Welcome to the Rotary Club of Naperville!

For 70 years, the Rotary Club of Naperville has provided service to our community by helping others. Through the inspired commitment of our members, we provide college scholarships, funding for medical screenings, food pantries, homeless shelters, clean water and health initiatives worldwide and much more, and the most important signature project of our generation, eliminating Polio. More information about our worldwide Polio Eradication effort is below.

Click on the Nairator logo above to view the full Nairator newsletter.

Next Meeting – The Rotary Club of Naperville will meet at 12:15pm on Thursday, February 2nd, at Meson Sabika located at 1025 Aurora Avenue in Naperville. The program will feature fun and fellowship. We will hear about funny things that have happened in Rotary in the past and maybe a few humorous “secrets” about members! The invocation will be delivered by Rotary District 6450 Governor-Elect Pat Merryweather.

Rotarian Art Davis - On the Road!

Long time Rotarian Art Davis is on the road again, travelling through California for the winter. You can check out his blog at:

adventuresintheknight.blogspot.com

Rotarian of the Week - January 18, 2011

This week’s Rotarian of the Week is none other than Jerry Feldott, who has been a faithful member of our club for 23 years! Jerry has served in many leadership roles as a Rotarian and throughout our community. Among them are: Rotary, Assistant District Governor, District 6450, Rotary Club of Naperville, Past President, Naperville Rotary Charities, Board Member, Rotary Club of Naperville, Oktoberfest, Co-Founder, Citizen's Appreciate Police and Fire Department (CAPS) Chairman, Wheatland Plowing Match Association, Past President, and currently serves as the Chair of the Naperville Public Library board of director’s. Jerry is always serving people generously, whether it is in his real estate business, in our club, or in our community, he continuously exemplifies the tenets of the Four Way Test and provides Service Above Self.

A wonderful way for each of us to emulate Jerry’s service to the club is to purchase at least one ticket to the House of Dreams Raffle. Each ticket sends $50 back to our club, and $50 to serve worthy charities like Comer’s Children Hospital, and other charities throughout our community.

A Rotary Christmas - A Festival of Lights and Fellowship

December 15th will be one of the year's highlights as over 109 Rotarians and friends gathered to celebrate the Christmas season. Meeting at the Rubin Center, My Chef provided an array of food and drinks as members talked about their Christmas plans (travel and family!) and listened to the holiday music provided by the Sounds Abounds. Check out the pictures of the fun, captured by Ron Ory.

Presidential, Officer, & Board Nominations - 12/29/11

The Rotary Club of Naperville Presidential Nominating committee met this week and has selected a President Nominee candidate for Rotary Year 2014-2015.

This year’s committee, consisting of four past presidents Pat Merryweather, Bill Garlough, Ken Kolbet, and Bob Estvander, as well as myself, Frank Slocumb, and Liz Zienty, spent several hours of discussion before choosing our next presidential nominee candidate. We are so lucky that our club has so many exceptional and worthy individuals, all of whom would make an excellent President for our club, but in the end, we had to choose just one person.

The Presidential Nominating committee will present their President-Nominee and call for any nominations from the floor at our upcoming regular club meeting on January 12, 2012. If there are no additional nominations at that time, an immediate club vote will be held for the President-Nominee position.

President-Elect Frank Slocumb will also present his slate of incoming board members and we will hold a club vote to confirm these new members to the board of directors, who will start their terms in July 2012.

Finally, we will also vote on a clarification to our bylaws about the Presidential selection process. We are proposing that the text in red be changed.

Club President – The Club has a succession process in place for the office of President. A President-Nominee is elected two and one-half years before he/she is installed as President. The President-Nominee becomes President-Elect and then President. Thus, only a candidate(s) for President-Nominee is presented to Club members for election. The President-Nominee automatically transitions to President-Elect and President in subsequent years. In November or early December, the Club’s President-Nominee establishes a nominating committee that includes himself/herself, the President, President-Elect, and at least four past Presidents to nominate the next President-Nominee. A Club member must have served as an officer of the Club to be eligible for nomination as President-Nominee.

The current bylaws limit President nominees to officers of the club. There are varying interpretations that being a member of the Board of Directors makes you an officer, but in its strictest interpretation, the officers of our club are the President, Vice President (President-Elect), Secretary, and Treasurer, which is very limiting to the pool of potential presidential candidates. I have proposed, and the Board of Directors has approved that the text in red be changed to:

“A club member must have served on the Club Board of Directors to be eligible for nomination as President-Nominee.”

We will need a club vote to enact the clarification and change to the bylaws. You can find a full copy of our bylaws on our website under the Members Section, go to : Members, Documents, Rotary Board, View Documents, Club Bylaws.

