“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.” – Beyonce – Singer-Songwriter-Actress

 

“You will always have the time for the things you choose to put first in your life.” – Brad Turnbull – Author

 

“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau – 1817-1862 – Essayist

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the bionic man from Connecticut, Edward Perry)

 

Ata presented Allan Penwell a special pin for his multiple Paul Harris contributions.

 

Lisa noted how she met Rotary’s International President Elect at the recent Presidents Elect Training Seminar (PETS) that she attended.  

 

April 4, 6pm Central Interact International Fair

April 12, 7am CUSRC Board Meeting by Zoom

April 16, 8:30am-1pm Marathon Hydration Station at GSLC

May 17 10am to 12noon CC Humane Society Newspaper Roll at GSLC – please keep saving your Newspapers!

May 30 Champaign Rotary’s Action Auction

June 12 Final Club Assembly of the year and next year’s committee assignments

June 14 Rotary Expo and Installations

June 21-25 Rotary International Convention in Calgary, Canada

Sept 8 Diaper Drive Week

 

PROGRAM

 

Les introduced our speaker this morning, Todd Gleason. Todd is with the College of ACES here at UIUC and has been the voice of agriculture in the State of Illinois since 1984. He currently can be heard daily on his half hour show starting at 2:00pm on WILL radio along with numerous other avenues where he reports on all aspects of  agriculture.

 

Todd works hard to present unbiased reporting with information on everything dealing with his farm reports. He noted he has always been a non-commercial broadcaster, and he is proud to be part of the history of WILL Radio. WILL Radio reporting started back in 1922. 

 

This morning’s message centered on how Todd has continued to improve over his 40+ years, including the best ways to produce and deliver his agriculture messages. He gave several examples of the ways he has made his work more efficient, faster and more focused for his listeners. Starting with one of the first laptops so he could work from home to now the use of a phone, camera with monopod and laptop he can produce a total presentation anywhere and send it to the WILL studio for broadcasting. He has begun experimenting with AI to put his information into a “Broadcast” mode.

 

Todd finished with answering various questions from the group on the history of tariffs to the importance of Pot Ash. While touching on tariffs and farm subsidies, Todd noted that 48% of Illinois’ corn and soybeans production is shipped out of the country.

 

 

—

  Mar 27th Apr 3rd Apr 10th Apr 17th
Introductions Thom Hodson Darrell Hoemann Michael Hogue Larry Johnson
Reflection Scott Paceley Robb Patton Jerry Payonk Allan Penwell
Greeters Thom Hodson Darrell Hoemann Michael Hogue Larry Johnson
Scott Paceley Robb Patton Jerry Payonk Allan Penwell
Food Rank Paceley Paceley Paceley
Notetaker Crane Conforti Hodson Perry

—

 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee members listed in parentheses)

 

March 27th – Dr. Jeffery Mondak, James M. Benson Chair in Public Issues and Civic Leadership, UIUC, will discuss the relationship between personality types and political opinions (Mary)

April 3rd – Andrea Fain, District 6490 International Service Committee Chair, will discuss their recent trip to Guadalajara (Cary)

April 10th – Melissa Courtwright, Executive Director, CU at Home (Charlie)

April 17th – Zack Schweig, Executive Chef, Hamilton Walkers, will discuss how COVID changed the restaurant industry (Joe)

April 24th –  Dr. Joyce E. Hofmann, Research Affiliate, Illinois Natural History Survey, PRI, UIUC will discuss catching bats in the wild in Illinois (Les)

May 1st – Dr. Whitney Gutierrez of Christie Hospital (Lisa)

May 8th – TBD (Mary)

May 15th – TBD (Cary)

May 22nd – TBD (Charlie)