Rotary International
DISTRICT 7280
NEWSLETTER
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Rotary International DISTRICT 7280 |
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I encourage all Rotarians in district 7280 to make a contribution to the Rotary Foundation during the 2007-2008 Rotary Year. As of June 30, 2008, there should be no club in the district that has not made a contribution. Remember, these contributions provide funding for both district and international programs of Rotary International. In the Rotary Year 2006-2007, ten clubs or 25% of the clubs in district 7280 achieved Every Rotarian Every Year, but let us increase that number to 35% or 15 clubs achieving EREY along with our overall support of the Rotary Foundation. If we work together, District 7280 can become one of the top districts in Zone 28 and thank you to all Rotarians that have made or will make a contribution to the Rotary Foundation in this Rotary Year. Our GSE team has returned from India and we will be hosting the GSE team from India at our district conference May 9-11 at the Radisson in West Middlesex. According to our records, 38 clubs have contributed a total of $19,435.00 to the District Governor’s Project. Is your club among the 5 clubs that have not made a contribution to the District Governor’s project? These funds provide support for our water filtration project in the Dominican Republic. These funds provided 700 water filters to families affected by the recent hurricanes and over 2000 water filters have been distributed to families in the rural areas of the country; thereby providing safe drinking water and reducing the incidence of water born diseases in the children of that country. The support of all clubs in the district is essential not only to provide safe drinking water to these families but also to provide greater opportunities for education for the children of Haiti and assist in the eradication of polio from the face of the earth. Opportunities For Service I continue to encourage all Rotary Clubs in the district to participate in our eyeglasses collection program and our partnership with the Lion Clubs in Northwest Pennsylvania. These eyeglasses will be presented to the District Governor of the Lions for distribution in Haiti in cooperation with Rotarians from Philadelphia. Membership Membership continues to be major emphasis in the district and of Rotary International. At the end of February, we had 31 fewer members in District 7280. As of the end of February only 14 or 32.6 % of the clubs in the district have reported a growth in membership this Rotary Year. I know that some clubs have inducted new members in March and several club presidents have informed me that they have or will be inducting new members in April. Another concern is that the average age of Rotarians in many of our clubs continues to increase. We need to recruit young people and have them become an integral part of our Rotary Clubs. In recruiting younger members, we should ask several young potential Rotarians to attend our meeting on the same day so they will not feel like they are alone. If these young people decide to join your club, consider inducting all of them on the same day and please get them involved in a committee or service project as soon as possible so that they will feel a part of the club. I encourage all clubs to continue to review and update your membership recruitment and retention programs. Each of you are Rotarians because someone took the time to invite you to attend a meeting and join your club so why not return the favor and invite a community leader or friend to attend a meeting and join your Rotary Club. The second aspect of membership is Retention. Rotary Clubs cannot increase their members, if members are exiting the back door as fast as we bring new members in the front door. When a Rotarian resigns, do you follow up to find out why he or she resigned from your club? I know I have said this before but does your meeting time meet the needs of potential Rotarians that cannot meet at noon or in the evening because of work or family commitments? In your community, would it be advisable to organize a morning or a cocktail hour club, if there is sufficient interest? In order to grow, we must think outside of the box. I am convinced that the only way this district can grow is by the formation of new Rotary Clubs, either in communities where we have existing clubs or by organizing new Rotary Clubs in communities not currently served by Rotary. Please refer to the September Newsletter for details on these new membership programs. We had some interest in forming a Rotary Club in Brookville, PA and there may be some interest in organizing a Club in Northeast, PA but if there is interest in forming a Rotary Club in these communities, we will need clubs to act as a sponsor. As I have stated at PETS, during my club visits and numerous times in these monthly Newsletters, the strength of all Rotary Clubs rests in its membership. If anyone has any suggestions as to additional communities that would benefit from the establishment of a Rotary Club, please contact me. IMPACT TOMORROW ASK SOMEONE TO JOIN ROTARY TODAY AND SERVE THE WORLD. Rotary Foundation Alumni are another potential source of new members, but we need to update our data base to include current addresses of former GSE Team Members and Ambassadorial Scholars. Those GSE Team Leaders who have kept in contact with their team members, please provide us with the current addresses of their team members. This would be a great help in updating our data base. Also, if anyone knows the current addresses of our Ambassadorial Scholars, please provide these to the district. Upcoming Events: I look forward to meeting many of you at our District Conference May 9-11 at the Radisson in West Middlesex with the Golf Tournament at the Former Sharon Country Club Course. The District Conference Committee is currently working on developing an interesting program for our District Conference. The theme of this year’s conference is Neighbors Serving Neighbors Here and Abroad. The opening plenary session will be on the application of the 4-way test in business and professional activities and our speaker that evening will be Al Mathis, Grandson of H.L. Taylor who wrote the 4-way test. The title of Mr. Mathis talk is “My Grandfather Wrote The 4 Way Test He Made It So Easy Even a Cave Man Can Do It”. The Plenary sessions will include club projects involving the four avenues of service along with literacy, water projects and health and hunger. If any club would like to prepare a display of club projects, please let me know so that I can make arrangements with the hotel. Thank you for being a Rotarian and be prepared to Serve – The World Awaits. Fred J. Brenner, District Governor New
Rotary Literacy Project
Rotarians read to all the second grade classes in the school district the book, Andy & Elmer’s Apple Dumpling Adventure written and illustrated by Andrew J. Shoup. After reading the story and presenting the book to the class, each student was given an Andy & Elmer Apple Dumpling Adventure bookmarker. An additional copy of the book was placed in each elementary school’s library. Later in the year two students in each second grade classes will be presented with their own personalized copy of the book based on teacher recommendation. New Wilmington Rotarians participating in the reading were Dave Twining, Gus Vavithes, Jeff Seegar, Joyce Nicksick, Lee Ahlum, and Chuck Jackson. (Pictured are Dave Twining and Jeff Seegar reading to Mrs. Lancaster’s 2nd. Grade Class at Pulaski Elementary School.)
We Are Still Behind Last Year Annual Fund Giving! The chart below is from Rotary International as of March 31, 2008. The Sharon Rotary Club continues to lead the district with APF giving of $163.94 per Rotarian, followed by Mercer at $145.25 and Slippery Rock at $140.29 per Rotarian. There are also 7 clubs that have not yet made a contribution. The following questions remain to be answered:
Contact me if you need assistance. PDG Lee Ahlum, Chair DRFC
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