I hope that all of you are having fun and taking some much needed personal time during the holidays, and I wish you a safe and happy New Year!

Your El Presidente,

Sun Kwok

Rotarian of the Week - January 12, 2011

The Rotarian of the Week is Bill Anderson. Bill is chairman of the Naperville Rotary Charities who this year are holding their 23rd House of Dreams Raffle benefitting Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago. Bill is a life long Naperville resident and co-owner of Oswald’s Pharmacy, Anderson’s Bookshop and Reality Fitness. He is also a member of the Riverwalk Commission and the Downtown Naperville Alliance. Bill’s honor comes just in time to remind you all that any House of Dreams tickets purchased before February 8th will be eligible for a bonus drawing on February 23rd. So if you buy now you have a chance of a bonus prize as well as the house of dreams. Don’t forget 100% of the money raised goes to charity.

Rotarian of the Week - January 5, 2012

Charles McLimans nominated Bob Estvander for Rotarian of the Week for his many contributions. Bob has served as editor of the Nairator since July, 2000 and has held numerous positions in the club including member of the Community Service Committee, member of the Scholarship Committee, Club Secretary, Membership Committee Chair, Soup’s On Co-chair, and 2010-11 Club President. Bob supports the Rotary Foundation as a Paul Harris Society member.

Photo by Jini Clare

Last year's Kids' Best Friend Award winners, Liz and Norm Zienty, joined this year's Kids' Best Friend honorees, Sandy and Art Davis, at The Education Center's annual award benefit dinner and auction last Friday.

On Sunday, 2000+ braved the threatening rain clouds
to contribute and participate in our signature event.
With 30 restaurants providing unique and enjoyable foods
(from soups to cheeses to steak sandwiches
to more chocolate than you could imagine),
everyone had a good time.

If you would like to relive or just remember -
Club photographers Rosemary Wisnosky and Ron Hume were able to
capture the best of Soups On! If you were able to join us,
or you wanted to join us,
click below to see pictures from the event.

Go here And here

2010 Exchange Student Ruth Baneszova goes to Medical School!

Ruth Baneszova, third from the left.

Ruth Baneszova, our exchange student last year from Nitra, Slovakia, just wrote us a note with some good news:

Hello Rosemary,

I just wanted to let you know I got accepted to the medical school in Bratislava. I hope you have a nice time with your family.

hugs

Ruth

Rotary Club of Naperville Provides Much Needed Help to Area Residents

Once again the benevolence of the Rotary Club of Naperville has helped hundreds – if not thousands – of individuals in need within our hometown communities. Ron Czalbowski, chair of the Rotary Club of Naperville Community Service Committee, reports that 15 not-for-profit organizations have become beneficiaries of $65,000 in total grants recently awarded. The recipients include: the Naperville Education Foundation (support for at-risk students); The Education Center of Developmental Resources (life-coaching programs); Edward Foundation (public education for signs of mental illness); Community Career Center (educating job seekers); Friends for Lisle Township (food for the Lisle Food Pantry); the YMCA (low-income family school program); Humanitarian Service Project (food for Seniors); Samaritan Interfaith Counseling (counseling and psychotherapy); NCO Youth & Family Services (therapeutic services expense); Ecumenical Adult Care (salary support for elderly care); NAMI of DuPage County (support group for mental illness); CASA of DuPage County (child advocates); Naperville Elderly Homes (low-income senior housing and food); Naperville Cares (financial assistance program), and Families Helping Families (housing for one homeless family).

“This year the community service committee’s objective was to focus funding specifically on basic humanitarian needs in the Naperville community,” explained Czalbowski. “Basic criteria for the eligibility requirements were redefined by the committee and required non-profit organizations to submit projects that focused strongly on purposes that would significantly impact the lives of individuals struggling for the basics in life – such as food, shelter, clothing, mental and physical health, education, and sanitation. The goal was to prevent at-risk residents from falling into crisis situations. All money awarded by the committee this year was received from Naperville Rotary Charities.” He added, “These decisions are never easy, but the committee believes that the diversity in the organizations selected will impact a wide-range of worthy causes.”

The Rotary Club of Naperville was founded in 1941 by a group of Naperville business leaders and has grown to over 140 members. Each year, this Rotary Club routinely contributes over $315,000 to local community non-profit organizations and national and global causes.

