Greeters:  Pam Kerr & Tim Frenzer

 

Thought for the Day:  Greg Michel

 

Attendance:  Mike Bailey

 

Scribe:  John Wertymer

 

Birthday:  Joanne Aggens

 

Guests:  Betsy Smith (former member) and Ben Duke

 

Announcements:  

 

Barry Miller and George Pearce pumped up the breakfast crowd with info about the Spring Gala at Fresh Market on May 21st.  Fresh Market will be closed for two hours for the throngs of Rotarians and their friends for eating, drinking, and be merriment.  Sort of like opening day at Commisky Park, White Sox Park, or whatever it is called.  

 

Ray Lechner's suggestion for a round number for ticket prices was politely muted by Barry and George, explaining that  the ticket cost remains at $37.50 each with each member responsible for four tickets, which comes out to a round $150. Also, any wine purchase are discount 15%, and every ticket is qualified for the raffle. 

 

There is still a need for silent auction items in the $100 range.  A sheet was passed around to gain additional auction items. 

 

Pam Kerr announced that the Scottish "Tartan Day Pub Crawl" is Saturday at 5PM with a bagpiper escorting revelers from pub to pub. 

 

Carol Wells made a passionate plea for volunteers to help at the District Conference.  Sarah Oliver reminded everyone that attendance is free but all the good stuff involves paying for meals and listening to the excellent speakers from all over the world.

 

Gil pointed out that Ted Trainer, a past member who retired to Maine

 

Shenanigans: is 75 years old today.  It would be great to contact him at what the scribe believes is his telephone number --  207-985-2019.  

 

Shenanigans:  Welcome Back to Norene Chip, now skipping to a new tune, having a new job with a security firm.  

 

Speaker:  

 

Will Daniels referenced some of the adventures of his dad, Rotarian Marv's African-American housing adventures in Wilmette and Winnetka.  The scribe pointed out that Jews weren't wanted in the area, when he was growing up in Winnetka, but, didn't get to tell the story of his dad renting an office to the first African-American in Winnetka in 1952, resulting in late night hate calls.  

 

Will then introduced Ilene Hinneman, Director of the Racial Justice Program at the Evanston YWCA.  

 

Her job is to help people discuss race.  She grew up on the South Side, when the big question always was, "When are 'they' going to cross the 'street', the 'street' being the border between "whites" and :colored folk."   She gained experience for the YWCA job doing anti-racial work for the Chicago Archdiocese.  

 

The Evanston YWCA was founded in 1931 as:
    1.  A safe place for traveling women (it was improper for women to travel alone)
    2.  A place where parents would have a safe place for their kids to stay
    3.  A place where African-American domestics who worked on the North Shore could go on their days off, since they                                    

             were not permitted to patronize Evanston stores or beaches.

 

From this last point, i.e., no privilege to use the beaches, arose a big myth.  That is, African-Americans didn't like the beaches, because they couldn't swim and tan.  Out of this grew many of the YWCA programs geared to empower everyone in our society:
    1.  Aquatics became a focus with the objective to teach every child in Evanston how to swim, starting in the second              grade.  The program has grown, now supporting the largest swim team in Illinois with 650 kids participating in the Flying Fish Aquatics Team.  
    2.  Domestic Violence Services, received 1800 hotline calls last year.  The YWCA has a 32 bed domestic violence shelter that last year accommodated 250 different women and their kids.  There are very few such facilities in Illinois -- Waukegan, Arlington Heights, and but a few in Chicago.  Clients can stay for 1-90 nights.  There is bilingual walk-in counseling available for women and children.  There are also classes to assist women at the shelter, e.g., economic empowerment, including money management; and, cooking skills, including healthy eating and vegetable gardening.  
    3.  Legal advocates are available at the Cook County's Skokie Court to assist people seeking Orders of Protection.  
    4   Relationship Building Program has been developed for schools.  There is a 10 week program in lower grades as well as a one week high school program that is taught at New Trier.  There emphasize anti-bullying techniques to avoid the abuse of power.  It teaches the use of power for good, i.e., how to share power and understand that power doesn't diminish but builds all up.   
    5.  Racial Justice became an emphasized program about ten years ago.  It grew out of observance of Rotary billboards in Uganda and Malawi, which pointed out health issues for which help was available.  The sign in front of the YWCA was changed to:  "Eliminating Racism - Empowering Women."  In this arena are such programs as:
                              a.  "Race: Why are we as we are?" in conjunction with the Holocaust Museum (Oct - Jan).  The object is to normalize conversation (see www.understandingrace.org)
          b.  Stand Against Racism -- signs are erected along Ridge Avenue (April 25th)
          c.  Race Against Hate -- 10K run; 5K run/walk; youth mile  (June 15th - www.ywca.org/rah2014)

Late note:  Some states spend more money on incarceration than on education.  There is disproportionate punishment of African-Americans and minorities in schools.  There is a disproportionate incarceration of African-American males.  Just published on this subject is a book by Michelle Alexander:  The New Jim Crow.