Growing Rotary – Sharing the Magic

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of August 24, 2009








Growing Rotary – Sharing the Magic

From – A Personal Collection of Ideas that Worked
By Mary Chapman, Rotarian
Rotary Club of Peachtree City, Georgia, District 6900, Zone 34
Mchapman19@comcast.net

...from Chapter 10 – Sharing the Magic – a short excerpt

Our Assistant Governors are a ready source of help for membership development. These are some of the things that AGs can do:

• Help local Club Presidents or Membership Chairs to write and evaluate their local club plan. It is easier to write a plan if you know you have a helpful person to share your excitement and challenges.

• Assist local club presidents to secure a membership program for membership month.

• Conduct meaningful induction ceremonies for the local club when requested.

• Provide monthly feedback to the Club President and Membership Chair about their club membership numbers and those of other clubs in the district.

• Present a special pin or other recognition to those club members who sponsor new members.

• Visit often, and ask about membership concerns before they become a crisis.

• Have a specific discussion about the resources available from RI for membership development.

• Encourage everyone to attend the District Membership Seminar.

Remember to include Rotaract Clubs in your membership development plan. They are an excellent source of new Rotarians. The President and Membership Chair should be copied on all relevant correspondence.

Make-ups. The following is a very good idea for creating an opportunity for a “make-up.”

Mary writes:

In my home club, one make-up opportunity is to support the Fayette Samaritans, our local help service for those in need, by bringing food and items like detergent and diapers. If a member goes to the store, buys $10 worth of needed items and brings them to the next meeting, they have participated in a sanctioned club project and the member is credited with a make-up. The Manual of Procedure allows a make-up for participation in a club service project. The Fayette Samaritans love us and our membership does, too.


About Mary Chapman

Mary Chapman joined Rotary in the spring of 1989 and has been an active members ever since. She has served on the District 6900 (Georgia) Membership development committee and has been active in the membership development of her own club for the last eight years.

She is the recipient of the District 6900 “Al Daniel Award for Membership Development” awarded annually to a club or individual for contributions to membership development. She is the only individual to ever receive this award. In 2001-2

Rotary Membership Development

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of August 17, 2009

Rotary Membership Development

Everything worth doing is easier and more likely to happen with a written plan.

You may have just been elected Club president or Membership Development chair, or maybe you just love Rotary and want to share it. Take a few minutes to write down your personal goal for membership during your year. This goal should be personal, not the generic “plus one” that is sent out to the whole world. What is appropriate and possible for your club if you work hard? How many projects could you complete that would make the world better if you had ten more people in your club? What will it take to get your club there?

Goals should be written in the present tense, as if they were already occurring, and they should include dates. For example: “Our club inducts ten members by March 31 of my Rotary Year,” or “Our club has a net growth of three members by June 3.” Do not worry about the number being too large.

The most easily met membership goal for my club was the year we were expected to induct one member per month. We wrote a plan, we worked hard, and we measured results. We thought about the goal, looked for prospective members, and found them everywhere. People respond to large and challenging goals, especially if there is support from the people “at the top.”

The most challenging year for our membership growth was the first year that the international goal was “plus one.” We had worked hard in previous years; but, no one bothered to write a plan. Without a plan, we did not work consistently and wound up having to identify and induct 20 members in one month to meet Rotary International’s goal. What we discovered was that prospective members were there all along just waiting to be asked to join Rotary.

• Take a blank piece of paper and write your membership goal at the top. Brainstorm and list ten ways that you can reach this goal.

• Spend one hour a day for a week reading in the membership section of the RI website.

• Implement at least one new idea in support of membership development that you have written down.

• Purchase and listen to Brian Tracy’s CD “Goals.”

• Put all of the new members who have joined your club in the last 12 months on your “Membership Development Committee.” Print some “stuff” from the RI membership Development Data Base at www.rotary.org and give them a manual. Put the club goals on the first page and list their names on the second. These people are new. They do not know that many Rotarians never sponsor anyone. They are the one of your best opportunities for success.

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Source: Growing Rotary – A Personal Collection of Ideas that Worked – Mary Chapman, Rotarian. (Director of Membership Development 2008-09, District 6900)


(If you would like a copy of this publication, either printed or on CD, please email mchapman19@comcast.net or call 770-241-4127.)

