News Story for January 2, 2022

Club members look forward to a rewarding year of community service and fellowship.
 
Events, speakers and activities scheduled for the first part of 2022 are as follows.
 
Unless otherwise specifically indicated regular morning meetings will continue to be held in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park or by Zoom. The link to the hybrid meeting will be emailed to members, guests and others within the community who express an interest in attending. Those attending in person are reminded of recent Cook County directives relating to the wearing of masks indoors.  
 
January 5, 2022, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm Our Place Tour and Talk
 

Jane Gallery, President of the Board of Our Place, has graciously invited Club members and guests for a tour and talk at 1020 Forest Avenue in Wilmette from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm on January 5.  The mission of Our Place is to support teens and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities so that they can live meaningful, productive, socially connected lives in their home community.  This will provide an opportunity to learn more about the wonderful activities and volunteer opportunities at Our Place.  Refreshments will be provided at the end of the tour and talk.

Attendees who will arrive around 5:00 pm are asked to park on Forest Avenue, rather than in the Our Place parking lot.  Our Place has indicated that attendees arriving later than may park in the Our Place parking lot.

Last year, the Club participated in a concert fundraiser to provide support to Our Place.

A detailed description of the activites and history of Our Place can be found at ourplaceofnewtrier.org

January 12, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Ten Thousand Villages

Robb Geiger and Joseph Meyer, both from the Ten Thousand Villages store in Evanston, will give an introduction to principles fo Fair Trade, tell stories of fair and unfair trade, and show Fair Trade products.

Robb Geiger has been volunteering at the Evanston store since 2010, and he has been on the Board of Ten Thousand Villages for seven years; he is the current Chair.  Joseph Meyer has been manager of the Evanston store for seven years; has has over 30 years of retail experience, both in large and small stores.

January 19, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Joe Ferguson, Former Inspector General of the City of Chicago

Joe Ferguson recently concluded a 12-year tenure leading the Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG), serving under three mayors.  Chicago OIG is a nationally regarded municipal oversight agency with a professional staff of over 100 people conducting independent administrative and criminal investigations, government performance audits and program evaluations and inspections of operations and personnel (over 35,000 employees, officials, contractors, vendors and licensees) of the City of Chicago and associated governmental entities.  Ferguson worked in the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois where he investigated and litigated a wide array of criminal and civil cases and held multiple management posts including as Deputy of the Financial Crimes Section, Chief of the Money Laundering and Forfeiture Section and Terrorist Financing Coordinator.  He has held teaching posts.  He presently is a lecturer at Loyola University (Chicago) Law School, where he is a founding Co-Director of its National Security and Civil Rights program.  He also has taught at the UIC John Marshall Law School, Lake Forest College, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) National Advocacy Center and the DOJ Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training.  Ferguson received a J.D. from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and B.A. from Lake Forest College.  Ferguson presently is a Pritzker Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.
 
January 26, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Annual Meeting and Club Forum
 
The Annual Meeting of the Club will include election of officers and directors for the 2022-23 year.  Bylaw amendments and other Club business are also expected to be discussed.
 
January 29, 2022 Book Drive
 
The Environmental Committee has arranged for a Book Drive on January 29, 2022, from 9:00 am to 11:00 am  The drop off location for donated books will be Hong Kong Auto Service at 3500 Lake Street in Wilmette.
 
February 2, 2022 Evening Event -- Environmental Committee Book Discussion
 
The Environmental Committee of the Club will host a discussion of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan.  The discussion will be available by Zoom and, depending on interest, may also be conducted in a hybrid manner.
 
February 9, 2022 Regular Meeting -- Melissa Custic, The Morton Arboretum
 
Melissa Custic, Chicago Region Trees Initiative Operations Manager of The Morton Arboretum will offer a presentation on "Urban Forest Update: What's Going on with our Trees?"
 
Committee Meetings Scheduled for Early January
 
The Club has scheduled two committee meetings for the first week of January. Both will be conducted as Zoom-only meetings.
 
