Rotary Club of Anguilla

Rotary Elixir, Week of September 26

2011-10-31T15:52:00.005-04:00

For the week of September 26, 2011

Here are some ideas to enhance therelationship with your Rotaract and Interact clubs:

1. One-on-Onementorship is a priceless gift. Consider adopting such a program with yoursponsored New Generations clubs.

2. Ensureyour Rotaract and Interact clubs are aware of, and work towards receiving theRI President’s Changemaker Award for 2011-2012.

3. EncourageRotarians to attend Rotaract and/or Interact meetings on a regular basis ifthey do not already do so.

4. Considera joint fundraiser with your junior clubs. While Rotarians may have morefinancial ability at our disposal, they have the energy and some great ideas,creating a perfect partnership to raise funds for both entities.

5. Considerregular meetings of the club Presidents to encourage inter-club activities.

6. Developa web page on your district website or a separate website or social network forthe clubs in the district. Many Interact clubs are unaware of others in thedistrict.

7. Invitea Rotaractor or Interactor to be a speaker/presenter at your club meeting.

8. IncludeRotaractors in your training seminars.

Building relationships is the cornerstone of the Rotarymovement, but sadly we sometimes neglect those whom we do not see at ourmeetings on a weekly basis.

If we do not nurture these relationships with our Rotaractand Interact clubs, where else will they have the opportunity to learn aboutthe inner workings of Rotary?

What better way to make the transfer from Rotaract to Rotarythan through a gradual and natural progression?

THE CHANGEMAKER AWARD

You can find the PDF file on the clubwebsite – www.clubrunner.ca/anguilla- at the right side, under “Download and Review.”

RI President-elect Kalyan Banerjee will introduce a new recognition, theChangemaker Award, to accompany the Presidential Citation during the 2011-12Rotary year.

Banerjee, who said he will encourage Rotarians to focus on change, explainedthat the Changemaker Award will recognize Rotary clubs that make anextraordinary impact through their work in the Avenues of Service.

“In 2011-12, we shall recognize leaders and clubs and districts who carrythe service of Rotary forward through all stages of [the Presidential] Citationand Changemaker awards,” said Banerjee.

To qualify for a Changemaker Award, clubs will

(1) choose from amenu of activities and

(2) complete a minimum number for each avenue.

All activities must be undertaken and completedbetween 1 July 2011 and 1 March 2012.

District governors will select three clubs in the district -- thetop-performing small, medium, and large clubs -- to be entered into a zone andinternational competition, culminating in the opportunity to be recognizedonstage at the 2012 RI Convention in Bangkok, Thailand.

Activities include

(1) demonstrating a net gain in membership over threestraight years (2009-12) for Club Service and

(2) conducting a career counseling or vocational trainingprogram in the community for Vocational Service.

The 2011-12 Presidential Citation will recognizeachievements related to

(1) membership development and

(2) contributing to The Rotary Foundation

It will feature club and district recognition categories. The top 15districts and 15 clubs certified by governors and validated by RI will berecognized onstage at the 2012 convention.

Clubs will select from criteria such as

(1) increasing the number of younger professionals in theclub by 2 percent and

(2) inducting RI orRotary Foundation program alumni.

Districts will choose from a variety of goals, including 100 percentparticipation in the Annual Programs Fund.

For Banerjee, the Changemaker Award and Presidential Citation reinforce thework of each Rotarian throughout the year to make the world a better placethrough service.

“2011-12 will be the year of theindividual Rotarian, the year when we recognize and applaud all that they dofor Rotary and for the lives of others whom they do not know and have not met,”said Banerjee during the farewell dinner banquet at the 2011 InternationalAssembly.

Rotary Elixir, Week of September 8, 2011

2011-10-31T15:44:00.001-04:00

RotaryElixir for week of September 8, 2011

It’snot too late to celebrate literacy!

Since1967, September 8 has been celebrated as International Literacy Day with the goal of focusing attention on the need to improve literacy worldwide.As students, parents, and teachers settle into their back to school routines,it is worth looking at the status of literacy both at home and around theworld.

NIEERDirector Steve Barnett and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan read topreschoolers at the State of Preschool 2008 release.

Accordingto the fact sheets from the International Reading Association, an estimated 860 million of the world’s adults donot know how to read or write—more than twice the entire United Statespopulation.

