Rotary District 6440 Newsletter
Mike Yesner, District GovernorFebruary, 2012
In This Issue
-- Governor's Message
-- Info and Registration for District Conference
-- Ideas: Rotary Resources
-- Rotary Reaches Out to Youth in Honduras
-- Scams and A Short List of Noteworthy Things
-- Report on Our Grants This Year
-- Local Rotarian Honored by Shelter Box Partner
-- Welcome to Our New Members!
Quick Event Information
 See additional information about these events in this newsletter and on the District website at: www.rotary6440.org

First Session March 7-10     
(Click Link for Info)
Westin Chicago Northwest in Itasca  
Mar 08, 2013 - Mar 10, 2013

Second Session April 4-7   
(click link for info)
Apr 18, 2013 - Aprr 21, 2013 

Oak brook Hills Marriott Resort 
Apr 20, 2013 
(and meet future Cubs!)   
June 1, 2013 
(click link for info)
June 23, 2013 - June 26, 2013  (Also click here to go to related newsletter article)   
Quick Contact Links
 
The Rotary District 6440 Newsletter is filled with announcements, articles, and links to announcements, stories, and information about our clubs, our members and making a difference through Rotary.
  Governor's Message
 RI 2012/13 Theme Logo

               

As I write this,     

  Gov. Mike Yesner

The shortest month of the year has turned out to be one of the busiest. During the fall, I wondered what I'd be doing once the Official Visits ended. Eight days in Guatemala, seeing first hand and taking part in our efforts at Ak' Tenamit may have been the biggest eye opener of the year. I knew conditions there were not like at an American school.   I simply could not grasp what it would be like to attend or teach at a school that has electricity only a few hours a day, no Internet access, and no potable water. A school where the students bathe and wash their clothes in the river. Yet, 90+% of the graduating students secure employment in their chosen fields, at starting wages double the Guatemalan national average within months. We are making a difference in the world with our efforts.

 

Also this month, plans have been finalized for District Conference. Elsewhere in this newsletter, you'll find information on how to register.  The Conference will be at the nearby Marriott Oak Brook Hills. Friday, April 19th, and will include the District Annual Meeting, The Paul Harris Luncheon, and an International dinner with entertainment by our Youth Exchange students. Saturday Morning will again be The District Assembly, coupled, for the first time, with a New Generations Assembly. And Saturday dinner will feature former Green Bay Packers great Willie Davis as our speaker.  

 

Free hospitality rooms will be open both evenings. Registration is now open.   There are early-bird and full-package discounts. See conference for registration and more information. New Generations participants can register here, too.  Saturday afternoon, you are free to shop in Oak Brook, take part in our Kids Against Hunger project, drop off your old computer or phone for recycling, or possibly (weather permitting) play golf.

 

As we prepare for a new era in The Rotary Foundation next year (Future Vision), I want to remind you of the importance of "Current Vision." If you haven't donated to The Foundation (TRF) this year, please consider doing so now. There are still funds left for District Matching Grants for 2012-13 projects. Clubs that have already had a project approved this year may now apply for a 2nd match.  

 

Not sure what kind of international project your club wants to do? Contact Narayan Muraka (npmuraka@comcast.net) for a list of worthwhile projects in need of funding. All applications for funding this Rotary year must be submitted to The Foundation by March 31. Please contact the committee for any assistance you may need in securing a District match, or in completing the form. Priority will still be given to clubs that have not yet had an International project this year. District matches will remain available until all funds are exhausted.

 

Mark your calendars now for a great club fellowship opportunity on June 1. The Kane County Cougars will host an End Polio Now (EPN) night at the ballpark. There will be fireworks, a chance to see the Cubs of the Future, and a fun family outing, all for only $12/ticket.

 

What will next month bring?   Other than I know Midwest President Elects Training Seminar (PETS) will be conducted, I can't be sure. But, I am confident it will be another great Rotary experience for me, and I hope it will be for you as well.

 

See you at District Conference.

 

 

Yours in Rotary Service 

 

Gov. Mike

  


Let's "Get Engaged" -- Register for the District Conference and Assembly -- click here
DistConfArt
Idea: Rotary Resources for Your Membership

  

  • As a benefit to members, offers by Rotary affinity group include price reductions on travel accommodations and other purchases (LifeLock, GoToMeeting, and Rotary credit card).  To find out more, click here.
  • How to make up a missed meeting ?  Click here.
  • Frequently asked Rotary questions, and their answers -- Click here.    
  • Tired of our snow yet ?  Embrace it instead by trying the Rotary Ski Fellowship at www.isfrski.org.  Or get away for scuba diving by clicking here.
      For a complete list of fellowships, click here.  
Rotary Helps Outreach Centers Keep Honduran Youth Off the Street

Rotarians from seven clubs in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa Outreach Centers Photo joined together to fund two outreach centers for young people in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

 

The centers are thriving because of start-up funding from Rotary clubs and additional support from Regional Youth Alliance, a project of USAID, and the nonprofit Save the Children.

