Rotary Club of Long Grove / Kildeer / Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, USA

We were pleased to select local charities Emmaus House of Hospitality and Joanie's Closet as the recipients of $600 gift certificates to GiveNKind.

Retailers and manufacturers donate unwanted, new items, to GiveNKind, which makes them available to 501c3 registered charities for a small administrative fee.

Both charities selected items from GiveNKind's catalog, and used the gift certificates to offset the fees. This provided food, clothing, personal care, and miscellaneous items to those in need in our community.

Please join us in supporting the good work of Emmaus House (www.emmaus-house.org/), Joanie's Closet (www.district95foundation.org/joaniescloset), and GiveNKind. (givenkind.org).

"Chasing Polio" is a free exhibit at the Chicago Center for Photojournalism that is open through May 29. it showcases the work of Jean-Marc Giboux, who spent 18 years documenting the global effort to end polio.

Gallery hours:
Wednesday-Thursday: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday: 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday-Sunday: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Partnering to Bring Comfort

April 25, 2024 Our club came together with other district clubs in a joint Mental Health Service project. We assembled "comfort" kits for local area agencies to provide to victims of human trafficking. Working together we packed 200 baskets with toiletries, socks, journals, make-up, back-packs, other comfort items and words of encouragement. (We were specifically asked not to take pictures of the volunteers to shield their identities from the traffickers.)

Glad to be supporting Eternal Anchor, a charity that serves individuals and families impacted by disability in the communities of Baja California, Mexico. Our donation helped install solar panels to run the special education school and two residential homes.

About | Eternal Anchor About US Dedicated to offering quality disability services for the rural San Quintin Valley in Baja California, Mexico. Our Story Founded in 2014 Amidst the chaos and struggles of living life with a disability, Eternal Anchor strives to offer hope that acts as a safe, stabilizing anchor. This hope i...

On President's Day, we volunteered at GiveNKind, a charity located in Buffalo Grove that redeploys new goods from manufacturers and retailers to 501c3 charities in Chicagoland. The suppliers get a tax deduction, items aren't trashed, and those in need benefit. GiveNKind is always looking for more volunteers - look them up at givenkind.org.

President-Elect Adam and Lyle were the featured speakers at yesterday's Hawthorn Woods Seniors luncheon. They shared Rotary's history and its worldwide initiatives, and then focused specifically on how the club Makes A Difference locally.

Rotary District 6440 received the Jim Pickett Award at the December 2nd ShelterBox Ambassador Conference for its tireless work for the global disaster relief organization. The award's namesake was at one time the top fundraiser for ShelterBox USA.

Congratulations and Thanks to Ross Spencer of our club, and to Donna Lee Gulley of Northbrook Rotary,. Both are members of ShelterBox's Ambassadors Hall of Fame, which honors the organization's top fundraisers.

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and household supplies to individuals around the world who have been forced from their homes. The United Nations reports that now more than 110 million are forcibly displaced across the globe, the most in history.

For the fifth consecutive year, members of our club participated in the Family-to-Family Holiday Giving Program of Christopher House, which serves hundreds of needy families located in the Belmont Cragin, Uptown, and Logan Square neighborhoods. We deliver our donations, and those from members of the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, to Christopher House's distribution point. Thanks to Ross Spencer for coordinating this, and Adam Keppel for transporting the gifts.

Congratulations to our former Assistant Governor Jeff Harger of the Libertyville Sunrise club! You and Cindy are Making A Difference.

Libertyville Couple Awarded 2023 Global Humanitarian Service Award from Disaster Relief Organization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Nov 21, 2023 Santa Barbara – ShelterBox USA, the global disaster relief charity, honored Jeff and Cindy Harger of Libertyville, Illinois during its virtual benefit Thursday. The Hargers received the Global Humanitarian Service Award from ShelterBox, an annual award presented to honor individuals and organizations whose exemplary efforts have significantly improved the lives of others and consistently contributed to promoting the humanitarian mission of ShelterBox.