More than 100 million children globally lack accessto education.
Illiteracy plays a role in a damaging cycle ofpoverty, poor health, and a lack of mobility.
In countries with a literacy rate below 55 percent,the average per capita income is $600.

Geographyplays a huge role in this cycle: 98 percent of non-literates live in adeveloping country.

About 52 percent of non-literates live in India andChina
The continent of Africa has a literacy rate ofunder 60 percent.

TheUnited Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNSECO) alsoprovides compelling information onthe extent of this problem globally.

Eitherout of naiveté or a desire to believe the problem hasn’t reached our shores, itis easy to think of illiteracy as a problem “over there.” In reality,though, Americans whose literacy skills are never fully developed lag behindfully literate peers in a number of ways.

Researchfrom ProLiteracy Worldwide finds that one half of alladults in federal and state correctional institutions in America cannot read orwrite at all, and reading problems are seen in 85 percent of juvenileoffenders.

Healthcosts for individuals with low literacy skills are four times higher than thosewith individuals with high-level literacy skills. Students with poor literacyskills may struggle in a number of subjects and some will eventually drop outbefore high school completion, a grim outcome when the income gap between thosewith a bachelor’s degree and those without is ever growing.

Startingchildren early on the road to literacy is an important step in helping developthese skills. Recognizing this importance, NIEER has several recommendedresources on developing early literacy skills in the early years, including:

A policy brief, "Early Literacy: Policy and Practice in the Presschool Years," by Dorothy Strickland and Shannon Ayers.
"Hooked on Literacy: Why Dorothy Strickland Sees Language as Job One," a Preschool Matters interview with Dorothy Strickland.
"What Leads to Literacy?," a feature story from Preschool Matters on some of the factors most likely to indicate later literacy achievement.
A book review of Literacy Leadership in Early Childhood: An Essential Guide.
The volume Handbook of Early Literacy Research edited by Susan B. Neuman and David K. Dickinson.

Forthe literate, we cannot remember what it was like before letters automaticallyformed into words and words into sentences. We cannot turn off our ability toread and cannot imagine being unable to read our homework, a grocery list, oreven street signs.

Formillions, though, this is their reality. Ensuring high levels of literacyattainment, beginning with the earliest years, both at home and abroad paysdividends in promoting educational attainment and creating a more capableworkforce.

Improvingliteracy rates is a massive goal which requires more than one day of activism,but today is be a good time to start. And what better place to start than withearly interventions?

-Megan Carolan, Policy Research Coordinator, NIEER

Rotary Elixir - Week of August 1

2011-09-06T18:33:00.000-04:00

Rotary Elixir - For the Week of
August 1

For those new to Rotary – and as a review for the older Rotarians …

You are now part of a global network of business, professional, and community volunteers.

In Rotary clubs around the world, Rotarians like you are changing lives in their own communities and those abroad – and forming strong, lasting friendships in the process.

So, how do you want to get involved in Rotary? That is the question for all Rotarians!

You can VOLUNTEER.

Volunteer your skills
Improve your community in Anguilla
Build your networkVolunteer your Skills -
Talk to club members about where your expertise is most needed (Let’s have a club discussion about how we can help in the best way possible!)
Serve on a club committee. What committee will best suit your skills and expertise?
Attend your club’s next Board meeting and help plan club activities.Improve the community of Anguilla -
Volunteer to help with the club’s projects and suggest new projects.

What project is the Rotary Club of Anguilla best known for in the community? We need to have a signature project.

Work with a youth program sponsored by the Rotary club (such as Interact or the Literacy project)
Identify a need in the community and suggest a hands-on project that addresses this need.Build your network -
Attend as many club meetings as you can. Connect with different people each time.
Join a Rotary Fellowship (see note at bottom) and meet Rotarians in other countries who share your interests
Go to your district conference (next year in Haiti) and try to attend the International Convention
Plan to attend another Rotary club’s meeting (St. Martin/Sint Maarten, as an example. One club meets Wednesdays at 12:00 noon at Divi Bay.)

A week doesn’t go by that I don’t learn something new from the speaker at our club or just from working on projects with people. Rotary is an opportunity to grow indefinitely.

--Stephen Brown, Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle, California, USA

Note: As a Rotarian, you are WELCOME to attend any Rotary club meeting anywhere in the world. Use the Club Locator tool at www.rotary.org or the free mobile Rotary Club Locator app to find clubs, meeting times, and locations. This is one of the great advantages of Rotary!

