| Vol. 13 No. 23 | January 19, 2005 |
Regular meetings of the Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise begin at 7:00 a.m.
Jan. 21 Presentation: Greater DuPage MYM Jan. 28 Hal Wilde, President, North Central College BACK TO NAPERVILLE COUNTRY CLUB!
Feb. 1 Board Meeting, 7:00 a.m., Egg Harbor Feb. 4 Beaux Arts Ball Presentation Feb. 11 Barbara Heller, Naperville Park District executive director; Club Assembly Feb. 18 Paul Zientarski, Naperville Central H.S. on personal fitness Feb. 19 Beaux Arts Ball! March 4 Club Assembly
With assurances that the "Neuqua Valley Flasher" is not a Naperville Rotarian, we can get on with our lives; though rumor has it that he’s been asked to be a greeter at the Beaux Arts Ball.
On a more serious note, we salute the departing Mark West for his efforts at bringing this newsletter to a new level. Mark, soon to retire from his position at the Naperville Public Library, edited the Sunrise for two years without missing a beat. Good luck, Mark, and come visit us.
With time running out on the Smart Competition, the Sunrise Sinners are leading the Eastern Conference, followed closely by the PADS
Patriots and the Clean Sweepers. In the Western Conference, the leaders are the Coat Drive Chargers, the Pioneers and the Goliaths. Commissioner Tom Greenberg says fourth quarter results will be posted at this Friday’s meeting, so it’s important that team captains get as many folks signed up as possible. "As of (January 17), we have 25 reported sign-ups among the 10 teams. We have a quarter of the club going to the International Convention, and we need at least half the club involved in the Naper-Home Hospitality (June 17 – 19). Teams get five points for non-convention volunteer activities and three points for subsequent activities. So, a team can get 45 points – which is more than any team currently has – by getting all nine member to work for a couple of hours," says Tom. The goals of involvement include:
Letting others know about Naperville and Naperville Rotary Learning about others and what their clubs are doing Creating an awareness of the international aspects of Rotary Possibly stirring an interest in a club-sponsored, hands-on foreign project
Also, you can still get up to a $35.00 District 2450 rebate on the Chicago International Convention price of $275.00 per individual and $450.00 for Rotarian and spouse. Sign up at www.rotary.org
The Sunrise "Super Bowl" competition, scheduled for January 28, will consist of a five-minute bean bag toss aimed at a target picture over a hole in a wooden board. The scoring rules and whose picture will be pasted over the hole are yet to be determined. Tim Walsh will bring the bean bag setup and Scott Modell will make music.
By his Rotary Sponsor
Kevin Colbert
Brian Raymond Schultz has left a lasting impression on me. I sit and shake my head as I think of the circumstances his family, friends, and acquaintances are faced with. However, I don’t think it is appropriate, or even necessary, to try to get something of a legacy from how he died so suddenly. Rather, I sit impressed by the smile I remember.
"Never have a bad day." I never knew he had a slogan, but I wasn’t surprised to see it quoted at the funeral home. The smile he gave me on our first meeting, although I didn’t know it at the time, was more than just a good first impression; it was a definition. It defined Brian. After our third or fourth interaction, it became clear to me that this was not a first-impression smile. It was simply Brian.
That is why I knew he belonged as a Rotarian. Rotary is also defined by its’ smile. I’m challenged to think of what defines me. What will I take with me when I die, and what will I leave behind? I believe that Brian still has his smile, but he now has even better things to smile about. I also know that Brian left his smile with us.
So, as I sit and shake my head – and I still do because I don’t want to accept the bitter truth that Brian is not here for us to see his smile – I also am encouraged to smile.
Past President John Ball provided a report on the progress of the Duchity, Haiti electric project. Our club, along with Naperville Rotary Charities, Rotary Club of Naperville, and District 6450 contributed a total of $19,500 toward the purchase of a diesel generator and the electrical supplies needed to wire the village of 3,000 people in southern Haiti.
In August, 2004, John and eight other members of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church went to Duchity and over a 5-day period installed the generator, ran 15,000 ft. of overhead wiring, installed 20 street lights, and wired two schools and five churches for electricity. When the generator was started and the main switch closed, the village experienced electric power for the first time in its history. The power will be used to light the schools, churches and to power both corn and coffee processing equipment, giving a big boost to the local economy.
John hopes to lead another team back to Duchity in 2005 to install a second generator and finish wiring the rest of the village. If he can raise another $15,000, the project can be completed this year. He would love to take six to eight Naperville Rotarians with him to share this experience with those who helped so much to make this project possible.
