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

District 6440 Histories 2005
Youth Exchange - As a new club we are particularly proud of our achievements here.
2002 - Sponsored one Ambassadorial Scholar to Austria.
2002-03 - Sponsored one outbound student to Belgium.
2003-04 - Sponsored inbound student from Mexico.
2004-05 - Sponsored inbound student from Germany.
2005-06 - Sponsored inbound student from Belgium.
2006-07 – Sponsored inbound student from Turkey.
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Illinois Beach Sunrise Rotary Club Chartered March 31, 1999
The Illinois Beach Sunrise Rotary Club was originally conceived in September 1997 as Rotary Clubs in
the area began to discuss the development of a new club in the Beach Park, Winthrop Harbor, and Zion
area. Bob Grulke and Mike Bruno organized the original meeting. In March 1998, Mimi Altman spoke
to the provisional club’s membership about the message of Rotary International.
The club began production of The Water’s Edge weekly newsletter on March 5, 1998. The club hosted
their first Rotary Exchange Student, Aline Martinelli from Araraguara, Brazil beginning in July 1998.
She attended Zion-Benton Township High School. The club organized its first fundraiser in December
1998 raising over $3,000 with only fifteen provisional members. Further exchange students came to the
club from Mexico, South Africa, and Venezuela. Outgoing exchange students were placed in Demark,
Germany, and other spots around the World. The club, not being biased, also adopted a highway in
1999. It has not gone anywhere.
Membership continued to move tantalizingly close to the twenty necessary for a charter, but never
surpassed nineteen until March 18, 1999. The club immediately applied to RI for a charter that was
granted on March 31, 1999. The club’s Charter Banquet was held on May 8, 1999 at the Illinois Beach
Lodge and Resort, which was also the club’s weekly meeting place at the time. Tony Tolbert III, the
district governor at the time, was the banquet’s keynote speaker. The club’s charter president was Bob
Grulke.
The club helped to launch the “Trumie Golf Classic” in May 1999. It was designed to help a local family
raise money to pay medical bills. It led to the founding of the club’s own golf outing in May 2001. The
club’s golf outing was named the Jack McElmurry Memorial Golf Outing in 2004 after one of the
charter members of the club who passed away after providing a great deal of leadership for the outing.
The club quickly launched a local scholarship program to provide scholarships for Zion-Benton
Township High School students. Mike Baumgartner received the first $1,000 scholarship in May 2000.
He planned to attend UW-Parkside and studied English and education. The scholarship program has
continued to expand until currently $12,000 worth of scholarships are awarded annually to local
students. The club also presented a Youth Service and Leadership Award to graduating eighth grades at
the local middle schools and junior highs.
The club has also sponsored a number of literacy related projects. During the Zion Jubilee Days
celebrations, the club has worked with the Zion-Benton Community Reading Foundation to give away
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