Remember this when you travel, and seek out other Rotary Clubs. You can learn much about how to be an important of an effective club, learn new ideas, share ideas and projects, and best of all, make new friends! I’ve become much more internationally focused and understand that there’s so much more I can do as part of a bigger whole than I could ever do on my own.

--Tony McAndrew, Rotary Club of Mid-Valley (Dickson City), Pennsylvania, USA

Rotary Fellowships. What is a Rotary Fellowship?

Rotary Fellowships offer Rotarians the opportunity to make friends with others in Rotary who share a common vocation, hobby, or recreational interest. Find Fellowships and Rotarian Action Groups by using the search utility below. Enter an interest (i.e., "antiques") or pick an interest from the list available at www.rotary.org. Just a few examples are shown below:

Amateur Radio, Canoeing, Wine, Doctors, Shooting sports, Rotary Heritage and History, Literacy Providers, Environment, Bridge, Golf...

Anguilla KATS sailors earn Gold!

2011-07-12T21:59:00.003-04:00

Anguilla Youth Sailing Team Brings Home Gold in International Youth Regatta

Anguilla has a lot of celebrating to do! The Anguilla Youth Sailing Club Team captured 1st place in the KATS 2011 Premier’s Cup International Youth Regatta held July 8th to 10th in Tortola.

The six-member team consisted of Kendall “Kenny” Richardson, Ethan “Rumple” Lloyd, Starlin Rosario, Romero “Butchie” Gumbs, Kadeem Joseph and Derick “Fritz” Carty. They out-sailed seven other teams from five neighboring islands, Peurto Rico and the USA in a hard fought competition, emerging victorious and bringing home top honors.

In the first photo, Team Anguilla Leads the pack in KATS Premier’s Cup Regatta.

With perfect sailing conditions of 10 – 15 knot winds, Team Anguilla launched into first place from the beginning, taking five 1st place wins and one 2nd on Saturday morning. The dazzling start to the weekend filled Team Anguilla with great confidence for racing the IC24’s, boats which Anguilla race only during this annual competition.

In the second photo, Team Anguilla Sails Around Mark in KATS Premier’s Cup Regatta

Sailing got a little tougher for Team Anguilla in the afternoon. With a required boat change, a few bad starts and short courses, the team had difficulty fighting their way to the lead during the last six races of the day. Final afternoon results were varied with a 2nd, a 5th, a 4th, a 1st, and two 3rd place finishes and St. Croix had a 1 point lead over Anguilla.

Team Anguilla showed up on Sunday with renewed focus and determination knowing that the final six races were going to be hard fought battles with their fiercest competitors from St. Croix. Anguilla’s positive attitude and their stellar racing tactics proved a winning combination as they battled it out for 1st place. Sunday’s racing proved spectacular with ideal sailing conditions and a fantastic effort from the entire team that led to their eventual success.

“I am very proud of this team”, said AYSC Sailing Instructor, Chris Simon. “We don’t have IC 24 boats in Anguilla. These guys are used to sailing the two-person 420’s. With almost no experience in these boats, the team adapted very quickly and worked together really well as a team. They all have a lot to be proud of. They sailed a great event from the first race to the last. Team Anguilla has shown themselves to be first class sailors who not only can compete on an international level, but they can be champions!”

Team Anguilla receiving Gold Medals and Trophies in KATS Premier’s Cup International Youth Regatta in Tortola.

Left to Right - Rotary Club of Anguilla, Seymour Hodge; Romero Gumbs; Kadeem Joseph; Derick Carty; Starlin Rosario; Kenny Richardson; Sailing Instructor, Chris Simon; Deputy Premier and Minister for Health & Social Development, BVI, Hon. Dancia Penn Q.C; Rotary Club of Anguilla, Harris Richardson

Final scores of the racing were: Anguilla, 42 points; St. Croix, 46 points; St. Lucia, 66 points; BVI 68 points; Puerto Rico, 71 points; Antigua, 103 points; Grenada, 115 points; and USA, 135 points.

Kids and the Sea (KATS), along with the Rotary, Rotaract and Interact Clubs of the BVI annually host the Premier’s Cup International Youth Regatta at Nanny Cay Resort in Tortola.

The Rotary Club of Anguilla annually sponsors the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club team to attend the Premier’s Cup in Tortola.

