It's that time of year again... time for the Lake in the Hills Rockin' Ribfest presented by the Lake in the Hills Rotary Club! We are happy to announce that we will once again be selling soft serve Ice Cream both vanilla & chocolate to keep you cool in during this great summer festival. So come check us out and support you local Rotary Clubs.

It is official and your are invited to participate in the inaugural RaceWay 5K Fun Run & Walk on the historical Meadowdale International RaceWay in Raceway Woods in Carpentersville on Saturday August 17, 2013 from 8 am to 11 am. Visit the website www.RaceWay5K.com and download the Runners guide for the full race information and your chance to register for this great event which will benefit the charities of the Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning.  

In the words of our esteemed speaker Jim KOKO from the BeingU Organization "The only barriers you have in life are the ones you set for yourself and the ones you allow others set for you"! Thinking about his quote on a personal level there is a lot of truth to his statement which encourages you to take a step and re-analyze some of the things holding us all back in life. With this mindset and seeing how it could be applied to helping children with special needs by utilizing new technology to provide a teaching/stimulating outlet Jim founded the BeingU organization to do just that.

Through out his life and career Jim has established many contacts an great relationships which now he has a great opportunity to provide a great service to individuals with special needs. Through all his contacts he is able to bring people together form opposite sides of the spectrum with a few similarities in common to figure out solutions to problems or develop applications to help educate, comfort  stimulate individuals with special needs. With all the new tablet technologies and the possibilities  of type of apps Jim, his organization and many contacts will work together to come up with creative solutions to help those in need.

Want to help or learn more about the BeingU Organization visit their website here! 

For the past couple of years Carpentersville has hosted a Healing Field visual put on by the True Patriots Care Foundation in Carpenter Park to commemorate and honor those who serve our country and our community. For those of you who don't know what a healing field is just imaging a vast field filled with rows and rows of flying American flags all dedicated to those in service who do their part and have done their party tho make this beautiful country what it is today!

Jerry Christopherson (who spoke to our club on Wednesday May 29, 2013) is the president of the True Patriots Care Foundation and has been one of the main organizers of this event year after year. This year the event will take place on August 11 and commemorate Word War II veterans and feature other family activities everyone can enjoy. Unfortunately due to upgrades  being made to Carpenter Park this summer the event will take place in the Gilberts Town Center Park. Activities planed include a 5K race, parade, Commemorate Ceremony, Fire works and much more. For up to date information and ways you can help visit their website www.TruePatriotsCare.net.

Letter from our District Governor Mike Yesner:

Many of you have inquired about a possible response to the tragedy in Moore, OK.

The Rotarians in Districts 5750 and 5770 are organizing a fund for the area.  Details will be posted, probably sometime today, at http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/home.aspx?did=5770

I urge you to visit the site, and do what you can to provide help.

Mike Yesner

Recently friend of the club and big community supporter Diane Magerko from the District 300 Foundation told us of her recent Lupus Diagnosis and asked for our helped spreading awareness about this disease that few people know much about. In the letter from Diane below you will find an open invitation to a Lunch for Lupus event that promotes awareness, provides an educational opportunity, and helps raise funds to support research for a cure.

Good evening:

I hope this email finds you well!

I am organizing a fundraiser on Monday, June 24, 2013, at Tufano's Restaurant in Little Italy to encourage awareness about a mysterious disease, Lupus, for which there is no cure.  Far too many people, mostly woman, suffer from this disease.

If you have not had the opportunity to visit Tufano's Restaurant - it is  delicious!  The restaurant sits across from the UIC Pavillion and has great food with great ambience.  The restaurant is usually closed on Mondays, but it has opened its doors to help find a cure for Lupus by allowing me to hold a fundraiser: Lunch for Lupus.

Photojournalist Carol Guzy, winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, served as judge for The Rotarian’s 2013 photo contest. See the winner, runners-up, and a Web exclusive: editors’ favorites.

• See the photo gallery
• Read more about this year's judge

On the morning of 5.15.13 Fellow Rotarian Samuel Brown visited our club via Skype and shared with us his Project Amigo organization and showcased the work they are doing for rural towns in Mexico. Check out this great youtube video that displays the work they are doing. www.projectamigo.org

Allison Nason was one of the young adults sponsored by our club to participate in the District RYLA program where she spent the weekend with fellow like minded young leaders and experienced all that the RYLA program had to offer. On Wednesday May 8th Allison spoke to our club about her experience and shared he gratefullness for the opportunity to be chosen to participate. As a Rotary club, with a major goal of helping the youth in the community, sending young adults to programs like RYLA has great potential to increase the leadership abilities of the future generation which we are very happy to be a part of.

The Carpentersville Community is very fortunate to have a potential World Class Bike park right in our own back yard and it is up to us as a community to try and help make that happen because of the great potential positive impcact. The CAMBr organization has bravely taken on the massive project that will take years to complete and a lot of money and community support in order to be successful. As a community group we feel it is extremely necessary to get the word about this Bike Park and the CAMBr organization in order for them to get the support they need which will benefit the Carpentersville Community as a whole in more ways than one. 

