Welcome to The Rotary Club of Naperville

For 71 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. Polio is a serious disease that cripples, paralyzes, or kills many children under the age of 5. Rotarians worldwide have volunteered their time and personal resources to reach more than two billion children in 122 countries with oral polio vaccine. More than $900 million has been contributed by Rotarians worldwide since 1985 and incidence of polio has decreased from 125 countries to just 3 endemic countries: Pakistan, Afganistan, and Nigeria and cases have plummeted by more than 99 percent. When Rotary began it's polio eradication work more than 350,000 children were infected annually. In 2009, fewer than 1,700 cases were reported worldwide.

Next Meeting - The Rotary Club of Naperville will meet at 12:15pm on Thursday, May 23rd, at Meson Sabika located at 1025 Aurora Avenue in Naperville. School District 204 Superintendent, Dr. Kathy Birkett, will update members and guests on District 204’s status and plans.

The Rotary Club of Naperville and Naperville Rotary Charities are pleased to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2013 Community Service Grants program. Funding criteria is as follows:

Applicants must be 501c3 organizations.

No distributions are made to individuals, political groups or political activities, or to Rotarians and their families.

No awards are made to foundations or other endowment funds which retain the monies.

Awards are made for the current Rotary year only. There are no multi-year commitments. Annual requests are required. Maximum annual award is $10,000.

Focus is on organizations with low fundraising and administrative expenses. Form 990 Page 1 - Required.

Distributions must benefit Naperville and surrounding area.

Rotary funds must have a measurable impact on the organization and community it serves.

Completed applications must be received by Friday, March 22, 2013. Verbal requests will not be accepted.

All notifications and distributions of funds are typically finalized before the end of the Rotary fiscal year (June 30). For any further correspondences, please email Community Service Grants at csgrants@napervillerotary.com. Please click on the following box below for access to the grant application.

2013-2014 Community Service Grants Application

Please send completed applications to:

The Rotary Club of Naperville

P.O. Box 2

Naperville, IL 60566

Via Email Attachment to:

Community Service Grants Committee

csgrants@napervillerotary.com

Soups On Raises over $550,000 in Five years - Charities receive checks in time for Holiday Season

Almost 30 days after Soups On was held, The Rotary Club of Naperville began distribution of checks to the three key charity benefactors. Club president Frank Slocumb handed checks to Loaves and Fishes, Hesed House and Dupage PADS. At the same time, the club recognized the sponsors and club members who made it all happen. Check out the slide show below as we recognize everyone for a job well done.

Soups On celebrated its fifth year - pulling in over 2200+ attendees on a beautiful day in October. We had the largest silent auction ever along with more than 25 restaurants sharing their best. District 203, 204 and Benet presented their talented students offering every possible kind of entertainment. Click on the link in the next box to relive the Day. Also, for five years, Tellabs has been the home for our event. The leader of Tellabs, Rob Pullen passed away earlier this year. In remembrance of his life and his commitment to Soups On - a special musical tribute was presented. Click on the link to hear this emotional tribute.

Re-live Soups On through the photo essay of Ron Hume, Rosemary Wisnosky, Hunter Byington and Sun Kwok. Click on the image below and then click on the lower right hand area to fill your screen. Be sure to click on the High Definition setting to see all the pictures...

Click here to see the Children's Museum at Soups On...

A special tribute was performed by the Waubonsie Singers (video taped by Kevin Kochman and posted on YouTube) as we paid tribute to Rob Pullen. Click below to see the introduction

and in the clip below, the musical tribute.

In memory of Art Davis

Naperville Rotarian, past president and past district governor Art Davis passed away Tuesday night. Well known for his gentle humor and big heart, Art played a major role in our club and district, participating in Oktoberfest, Naperville Rotary Charities, leading the effort to donate a Naperville ambulance to Metropolis Illinois and the surrounding county, working with Easter Seals, and so much more. He will be greatly missed.

Please hold his wife Sandy in your thoughts.

Professor C - Gerry Cassioppi -

holds class on the Rotary Foundation -

Face Forward and listen in!

If you would like to contribute to Professor C's retirement fund - known as the Rotary Foundation - click here and let Gerry Know.

As the new year begins, 25 members of the club developed a vision for the next five years. District Trainer Terry Bass shares with the group what they saw. Its a short two minutes, so please click below to listen to Terry's review and let us know what you think!

The question we were answering was

"What would our club look like five years from now?"

Click here to drop Frank a note about your thoughts.

2012 GSE Team Blogs

The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business people and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries. For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families.

For each team member, the Foundation provides the most economical round-trip airline ticket between the home and host countries. Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging, and group travel within their district.

You can find out more information about the program here: GSE Team Information

This year we had both an Outbound Team from the United States to India, and an Inbound team from India to the United States, and they kept a blog of their travels! You can see them below.

District 3060 Team that Visited Naperville Team Blog

District 6450 Outbound Team that visited India Team Blog

Chuck Newman (L) and Pat Merryweather (R) in Nigeria with Polio Volunteers, April 2012

Incoming District Governor Pat Merryweather has given us a report on her recent trip to Nigeria. Attached is a draft report focused on more of the healthcare aspects of the recent trip to Nigeria. It was a great trip and great time with Rotarians and the people of Nsukka. which you can view here: Healthcare and Education Support to Nsukka Nigeria

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

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