“After ten years, Rotary Club of Anguilla has finally seen its investment come to fruition. Rotary has believed and invested in the youth sailors for many years and are extremely proud of their capturing gold medal excellence!” says Rotary Club Team Leader, Harris Richardson. “Last year, Team Anguilla won 2nd place in the regatta, so this year’s 1st place win is another testament to their excellent sailing abilities and hard work.”

The Rotary Club of Anguilla and the Anguilla Sailing Association would like to thank the Caribbean Commercial Bank of Anguilla, D3 Insurance, Anguilla Aluminum, Apex Hardware, Caribbean Juris Chambers, Caribbean Associated Attorneys of Anguilla, Mr & Mrs. Peter Oliver and all the members of the Rotary Club of Anguilla for their financial support for this event.

The Anguilla Sailing Association is the parent organization of the AYSC. Their mandate is to provide all Anguilla children with the opportunity to sail while learning seamanship, boat safety, environmentalism, and leadership skills. The children of Anguilla today are growing up in an environment that offers a limited number of wholesome activities that foster confidence and self-worth. Having an opportunity to participate in what is an international sport as well as embracing the national sport of Anguilla is vital to the future of our youth.

Rotary Elixir - Week of July 11, 2011

2011-07-12T12:56:00.007-04:00

Rotary trips open eyes – Focus on Youth
By PAUL MORDEN, The Observer

Sarnia's Yasmeen Ibrahim told Rotary Club of Sarnia members Monday how a trip to Ottawa gave her a better appreciation of Canada.

The 16-year-old Northern Collegiate student went to the capital in May with 219 other young people for a Rotary-sponsored Adventure in Citizenship.

"Every day you would end up meeting about 20 different kids from across Canada, which was very cool," Ibrahim said.

They toured museums, visited Parliament, heard presentations from diplomats and attended a citizenship ceremony where they heard stories from some new Canadians.

Ibrahim said it encouraged her to have a conversation with her parents back in Sarnia about their experience coming to Canada from Egypt before she was born.

"I appreciate my country so much more now."

The group also met Governor General David Johnston, and Ibrahim was one of six program participants selected to ask him a question.

Ibrahim said she asked her question in French and, after repeating it several times, discovered her French was better than Johnston's.

"But," she added, "he was very nice."

Ibrahim was one of three young women involved in Rotary youth programs who spoke at the club's weekly meeting.

Tanya Rand, president of Twin Bridges Interact, spoke about the Rotary-sponsored club for youth that provides leadership development and opportunities for community service.

"It's a great way to meet new friends and have a lot of fun," Rand said.

Members volunteer at the Inn of the Good Shepherd, packed Christmas care packages for soldiers serving overseas and raised money at bake sales, car washes and other events.

Mary Crawford, who received this year's Rotary International Ambassador honour at the YMCA Celebration of Youth awards, talked about visiting the Dominican Republic on an Rayjon awareness trip.

"We were shown the faces of absolute poverty," Crawford said, adding it inspired her to want to work to help make the world a better place.

"It makes me very proud of the youth of Lambton County," club president Johnna Johansen said following the presentations.

Most community projects Rotary supports are aimed at helping young people, she said.
"It's very nice to have them come back and tell us how they enjoyed these things."

Source: http://www.theobserver.ca
pmorden@theobserver.ca

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Rotary Club of Sarnia website -
http://www.rotarysarnia.com/
Twin Bridges Interact Club -
http://www.rotarysarnia.com/main/session//ns/33/doc/5

Where is Sarnia, Ontario, Canada?
Sarnia is a city in Southern (Southwestern) Ontario, Canada (city population 71,419, census area population 88,793, in 2006).

It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River. See the map below:

Rotary Elixir - Week of July 4, 2011

2011-07-06T07:50:00.007-04:00

Week of July 4, 2011

A little about what other clubs are doing – for some interesting ideas:

THE new president of the Hunstanton and District Rotary Club was sworn in at the organisation’s annual dinner.

And Brian Devlin, who has worked selflessly for many years to help the club’s charities, pledged to carry on the good work of the club during the coming year when he was elected to succeed John Hornsby-Bates last week.

Over the past year, the club raised around £12,000 for good causes, mostly from their annual kite fair and the Norton Hill Railway weekend, as well as a range of smaller events.

