The Light for July 20, 2021
By Neal Gambow
President Linda Gerber called the third meeting of her year to order at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with the ringing of the bell.
After reciting “Why We Are Rotarians,” Dave Simmons gave us the thoughts for the day:
- It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do a little. Do what you can. Sidney Smith, an English writer.
- Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world.” Jane Addams
Announcements
Linda Gerber – There is a Leadership meeting on Wednesday, July 21, at the Northwestern Ford Engineering building. This will be in-person and virtual for those interested. Helen Oloroso will send out information on parking and finding the building on the campus.
Katherine Peterson - If members want to have an announcement included in “The Light,” please send them to
scribe@evlrc.org by Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Bill Glader – Reminded the ToE committee members that they are meeting Thursday night, July 22, at his house and to RSVP. They will discuss Publicity, Decorations, Entrance logistics, Greeters, Graphics, Swiping, Composting, and Venue Layout.
Bill Glader (again) - Also, he thanks Dale Bradley for his generosity in picking up the tab for the ELRC foursome for the Chamber of Commerce golf tournament. It will be Chip, Bryant, Zbig and Bill.
Roasts and Boasts
Joy Joyce – Thanks to everyone who joined her last Sunday for the agricultural project. She mentioned that our new member, Kelly Fedie, volunteers at the Native Habitat between Main and Dempster on McCormick Blvd. You can join Kelly every Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Ann Searles – Connected with
Anne Sills at the Foster Street Garden. If you want to connect with
Anne Sills about gardening supplies to donate, you can reach her at
annemsills2@gmail.com
Jean Saunders – Boasted Canada for opening their border and allowing her to travel to see her family there.
Kathy Tate-Bradish – Boasted Steve Goranson for the work he has done to bring our Club into so many environment protection activities.
Linda Gerber – Boasted Clarence Weaver for giving out 1,012 scoops of ice cream as part of Ice Cream Day. C&W Market was one of five businesses across the nation to have been selected to participate in the ice cream giveaway.
John Searles – Boasted Ann for having her birthday last Friday.
Steve Goranson – Boasted Clarence Weaver for the above and indicated donations can be made until the end of the month of July in a gofundme page to support Clarence and the other four participating businesses:
Bruce Baumberger – Boasted Katherine Peterson for her wonderful work hosting the weekly fellowship walks.
Ann Weatherhead – Boasted Bruce Baumberger for setting up the Ravinia fellowship events.
Linda Gerber – Boasted Bruce Baumberger for helping her work with our Brazilian partner on a global grant.
Program
Speaker: Laura Antolin
Topic: Library outreach to children
Laura Antolin is currently the Children’s Outreach Librarian at the Evanston Public Library. She grew up in Evanston and joined the library in 2002. She has been in her current position since 2014 and is responsible for making relationships with the library and promoting what the library has to offer.
Laura talked about two programs she is leading. The first is the Bookbag Program.This program provides a bag of books each month to home day care locations and a few day care centers. The program started with eight locations and has grown to 29 bags a month. Each bag has six picture books and seven word books curated by Laura and delivered to the locations by volunteers. The books are not part of the library collection and are purchased with funds from various sources.
The books are current publications. Careful attention is paid to selecting the authors as she works to ensure they represent the intended audience, especially from the racial and equity lenses. It was noted that the C&W Market carries books that are listed on www.youngblackandlit.org Laura mentioned she does not have a complete list of home day care locations and would appreciate it if we would let her know if we know of any. (847) 448-8613 lantolin@cityofevanston.org | |
The second program is LENA - Building Brains Through Early Talk in partnership with D65 and the Family Center and is nationwide. This program is designed to accelerate the language development of children by fostering communication between parents and their children. It is a 10-week program (English and Spanish) that involves attaching a wearable talk pedometer in a vest to a child for 16 hours to monitor speech activity. This monitor does not record an actual conversation but only speech actions like when a parent is talking or reading to their child, or the child is talking to the parent. It also measures background noise.
After each 16-hour recording, the unit is sent out and a summary of the activity for the 16 hours is produced and sent to the parent. The goal is to increase communication between the parent and child. The ages of children in the program range from 6 months to 33 months. The program provides a Parent Guide and talking tips for the parent to use to increase communication activity. The first cohort of ten has completed their program and the second cohort of six is in process.
It should be noted that a prospective Rotarian who was present, Ashok Nagella, a child psychiatrist, commented on the value of this work to build bonds between parents and child.
Guests and Milestones
Visiting Rotarians
Monica Fox – Berkley Rotary Club (moved to Evanston and wants to join a local Rotary club)
Other Guests
Hillary Hufford-Tucker – Prospective Member (Application forthcoming)
Ralph Loomis – Guest of Susan Prout
Ashok Nagella – Interested in learning more about Rotary
Birthdays
Eric Schmelling July 25
John Osterlund, July 29
Club Anniversaries
Linda Gerber, 6 years, July 21, 2015
