well. We made $1000 more than budgeted.  Darrell moved, Robb seconded, and the motion passed to donate $5000 to Sola Gratia.

CLUB ASSEMBLY

Thoughts on spending down our excess foundation funds.  Darrell suggested three chunks to spend down.

We discussed making a budget item to send a club representative to the International Rotary Convention.

We discussed Bucket Bucks. Michael ask, does it have to be a nonprofit? He knows of a government children’s advocacy group that is in need. We should schedule them to talk to us.

Robb suggested a defining project; something that has a signature on it like an accessible park.  Mary suggested spreading it around and having the ability to help more people. Darrell suggested more money to less places.  Another part of discussion suggested we have a club-focused area (e.g. youth, elderly).

It was requested that board minutes be sent out.

Survey monkey was suggested to get more ideas from members.

It was suggested that a subcommittee look at the themes of Rotary and suggest recipients for Bucket Bucks.

Phyllis gave an update that Decker Garden is going well.

The club agreed that one to two service projects per month is good.  

Orphan Art Sales update – We need a date. There are art festivals in spring and summer, and a lot of from August through December. Is there really a good time? Jen will come up with some dates.

Darrell announced CU SUNRISE fundraiser Karaoke Nite Feb 24, 2025 at Jupiters. We will be looking for a budget, committee, sponsors. Other places were charging a lot for the
venue rental. Jupiters does not as long as we add them as a sponsor.

Bucket Bucks for Feb Meals on Wheels was suggested, moved, and passed by membership.

Ideas for the foundation grant due in September. The club needs to match in some way to have a better chance of being awarded because the grants are getting more competitive. Do you have an idea for grant? Talk to Phyllis.

Otay gave an update on I read I count – Unit 4 and Chamber of Commerce are seeing results.

UPCOMING EVENTS & SERVICE OPPORTUNITES

February 2^nd (6:30pm) Champaign Rotary Comedy Nite @ Jupiters

February 10th (9-11am) Salt & Light

February 24^th (7-pm) That’s What She Said Social – Get your ticket Section 2 Rows L & M @ the Virginia

March 2 (10am-1pm) Read Across America @ Lincoln Square

March 16-17 PETS training – Ata & Lisa will be attending.

April 19-21 RYLA at Allerton

May 4 (9-noon) District Assembly

May 4 (9-noon) Newspaper folding @GSLC

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

February 1^st – Elise Belknap, Licensed Professional Counselor, will discuss the social/emotional issues in our community (Michael)

February 8^th – TBD (Tom)

February 15^th – Aaron Bird from the Salvation Army (Cary)

February 22^nd – Lex Tate, the Evolution of Campustown (Joe)

February 29^th – No AM meeting (5^th Thursday)

March 7^th – TBD (Lisa)

March 14^th – TBD (Mary)

March 21^st – TBD (Michael)

March 28^th – TBD (Tom)

April 4th – TBD (Cary)

April 11^th – TBD (Joe)

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

February 14 – Ata Durukan

Train your mind and heart to see the good in everything. There is always something to be grateful for. – Unknown

“Be grateful for what you have and be ready to share it when the time comes.” – Michelle Obama – Former First Lady of the United States-Author-Attorney

“Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.” – Napoleon Hill – 1883-1970 – Author

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

Charlie shared with us a thank you note from the Salvation Army for our help with the holiday bell ringing.

Jarrod shared the passing of a local icon, Bob Espeseth, who was a tireless advocate for local parks and forest preserves.  Early in his career he worked with the Wisconsin State Park system before moving to Illinois to work at the University of Illinois in what is now the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism.  He will be missed, but his impact on the environment and our opportunities to enjoy it will be felt for generations.

UPCOMING EVENTS

January 10 – 5 to 6:30 pm, Books 2 Prisoners

February 10 – 9 to 11am, Salt & Light

February 24 – 7 pm Club Social “That’s What She Said” at Virginia Theater (featuring Jen Shelby?)