At left - Hunstanton and District Rotary Club president, Brian Devlin (second left) with his wife Lyn (left), outgoing president John Hornsby-Bates (centre) with Elaine and Richard Bird.

During the dinner held at the Le Strange Arms, Old Hunstanton, Mr. Hornsby-Bates said: “The money mainly goes to support a host of local causes.

“This last year, for example we have helped the Hunstanton scout group, the town’s day centre, Smithdon High School and the North West Norfolk Phobbies Club based in Dersingham, which is a hobbies club for the physically disabled in the surrounding area.”

But he added that their help also goes abroad through Rotary International.
The club contributed to the relief effort following the Japanese nuclear disaster.

Published on Monday 4 July 2011
http://www.lynnnews.co.uk

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For your interest, have a look at their website – http://hunstanton-rotary.org.uk

What does their club do?

• A meeting every week
• Two formal dinner dances each year
• An informal evening social event most months
• Major fundraising events at the Kite Festival, and Norton Hill
• Projects supporting the local schools
• Projects supporting local youth, old people, and the disadvantages
• International projects in conjunction with local clubs overseas

Students Need More Mentors

2009-11-21T14:57:00.008-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of November 23, 2009

Teacher of the Year tells Jacksonville, FL, Rotary that
students need more mentors

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Editor’s Comment - This is where the hands-on Service Above Self is clearly seen – when it’s not so important to write a check for Rotary projects. Instead, it is important to give of yourself – your time, your talents – and make a lasting impression upon one individual at a time!

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11/19/2009 - by Max Marbut - Staff Writer
http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com
mmarbut@baileypub.com

When she stepped to the podium at Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, Marjorie Nolan looked at the audience and said, “There are people in this room from all different backgrounds, but the one uniting element is that we have all had our lives touched by a teacher.

Just about everyone remembers the teacher who taught them to read.”

At left - Rotary Club of Jacksonville member and former Superintendent of Duval County Public Schools John Fryer introduced Marjorie Nolan, the school district’s 2009-10 Teacher of the Year.

Nolan is the 2009-10 Duval County Public Schools Teacher of the Year. During her 30-year career in education she has been recognized for excellence several times.

-- Nolan was the 1995-96 Raines High School Teacher of the Year
-- She was a finalist for the county’s top honor in 1996.
-- She was First Coast High School’s Teacher of the Year for 2004-05 as well as
-- She was a also a finalist for the Duval County title in 2004-05.
-- In 2005 Nolan was the recipient of the Gladys Prior Award for Teaching Excellence.

Nolan recently expanded her focus from teaching children to coaching other teachers at First Coast High School to improve their skills and impact more students. She specializes in reading education, a part of the public school experience she said must be improved.

“Almost 9,000 public school teachers in Duval County work every day to prepare our future local workforce,” said Nolan, who added the average public school student in America reads two grade levels below their actual grade level.

“Here in Duval County, there are 1,000 high school students who are still in a reading class of some type. It’s important to establish the foundation of reading in elementary school. By the time a student is in high school, teaching them to read is a very difficult process. Kids have to understand that when you learn to read you can learn anything else,” she said.

Many things have changed since Nolan began her teaching career at Raines in 1978 but some things have not. Nolan recalled her first contract for $7,200 a year and said salaries are still low for teachers. That is causing many people without formal education in the art to enter the classroom and many see it as a temporary career, said Nolan.

“It’s a teacher’s job to inspire and motivate children to learn, but fifty percent of our teachers didn’t earn a degree in education,” she added. “Low salaries make it hard to attract talented teachers.”

Nolan said other than awards like Teacher of the Year, there are few incentives for teachers to strive for excellence. Those who wish to specialize in teaching remedial reading must complete 300 hours of specialized training but are not compensated for their extra effort.

“And they know they will spend their careers working with the most challenged students,” she added.

When asked what she would do if by some miracle the budget for public schools was doubled, Nolan quickly replied, “I’d make sure there were smaller classes, no more than 15 students per class if they are failing the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).

“I would also go to Barnes & Noble and buy books the students said they wanted to read. In some student’s homes the only book in their household is the telephone book.”

Nolan also said she thinks there’s too much emphasis on getting every student into college. Other courses of study in high school that would prepare some students for jobs, in the building trades for instance, would be helpful for many students.

“We need programs for students that aren’t just academic,” she added. “I know that’s not a popular stance but that’s what I’ve seen in more than 30 years in the classroom.”