 

To read more, click here

 

 

A Short List...of Noteworthy Things (including "Scams"):

 

  •  More Vocational Scholarships -- the District received an additional grant, so this year there will be 16 scholarships of $1,500 each available.  For more information and application, click here.

  • Peace Child growing up -- from the Rotarian Magazine, a moving story of Rotary and Peace Girl Memunatu Mansaray McShane who survived a brutal war. Now a U.S. teenager, she's determined to get her learner's permit.  To read about her, click here

 

GSE Logo

 
  • See what our Group Study Exchange Team in India has been doing by visiting their blog.  
          
  • YOUTH EXCHANGE --

    If your Club wants to either send a student abroad for the 2014-15 academic year, or host a student, now's the time to be letting Vera Mayer ( v.mayer@msn.com) know. You can do one, the other, or both. If a Short Term Summer exchange is to your liking for this coming summer, contact Rick Kuehn rickkuehn_stye@juno.com 

  • FOLLOW-UP ON THE PRESIDENT'S PROJECT

    As you may know, the $9,000 raised in The District for the President's Project will expand to more than $70,000 due to the generosity of District 3140 in providing substantial additional District Designated Funds (DDF).  If your club is looking to do an International Project yet this year, please consider the list of open projects (click here). Some are seeking as little as $1,200.  There are amazing opportunities ! 

  • Need Another Reason to Go to the International Convention?  The International Fellowship of Rotarian Musicians  has organized a tour of Portugal, post-convention.  For a tour description and map, click here. If inte
    rested,  contact  Mona Dunlop   mdunlop@pacbell.net   She is a Rotarian  in the  Oakland, CA area.  
  • Or there's a 10-day special tour of European Model Train Railroading after the Lisbon Rotary Convention - great model train layouts of Europe, professionally organized and guided from breakfast to dinner.  It's now open to the public: sponsored by the International Fellowship of Railroad Rotarians - June 27 to July 6, 2013  There is a limit to the number who can be accommodated.   Info - click here
  • Congratulations to Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Rotary !  -- the article in the January Rotarian was terrific. If you didn't read "Illinois Student Makes Clean Water a Mission", click here.
    Clean Water Donation Pnoto
  • ScamsNew email scams target Rotarians -- Several Rotarians have recently reported receiving a fraudulent email which reports to be from an Australian Rotarian stuck in London, England. The email scam claims the individual was robbed at gunpoint while on holiday and that she needs money to get home. Please be aware this email is a scam.  To read more, click here.  
Something we can be proud of -- District Simplified Grants

This Rotary year, District Simplified Grants (DSGs) were awarded to 42 Clubs for 42 separate projects, for a total amount of $39,000.  Said Chair Sandy Frum, "For the first time I can recall, we ran out of money before the end of the calendar year." 

 

Projects ranged from purchasing and distributing coats (through Operation Warm), to packaging food for local food pantries (through Kids Against Hunger and the Northern Illinois Food Bank), to providing Holiday Food Baskets, to giving dictionaries to 3rd graders, to preparing and distributing disaster response-recovery booklets.

 

"All projects were local and had a hands-on component.  What a great way to put our Rotary contributions to work!"  For more about  grants, application, and contact information, click here

 

Local Rotarian Named Shelter Box "Ambassador" of The Month     

Ross Spencer, Rotary Club of Long Grove, is a Shelter Box "Ambassador" who can both do go and have fun!  He went to the Virgin Islands with his wife and did a ShelterBox presentation to a local Rotary club. Ross Spencer     

 

Ross has been a Shelter Box Ambassador since 2009 and has long been one of the most active and highest fundraising Ambassadors. During the winters, he and his wife spend time in climates warmer than the Chicago area, and he typically recruits new Ambassadors each year.  Ross also serves as a member of the Ambassador Council, and he developed the 2-minute Rotary Update to use a Happy Dollar to give a brief update during a Rotary Meeting.

 

For more information about the partnership between Rotary and the Shelter Box organization, click here

   

And Welcome, New Members, to The Best Service Organization in the World

 

ClubFirst NameLast Name
Barrington NoonTimothyBergan
Bloomingdale-RoselleBruceDahhlquist
 JudithLewnard
 NickPecho
Cary-GroveChristopherClark
Crystal LakeChrisSchoenleb
Crystal Lake DawnbreakersToddBenison
 JohnDickson
Dundee Rotary ClubCharleneFigueira
Elgin BreakfastMonicaBucek
Evanston LighthouseGeorgeElder
 BrigettePetersen
 StevenSteiber
Glen EllynSteveCarr
GrayslakeKenIdstein
Lake in the HillsGregCherne
Lake ZurichSteveCallahan
 AnneDonnell
Libertyville SunriseDianaTaylor
McHenry - SunriseDeanGlosson
 ShannonReed
North ChicagoLourdesVelez
NorthbrookScottRose
Park RidgeSteveHunst
Skokie ValleyTimothySmith
WoodstockPatrickGannon

 

Bob Paddock
Editor