Rotary – the Peacemaker

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of August 10, 2009


Rotary – the Peacemaker

A skeptic might ask: “How can Rotary be a real force for peace? It has no jurisdictional power. It is not a religion. It has no army or tanks, and it insists on being non-political.”

Such a viewpoint looks at peace as something that can be ordered or militarily enforced, as if it is only the responsibility of governments.

Rotary has always approached peacemaking systemically – it has sought to break down the barriers that cause people to point fingers at one another. By trying to understand people’s points of view, and reaching across lines of race, religion, and culture to become partners in service to all mankind, tensions are reduced and friendships are increased. Humanitarian aid has been Rotary’s answer to hunger, sickness, illiteracy, and economic disaster, the seeds of conflict.

In April 1945, Rotary was in the forefront of arguably one of the most important meetings of the 20th century: the finalizing of the charter of the United Nations in San Francisco.

The UN Charter Conference was the ultimate meeting of world leaders. They gathered to establish how future international disputes would be resolved; governments sent only their highest-ranking ministers, their very brightest minds to San Francisco.

Rotary was invited to attend as one of the observer organizations. There being few UN staff at the time, these 23 Rotarian observers guided agendas, performed translations, suggested wording for resolutions, and helped resolve disputes between delegates. Rotary provided 11 official observers to the U.S. delegation alone – only one other organization had more than three.

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Source: Forward, David C. A Century of Service – The story of Rotary International.

A Bit About Rotary Zones

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of August 3, 2009








A bit about Rotary Zones –
Do you know the answers to these questions?


• District 7020 is part of what Zone?

• How many Rotary Zones are there?

• Who is the current RI Director (representing Zones 33 and 33)?


RI Bylaws require the composition of the zones to be reviewed at least every eight years to ensure that each zone has approximately the same number of Rotarians.

The Board adopted new zone boundaries at its June 2008 meeting. The zone realignment took effect 1 July 2009. Details of the realignment can be found at www.rotary.org
From Zones 33 and 34 –

• RI Director Eric Adamson is the Director from Zones 33 and 34. He succeeds Barry Rassin from Nassau, District 7020.

• There are 26 countries and regions represented in Zones 33 and 34. Our Rotarians speak English, French, Dutch, and Spanish.

• President John Kenny has appointed Director Eric Adamson as Vice-President of Rotary International for the 2009-10 year.



Some interesting Zone 33/34 links –

• http://www.rizones33-34.org/zonenews.html

A video on RLI prepared for Zones 33 and 34

• http://www.rli33.org/RRIMC/RLI-SD.wmv

Zone 33/34 Membership Blog –

• http://membership33-34.blogspot.com/

What some have to say about Rotary –

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of July 27, 2009

What some have to say about Rotary –

“For 75 years, Rotarians have been ‘torchbearers,’ lighting the way to a better life for many people in many countries. Like Olympic runners, we received a torch from those before us – a torch of service that brings light to the shadow areas of mankind: intolerance, ignorance, disease, and hunger…Let people know that Rotary cares – and acts.”

-- James L. Bomar, Shelbyville, Tennessee, USA (RI president, 1979-80)

“Hope is the expectation of better things – a polio-free world, a world without hunger, universal peace. It is the spark that keeps a man going, whatever his station. Without it, life is nothing more than existence in despair.”

-- M.A.T. Caparas, Manila, Philippines (RI president, 1986-87)

“The contribution of Rotary is more than money. It is the commitment of individual Rotarians to polio eradication which has made this initiative a unique collaboration between the public and private sectors.”

-- Hiroshi Nakajima, director-general World Health Organization

“Of all the partnerships that we developed while I was at the CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), none has been more impressive than the partnership with Rotary International and the other partners working on the global eradication of polio.”

-- Dr. David Satcher, former CDC official and Surgeon General of the United States

“Rotary has won a place of respect in the global village – in fact, Rotary has helped make the world a global village.” (Rotary International was the first organization to be awarded UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Child Advocate Award in 1995).

-- Carol Bellamy, executive director, UNICEF (1995 RI Convention in Nice, France)

“People everywhere – each of them our cousins by blood – want peace…But people draw distinctions about nations and races different from their own, which give rise to suspicion and distrust. I urge each of you as a Rotarian to bring to a club meeting a non-Rotarian who is of a different race, a different generation, or social background.”