Club member John Fryer is a former superintendent of Duval County Public Schools and an education consultant. He said he believes the common characteristic among poorly-performing students is they don’t set and achieve goals.

“The ability to help children develop goals can help teachers do a better job,” he commented.

Nolan agreed and called on the club members to volunteer their time to help students.

“There is a great need for mentors. When we see truancy or straight Fs on a report card clearly there is no mentoring or supervision in that student’s home. Hundreds of children at my school alone could use a mentor,” she said.

Interesting Jacksonville Rotary Club History -
1912

With only 40 Rotary clubs in the nation, and only New Orleans in the south, the Chicago club sent a prominent member to Jacksonville to assist in chartering a new club. On February 13, 1912, at the Windsor Hotel downtown at Hemming Park, 14 charter members met and officially organized.

George Clark was elected as the club's first president, and he served two years. Later he was named President Emeritus. Clark remained active until 1928 when he was granted an honorary lifetime membership.

The club met weekly at the Windsor Hotel and later at the Aragon Hotel. The club dues were set at $10 per year, not including lunch. Lunch added another $15 per year to the cost of membership.

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Rotary Club of Jacksonville meets every Monday - 12:30 p.m. (lunch at Noon)
Omni Hotel of Jacksonville (downtown) - 245 Water Street. Tel. 904-355-6664

Source: http://www.jaxrotary.org/

The Rotary Foundation’s beginning

2009-11-21T14:49:00.005-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of November 16, 2009

The Rotary Foundation's Beginning

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Some magnificent projects grow from very small seeds. The Rotary Foundation had that sort of modest beginning.

In 1917, RI President Arch Klumph told the delegates to the Atlanta Convention that “it seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world.” The response was polite and favourable, but the fund was slow to materialize.

A year later, the “Rotary Endowment Fund,” as it was first labelled, received its first contribution of US $26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A., which was the balance of the Kansas City Convention account following the 1918 annual meeting. Additional small amounts were annually contributed, but after six years, it is reported that the endowment fund had only reached US $700.

A decade later, The Rotary Foundation was formally established at the 1928 Minneapolis Convention. In the next four years, the Foundation fund grew to US $50,000. In 1937, a US $2 million goal was announced for The Rotary Foundation, but these plans were cut short and abandoned with the outbreak of World War II.

In 1947, upon the death of Paul Harris, a new era opened for The Rotar Foundation as memorial gifts poured in to honour the founder of Rotary. From that time, The Rotary Foundation has been achieving its noble objective of furthering “understanding and friendly relations between peoples of different nations.”

By 1954, the Foundation received for the first time a half million dollars in contributions in a single year, and in 1965, a million dollars was received.

It is staggering to imagine that from those humble beginnings, The Rotary Foundation is now receiving more than US $65 million each year for educational and humanitarian work around the world.

Source: The ABCs of Rotary

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The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.

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Below, Frank Devlyn, second from right -- Rotary International President 2000-01 and Chairman, The Rotary Foundation 2005-06 -- visits the gravesite of Arch Klumph in Cleveland, Ohio.

In November of 2007, PRIP Devlyn journeyed to Cleveland, Ohio, USA, to participate in a variety of Rotary club and Rotary Foundation events.

While, there, he and PRID T.D. Griley had the opportunity to visit the grave site of the Father of the Rotary Foundation, PRIP Arch Klumph.

Others in the photo are unidentified.

Rotary Exchange Student reflects on year in Taiwan

2009-11-07T08:52:00.002-05:00

Rotary Exchange Student reflects on year in Taiwan
Experience of a lifetime for a student from Alaska!

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of November 2, 2009

…by Stephen Knight - October 29, 2009 (http://www.petersburgpilot.com)

In preparation for his joint presentation, along with fellow exchange student Henrike Herbst of Germany, on the Rotary Exchange Program at a recent high school assembly, Bynum Jackson reflected on his experience in the program. He spent his junior year studying in Taiwan as an outbound student, departing his Petersburg home in August of 2008 and returning this past summer on the 4th of July.

Jackson had traveled overseas before, primarily on family vacations to Europe, but this was his first experience in Asia. When asked about his impressions of the people and culture of Taiwan, Jackson replied, “It’s pretty different. It’s unique because it’s not something I would normally get to see in the world. Taiwan is a place and a culture that most people don’t really know. You don’t see or hear much about it in the news.”