March 16 & 17 – District President-Elect Training

April 19-21 – Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA) at Allerton

April 20^th – Party at Robb’s house

April 27 – District Assembly

PROGRAM

Joe introduced Lieutenant Commander J.P. Thompson, USN, Associate Professor of Naval Science, UIUC as our speaker this morning. JP presented his program titled “Life as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer and Assorted Sea Stories”.

JP began with his background, including Naval career activities and the challenges of Naval Surface Warfare. JP earned degrees from Ohio State, Kansas and Army Command and General Staff College.  He was a Surface Warfare Officer serving in six Operation tours of duty in various areas around the world starting in 2011. He later did Staff tours in Manama, Bahrain, and now is here as NROTC, University of Illinois Urbana -Champaign.

Using maps of the world, JP displayed the various locations where he has served. He explained with photos the capabilities of the ships on which he served. He told how the role of the Navy and the various Ship types must continue to adapt to the ever-changing world. He noted the increasing importance of the submarine in a nation’s military.

JP told personal sea stories including one about how when he started in the Navy the use of paper maps were common for navigation.  There has been a sometimes bumpy transition to computer generated electronic graphics that are now used for navigation. While explaining how warfare methods continue to change with the advancement of new technology, he also added how Naval ships are used for “peace or presence”‘ patrols throughout the world.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

January 11^th – Jamila Amartry, former Rotary Exchange student from Charleston to France (Lisa)

January 18^th – Rachelle Langley from the Rotary built data base DACdb (Mary)

January 25^th – TBD (Michael)

February 1^st – TBD

February 8^th – TBD (Tom)

February 15^th – TBD (Cary)

February 22^nd – TBD (Joe)

February 29^th – No AM meeting (5^th Thursday)

March 7^th – TBD (Lisa)

March 14^th – TBD (Mary)

March 21^st – TBD (Michael)

March 28^th – TBD (Tom)

April 4th – TBD (Cary)

April 11^th – TBD (Joe)

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

January 18 – Jen Shelby

January 27 – Rod Roberts

January 28 – Scott Paceley

“If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” – Eleanor Roosevelt – 1884-1962 – Former First Lady of the United States

“I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.” – Langston Hughes – 1901-1967 – Poet-Social Activist

“I choose to make the rest of my life the best of my life.” – Louise Hay – 1926-2017 – Motivational Speaker-Author

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Notes provided by Lisa Crane)

Instead of a typical reflection, Mary Hodson shared her followings of other clubs across the country and the world and read a poem from one of them about wearing your Rotary Pin.

Robb informed us that after all the trials and tribulations, the fruit finally arrived.

Mary Kay went to a Central Interact meeting which happens to meet at the same time we do
They discussed their Fun Run, Trivia nite and Caring Connection.  She was impressed by their
well-run meeting. The advisor indicated that truancy is increasing due to anxiety of attending school. They are working to get more students involved so they feel a sense of belonging.

December bucket money will go to Storybook.

It was moved and seconded, followed by a voice vote for 2023-24 election of officers. All approved.  The following officers were announced by the incoming President Ata Durukan: Lisa Crane, President-Elect; Jerry Payonk, Secretary, Tod Satterthwaite, Treasurer; and Board Members: Robb Patton, Jen Shelby, Joe Rank and Scott Paceley.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

Dec 21 – CU Sunrise Christmas Party & White Elephant gift exchange. We will be in Savoy Room.

Ded 28 – No meeting

Dec 28 – Reunion of Robb’s band at Carmon’s. Everyone is welcome to come listen, 7-10:30.

Jan 3 – CU Sunrise Rotary Board Meeting at 7am via Zoom

Jan 4 – First 2024 club meeting

April 19-21 – RYLA

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES 

Dec 16 (8:30-noon) – Crisis Nursery Holiday shop @ Orpheum

Jan 10 (5-6:30pm) – Books 2 Prisoners

SPEAKER

Michael Hogue introduced Bruce Rainey.  Bruce is the voice of JBJ; he used to be the “face” of Champaign Meijer when it opened.

His grandfather invented and distributed pottery. His mother, Arlene Rainey, worked with the pottery until 95 years young. She passed away at 105 yrs.

