Rotary International
DISTRICT 7280
NEWSLETTER
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Rotary International DISTRICT 7280 |
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To date, Sharon and Mercer Rotary Clubs have achieved Every Rotarian, Every Year with a contribution of $100.00 per Rotarian. These contributions to the Foundation provide funding for both district and international programs of Rotary International. In the Rotary Year 2006-2007, ten clubs in district 7280 achieved Every Rotarian Every Year, but my goal this Rotary Year is to increase the number of EREY clubs in District 7280 along with our overall support of the Rotary Foundation. Let us continue to work together to 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 is currently in India and we will host the GSE team from India in May. According to our records, 31 clubs have contributed a total of $16,930.00 to the District Governor’s Project. Is your club among the 12 clubs that have not made a contribution to the District Governor’s project? Pat and I were proud to be among the Rotarians from District 7280 Service Team to the Dominican Republic. As we traveled around the country, all of us agreed that we must continue to support our Water Filtration Project and assist in the construction and equipping of the Vo-Tech School. During our visit to the country, we completed painting the interior and exterior of the Vo-Tech School and assisted in the construction of water filters for distribution to those in need in the rural areas of the country. Over 170 water filters were distribution to homes affected by the recent hurricanes and to date, our district has assisted in the construction and distribution of over 2000 water filters, providing safe drinking water to families in the rural areas of the country. In order for us to continue to provide safe drinking water, the support of all clubs in the district is essential to reduce the incidence of water born diseases, especially among the children in the Dominican Republic, 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 Mark Vincent and Gary Weston of the Rich-Mar Club continue to encourage Rotarians to join them to provide a team of volunteers to build homes in Mississippi for families displaced by Katrina. The date of the next trip to Mississippi is scheduled for April 20-25, 2008. 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. At the end of December, we had 27 fewer members in District 7280 and 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 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 several young people decide to join your club, consider inducting all of them on the same day and 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. Most of us are Rotarians because someone took the time in invite us to attend a meeting and join Rotary so why not return the favor and invite a community leader or friend to attend a meeting and join your Rotary Club. The Mercer Rotary Club will be sponsoring a New Member Orientation Program on March 29th and I encourage not only new members, but all interested Rotarians to attend this seminar. You will be receiving additional information in the coming weeks. When a Rotarian resigns, do you follow up to find out why he or she resigned from your club? 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? Should we 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. As I stated at PETS and during my club visits, the strength of all Rotary Clubs rests in its membership. If anyone has any suggestions as to 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 a 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 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. THE MARCH NEWSLETTER WILL BE MAILED FIRST CLASS TO ALL ROTARIANS IN THE DISTRICT. THIS ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER WILL INCLUDE ALL REGRISTRATION MATERIALS AND HOTEL INFORMATION ALONG WITH THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM. NOTE TO ALL CLUBS PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN THE AVENUE OF SERVICE FORMS AS SOON AS THEY ARE COMPLETED, THEY MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN APRIL 14, 2008. Thank you for being a Rotarian and be prepared to Serve – The World Awaits. Fred J. Brenner, District Governor Council on Legislation The District 7280 Nominating Committee, met on Saturday, February 2, 2008, and selected PDG C. Leon Ahlum of the New Wilmington Rotary Club, to be the District’s representative and PDG H. Charles Shultz of the Greenville Rotary Club, to be the District’s alternate representative to Rotary International’s 2010 Council on Legislation. Since PDG Ahlum was the only candidate suggested to the Nominating Committee for the representative’s position, there can be no other challenge candidate. Therefore, in accordance with the above, PDG Ahlum will be submitted to Rotary International as District 7280’s representative to the 2010 Council on Legislation. However, the Nominating Committee also interviewed PDG Linda L. Griffin of the