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Upcoming Events
Community Service Committee Meetings
Vitrual (Zoom)
Mar 08, 2022
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
 
No ELRC Meeting Today
Mar 15, 2022
7:15 AM - 8:30 AM
 
DR. ALVIN B. TILLERY
Zoom
Mar 16, 2022
12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
 
Club Service Committee - Zoom
Zoom
Mar 16, 2022
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
 
Dr. Alvin Tillery, CREED Model for DEI Leaders
Zoom
Mar 16, 2022
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM
 
International Service Committee (ISC)
Mar 21, 2022
7:15 AM – 8:30 AM
 
Community Service Committee Meetings
Vitrual (Zoom)
Apr 12, 2022
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
 
International Service Committee (ISC)
Apr 25, 2022
7:15 AM – 8:30 AM
 
View entire list
Meeting Notes for March 1, 2022
The Light for March 1, 2022
 
By Myra Janus
 
President Linda Gerber presided.  

Joan Borg led Why We Are Rotarians and gave The Thought for the Day: “Life can often feel like a struggle and it is easy to get caught up in dealing with the day-to-day.” Although thoughts of the future can be overwhelming, it really does pay to plan ahead. 

Announcements

Kristin Brown read the statement released by Rotary International regarding the conflict in Ukraine. Linda will send out information about how we can help through Club Runner. 

Taste of Evanston Final Report - Bill Glader 

The open floor plan using smaller tents was created because of Covid, but worked out so well it will be used in future years. Doug Haight’s photos from “See My Story” were a great addition to the event. There were about 400 guests, 80 volunteers, and 30 vendors. The net proceeds of $68,000 will be divided up as follows: $19,000 for Connections for the Homeless and Joining Forces for Affordable Housing; $19,000 for Reba Place Development Corp. and $30,000 for use by the club for grants, RYLA, and other activities.  

Linda Gerber and Randy Usen and the sponsorship team are to be thanked for lining up restaurants and sponsors. We had about the same number of restaurants and sponsors as previously, so we thank them for their participation during what was a very difficult time for them. Bill also thanked Bruce Baumberger for his logistical support. You can thank Bill by volunteering to help plan next year’s event, probably occurring again in September. 

Nia Tavoularulis, Director of Development at Connections for the Homeless, gave an update. She announced that 1,713 people were prevented from losing their homes, an increase from 1,207 last year. Around 187 people were sheltered at emergency shelters and hotels in Evanston. Approximately 1216 people received 27,706 services including food pantry, showers, clothing, laundry, and clothing drop-in. There were 511 participants who were able to maintain or obtain housing, up from 473 in 2020. 

She thanked Lighthouse Rotary for its role in advocacy. Connections serves men, women, children, and youth. If we look at the number of individuals being helped, the numbers increased from 2,479 to 3,819 adults and from 917 to 1,071 children. 

Forty-nine percent were female identifying and 47% were male identifying with 4% other. Twenty- four percent had a physical or mental disability and 379 were chronically homeless. There were 52 communities served. The clients were 56% Black, 18% White, 20% Latinx, 5% Asian, and 1% unknown/other. 

The Joining Forces staff has tripled in size. One project is an equity zoning project to see the impact of zoning rules/laws on housing. The Chicago Community Trust has donated $50,000 for this project. The answer to homelessness is more homes, and zoning impacts upon this. 

Dan Coyne announced a community meeting at Marguerita Inn which Connections plans to purchase. The date is yet to be announced.

Keith Banks from Reba Place Development Corporation thanked us for the contribution from Lighthouse Rotary. The vision is to create Adrian’s Village. About 6,000 families still need affordable housing. He told the story of someone who had recently received housing at a House of Peace Cooperative after her rental apartment was turned into a condo.  

Seven hundred families are still on their wait list. They serve 50 families currently. Last year’s money went toward development costs for Adrian’s Village. He mentioned the many organizations who work on this effort. 

Linda Gerber announced that there will be no morning meeting on March 15. Instead, she encourages members to sign up for the DEI Leadership Training at noon on Zoom. She will send out the link.

Dan Coyne –Dan is part of the board team at Reba Place. They lost their bid for Lot 1. They will be collaborating as much as possible with the city etc. to find a new lot and help PHIRL, the developer that was selected. 

Roasts and Boasts 

Bryant Wallace boasted Bill Glader, who helped him get some files back from his computer. 

Steve Steiber boasted his son Jeffery, who was named by Time Magazine as a promising young adult fiction writer. The book will be released soon. 

Program 

Topic: Meet Our Members

Speakers: MaLu Simon and Myra Janus

MaLu Simon is a dentist with the North Shore Dentistry for Children, with offices in the Rotary One Building.

First, some interesting facts: Which country in the world has the most dentists?  The answer: the United States, with 200,000. Second is India; third is Japan. Emilie Rogers Jones was the first woman to practice dentistry In 1855 she learned on the job with her dentist husband who was a dentist. In 1980, some 13 percent of dental school graduates were female; today it is around 52%.

As a child MaLu hated going to the dentist and was dental phobic because dentists at that time were not practiced in using anesthesia and believed children did not feel as much pain as adults. She went to dental school for four years after college and then trained in her specialty. She began practicing at the age of 30.

To be accepted into dental school you need to have excellent grades, love science, have good hands, be good with people. She likes dentistry because of the autonomy that it gives her and spend time with her family. She treats children through their college years if they are healthy, but not adults. 

Asked about the pandemic, she said that she had to close her practice for three months, which was scary and that although they were used to the infection protocols, they added N95 masks and face shields to gloves, gowns, and handwashing.  

Asked about the importance of dental hygiene, she said that prevention is very important and brushing and flossing help to prevent GI problems, heart disease, etc. 

Myra Janus is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer 

It was founded in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. More than 250,000 people have served in the Peace Corps. You have to be 18 to join the Peace Corps and a U. S. Citizen. The maximum age is 79 and you are expected to serve at least two years.

Myra served from 1968 to 1970 in Agona Swedru, a town of approximately 20,000 people. She graduated from college with a major in Biology and taught general science and biology in a secondary school in Ghana.

Asked why she joined the Peace Corps, she said her brother had been in the Peace Corps in rural Liberia. Her parents, though they never traveled further than Canada before retirement, had an international focus. She was named after a medical missionary who had served in China and India. Her roommates in college were from Russia and Japan. 

Her family hosted a foreign student from Norway and her parents helped Japanese people interned in the U.S. during World War II. The volunteers in her program were about evenly distributed between males and females. 

It was during the Vietnam War, so males were admitted depending on their draft numbers. She has memories of her students including the time they ran out of the classroom when they saw a poisonous snake in a tree outside. Her favorite Ghanaian dishes included fufu and groundnut stew. It was a life changing experience. 

Guests and Milestones

Visitors

Nia Tavoularulis

Doug Haight

Georgia Vlahos 

Birthdays

Susan Prout – March 5

Vai Ravikumar – March 8

Club Anniversaries

Chuck Bartling – 26 years on March 1

Joan Borg – 7 years on March 3

Susan Prout – 7 years on March 3 

Dilnesa Eshete – 2 years on March 3

 
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