Walking through Andres Park now there is not much to look at but a bunch of evasive plants and garbage but through a recent cleanup and site build the gradual change is starting to take place. A small skills section has been built already that has been utilize by young children on a daily basis. Take a look at the picture below for the park design plan which was completely designed by a professional bike park design group and when all said and done can become a world class bike park right here in Carpentersville.

The weather was great, the planets were aligned, the mustaches were on point and the people came out. We had a great time celebrating the Cinco De Mayo holiday with our friends and supporters who helped help raise money for our various charities. The night was filled with many great surprises that made each moment more enjoyable. We are very happy to have provided a very entertaining night and plan to do it again next year so keep us in mind for your Cinco De Mayo celebration. Check out the full set of photos in or photo albums page! 

Thank You to everyone who came out and supported the event in addition the bars who hosted and club members who donated their time to help run the event. None of this would have been possible without you! 

On Saturday April 27, 2013 members of the Carpentersville Rotary Club, the Boys & Girls Club of Dundee Township, Carpentersville Employees, Comcast Employees, and members of the Chicago Area Mountain Bikers all joined together to volunteer and begin the multi-year construction  process of the proposed Mountain Bike path in Keith Andres Park in Carpentersville. When it is all said and done this park will be one of the Elite Mountain Bike Trails in the area. As volunteers we were all glad to be part of the inaugural cleaning and build efforts and look forward to the positive attention it will bring to the Carpentersville Community!

Check out the Pics in our Photo Albums

What is Rotary International? Your Local Rotary Club Is Doing More Than You Think

Even after I joined the Salt Lake Rotary Club six months ago, I wasn’t sure just what to think. The average age of our active club members—judging by appearances—is north of 65. The image of a bunch of senior men—with a few younger women and a smattering of guys who still have hair that isn’t all gray—singing the National Anthem and reciting the pledge of allegiance seemed a throwback to a time before I was even born... More

In honor of our founding member Jim Krenz we are glad to announce and introduce the Jim Krenz Carpentersville Rotary Scholarship in the amount of $500 available exclusively to young men and women in District 300 who are preparing to go to college. Through an additional donation from our past District Govenor Carlos Frum we were able to add an additional $100 which brings the total up to $600! Thank You Carlos!

For those who don't know Jim Krenz is the founding member of the Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning and deserves every bit of praise we have earned from what our group has done and continues to do in the Carpentersville & International Rotary Communities. Without his initial drive a determination to get a group like this together we would not be in existence. Half way through our forth year as a club we are happy to have earned this ability to provide a scholarship and honor the life of our founding member. 

Through recent interviews and reviewing of applications we are happy to award Tiffany Fang of Jacobs High School with the 1st annual Jim Krenz Carpentersville Rotary Scholarship worth $600. Tiffany will be presented with the scholarship at her Senior Awards night coming up in the next few weeks. More info will be available shortly!

As the Mustache Mariachis we took 4th place out of 15 teams at this year's Boys & Girls Club Trivia Night! Not bad for our rookie team!

After a recent visit to the FISH Food pantry we got an Emergency Request for much needed Toiletry items to replenish the depleted innovatory the Pantry currently had. We quickly scrambled and got the word out. After one weekends worth of collecting we were able to conjure up hefty donations which included over $400 of items purchased from our club, a truck load of items donated by the employees at OTTO Engineering and several more donations made from other various groups. Thank You to all that donated and make this last minute drive possible.  

Video from Signing in Guatemala (Digital X-Ray Project)

On May 14, 2013, leaders from District 6440 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health in Guatemala to provide 29 Digital X-Ray units to the Country.  Representatives of District 4250 also participated.  District 7610 and 6600 made financial contributions.  Representing District 6440 were DG Mike Yesner, PDGs Pam Kerr and Carlos Frum and DGE Sarah Oliver.  This video is from Guatemalan TV coverage.

As a young man Ricardo Paniagua was shy and very hesitant to open up to others. It wasn't until his mother forced him to join the local Boys & Girls Club that he developed into the promising young man he is today.

As a young member of the Boys & Girls club he was skeptical of what it could offer but he soon realized, through activities & club engagement, the potential & learning possibilities the club is capable of providing. After a while as a member it wasn't long before he started to open up more and more and taking advantage of everything that was available and develop into a respectable young adult.

Working hard in the industry as a caregiver for several years and being caregiver for her own family members it wasn’t long before Michelle Dacy (Founder of Special Needs Chicago) made the decision to start her own organization. She soon formed Special Needs Chicago and strived to provide basic transportation and caregiver needs for elderly and disabled people.

Transporting individuals in wheel chairs is no simple task unless you have vehicles designed to do so which most people don’t have access to. Many times an ambulance is called for transportation needs which can quickly become extremely costly.  Seeing the need Michelle worked with her contacts, other non-for profits and municipalities to form a network of volunteers and sponsors to help fund and operate the day to day transportation needs of these elderly and disabled people.

