League of Women Voters of Oak Park & River Forest Newsletter August 2021 Volume 7 Issue 1 |
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Dear Members,
We hope your summer has been a happy, healthy one and that you’ve managed to stay cool during the July heat. We also hope you have managed to see more of your extended family with the relaxation of the quarantine restrictions. We will still be doing many of our fall meetings and events virtually but we want to reach out with these League opportunities for you. August starts the beginning of back to business with several events scheduled this month.
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The LWV OPRF Executive meeting will be on Tuesday, August 10, and the full board meeting will be on Tuesday, August 24. We want your input so if you have any items you think our League should be concentrating on, please reach out to Jane Hastings or Joan Petertil.
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The first planning meeting for the September fall kick-off program will be Tuesday, August 3 at 6:00pm. Members are encouraged to suggest topics by contacting Jane Hastings.
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Just a reminder that our League is offering a special evening on Thursday, August 5 to see The Tempest at Austin Gardens. Read more below.
- The Trout Marker Dedication article is below. Bonus points for those who dress as an original suffragette!
- We still need local government observers and LWV IL will be holding a training session for this volunteer opportunity. Read more below.
While the break has been nice, the gripping testimony of the brave men who helped defend the capitol on January 6 was a powerful reminder of the importance of our work. We look forward to joining you for a successful year in helping defend democracy.
Joan and Jane
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There is still time to buy tickets for this Thursday evening's presentation of The Tempest at Austin Gardens. The tickets are discounted 50% for our members and there will be a pre-show gathering of our group to socialize before the 8:00pm show. To purchase tickets, click this link. Use the promo code LWVOPRF which is further explained in the link. For more information and background on Shakespeare's The Tempest, go here. Please email Joan Petertil for more details and to let her know if you are attending the pre-show gathering.
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Membership renewals have been trickling in. We need an avalanche! You can mail in the printed form you received via USPS with your check or go online to pay with a credit card. Our dues, $70 per person, make sure we can continue with our planned programs for the year. This would also be a great time to encourage a friend, neighbor, or relative to join. Many people join because a member has encouraged them to become part of our organization. Make the ask and start the avalanche!
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On Thursday, August 26, join your fellow League members, as well as members of the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association and The Historical Society of Oak Park-River Forest, to celebrate the installation of the National Votes for Women Trail Marker honoring Grace Wilbur Trout.
Mrs. Trout was president of the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association (IESA) from 1912 to 1920 and spearheaded the campaign for woman suffrage in the state. Once the Nineteenth Amendment had been enacted, IESA decided its work was finished and was succeeded by the Illinois League of Women Voters. Mrs. Trout signed the Illinois League's incorporation documents.
The marker will be situated at the site of Mrs. Trout's home, 414 Forest Ave., and the current homeowner, Elizabeth Celio, gave permission for the marker to be installed on her property. The ceremony will begin at 1:00pm on Thursday, August 26. Afterward, all are invited back to the Nineteenth Century Club building for cookies and lemonade.
This is only one of 250 women’s suffrage sites across the country being recognized with a Trail Marker. Markers are funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and the federal Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission. Additional markers in Illinois recognize Ellen Martin, the Lombard woman who first cast a ballot; Catharine Waugh McCulloch of Evanston, a primary architect of the Illinois effort to pass suffrage; the Alpha Suffrage Club, established by Ida B. Wells-Barnett as the first African-American suffrage organization; and a Michigan Avenue (Chicago) marker, noting the significance of that street in the suffrage campaign.
The interactive online trail includes nearly 2200 recognized suffrage sites across the 50 states. Trail sites in Oak Park include the Nineteenth Century Club building, the Scoville Institute site, and the homes of Dr. Julia Holmes Smith and Dr. Anna Blount. For more information about the trail, click here.
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Great Decisions promises to be an exciting series of discussions about international issues. Stop by River Forest Library to get a list of the issues to be discussed and to check out a briefing book. Explore 8 issues over 8 sessions. Attend all 8 sessions in the series or come to individual sessions of interest. This program meets from 1:00-2:30pm on the first and third Wednesday of the month from September through December. The specific topics for each session are listed below. Our League is partnering with the River Forest Library to bring this program back. Thanks to Meghan O'Keefe at the River Forest Library for being our partner with this program.
9/1: Global Supply Chains and U.S. National Security
9/15: The Future of Persian Gulf Security
10/6: Brexit: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead
10/20: The Coldest War: Toward a Return to Great Power Competion in the Artic?
11/3: China and Africa
11/17: The Two Koreas
12/1: The World Health Organization's Response to COVID-19
12/15: The End of Globalization?
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Observer Training Opportunity |
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The League’s trained Observer Corps are a respected part of the community— they work to keep local governments accountable and community members informed. LWV IL will be holding a training session on Thursday, August 19 at 10:00am via Zoom. Our League has been woefully short of observers the past two years, even when municipal meetings could have been observed online. Would you be available to observe one meeting a month of a local governmental unit? Easiest way to contribute to our League's mission. This training session will help prepare you for being a observer. You need to register for the training here.
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This summer, members of the Voter Service Committee walked the streets of Oak Park, River Forest, and Elmwood Park distributing door hangers to high school graduates for voter registration. On the hangers were a QR code that takes the viewer directly to the Illinois State Board of Elections to access online voter registration. Over 350 hangers were distributed by Jane Hastings, Kathy Balk, Wendy Greenhouse, Marge Massarello, Beverly Tuck, Elan Long, and Peggy Kell. There were fewer graduate lawn signs this year, but our seven members made sure these new graduates were reminded to register to vote. Thanks for all your efforts! |
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