April, 2006 My Fellow Rotarians - Rotary's Global History Fellowship

District 6440 Histories 2005
Oddly enough, at Rotary’s Centennial our club again finds itself at sixteen members, down from a high
of over 60 members in the 70s and 80s. But, not so oddly, the 16 are all prominent members of the
community, including park district superintendent, high school principal, president of the largest local
real estate firm, local bank executives, lawyers, and other professionals.
In the 1950s the club spent many hours in fundraisers to support the various activities of the Hadley
School of the Blind. Further efforts were centered on the development of a community organization,
which evolved into the Glenview Safety Council. The club sponsored a Boy Scout troop (repeated
again and again in the club’s history) and a Little League team. High school students from Glenbrook
High School (later divided into North for Northbrook and South for Glenview) were invited to attend
each club meeting. The club sponsored vocation guidance days at the high school and awarded
scholarships to needy college bound students. The Korean War came and passed, tragedies happened as
in all wars and the club helped the local Girl Scouts adopt a Korean War orphan. At the end of the 50s
the club was sponsoring annual secretaries days and began hosting foreign exchange students eight
weeks a year.
In the 1960s the club shifted its focus from Hadley School to the local Glenkirk School for retarded
children (an association that continues to the club’s 60 th anniversary year, 2005). The interest was not
simply financial but hands on as club members painted and fixed up the local Glenkirk facility. But the
club also continued its support of a Boy Scout troop and the Little League. Pancake festivals were
originated to support the club’s academic scholarships, but then the club, recognizing the prevalence of
academic scholarships, shifted its focus to vocational scholarships. The club broadened its perspective
with an investment club, a poker club, and even began a Rotary Ann club. The club had a float in
Glenview’s first Independence Day.
In the 1970s the club’s interest in foreign exchange students blossomed into participation in the Rotary
Foundation’s yearlong exchange program with students from Australia, South Africa and Rhodesia. The
club also helped put together Glenview’s first Civic Awards night, an activity it supports to this day.
Other “targets” of the club’s interest and support included the new Glenbrook Hospital, Glenbrook
South High School’s Career Day, Marching Band, and Master Singers.
In the 1980s began participating in the Rotary Youth Leadership Award program, while continuing its
own vocational scholarship program. We tried selling books at Glenview’s Street Fair to support these
endeavors. The club introduced special academic recognitions to local Glenview graduating seniors in
all of the community and surrounding schools, which continues during Student Recognition Day to this
day. The interest of the club was again not simply financial, and it built a covered sand box for the
Wesley Day Care Center (architect designed). On another front the club began a multiyear connection
to service in Mexico, which, again, continues to this day. The 1980s saw the club’s first woman
member (others quickly followed). And the club served as a parent, giving birth in 1988 to a breakfast
club (Glenview Sunrise) started by several of the parent club’s members, and in 1985 to an Interact Club
at Glenbrook South High School. Both of these clubs continue today. Our club’s primary pride and joy
is the Interact Club for Junior and Senior students at Glenbrook South where the joy of service is
awoken in many young people. We closed the 80s with a club membership of 62 matching 1972-73 as
the highest membership of any year.
The 1990s saw the club building wooden toys for sale and distribution to local needy children. The
local Sunset Village Mobile Home Park with a largely immigrant population saw our presence in
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