Welcome to Our Club


The Rotary Club of Wilmette has merged with the Wilmette Harbor Rotary Club, the combined clubs are now all officially the Rotary Club of Wilmette. The original Wilmette Rotary Club was chartered in 1924 and was known as the Noon Club.  In 1990, the Wilmette Harbor Club was chartered, and was known as the Morning Club.  In 2019, a satellite club was established as part of the Noon group.  Today there are over 80 active members who gather to do good for others while enjoying good fellowship, with the choice of meeting either morning, noon or evening.
 

Our Club members enthusiastically live the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self” both locally and internationally. Recent projects include water well installation at schools in Angola, food packing and providing necessities to the homeless in Chicago, supplying ultrasound equipment and related training to people in Uganda, providing disaster relief supplies to hurricane, typhoon, and other natural disaster survivors, providing winter coats and shoes to low-oncome children, food packing for people in Guatemala and Central America, and supporting local food pantries, literacy efforts and diversity.

NOTICE: Our Noon meetings, the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, are at St. John's Church, Wilmette and Morning meetings, the third Wednesday of each month are at the Sheridan Shore Yacht Club.  We also meet in-person on the 1st Tuesday of each month (for Lunch-packing) at 6pm at St. Joseph Church, Wilmette. 

We’d love to have you join one of our meetings!

Club Information
Welcome!


Our Motto: Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m.
St. John's Lutheran Church
1235 Wilmette Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
United States of America
Phone:
(847) 722-2115
Email:
clubrotarywilmette@gmail.com
We meet monthly on the 1st Tuesday at 6pm at St Joseph Church, 2nd and 4th Wednesday at Noon at St. John's Church, Wilmette, and 3rd Wednesday at 7:30am at the Wilmette Harbor Club in Gillson Park. Mailing address: PO Box 111, Wilmette, IL 60091
District Site
Venue Map
CLUB NEWS
Hope Walk for The Homeless 2026
The 2026 Hope Walk for the Homeless yesterday was a great event!  It was a beautiful day and a wonderful collaborative effort from all our clubs. We had 85 people attending with about 60 walking the route around Gillson Park. Representatives from the recipient groups La Casa Norte, Fraternite Notre Dame, Interfaith Alliance of Evanston, Connections for the Homeless and the Niles Township Respite Center  were there.  Rives Collins from the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary sang a song dedicated to the Hope Walk.  Checks were given to our recipient groups from the proceeds of the 2025 Hope Walk.
 
                     
Big Book Drive Coming in October 
Big Book Drive Coming in October
Start saving books for our Big Book Drive.  We will partner again with Bernie's Book Bank to collect books for under-resourced schools in Chicago, kindergarten through high school. More details later.  Contact Maurice Sullivan for more information mauricewsullivan@aol.com 
Earth Day - April 18
Earth Day - April 18
Last Saturday, the Wilmette Village and Park District hosted an Earth Day event in Keay Park, Wilmette.  Our club set up a tent and table to handout seedling peat pots of soil for kids to plant seeds and take home.  We encouraged planting native plants, and handed out other seeds for vegetables and flowers. We displayed Rotary signs as well, handed out brochures and mentioned our Hope Walk to those who stopped by.  Kudos to Ben Ivory for coordinating this event.  Pictured are: Valerie Hector, Ben Ivory, Brian Bradley and Debora Morris, (not pictured Alice Chow).
                
April 22 Program -  Wilmette Public Library
Rotary club members gathered on Wednesday, April 22 to hear a most informative presentation from Wilmette Public Library Executive Director Anthony Auston and the Library's Manager of Digital and Maker Services, Lauren Kelly.  The Library is a 5 star library which is a national designation and reflects the Library's public and community access and impact.  Wilmette's library also serves Kenilworth residents and has more than 18,000 active library card users and over 260,000 visitors annually.  Wednesday's program focused on the Library's digital content services.  Library card holders can access books, magazines, newspapers (including the New York Times), thousands of films, documentaries and instructional videos through the following apps:  Libby, Hoopla, and Kanopy.
 
                
George Pearce Honored by New Trier Township
At the annual meeting of New Trier Township on April 14, member George Pearce was awarded the George E. Noyes Community Spirit Award!  This award was given to George for his extensive voluntary involvement with local government, Rotary, St. Joseph's Church and other non-profit organizations. George was nominated by community members to recognize the extraordinary impact his efforts have had on our community. Pictured here with NT Township Trustee, Stefan Mozer.
 
                
 
April 8 Program - Composting and Zero-Waste
April 8 Program - Composting and Zero-Waste
Mary Beth Schaye is a zero waste consultant and works with The Urban Canopy, an organization that focuses on keeping food production and food waste management local and sustainable. Mary Beth gave an overview about how diverting food scraps from landfills helps to mitigate climate change and explained how the container-swap commercial composting service her company provides helps both residential and commercial customers to be a part of the solution. She encouraged zero waste events and commended our club on our efforts. 
March 25 Program - Wilmette Park District Executive Director
The March 25 Noon Program was well attended to hear Chris Lindgren, Executive Director of the Wilmette Park District talk with us about his first year.  Chris brings a strong background in construction and facilities to the position and also has extensive experience in environmental issues.  He previously worked for the award winning Oak Park Park District.  He said the Park District has a robust master planning process and will begin discussions in the next year about the use of the former Beth Hillel property that the Park District purchased. He wants the discussions surrounding this property to be the most extensive community outreach in the Park District's history.  The Park District also recently won an award for their partnership with Go Green. 
 
