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Teachers Warehouse has adjusted its hours, effective next Monday. Shopping days will be reduced from five days a week to three, while opportunities for making donations are being expanded to three days a week. The Warehouse will be open to shoppers and to take donations Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-6 p.m. and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The warehouse accepts new or gently-used supplies and materials, and furnishings. “Gently-used” is defined as not soiled, frayed, torn, or yellowed. If you would not give it to your child or grandchild, please do not give it to Teachers Warehouse.
Send a Holiday Greeting for a special project! It has been difficult for Rotarians to have been apart since March, and especially hard to miss the fellowship that makes Rotary special. The club will not be gathering for its annual Holiday party this year, so President Ashley is asking members to send her a short Holiday Greeting to share with fellow Rotarians. They will be used for a special project to celebrate the warmth of Rotary friendship. You can text or email to her your video (or photo). She promises to send an email to serve as a reminder! Text her at 765-618-6803 or send an email to ashleysullivanrotary6580@gmail.com.
The Club has moved to a new Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81966971974
Rotarians in the News
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"I'm so proud of my dad and so proud to be his daughter," Joy Harter said, after learning that Jack Kahn, her father (above), had been selected to receive a Golden Hoosier award to recognize a lifetime of service. The award was presented at the Statehouse in Indianapolis.
Among other things, Kahn persuaded Bloomington's city leaders more than a decade ago to establish a Commission on Aging.
"My dad and my mom have always been amazing role models for me and my sister, Hilary, in terms of being civically engaged, volunteering and giving back to one's community," Joy told Connie Shakalis, who wrote a story in the Herald-Times about the honor.
Scholarship Deadline Approaching
The deadline to apply for the 2021-2022 District Global Grant Scholarship is Dec. 18. Think of people you know who might be interested, and invite them to apply. Jim Bright is the Global Grant Scholarship co-chair. More information can be found at www.rotary6580.org.
Volunteer Opportunities
-Rotarians needed to ring Salvation Army bells: Bloomington Rotarians will ring the bells again this year for the Salvation Army, at new locations, the east side and south side Kroger stores. Volunteer at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b094ba9ae2fa64-rotarysalvation. Ring dates are Nov. 28, and Dec. 5, 12 and 19. Two spots still need to be filled this Saturday after Thanksgiving. The need this year is greater because so many parents have been furloughed or laid off and can't provide their children with toys and warm clothing. Some Rotarians can't ring bells this year because of underlying conditions, so their fellow Rotarians should consider signing up for two slots. A couple of members have already done this.
-United Way Day of Action Literacy Backpacks Volunteers are needed Dec. 2-4 to assemble backpacks and possibly distribute. Please sign up, as the Club is putting together 600 backpacks for its District Grant project for 2020-2021. Volunteers are needed for all three days, especially on the last two days. Remember that this action constitutes the Club's commitment to its District Grant. Here is the link to sign up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b054fabaa2da6fe3-rotary2 President Ashley promised to send a link to a new simplified signup page.
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THIS WEEK'S SPEAKER:
Betsy Stirratt
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Betsy Stirratt, Director of the Grunwald Gallery of Art at Indiana University, led Rotarians on a virtual tour of the Gallery, and showed examples of her own work. The Gallery, she said, is home to contemporary works by both professional and student artists. Exhibits incorporate art from a variety of contemporary genres and approaches and can be experimental or traditional. It plays a major role in the education of IU's art students, both in introducing them to a variety of styles, but also in providing them with a place to show their work.
All students in both the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts must show their work. Those projects generally finish their work toward the end of the semester, so professional works are shown earlier in the semester. The students not only learn how to become better artists, but how to show their works in exhibits.
Stirratt's own work was originally more abstract, but she has ventured into still photography and video, often in black-and-white. Sometimes she combines the photography and the painting. In recent years she has found a second home in the artistic town of Westport, in County Mayo, on Ireland's west coast. She also has discovered the rich artistic stimulus in the nature and history of Indiana. She and a fellow artist and two historians have embarked on a project mapping the Monon Railroad from New Albany to Michigan City. Stirratt said she is particularly interested in the intersection of art and science, perhaps because she once considered a career in science.
Rotarians can see more about the Grunwald Gallery at https://soaad.indiana.edu/exhibitions/grunwald-gallery/index.html and examine Betsy Stirratt's own work at https://betsystirratt.net. A current exhibit online from the Grunwald investigates "Fallout: Art in This Time," inspired by the impact of Covid-19: https://soaad.indiana.edu/exhibitions/grunwald-gallery/online-exhibitions/fallout/index.html
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NOVEMBER 24
This Week's Meeting
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Phil Eskew reviewed the history of Thanksgiving in North America, starting with the Pilgrims' feast of November 26, 1621, which was joined by 50 members of the Wapanoag tribe. He traced the celebration, from its individual celebration by individual states, to its declaration as a national celebration by President Abraham Lincoln (in response to an 1860 editorial in Godey's Lady's Book by Sarah Josepha Buell Hall) to its place in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In Canada, the holiday is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Thanksgiving has come, Phil said, to represent peace and friendship, and football and parades, and family. (This year, for the first time since 1621, members of the Wapanoag tribe have been invited to a commemoration of the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.)
Happy Dollars flowed in thanks for many blessings. Some examples were $28 in honor of the 28th birthday of Susie and Andy Graham's son's birth; Earon Davis and Martha Foster's ninth wedding anniversary; the championship of the NC Dinos in the Korean Baseball League, including the presentation of the Sword Trophy; Alain Barker's return to meetings after a 13-week absence; and Glenda Murray's appreciation for Zoom, which, despite its shortcomings, has allowed Rotarians to continue to gather each week.
Scott Shackelford's parents, Jim Shackelford and Sharon Conner, were Scott's guests at this week's meeting. Bethany Rose Self, an Ivy Tech intern in student fundraising, was the guest of Susie Graham.
Ron Barnes will celebrate his birthday on Thanksgiving. Jerry Pagac's birthday is next Monday. Next Sunday will mark the nine years that Michael Shermis has been a Rotarian.
Connie Shakalis introduced this week's speaker.
Some 43 people attended this week's meeting. If you missed the meeting, you can see it via the club's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9apIEQDUbx7V4oPH-FWEkg. The video will provide you with the opportunity see the many exhibits and art works that Betsy Stirratt referred to.
President Ashley Wesley presided at the Zoom meeting. Producers were Sally Gaskill, Michael Shermis, Earon Davis and Natalie Blais.
Reporting by Owen V. Johnson
Editor Judy Schroeder is off this week.
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