News: Illinois

Quad Cities Winnies
Local Chapter
By Barbara Grilley

The November outing of the Quad Cities Winnies was held at the Red Lobster in Davenport, IA, Nov. 4. It was a great turnout with 24 members in attendance and five guests/prospective members. We enjoyed a very delicious lunch, followed by our business meeting. A special recognition hat was presented to Joy Anthony for catching so many fish this summer and cooking them at our last outing. Believe me, he will be the only person with a very special hat like this, and it will aid in catching more next year. After that, the fun continued with our White Elephant Sale. Thanks to the great skills of our auctioneer, Ron Sheets, and much enthusiasm from everyone (including the waitresses), we raised $200 that will enable us to give more to our select charities at the end of the year.

As usual, at this time of year, discussion centered on everyone's plans for the winter and where those heading to warm climates will be going.

Quad Cities Winnies moved their meeting and service project to Dec. 16 due to inclement weather. The Toys for Tots Marines were still in need of volunteers and the Winnies helped packing toys for a Christmas delivery. The new headquarters for this project was comfortable and it's nice to give back to the community in this effort.

We headed to Dannie and Judy's house for a delicious potluck lunch and then business meeting. We continue to amaze and delight each other with wonderful recipes and a warm holiday feeling. After lunch, President Karen Sheets introduced new members, Lyle and Sandra Wade. This made nineteen members present and two guests. At this meeting, the group decides which charities will receive our donations for the year. This year we chose: Army Community Service, St. Vincent DePaul food pantry, Camp Courageous, Winnies Place Women's shelter, Faith in Action, and Churches United food pantry.

Our next outing will be Apr. 25-27 in Kieler, WI, and Show and Tell next year will be May 22. The general conversation centered on winter plans with FL, TX, and AZ as favorite places for our travelers. Wishing all safe winter travels, happy holidays, and a joyous new year, we hugged and said goodbye.

Karen Sheets 309-755-7177

Windy City Winnies
Local Chapter
By Gail Barthel

We had 35 members of the Windy City Winnies arrive at the Bloomingdale Country Club Nov. 8. This was our Thanksgiving outing and we enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving buffet with all the trimmings. In honor of the season, the club was asked to bring nonperishable food for a women's shelter in Downers Grove, and as always, our members were very generous. Our wagonmasters, Mel and Mary Genaze and Gary and Nancy Latter, had door prize gifts for each coach in our club that was there. Some of them were donated by AAA and FMCA and they were sure appreciated.

As tradition in November, we had the election and swearing in of our new officers for 2010. They are: President, Gary Latter; Vice President, Jerry Slowik; Secretary, Claudette Slowik; and Treasurer, Lorrie Schleich. Best wishes go out to our new officers.

The Windy City Winnies held their last meeting of 2009 Dec. 6 with 34 members and friends that arrived at the Red Apple restaurant in Chicago for a fantastic Polish buffet lunch. At this outing, we had asked our members to bring warm hats, gloves, and scarves to be given to the Public Action to Deliver Shelter. As usual, our members were very generous. Mary Genaze announced that she has a new service project for the club—saving greeting cards for the Children at St. Jude's Hospital. They make new cards out of the old ones. Nancy Bican will chair this project and collect the cards and send them on.

Mary also passed out preemie blanket kits to be sewn for a hospital in AZ. Mary is an inspiration to our club and makes the Windy City Winnies a top service oriented club. We have over nine major projects that we work on during the year, besides extra one-time projects like this month's collection of hats and scarves. It gives our club another reason for being a special group of campers.

After our delicious buffet, we went to the Dukes' home which was less than a block away for a fun afternoon of socializing and, of course, more food! Everyone enjoyed themselves at their open house.

Gary Latter 847-359-3906

Winnebago-Itasca Travelers