Lake County Gazette

City of Highland Park Sister Cities Foundation met Nov. 15.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Directors Present: Carol Wolfe, Rick Wolfe, Abby Block, Larry Block, Wendy Lipsman, Gail Guggenheim, Phil Bettiker, Trudy Bettiker, Matt Pestine, Jamie Pestine, Burt Schmarak, Carole Schmarak, Lori Wyatt, Marcia Rosenbaum, Zdenka Samson, Holly Kerr, Luis Gonzalez, Rhoda Pierce, Rene Nissim, Nancy Richman, Sandy Richman, Cheryl Levi

Directors Absent: Joe Adler

Student Liaisons Present: Sara Steinmeyer

Student Liaisons Absent: Eliana Daugherty

Guests: Julie Gordon, Rich Basofin

Council Liaison: Andrés Tapia

I. President, Carol Wolfe, called the meeting to order at 7:05.

II. On motion by Matt and seconded by Luis, the October minutes were approved.

III. Treasurer, Nancy Richman, provided the Treasurer’s Report. On motion by Holly and seconded by Marcia, the Treasurer’s Report was approved.

IV. Yerucham

• Mayor Tal Ohana gave her approval to move forward reestablishing the sister cities relationship between Highland Park and Yerucham.

• Matt connected us with Gaby Tanami, a relative of his who lives in Yerucham. Gaby, a mother of two, is a social worker with the IDF.

• Gaby connected us with Debbie Golan who was born in the US and has been living in Yerucham for many years. Debbie is the co- founder and president of an organization in Yerucham that seeks to build bridges between the various ethnic groups living in Yerucham: Russians, Indians, Moroccans, and others. She is also working with the large Bedouin community that surrounds the city.

• The following potential projects were discussed at a Zoom meeting with people in Yerucham.

If anyone on the Board has an interest in any of the areas, please let Carol and Matt know. We need people to step up and participate.

A. In the area of the arts:

• Keren Singer is an interior designer. She works with her husband who is an architect. They have a business called Suit-Case Studio. Keren creates handmade jewelry and home decor from recycled materials. https://suit case.co/en/

• Alexander Kalisher is an artist, sculptor, painter and photographer

• Mira Sandrussi is an art teacher, painter, founder and coordinator of Yeroham Artists' Forum.

B. Rain Barrel and Drip Irrigation

• At one meeting, Councilwoman Annette Lidawer was in attendance. She suggested that we look into rain barrel/drip technology to water the Pierce Garden.

• Rainwater is collected in a barrel and a small hose goes from the barrel to the garden.

• Annette connected Matt and Carol with Joe Taylor at Deerfield High School as a resource in using this technology.

• Carol and Matt spoke with Joe to gain insights.

• Rhoda has a connection with whom we will also meet.

• We could have the barrel painted by a local artist/students etc.

• Israel has gone from the biggest water debtor nation to one of the biggest water creditor nations.

• Present at a meeting were Dr. Aryeh Fox and Yair Suude. Aryeh is a hydrologist; he works with Aaron Packman at Northwestern University’s Water Institute.

• We discussed the possibility of Aryeh conducting Virtual Classes with the Botanic Gardens.

C. Women’s Sports

• Gaby Tanami is very involved with and interested in connecting in the area of Women’s Sports.

• Present at a meeting was Racheli Baruch a PE teacher who is in charge of a local gym. It would be great if we could find a PE teacher in Highland Park with whom we can connect her.

• Dalya Karluker-is the local basketball coordinator. She promotes the field of womens’ sports in Yerucahm. She is the founder of Yerucham’s women’s soccer team.

D. Culinary Queen virtual Cooking Class

• There is a group of women in Yerucham called the Yerucham Culilnary Queens. One of the women from this group, Leah Grinberg, participated in the HPSCF’s Gourmet Gala. While in HP, she stayed with HPSCF Board member Rene Nissim. They have stayed in touch. Turns out that Leah is a relative of the previously mentioned, Debbie Golman.

• A suggestion was made to have a Virtual Cooking Class with the Culinary Queens to celebrate Tu BiShvat on Sunday, January 16.

• Tu BiShvat is the day that each tree ages a year for the purposes of determining if one can eat from it. It is also Yerucham’s anniversary.

• We need to reach out to the Jewish community to find a partner with whom we can collaborate on the Cooking Class.

E. Classroom Connection

• Toby Tabak Freidman teaches 9th grade girls English. We will try to connect her with the Hebrew teacher at HPHS.

F. Scouting

• There is interest in Yerucham to connect with local scouting troops.

V. Puerto Vallarta

• Phil and Trudy reported that the Spaghetti Dinner to raise funds for Corazon de Niña, a home for children in Puerto Vallarta, was very successful. The Board thanked Phil, Trudy, Burt and Carole for their work to help Corazon and for bringing this worthy cause to the attention of the HPSCF. Phil commented that Burt and Carole were instrumental in bringing Corazon to us.

• Luis reported on the Adult Literacy Program between the Highwood Library and Puerto Vallarta.

• The two groups created a Literacy Team on WhatsApp.