There was definitely a feeling of culture shock for Jackson. “It was quite a big change going from a community of 3,000 to a community of 2 million,” he said. Making friends was a priority and he had no difficulty there. While acknowledging he’d mostly befriended his fellow exchange students, largely because of their shared experiences and use of the English language, Jackson said he’d also made a lot of Taiwanese friends with whom he keeps in touch on a regular basis.

Like exchange students who’ve come to Petersburg, Jackson was hosted by three different families during his stay in Taiwan. The families were all centered around the school he attended in Taipei and each provided a different experience for him, especially with regard to the language barrier. “The first family I stayed with spoke perfect English,” he said. “They had done a lot of international travel and trading, so their English was really good. I sometimes tell people they spoke better English than I did,” he added with a laugh.

The second host family Jackson stayed with presented him with the opposite extreme: they spoke no English at all. “We would communicate by hand signals and stuff like that,” he explained. “I did try my best with the language, which I was learning as part of the program.” It also helped that the first two host families were friends, which allowed Jackson to call on the first family to play interpreter on a few occasions.

The third family he stayed with was a little better with the language but, more significantly, Jackson had improved on his own ability to speak the native tongue. “By the time I got to my third host family, I’d learned a lot more Chinese,” he explained. “I tried to speak with them mostly in Chinese and it worked out pretty well.”

Jackson worked hard to earn a language credit by immersing himself in the culture, and the family stays were crucial components of that learning. He also credits the Rotary Exchange District in Taipei for providing all of the foreign exchange students involved in the program with over 200 hours of Chinese language instruction during the course of their stay. “Without those classes, I don’t think I would’ve learned as much as I did,” he acknowledged.

For Jackson, his time in Taiwan was a real learning experience, as much about himself as his unfamiliar surroundings. “I think I learned more about my strong points than my weak points,” he explained. “Now that I’m back home, I know what I can do. I know my strengths. And with my weak points, I know there are some things I can’t do but I try my best.”

He also felt a greater sense of independence and maturity, largely because he had to rely upon himself more often. “I was over there by myself, mostly, without my parents or anyone like that,” he said. “I had to watch how much money I was spending and how much studying I was doing. I didn’t have anyone looking over my shoulder, telling me exactly what to do.” He paused a moment in reflection before adding, “I think it got me ready for what’s to come in the future.”

Jackson feels very grateful for the experience, expressly thanking the Rotary Club, his parents and others who helped facilitate the exchange program. “I really had a great year and I’m glad that I did it. I had a fun time there and met a lot of people. I loved it,” he said.

See print edition for complete local coverage. Content (C) 2009 Petersburg Pilot-Alaska

Rotary Clubs Sponsor Perlman Concert to Raise 'End Polio Now' Funds

2009-11-07T08:44:00.004-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla

…for the week of November 9, 2009

Rotary clubs sponsor Perlman concert to raise ‘End Polio Now’ funds

By MELODY PARKER, melody.parker@wcfcourier.com | Cedar Falls, Iowa,

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Four area Rotary clubs are using violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman's sold-out concert Sunday to bring attention to the "End Polio Now" campaign.

The superstar musician, who contracted polio at age 4, will perform at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Center on the University of Northern Iowa campus.

The concert is sponsored by the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Waverly Rotary clubs as a fundraiser. The clubs and individual members contributed $10,000 for the sponsorship. Proceeds will help match a $355 million challenge to Rotary International from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

In addition, area Rotarians will host a presentation at 4 p.m. Sunday at Maucker Union on the UNI campus, followed by a dinner. Dr. Robert Scott of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, will be the guest. Scott chaired Rotary Foundation's International Polio Plus Committee for two years and travels globally to raise funds. He'll be joined by Cedar Falls resident Doug Oberman, a retired attorney and polio victim. His appearance is conditional on his health.

"Eradicating polio worldwide has been Rotary's major objective for more than 20 years, and we've nearly accomplished it. There are four countries - India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria - were we are still working, and in certain parts of those countries, polio cases have been drastically decreased. Our focus is to generate dollars and raise awareness because many people have forgotten about polio," said Roger Kueter, chairman of End Polio Now, District 5970. His wife is a polio victim.