         
March 11 Program- US Coast Guard in Wilmette
Posted by Frank Candioto
Commander Marc Pullman, Auxillary Flotilla 3906 of the United States Coast Guard presented the mission and duties of the volunteers of the Flotilla.  The Auxiliary is composed of civilian volunteers. They are a key component of the Coast Guard and assist the active duty in promoting recreational boating safety. The Auxiliary’s missions include search and rescue at sea, teaching recreational boating safety classes and conducting complimentary safety checks on recreational boats. The Auxiliary prides itself on being “Semper Paratus” — always ready!  Their duties have also included assisting at the Air and Water Show in Chicago and search and rescue missions on the Great Lakes and other waterways in the Chicago area.
Mental Health Series - April 6
Mental Health Series - April 6
The intersection of Mental Health issues and Public Safety is well documented in our communities. It is estimated that 7-31% of calls to first responders involve mental health issues. Please join us on Monday, April 6 at noon for the next in our Monthly Mental Health Speaker Series.    Our speaker is Kim Kidders from the Ecker Center. With the Elgin Police Department, Kim leads the Ecker Center 24/7 Mobile Crisis Response, Crisis Stabilization Program and the Collaborative Crisis Services Unit.  Zoom Link  
Earth Day- April 18
Earth Day- April 18
Earth Day Event – April 18, 2024, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm.  Location Keay Nature Learning Center (Hibbard and Skokie Blvd.) Our club in coordination with Wilmette Park District will have a tent there.  We will offer a small container with a native seed planted for kids and others to take home and grow.  Park District activities will include: Build your own trail mix station, resources table, craft table, nature/activity table that gets attendees through the park. Contact Ben Ivory to volunteer to be at the Rotary tent. benjamindivory@gmail.com. Rotary International has designated April as Environmental Month.
                        

SERVICE ABOVE SELF

How We Serve and Support:
Local Community Groups
International Groups
 
ABOUT ROTARY

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Speakers
Alice Chow & Lyle Staab
May 13, 2026 12:00 PM
World's Largest Polio Walk
World's Largest Polio Walk

Past District Governor, Lyle Staab, will give us an overview of the World's Largest Polio Walk planned for October 2026.  This will be a worldwide effort to Increase awareness of Rotary’s efforts to eradicate Polio; Lyle tell us about the current efforts being made in Polio Eradication. Member Alice Chow is our club's coordinator  and will explain how we will be participating in the Polio Walk.

Dick Farkas
May 20, 2026 7:30 AM
An Unsung Hero of WWII
Brian Lambel, Wilmette Fire Chief
May 27, 2026 12:00 PM
Update on Wilmette Fire Dept
Glenn Garlic
Jul 22, 2026 12:00 PM
Polio Plus Update
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Club Executives & Directors
President
Brian Bradley
Co-Immediate Past President
Heidi Voorhees
Co-Immediate Past President
Debora Morris
Co-President Elect
Frank Hussey III
Co-President Elect
Frank Candioto
Club Foundation Treasurer
John Flanagin
Secretary
John Kilner
Treasurer
Kent Meyers
Director
Jack Close
Director
Terry Porter
Director
George Pearce
Director
Irene Paterno
Director
Nick Dallas
Director
Frank Cheswick
Director
John Kay
Director
Ben Ivory
Director
Karl Behrend
Membership Chair
George Pearce
Public Image
Gabriell Doyle
Co-chair Community and Environmental Service Committee
Sarah Homan
Co-chair Community and Environmental Service Committee
Ben Ivory
Co-chair Youth Service
Jacqueline Granat
Co-chair Youth Service
George Pearce
Web Site Coordinator
Debora Morris
Program Chair
Frank Candioto
Co-Bulletin Editor
Debora Morris
Co -Bulletin Editor
Heidi Voorhees
Fundraising Chair
Debora Morris
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CHAIR
Steven R Jambor
Co-chair Rotary Foundation
C. Raymond Zeiss
Finance Chair
John Flanagin
Co-Chair Rotary Foundation
Terry Porter
Golf Outing Chair
Terry Porter
AI Assistant 
Ask our AI Assistant, Avery, any questions about our Rotary Club.
 
 
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITES
Monthly Lunch-packing on June 2- Please Sign-up to participate.  Our monthly service project of preparing lunch bags for Connections for the Homeless is at St. Joseph's Church, Lake and Ridge, Wilmette at 6pm. Enter through the east lower entrance. A Rotary Club meeting follows immediately after the sandwiches are made. This is now a collaborative project with members joining us from the Winnetka-Northfield and Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Clubs.  
 
General
Upcoming Events
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