• They have had Zoom meetings and communicate regularly.

• In addition to adult literacy, they are working together on conversational English classes.

• They have also connected on Facebook Live for programs on health, domestic violence, and medical vs. recreational marijuana.

• The Board expressed gratitude to Luis for his efforts on this important program and asked him to thank Aurora Santos, an honorary member of our Board, who is also working on this program.

Updates from PV-Rick

• There are currently 100 people registered for the Adult Literacy Program in Puerto Vallarta. They are using the Chromebooks that we donated to them.

• The DesembocARTE art program for children currently has more than 45 children participating.

• We should have a date soon for the Water Reclamation Zoom Conference.

• The Highland Park/Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Cultural Center will be breaking ground soon. The PV Sister Cities Committee is working with an architect.

• The center will be used to teach classes in the arts, music and literacy.

• The Puerto Vallarta Sister Cities Committee in Puerto Vallarta has commissioned muralist Tony Collantes to paint a mural depicting our sister city relationship.

• He is the artist who painted the mural on the walls of Café des Artistes.

• The Sister Cities mural will be painted on the wall of a building owned by Jorge Velasquez, the head of the Puerto Vallarta Tortilla Guild who came to Highland Park/Chicago to visit a tortilla factory and meet with people in the field.

• The mural will be located near the Isla del Rio Cuale at the intersection of February 5 and Constitution.

• The Jazz Festival is scheduled for February 18-19. The PV Sister Cities Committee has secured the Malecon and another venue in the Old City.

• Caleb Chapman from Utah will be bringing about 4 groups.

• Andrés asked if we reached out to local youth jazz performers. Carol responded that Mary Jo has been trying to recruit local performers for years. Andrés offered to reach out to Ravinia and see if there was an interest in participating.

• Rick reported that the portrait of Thierry that the art teacher and children from Desembocada painted to thank him for teaching the Virtual Cooking Class to raise money for children’s art programs will be delivered soon.

VI. Modena-Lori

• Lori reported that she has been in contact with Pierpaolo, the Modena Sister Cities President, regarding the Virtual Cooking Class with Il Tortelante for children with special needs.

• Il Tortelante is the organization with which world famous Modenese chef, Massimo Bottura, is involved as a sponsor.

• The hope is that in addition to the class for young people, Massimo Bottura will teach a Virtual Cooking Class for adults as a fund raiser for the Il Tortelante organization.

• Carol shared a video about Il Tortelante.

VII. Hradecko Drama Exchange-Zdenka

• Zdenka reported that the drama teacher from Edgewood, Christine Frega, Lori, Carol, and the two English speaking drama teachers in Hradecko and she met on Zoom to discuss the exchange.

• The teachers in both cities will work to determine how best to proceed with this exchange.

VIII. Awareness Campaign-Eliana/Sara/Julie/Luis

• Carol commented that after hearing the previous reports about everything the HPSCF is doing, we now have to find a way to promote and share these projects with the community.

• At last month’s meetings, the Board asked Luis, Julie, Sara and Eliana to work on a social media campaign.

• Based on the information they shared with Carol, she asked Julie to ask her husband, Alex, who owns a media solutions company for suggestions.

• Alex created a Brand image that will be used on social media at no cost to us.

• Carol asked Julie to ask Alex for a proposal as to how he can get people to find our website, make our website look more professional, and maintain our website with a calendar of events and programs.

• Carol shared the information with the Executive Board. The Executive Board agreed to explore further.

• Julie shared a presentation with the Board (See Appendix)

• The initial onetime fee is a reduced rate of $600.

• Alex offered a complimentary two months of maintenance services. After the two month period, the Board will evaluate the effectiveness of the program and determine whether to move forward at a rate of $200/month.

• After the presentation, the members of the Board asked questions and discussion ensued.

• Carol moved that the Foundation hire Gabbercom to refresh and maintain our website; create posts and templates; and create a calendar for social media. The goal of the campaign is to create awareness, attract people and resources in the community to participate in our Foundation, and to raise funds.

• The motion was seconded by Phil and passed unanimously in a roll call vote

IX. Workplan

• The City Council voted to provide the HPSCF with a $5000 stipend to be paid in 2022. The Board expressed its gratitude to Andrés for his efforts on our behalf.

• Although the stipend has already been approved, we are required to submit a workplan.

• Carol and Nancy met to create the plan which was shared with the Board.

• The Board provided comments and suggestions.

• The workplan was unanimously approved.

X. Mural Rededication

• Larry reported that Jean Sophie, the woman with whom we were working, is no longer employed in the District.

• Larry spoke to Supt. Mike Lubelfeld who has been very supportive.

• The mural will be installed at Edgewood over winter break and the dedication will probably take place in January.

• Abby is exploring ways to display the book that Wendy made which describes the creation of the mural.

XI. Holiday Party

• The HPSCF Holiday Party will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 6:30 at the home of Matt and Jamie Pestine. The cost is $20.00/person. Please respond to Matt/Jamie.

XII. Adjournment

• On motion by Wendy and seconded by Phil, the meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.

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