Portersville-Prospect Rotary Club as an alternative representative. Therefore, DG Brenner is accepting challenge candidates from the clubs until Friday, March 7, 2008, for the alternative representative’s position. No resolution for a challenge candidate will be accepted that is not acted upon at a regular meeting of the club, signed by the president and secretary and postmarked no later than Friday, March 7, 2008. In accordance with the above the only Rotarian eligible to be a challenge candidate as alternative representative is PDG Linda L. Griffin of the Portersville-Prospect Rotary Club. Any club wishing to have a change made to a Rotary International document or a resolution to either the RI Board of Directors or the Trustees of the Rotary Foundation should contact PDG Ahlum for assistance. District Simplified Grants Four years ago the Rotary Foundation and District 7280 initiated a program entitled District Simplified Grants (DSG). Through an application process, individual District 7280 Rotary Clubs can receive grants of up to $700 for local or international humanitarian projects. The DGS program was designed to help local Rotary clubs use a portion of their foundation contributions at they deem appropriate. Currently, the district has one DSG yet to be awarded. For more information on how this grant can be utilized or receive an application form for this DGS, contact PDG Lee Ahlum at 724-946-8321 or email him at ahlum2@verizon.net. Update from PDG Ralph Detweiler Prior to our trip to Sabaneta de Yásica, Dominican Republic, for a water filter work mission, we received a plea from Pastor Cancú asking for $1,000.00 to pay for serious medical needs for a member of his church. In the Dominican Republic, it is necessary to pay before entering a hospital. He also said there was a need for school supplies since most had been destroyed in the two recent hurricanes. On behalf of both Pastor Cancú and myself, I would like to thank the following Rotary Clubs for raising $300.00 each, Kane, Mt. Jewett, Port Allegany and Sheffield and also three “Friends of Rotary” for donating the remaining $300.00 totaling $1,500.00 for school supplies. We would also like to thank the eight members of the Bradford Rotary who donated the $1,000 for medical needs. The two hurricanes wiped out homes, crops and water supplies. Because the water filters were available, 170 were given to the nearby villages. Eight members of District 7280 went back to the Dominican Republic on a work mission and found a new love for Rotary International. A special thanks to Vice President Debbie Price, Bradford Rotary Club, for heading the Polio Plus fund in the name of Joe Brouser. Joe was affected with Polio in 1952 and recently battled post polio syndrome. Thank you again Division II members for your help. YOU ARE SPECIAL ! ! ! Interested in Youth Exchange??? The District Youth Exchange Committee is looking for additional committee members. Ideally, we would like to find someone in the District that has an interest in working with Outbound Students. This would involve accepting applications from our Clubs and coordinating a District Interview. You would be a contact person for the Outbound Student to facilitate the long term application and eventual placement with a foreign country. The degree of involvement would be up to the person. If
anyone has any interest or desire additional information, please contact
Larry Franklin, District Chairman at
LBF@Nauticom.net or David MacHarg, Inbound Chairman at
dmac_43@msn.com . There’s Still Time to Register for the L.A. Convention Yes, there is still time to register for the R. I. Convention in Los Angeles and “See the Stars” June 15-18, 2008. The registration deadline is not till March 31, and you could even register in person in June. But you will save some money by registering now, and rooms are still available, too. This will be a great convention that you don’t want to miss. It is an opportunity to learn more about what Rotary is doing around the world, what other Rotary clubs are doing in the U. S. A., and to get new ideas for your club and our District. When we say “See the Stars” we don’t just mean Hollywood stars, though they will be there, too. We also mean the stars of the Rotary world and the stars of humanitarian service. It is really a great opportunity for any Rotarian. So, if you are not already registered, give it some thought. Registration forms were in the October, 2007 ROTARIAN magazine, or just go to the bottom of the page for the links for convention registration on-line and for the host committee tickets on-line. If you need a hard copy to register, call me at 724 748 4664 and I will mail them to you. See you in L. A. in June! PDG Hank Anna Membership
and Attendance
At the last Council
on Legislation, it was recommended to the RI Board, and subsequently approved
by the board, to reduce the meeting attendance requirement from 60% to 50%.
Many Rotarians heralded this as a step in the right direction as they felt
that Rotary’s attendance requirement is a barrier to new member recruitment.