Years ago, the club established Naperville Rotary Charities (NRC) which has sponsored the House of Dreams charity raffle since 1993. Naperville Rotary Charities is a community-based licensed 501(c)(3) charitable organization run by volunteers. Its annual fund-raising efforts support a charitable endowment, which provides monies to non-profit organizations that give quality care and services to children and families in need. As well as helping causes large and small, over the years NRC has been a major donor for three core charitable organizations and programs: Children's Memorial Hospital, Polio Plus (eradicating polio worldwide) and the American Red Cross. NRC has awarded millions of dollars to date and is committed to continuing its support of children and family-based charitable programs via annual grants in perpetuity.

Come Join Us! Join Rotary Today!

Do you believe in Service Above Self? Would you like to make a difference in Naperville and in the world?

Rotary is the worlds first service organization. The Rotary Club of Naperville is an group of business, civic, and non-profit leaders and people interested in helping their community by providing their time and talents to promote world peace, understanding, and helping their fellow man.

It's a great way to make new friends, to get out of the office for lunch once a week, learn about your community, and to give back to your community. If you are interested in joining our club you are very welcome to visit one of our meetings! Please contact us for more information.

Donna Dziedzic - Executive Director of the
Naperville Public Library Celebrates 11 Years of #1

More Photos!

8th Grade Service Above Self Awards

Every year at this time, The Rotary Club of Naperville recognizes two graduating 8th grade students at each school in Naperville who best eptiomize the Rotary Ideals of truthfulness, fairness, goodwill, friendship and service. The recipients are chosen by each schools faculty and staff, with these criteria in mind. This year's recipients of the Service Above Self Awards are:

School	Rotarian Presenter	Girl Recipient	Boy Recipientent
Jefferson Junior High	Steve Coates	Emily Akins	Jeff Zugay
Kennedy Junior High	Jerry Feldott	Dana Paulo	Kyle Crementent
Lincoln Junior High	Ray Kinney	Charlotte Brooks	Jacob Verreyey
Madison Junior High	Tom Kallay	Michelle Ross	Thomas Zhangang
Washington Junior High	John Gallagher	Chelsea Smith	Spencer Stibbeibbe
Crone Middle School	Justin Karubas	Brooke Kuzniewicz	Jonathan Lelekelek
Granger Middle School	Roger Schnorr	Dianna Leigh	Matthew Salernoalerno
Gregory Middle School	no presenter	Kara Abunassar	Chrysovallantis Michelisantis Michelis
Hill Middle School	Justin Karubas	Avery Ericksen-Russo	Spencer Calhounalhoun
Scullen Middle School	No Presenter	Rachel McMullan	Thomas Berarderard
Still Middle School	Justin Karubas 9:00	Hayley Morton	Sanjay Roa
Ss. Peter & Paul	Liz Zienty	Colleen Rafferty	Scott Kleiserer
St. Raphael's School	John Knobloch	Kathryn Harrington	Connor Druhanuhan
Bethany Lutheran School	Barry McKeown	Meredith Staunch	David Mackeykey
All Saints Catholic Academy	Bonnie Marshall	Tara Mayoralgo	Mark Egan
Fischer Middle School	Kathy Beedle	Julianna Dantzer	Christopher Wilsonr Wilson

THE ROTARY CLUB OF NAPERVILLE HAS BEEN A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO HUMANITARIAN RELIEF, CHARITABLE CAUSES AND SCHOLARSHIPS IN NAPERVILLE AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD FOR MORE THAN 65 YEARS. RECENTLY, THE ROTARY CLUB OF NAPERVILLE AWARDED $30,000 TO ASSIST 6 STUDENTS AT C.O.D, AND WILL ALSO AWARD 15 GRADUATING SENIORS FROM NAPERVILLE’S HIGH SCHOOLS, WITH 15 SCHOLARSHIPS TOTALLING $70,000. THIS PAST YEAR ALONE, OUR LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL GIVING EXCEEDED $500,000

WE MEASURE THE THINGS WE THINK, DO, AND SAY BY OUR 4 WAY TEST -

IS IT THE TRUTH?
IS IT FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED?
WILL IT BUILD GOODWILL AND BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
WILL IT BE BENEFICIAL TO ALL CONCERNED?

END POLIO NOW!

Polio epidemics have crippled thousands of people, mostly young children. The disease has caused paralysis and death for much of human history. A global effort to eradicate polio began in 1988, led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and The Rotary Foundation. These efforts have reduced the number of annual diagnosed cases by 99%; from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 to a low of 483 cases in 2001, after which it has remained at a level of about 1,000 cases per year (1,606 in 2009). Polio is one of only two diseases currently the subject of a global eradication program, the other being Guinea worm disease. If the global Polio Eradication initiative is successful it would be only the third time humankind has ever completely eradicated a disease, after smallpox in 1979 and rinderpest in 2010.

We are THIS CLOSE, to ENDING POLIO (Rotary Website) FOREVER. World Health Organization Polio Status Website