“The Hargers are making a profound impact in our world for people who they will never meet but whose lives they’ve transformed through their unwavering compassion,” said ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray.

“Jeff and Cindy have quietly supported ShelterBox for more than 12 years and their generosity has enabled thousands of people to receive emergency shelter and vital support when they need it most.”

The Hargers first connected with ShelterBox as members of the Libertyville Sunrise Rotary Club. “It’s truly a passion to do this,” said Cindy.

“We are blessed to have a great family, great home,” Jeff said. “People who were going without due to floods, violence everything. We thought that wasn’t right. We have to get behind ShelterBox.”

The Hargers helped ShelterBox raise more than $650,000 during the live-streaming program hosted by Murray and response team member Bill Decker. The record number of donations for the online show and tell will allow ShelterBox to restock its supplies of tents, repair kits, solar lights and more after almost 11 months of non-stop deployments. In 2023 ShelterBox delivered vital supplies after the devasting Turkey-Syria Earthquake, in Ukraine as the war raged on, and most recently in Morocco. ShelterBox responses to 12 countries this year drew down inventories requiring a vital resupply with new funding.

ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and household supplies to individuals around the world who have been forced from their homes by disaster or armed conflicts. The United Nations reports more than 110 million people are now forcibly displaced across the globe, the most in history.

ShelterBox has helped two and a half million displaced people since its founding in 2000 and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and 2019. ShelterBox is an official Project Partner of Rotary International.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers for donating young adult books to Little Free Libraries. We've spread our shipment between our LFLs in Hawthorn Woods at the Community Park, the Aquatics Center, Meadowlark Park, and Indian Creek Nature Preserve, and in Lake Zurich at the Foglia YMCA. Join us in promoting literacy by helping keep the LFLs stocked, and join Rotary in serving others in our communities and around the world. Little Free Library

On Sunday the 12th, a group of Rotary members and family helped the Lake Country Forest Preserve remove and burn buckthorn from the Cuba Marsh preserve. The stubs were treated with a specialized herbicide by qualified Preserve managers, and the area will be sprayed in the spring to kill seedlings. There's something very satisfying about throwing an invasive species on a roaring fire!

Wonder how excess goods from manufacturers and retailers make their way to charities? Join our Zoom meeting on Tuesday, May 2nd at 7:30AM, when we'll hear from Emily Petway of GiveNKind.

GiveNKind, based in Mundelein, will this year move about $10 million worth of wildly diverse items to 501c3 charities around Chicagoland - toiletries, snacks, board games, concert t-shirts, containers, pet treats, toys, and much more.

Emily will be interesting and energetic. It’ll be a great start to your morning.

Email [email protected], and we'll send you the Zoom link. Or if you'd prefer to watch the recording, let us know.

Members, friends, and family did our part at Feed My Starving Children on Friday, February 24th. The youngest were our best workers! Enjoyed the fellowship, and always enjoy Making A Difference.

Interested in hearing from a group working towards building understanding with those with whom we disagree politically, perhaps vehemently? Tuesday's meeting of the Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer, and Hawthorn Woods will feature BRAVER ANGELS, which leads sessions of those with opposing views to help transform their attitudes towards each other. The Zoom presentation will begin at 7:50AM; email [email protected] to receive the connection link.

If you'd like to join us in-person for continental breakfast and the presentation, we meet at the Hawthorn Woods Aquatic Center at 7:30AM. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

See braverangels.org.

To celebrate World Polio Day, October 24th, the Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer, and Hawthorn Woods came together and planted 200 purple crocuses. The planting was located in the Heritage Oaks Park in Hawthorn Woods. Mark Gibson, the environmental chair, lead the charge by ordering the crocus bulbs and obtaining the proper supplies. Attendees included Mark Gibson, Adam Keppel, Ann Marie Staab and Sara Knight.

The purple crocuses were chosen as purple is the chosen color for World Polio Day. After children are inoculated with the Polio Vaccine, their pinky is dyed purple. It was a beautiful morning for some Rotary Fellowship!