Bruce took us on a historical journey of his family’s pottery business. In 1895, it started as Eagle Pottery with brothers who moved from Ohio to Arkansas. In 1901, the brothers returned to Ohio and Bullet (his grandfather) stayed in Arkansas. He brought pottery pieces to World’s Fair in 1904 St. Louis.

C.D. “Bullet” Hyten, a master potter started, Niloak Pottery in 1910. He operated the shop in Benton, Arkansas for 37 years.  They used the natural-colored clays from nearby Pottery Hill. They designed unique multicolored spiral pieces which were hand turned. Niloak is Kaolin spelled backwards and was used by several Arkansas Governors as the official state gift. No two pieces were ever alike. The pottery was sold on the international market with a peak output of 75,000 pieces annually.  Bruce passed around pottery pieces and a book cataloging many pieces. We were extremely careful not to break any pottery!

From 1915-1928, the Nikolak pieces were in exhibitions, department stores, made as party favors, special orders, pieces for hotels, resorts and a Masonic Lodge. Then the depression hit. Bullet lost everything in the depression including the clay pits, buildings and patent. A little Rock businessman stepped in and bought the company and never produced the swirl ware again. They hired Bullet as a salesperson and consultant, and developed the Hywood brand of pottery.

In 1941, Bullet resigned and left Niloak and went to work for Camark pottery in Camden, AR. He and Arlene Rainey (Bruce’s mother) maintained the gift shop located in the old Niloak showroom in Benton, AR until his death in 1944. His mother then became a travelling saleswoman from 1944-46 taking over some of her husband’s territory.

Bruce has quite a few of the pieces they have acquired over the years. He shared some of them with us.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

December 21^st – CUSR Holiday Party

December 28^th – No morning meeting

January 4^th – Lieutenant Commander J. P. Thompson, USN, Associate Professor of Naval Science, UIUC “Life as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer and Assorted Sea Stories.” (Joe)

January 11^th – TBD (Lisa)

January 18^th – Rachelle Langley from the Rotary built data base DACdb (Mary

January 25^th – TBD (Michael)

February 1^st – TBD

February 8^th – TBD (Tom)

February 15^th – TBD (Cary)

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

December 29 – Jerry Payonk

January 18 – Jen Shelby

January 27 – Rod Roberts

January 28 – Scott Paceley

“Do not be afraid to start over.” – Pam Munoz Ryan – Writer

“When you choose to collect experiences rather than things, you never ever run out of storage space.” – Joshua Becker – Author-Writer-Philanthropist-Pastor

“Gratitude is the closest thing to beauty manifested in an emotion.” – Mindy Kaling – Actress-Screenwriter

ANNOUNCEMENTS

There was no morning meeting last week.  Check your email for updates from Chief Fruithead Robb Patton.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

December 7^th – Dr. Beth Conerty, Associate Director of Business Development – IBRL & RIO for iFAB Tech Hub, and Carly McCrory-McKay, Executive Director – Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, will discuss the iFAB Tech Hub (Mary)

December 14^th – Bruce Rainey, grandson of C.D. (Bullet) Hyten who created Niloak pottery (Michael)

December 21^st – CUSR Holiday Party

December 28^th – TBD (Cary)

January 4^th – Lieutenant Commander J. P. Thompson, USN, Associate Professor of Naval Science, UIUC “Life as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer and Assorted Sea Stories.” (Joe)

January 11^th – TBD (Lisa)

January 18^th – Rachelle Langley from the Rotary built data base DACdb (Mary

January 25^th – TBD (Michael)

February 1^st – TBD

February 8^th – TBD (Tom)

February 15^th – TBD (Cary)

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

December 1 – Larry Johnson

December 29 – Jerry Payonk

“You are not your struggles. You are the survivor who keeps moving forward in spite of them.” – Lori Deschene – Author

“You’re never too important to be nice to people.” – Jon Batiste – Singer-Songwriter

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive.” – Maya Angelou – 1928-2014 – Poet-Singer-Activist

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(Notes provided by Lisa Crane)

Instead of a typical reflection, Ed Perry passed out old newsletters from 25+ years ago. He also reminded us that Jerry lead the charge to deliver our newsletter by email.  Thanks Ed!