-- Hiroji Mukasa, Nakatsu, Japan (RI president, 1982-83)

“Into the hands of the United Nations we have placed the heritage of freedom for which countless generations of people have struggled. We depend upon the UN to pass that heritage on to generations yet unborn…Each of us can help strengthen the UN…in his own home… in his own community…The United Nations is an instrument that we can use for demonstrating far and wide the opportunities for service.”

-- Angus S. Mitchell, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (RI president, 1948-49)

Bridges of friendship could be built
Where in war men’s blood was spilt
Bridges built in Rotary’s way
Bridges built to speed the day
When peace and concord will hold sway
That man may reach his long-sought goal
Neighbors all from pole to pole
One human race with ties that bind
One humane world, one humankind.

-- From After All by Harold T. Thomas, Auckland, New Zealand (RI president, 1959-60)


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Source: David C. Forward. A Century of Service. The Story of Rotary International. Copyright 2003 Rotary International.

Rotary is Alive and Well all over the World

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of July 20, 2009

Rotary is alive and well all over the world.

District 7780 (with 41 clubs and over 1900 active members from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine) is offering a GSE Exchange with India. Each club can select applicants for the GSE Team and submit them to the District.

Rotary Club of NewburyPort. One club in District 7780 is representative of so many others around the globe. The Rotary Club of NewburyPort meets on Tuesdays at 12:15 noon in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

• As a point of interest, to make sure that this club is having fun while they serve, they intend to focus on fellowship, fun and the family of Rotary throughout the year.

• They have even created a new Director position: the Director of Fun and Fellowship!

• One of their great fund-raisers is The Rotary Club of Newburyport's Famous Chicken Barbeque. Doesn’t that sound delicious? They even have a secret sauce and hand the recipe down from year to year – the best-kept secret!

Group Study Exchange

The Rotary Club of Newburyport also supports the Group Study Exchange. They have advertised for qualified applicants and accepting applications from qualified applicants for Rotary District 7780's Group Study Exchange with India, which will take place in January and February 2010.

The Group Study Exchange Program of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40.

The program provides travel grants for teams of participants to exchange visits between paired areas in different countries.

• For four weeks, team members will study the host country's institutions and ways of life, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

• Team members may come from corporations, small business, community organizations, medical and educational facilities, government offices, and nonprofit agencies.

The program is designed to have an invaluable impact on the career of a young professional in the increasingly global workplace.

• For employers, GSE enhances the international perspective, communication and collaboration skills, and global awareness of the next generation of young business and professional leaders.

• GSE team member applicants must be between the ages of 25 and 40; fully employed with at least two years of work experience in their chosen field;

• They must be in the early stages of their careers or professions; reside in or be employed in the sending Rotary District; be personable, articulate, cooperative and motivated team players who are enthusiastic about their vocations.

• Team applicants may not be Rotarians or the spouse or child of a Rotarian.

The Newburyport Rotary Club has recently hosted GSE Teams from Poland and the Philippines. Two years ago, the Newburyport Rotary Club sponsored local resident, Christin Walth, who participated in the GSE exchange to the Phillipines, and had a fabulous experience.

For each team member, The Rotary Foundation provides the most economical round-trip air ticket between the home and host countries.

• Local Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging and group travel in their district.

• Each team member is responsible for his own personal and incidental expenses, including any personal travel arranged after the exchange.
In January 2010, four young professionals and a Rotarian team leader from District 7780 will have the opportunity to spend four weeks as a GSE team in Rotary District 3030 in India.

• District 3030 is in the state of Maharashtra and includes the towns of Nasik, Jalgaon, Akola, Amravati, Chadrapur and Nagpur.

• Major attractions include wildlife sanctuaries, cave temples and carvings, and the world heritage sites of Ajanta and the Ellora caves.

Applications must be submitted through a local Rotary club, which then forwards the application for review and approval to the District Selection Committee. Additional information about GSE may also be found at www.rotary.org.

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For District 7020 –
District 7020 Team arrives in District 7610 (Virginia) on April 3, 2010
District 7020 Team returns home to Jamaica on May 3, 2010

More information will be forthcoming about District 7020 GSE teams as I learn it.