Check out the video below from Michelle and her organization being featured on the Channel 7 news:

For the 2nd year in a row we had another successful Easter Dinner Basket Give Away event on Saturday Morning of March 30, 2013.

We scrambled around to collect the remaining donations and ended up with 36 total Easter Dinner Baskets, filled with a complete Easter Dinner & treats for the kids, to distribute to needy families in the Carpentersville Community. Working with the local Police Social Worker Griselda Hernandez and her Angel/Assistant Patty we had 33 families who were pre-selected and notified to come pick up a basket at the village hall that morning. 

There we were waiting with baskets, seeing if anyone would show up. Before we knew it here they came, one by one, each one just as happy as the last. Grateful for the donation and the opportunity to treat their family to a nice Easter Dinner at minimal cost to them. Hearing what some of these families are dealing with and having the ability to give back and help them out in their time of need is what makes it all worth wile and a main reason why we as a Charity Organization will continue to do what we can to help those in need.

Wednesday March 6th Wayne & Fred from the Build a Dream Organization spoke to our club and discussed how they found themselves spending their retirement helping underprivileged families & children in a rural town in Mexico. What started out with helping a single local Hispanic family facing deportation turned into helping an entire Mexican community and changing the lives of many of their residents in the process.

With hundreds of toiletries items donated, our month long drive came to an end Wednesday (February 27th) morning as we all gathered to turn in the remaining items and volunteer at the pantry. We quickly stocked the shelves, sorted the produce, sorted the breads, and prepared for the day at hand. Not before long the orders came in and we were busy filling the carts with the necessary items. 2 cans of this 3 bags of that, we were finding our grove and getting the orders out as fast as we could. Before we knew it the orders were filled and our time there was coming to an end but not before we all had a great sense of accomplishment and pride for the work we had just accomplished!

We had a great time at the movies with fellow Rotarians and other local business leaders last Thursday evening at our After Hours Event at Cinema 12 in Carpentersville. We were fortunate enough to be granted free pop corn, soda, a movie ticket and access to the projector rooms where we got a first hand experience of how the theater operates. Not to mention the great socializing, networking and fellowship that took place that evening. We want to send out a special Thank You to the staff at Cinema 12 and the Northern Kane County Chamber of Commerce for the help and guidance in helping us host the event. Check out the pictures in the photo albums.

When anyone ever inquires about Rotary the usual first question is "What is Rotary?". After that is explained the second question usually is "Does it cost anything to be a member?" The answers is YES! Every Rotary Club has dues and each club is different.

As part of the makeup of the Rotary International Organization each club is required to pay a certain amount per each member annually which covers operation costs and a subscription to the Rotarian magazine. Add to that the additional cost of the meeting place and potential meal at every meeting. In short membership costs vary from $100 to $200  paid quarterly depending on the individual club. 

We know that paying this amount every 3 months can be a burden to people who would like to be pat of a club but are unable to make that much of a financial commitment. We are happy to announce a drastic change in our due structure to give people who want to be a part of the club but are not able to pay that much out of pocket.

Check out the article from the Courier News!

Operation Warm 2012 Complete!

With the weather still mildly warm but cold weather lurking around the corner club members and volunteers made it out for our 4th annual Operation Warm coat distribution to 4 grade schools in the Carpentersville Community on Friday November 16, 2012. Selective members of the Boys & Girls clubs from each school location were brought into the gymnasium completely unaware of what they were about to receive. One by one they made their way up to the coat table with their name slip in hand and to their surprise were given a brand new winter coat. Each coat is equipped with a hoody and thick liner to keep the children warm throughout the winter season. Before long the children were running around the gymnasium  quick to realize how warm the jackets actually were as the began to sweat. Before we knew it the simple coat distribution turned into a coat party!

Got Musical Instruments?...

... that are old and you are willing to donate? The Rotary Club of Carpentersville-Morning is teaming up with the District 300 Foundation to get the word out about their ongoing Instrument Drive dedicated to provide local students the opportunity to have access to musical instruments that normally would not be available. Even if the instrument is in need of repair the District 300 Foundation will take care of the expenses in order for the students to use them. To date the Foundation has collected and repaired over 35 instruments that are currently in use by students at Carpentersville Middle School & Lakewood.

Any musical instrument donated is put into an instrument library where students can check them out as needed just like they would in a normal library. For students who can't afford to purchase or rent an instrument this is a great way to give them free access to instruments they otherwise could not afford.

Feel free to pass on the information to anyone you think may help. Anyone able to donate please contact Diane Magerko @ DianeMagerko@Comcast.net to coordinate the donation. 

Carpentersville Rotary is always open to welcoming new speakers to our weekly meetings. Anyone with interest please let us know so we can schedule a time and date. If you know of anybody who would be willing to speak please let us know also. It is always nice to learn something new as well as meet a new person which is what any new speaker will bring to our club. Generally we have speakers at least twice a month and anyone asked to speak is given a 30 minute window during are weekly meetings to present themselves to the club, meet with the members, and enjoy a good breakfast!

We are always welcoming new and prospective members!