Want to learn about the Japanese internment camps of World War II, the impact on those incarcerated, and the lingering consequences for their families? The Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer, and Hawthorn Woods invites you to a Zoom presentation by Ellen Hasegawa Bruning on Wednesday, March 2nd, at 6PM.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. Just over a month later, Public Proclamation No. 4 began the forced evacuation of 120,000 residents of Japanese descent, 70,000 of whom were US citizens, and their detention in isolated, bare-bones internment camps.

Ellen’s father’s family was incarcerated in the Tule Lake Segregation Center, even as he served as a member of the US Army's famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Ellen's mother and her family were incarcerated in the Jerome and Amache Camps. Her objective is to tell the story of this "forgotten" tragedy, and to help others understand the consequences of intolerance and paranoia.

Ellen's presentation will begin at 6PM, and will last 30 minutes, including questions. Interested? Email the Club at [email protected] for Zoom instructions, or send a request via Facebook Messenger.

Rotarians and friends golfed in more than 50 countries this week to raise money for Polio eradication. A group of Lyle Staab and Mark Gibson from our club, Suzanne Gibson from Barrington Breakfast, and Angela Walker from North Chicago played Pebble Beach - on a simulator at X-Golf Libertyville - last Sunday . Some great shots, some ...ok...shots, lots of laughs, and exercise. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Thanks for taking part.

This past summer, the Rotary Club of Long Grove, Kildeer,
and Hawthorn Woods presented the Village of Hawthorn
Woods with a $1,000 donation towardsHawthorn Woods ongoing
effort to expand our pollinator landscape as a proclaimed
Monarch Butterfly Waystation.

In addition, thirteen Rotary Club volunteers spent two days
planting over 780 native pollinator and wildflower plugs
between Brierwoods Preserve and Meadowlark Park and
Arboretum in order to provide habitat, life cycle support,
and nutrients for migrating butterflies, bees, and a variety of
other insects.

Join us this weekend at Buffalo Creek Brewery in Long Grove for Oktoberfest! Hand-crafted German-style beers, food and games all weekend long.

Win cash prizes – and Make A Difference even if you don’t!

Our Rotary Club, in cooperation with our colleagues in the Lake Zurich club, is sponsoring the Rotary Lucky Ludwig Raffle. You might be the Grand Prize winner of $1500, or take home one of the other cash prizes.

Raffle chances are available online at go.rallyup.com/luckyludwig/rclgkhw

What will your donation do? Here are just a few of our programs:
- $100 will fund our packing almost 400 meals for distribution in disaster zones or to countries suffering from hunger through Feed My Starving Children; or it will cover a day at the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, making a local high school student a better leader and person.
- $20 buys a coat, or two pairs of shoes, from Operation Warm for children in our area braving winter temperatures; or it allows us to distribute 20 books to underserved children in Chicagoland through Bernie’s Book Bank.
- If you give $10, you planted three native plants in a local pollinator garden to preserve butterflies and bees, or vaccinated three children against polio.

Thanks for considering our request. And whether you support this raffle, thanks for paying forward your good fortune, to whichever organizations you choose to support.

The latest newsletter of the Village of Hawthorn Woods thanked our club for the part we played in fitting out their latest park. It was our pleasure!

Get rid of your old household electronics from March 4-6, and provide jobs for autistic works and others with disAbilities!

Working with Blue Star Recycling, the Rotary Club of Long Grove / Kildeer / Hawthorn Woods is holding electronics recycling events:

Long Grove - March 4 - 9 to 12 noon
Stempel Parking Lot off Old Mc Henry Road

Hawthorn Woods - March 5 - 9 to 12 noon
Aquatics Center - 94 N Midlothian Road

Kildeer - March 6 - Quentin Collection Shopping Center, near former Fresh Market, 20771 N Rand Road

Masks are required.

There is no charge for computers (not including monitors) or cellphones; other items range from $0.55 to $3.50 per pound. Please refer to www.ezelectronicsrecycling.com for details and a list of accepted items. See more at www.bluestarrecyclers.org.