Others disagree with that point of view and think it is because Rotary
requires weekly meetings and an attendance requirement that we have remained
strong for 102 years. · The club’s membership chair needs to be kept current on the attendance figures. Usually the club secretary does the attendance report and sends the totals on to the district. The secretary should pass along the detailed attendance report to the membership chair every month. · Attendance delinquency should be identified early. We all miss occasional meetings for very legitimate reasons but we are looking here for the members who suddenly miss 2 or 3 meetings in a row for no apparent reason. At this point many clubs have standard notices or emails which are sent out. · Members who are identified through the club’s attendance tracking as being a potential dropout should be contacted in person or at least by phone. The best person to do this is the member’s sponsor or, if that is not possible, by the membership chair. The tone of the contact should be concerned, not punitive. For example, “John, we’ve missed you at Rotary lately. Have you had some problem that kept you from coming? Is there anything we can do to help?” · In some cases there may be a personal problem, perhaps illness of the Rotarian or family member, perhaps business pressures, perhaps a death in the family. In these cases, the personal contact of a Rotary friend will be genuinely appreciated and the Rotarian will probably return in due time. · In some other cases, the problem may be that the member is growing tired of Rotary and is headed for resignation. From here, the conversation may head in any direction. Hopefully, the reason for dissatisfaction can be addressed and the member saved. At the very least, the member will know that he or she was considered an important asset of this club and the club cared about his or her thoughts and opinions. The Exit Interview It is said that one thing all Rotarians have in common is that, other than Paul Harris, somebody had to ask us to join. Another thing all of us have in common, including Paul Harris, is that one day we will leave Rotary. On average, clubs lose about 10% of their members every year mostly through resignations, moving and death. Fortunately most clubs make up the loss so that worldwide Rotary’s membership stays stagnant. Of these “Big Three” reasons, we can’t do much about death. However, we can do something positive about a member moving out of the area, namely, clubs can help the relocating member to join another Rotary club in the destination city. The big reason where everybody loses is resignation. Loss of a member through resignation, even though frustrating, can be an opportunity to learn. If a club can determine why a member had become dissatisfied to the point of resignation, it has the opportunity to change for the better. Determining the reason for the resignation is critical. The best tool for determining the reasons for member resignation is the exit interview. However, as with recruiting, there is no substitute for personal contact. We suggest that the club membership chair, the resigning member’s sponsor or the club president sit down with the resigning member to discuss the issues. The membership committee should then thoroughly review the exit interview information to determine if the problems identified can be fixed by club action and report their findings to the club board. Often the trick to analyzing this data is to repeatedly ask the question “why” and keep drilling down until the root problem is uncovered. Call for Applications The Rotary Foundation announces a call for applications for the 2009-11 Rotary World Peace Fellowships (RWPF) and January and June 2009 Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies (RPCS) Program sessions. The deadline for completed applications to be submitted to The Rotary Foundation for these sessions is 1 July 2008. The Rotary Centers for International Studies program offers fellowships for master’s degree study fields related to peace and conflict resolution. Beyond academics, Rotary World Peace Fellows also gain practical skills in conflict resolution appropriate to their individual careers. Up to 60 Rotary World Peace Fellows each year enroll in the six Rotary Centers based at leading universities in five countries: International Christian University, Japan; Universidad del Salvador, Argentina; University of Bradford, United Kingdom; University of Queensland, Australia; University of California-Berkeley, Calif., U.S.A., and Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C. The Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Program is a professional development program held in Bangkok, Thailand, through which up to 30 participants embark on three months of intensive study instructed by some of the leading specialists in the peace and conflict resolution fields. The specialized curriculum has been crafted to capitalize on the experience of both participants and lecturers while balancing theoretical and practical learning. Ideal for busy professionals, the customized program helps promising leaders expand their global outlook, strengthen their negotiation skills, and ultimately make a positive impact on future peace and conflict resolution efforts worldwide. For more information, please contact Laura Tell, Rotary Centers Program Assistant, at 847-866-3307 or email Laura.Tell@rotary.org.
We Are Making Progress, But Still Behind Last Year! January was a good month for giving to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund, but we are still behind last year. The chart below is from Rotary International as of January 31, 2008. The Sharon Rotary Club leads the district with APF giving of $162.98 per Rotarian, followed by Mercer at $139.00 and Leechburg at $126.17 per Rotarian. There are also 10 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
January Attendance and Membership Report
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