We received a thank you note from our Parkland scholarship award recipient.

We received a thank you from Michele Olsen for our donation to Shelterbox.

Nominations for board members and committee chairs are open. The following slate of leaders was announced:
*Ata Durakin as President
*Lisa Crane as President elect
*Jerry Payonek as Secretary
*Tod Satterthwaite as Treasurer

While we are almost to the halfway mark of the current Rotary year, Charlie the Terrible insists he still has much more in store for the club during his reign.

Robb provided an update on the club’s annual Fruit Sale. We will keep the same price of $30 per case.  Sola Gratia farms will be this year’s beneficiary.

We will take fruit sale orders on November 11 and 18^th at the Urbana Farmer’s Market (8am-12pm).  Robb is looking for another volunteer on the 11^th, and Jerry would like another volunteer to help on the 18^th. 

Oktay provided Fruit Sale flyers.  Check your email.

We are, against all odds, still in 2^nd place in the football picking game.  Cary deserves a major award for guiding our club to such sustained success. 

Nov 9 – Doors open at 5:30pm, dinner served at 6:30pm, program at 7pm – CU Sunrise Anniversary Party at City View 

Dec 21 CU Sunrise Christmas Party & White Elephant gift exchange

SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES 

Nov 5 (7am) CU Special Recreation 5K cupcake Fundraiser

Nov 14 (3-4:30pm) Assemble winter kits at United Way (our grant)

Dec 2  (9-11am) Salt & Light 1819 Philo Rd Urbana

Dec 9 (10am-7pm) Salvation Army Bell Ringing

Dec 16 (8:30-noon) Crisis Nursery Holiday shop @ Orpheum

Bucket bucks

November – Chez Veteran’s Center at UIUC

December – Storybrook Project for Incarcerated Parents & Families

SPEAKER

Tom Ulen introduced this week’s speaker, Dr. Dan Simons, Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois. Dr. Simons leads the visual cognition lab.  His research explores the limits of awareness and memory and the reasons why we often are unaware of those limits and the implications of such limits.

He is the author, along with Dr. Chris Chabris, of the new book Nobody’s Fool.  It was noted that $8.8 billion are lost each year due to fraud. There is a basic scam called the Grandparents scam where a caller seeking money calls an older adult and poses as a grandchild in need of money. 

Dr. Simons described how once in a while we can all be fooled by something.  One example given was General James Mattis who was fooled by Elizabeth Holmes’ claims regarding her biotech startup. 

Anyone looking to deceive us wants us to focus on one thing while they change something else.  The focus is on our cognitive tendencies. Hooks are types of info to pull us in.  Consistency is another tendency.

Not all scams are for the elderly. Bernie Madoff used the idea of something safe as his scam. He did not promise huge gains on investments.  Rather, he showed continuous gains that upon careful inspection were indeed too good to be true.

Scams only have to reach a small number people to keep scammers going. Usually if something sounds too good to be true… it usually is. However, it may look just good enough to others.

He recommended setting up a secret word or code with your family to determine if someone calling is indeed who they claim to be.

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

November 9^th – no morning meeting – Anniversary Dinner at 5:30pm at CityView

November 16^th – Tom Porter, former UIUC Men’s Wrestling Coach and Associate Athletic Director, will discuss changes in Division 1 Athletics (Joe)

November 23^rd – Turkey Day – no morning meeting

November 30^th – No morning meeting (5^th Thursday)

December 7^th – Dr. Beth Conerty, Associate Director of Business Development – IBRL & RIO for iFAB Tech Hub, and Carly McCrory-McKay, Executive Director – Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, will discuss the iFAB Tech Hub (Mary)

December 14^th – TBD (Michael)

December 21^st – CUSR Holiday Party

December 28^th – TBD (Cary)

January 4^th – TBD (Joe)

January 11^th – TBD (Lisa)

January 18^th – TBD (Mary

January 25^th – TBD (Michael)

February 1^st – TBD

February 8^th – TBD (Tom)

February 15^th – TBD (Cary)

UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS

December 1 – Larry Johnson

December 29 – Jerry Payonk