Chicago Fed President Shares Insights and Projections at Rotary Economic Breakfast Fundraiser

LAKE FOREST, IL, March 6, 2015 – Charles Evans, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, addressed an overflow crowd of business and finance leaders at the annual Economic Breakfast hosted by the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rotary Club on Wednesday.

Raising interest rates is a topic of much debate, and Mr. Evans cited the current low inflation rate and global instability as reasons for keeping interest rates low at least until mid-2016. He believes that even without raising rates, the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation will not be met until the end of 2018.

Among the 200-plus attendees were members of the national media, and news coverage of Mr. Evans’s remarks began to appear online even before the event concluded.

The Economic Breakfast is the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rotary Club’s premier fundraising event. This year’s breakfast netted nearly $30,000 for the club’s philanthropic foundation. Proceeds from the event support charitable activities locally, such as Operation Warm, and globally through Rotary International in critical areas including eradicating polio and providing safe, clean water.

“Operation Warm, a project through which we acquire and donate 800 new winter coats to children in less fortunate communities in our area, is a prime example of the value of Rotary,” said Tim Newman, chair of the Economic Breakfast. “Through the Rotary network we are able to identify needs in our area, across the country, and across the world and address them quickly and efficiently.”

“We are grateful to the very generous sponsors who supported our Economic Breakfast this year,” said Brad Andersen, Club President for 2014-2015. “Through their enthusiastic support, we will continue our tradition of responding where and how we are needed.”

Donations to the Lake Forest Rotary Club Foundation may be made at www.LFLBRotary.org.

SPONSORS OF THE 2015 LAKE FOREST-LAKE BLUFF ROTARY CLUB ECONOMIC BREAKFAST

GOLD SPONSORSHIPS: Lake Forest Bank & Trust; Merrill Lynch; Schiller DuCanto & Fleck, LLP

SILVER SPONSORSHIPS: Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors; Lesser, Lutrey, McGlynn & Howe, LLP; The Newman Douglass Team at Merrill Lynch

BRONZE SPONSORSHIPS: Kuhl Financial Services; Life Insurance Advisors, Inc.; Tom Tedford; Webb Financial Group

ADVERTISERS: Don Fiore Landscaping; Dorian Gray Financial; Friends of Lake Forest Library; iTech Automation; Kinnucan Tree Service; Lake Bluff Park District; Northwestern Medical - Lake Forest Hospital; Pasquesi Home and Gardens; Pasquesi Sheppard LLC; UBS

SPECIAL THANKS: dbp | chicago; Joseph G. Erkenswick, CPA; NextWord Communications; The Lake Forest Club

Photo 1: Charles Evans, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (center), with Tim Newman,Economic Breakfast Chair (left), and Brad Andersen, Club President (right) , at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rotary Club’s Economic Breakfast on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.

Photo 2: Charles Evans, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, speaking at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Rotary Club’s Economic Breakfast on Wednesday, March 4, 2015.