Puran Stevens will lead a meeting of the International Committee on January 4, 2021, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm.  Jim Waite and George Pearce will lead a meeting of the Membership Committee on January 5, 2021, from 7:30 am to 8:30 am.
 

Highlights from late 2021

Certain highlights of the Club's activities in the last part of 2021 are as follows.

December 8, 2021 Meeting --District Governor Kevin Stevens Official Governor Visit and Recognition of Major Donors

Kevin Stevens, District Governor of Rotary District 6440, joined the meeting of the Club on December 8, 2021, in his Official Governor Visit to the Club.  Kevin offered an informative presentation, highlighting in particular how the Club can better interact with the District, Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation.

The meeting also included a presentation by Donna Gulley and others recognizing as Major Donors Club member Frank Hussey and his spouse Gail, and Club member George Pearce and his spouse Mary.  The Club also recognized prior Major Donors John Kessler and Herb McDowell.

 
November 3, 2021 Community Conversation on Race: A Welcoming Community

On the evening of November 3, 2021, the Club hosted a Community Conversation on Race: A Welcoming Community. This panel discussion panel furthered the Club's continuing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative.

Van Gilmer of the Wilmette Human Relations Commission moderated an informative and lively discussion. The panelists were as follows:

Miya Hasegawa, Healing Everyday Racism in Our Schools (HEROs) member
John Jacoby, Village of Wilmette Historian and former Village of Wilmette President
Rev. Erin Raska, Associate Minister at Glencoe Union Church
Gerry Smith, Chair, Village of Wilmette Human Relations Commission

Making this event a success was truly a team effort of many Club members. Special thanks to Susan Fisher and George Pearce for organizing this event (and special thanks to the wonderful panelists for the event).  The event was recorded on Zoom.  Please contact Mike Bailey at mike@mbaileylaw.com if you would like to view the recorded program.
 
 
The Club's Holiday Fundraiser 
 
The Club has very successfully concluded its annual Holiday Fundraiser. Funds and contributions raised in this fundraiser enable the Club, through its Foundation, to support a wide range of charitable and other community organizations and programs. The fundraiser included a variety of gifts for purchase, a raffle and ways to contribute to the Club's Foundation.  Thanks to Jim Waite, Jim Pockross, Jim Bowman and the entire Fundraising Committee for their great work on this Club effort.  
 

More About the Club's Community Conversation Series

Each Community Conversation provides an opportunity for one or more community leaders to discuss important developments the community.  The Community Conversations also present an opportunity for those in attendance to ask questions and offer comments.  Interested members of the community are invited to join us.
 
The Club usually will be holding Community Conversations on the last Wednesday of certain months at 7:30 am at the Harbor Club in Gillson Park, and also usually be available by Zoom in hybrid meeting form (although please note that some events in our Community Conversation series may be held in the evening on the first Wednesday of a month).  
 
Our first Community Conversation was held on June 30, and featured Steve Wilson, Executive Director of the Wilmette Park District.   Our second Community Conversation, held on July 28, 2021, featured Anthony Austin, Director of the Wilmette Public Library.   Our third Community Conversation was held on August 25, 2021, and featured John Jacoby with an interesting presentation about his new book Wilmette at 150.  Our fourth Community Conversation, held on September 29, 2021, featured Julie Wolf, Chair of the Wilmette Environmental Commission.  Julie offered an enlightening description of the development of the Village of Wilmette's Sustainability Plan.
 
Please contact Mike Bailey at Mike@mbaileylaw.com if you would like to obtain a copy of Julie's PowerPoint presentation.
 
The fifth Community Conversation in our series was the "A Conversation on Race:  A Welcoming Community." held on the  evening of Wednesday, November 3, 2021.  
 
Community Conversation meetings generally will continue to be held in hybrid form, so that members and guests can participate either in person or by Zoom. The link to the hybrid meeting will be emailed to members, guests and others within the community who express an interest in attending.  Those attending in person are reminded of recent Cook County directives relating to the wearing of masks indoors.