In 1985 Rotarians set out to raise $120 million to immunize children worldwide against polio. Working with their partners, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than two billion doses of the Sabin vaccine have been administered, reducing the number of countries where polio is endemic from 165 to four. A real-time polio case count is on the Web at http://www.polioeradication.org/casecount.asp.

Rotarian Dave Buck and his wife Ruth traveled to northern India in 1999 to work with doctors in clinics administering the vaccine.

"Children came in and we gave them each two drops on the tongue and marked their fingernails with a purple marker to show they had been vaccinated," Buck said. "Then we went door-to-door, and we were quite well received. Rotary is making a very strong effort to eradicate the disease."

Source = http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/
Rotary Club of Waterloo, Iowa - http://www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/home/homeF.asp?cid=4444
Rotary Club of Cedar Falls, Iowa - http://www.cedarfallsrotary.org/cfr/
http://www.waverlyrotary.org/

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About Itzhak Perlman and Polio

The world falls in love with music when Itzhak Perlman takes up his violin. A superstar by any standard and a rarity in the classical field, Perlman has taken hold of the public imagination as few violin virtuosos ever have, bringing joy to millions with his playing.

Having lost the use of his legs after falling victim to polio at the age of four, Perlman always sits as he plays. But he never fails to bring audiences to their feet.

Perlman's tone has been described as aristocratic, but his playing is decidedly populist: from the most jaded music lovers to the youngest initiates whose love of music Perlman loves to encourage, it is all but impossible to remain unmoved by the musician and his music. His adventurous repertory encompasses virtually the entire classical repertory for the violin as well as some of the most challenging and exciting music of today. A master of baroque, classical, romantic and modern music, he also has lavished his intensely joyful string sounds on everything from the brave old world of klezmer to the limitless frontiers of jazz.

His own arrangements of Scott Joplin's ragtime classics have added immeasurably to performance tradition of the American repertory. His heartrending violin solos in the John Williams soundtrack score for Steve Spielberg's Oscar-winning picture Schindler's List proved to be one of Perlman's own proudest achievements. His most surprising, so far, has been his operatic debut, as a bass, singing the small role of the Jailer in James Levine's recording of Puccini's Tosca starring Renata Scotto and Placido Domingo.

Source - http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/?fuseaction=showIndividual&entity_id=3472&source_type=A

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Perlman contracted polio at the age of four. He made a good recovery, learning to walk with the use of crutches. Today, he generally uses crutches for mobility and plays the violin while seated.

In 1987, he joined the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for their concerts in Warsaw and Budapest, as well as other Eastern bloc countries. He toured with the IPO in the spring of 1990 for their first-ever performance in the USSR, with concerts in Moscow and Leningrad, and toured with the IPO again in 1994, performing in China and India.

Source - http://its-a-raggedy-life.blogspot.com/2007/10/itzhak-perlman.html

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Itzhak Perlman and the New York Philharmonic – the Concert to End Polio

This December, world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra will take the stage in New York's Lincoln Center for the Concert to End Polio. The cause is especially close to Perlman's heart, given his personal battle to overcome polio as a small child.

The show is the joint effort of international humanitarian organization Rotary International and cause entertainment agency Commit Media. Rotary has been committed to eradicating polio for almost 20 years, since launching the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988 with the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and UNICEF.

Over the last 20 years, the fight against global polio has had incredible success. In the 1980s, polio affected a thousand new children around the world every day. Today, smaller and smaller numbers of new cases are reported each year. However, the fight isn't over -- polio still remains endemic in India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Tickets for the concert range from $70 to $200 dollars and are available for sale now. Rotary International is also accepting contributions toward the eradication of polio around the globe, made extra easy by their option to donate five dollars from your cell phone. Rotary International hopes to raise $200 million to match the challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's $355 million grants. These funds will go directly to provide polio vaccines around the world.

This story was originally posted on Causecast.org

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/itzhak-perlman-and-the-ne_n_323151.html&cp

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…And this last bit is from www.rotary.org – About Polio

Although the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has faced sobering challenges in the past year, officials say it is moving forward in key political, technical, financial, and operational areas.

Stepped-up efforts to end the disease in the four endemic countries -- Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- are paying off, they say.

"Rotary International has played an extraordinarily special role [in the GPEI], not just as one of the initiators but in bringing financial resources, political advocacy, and volunteerism on the ground to getting the job done," said Dr. Bruce Aylward, director of the GPEI at the World Health Organization, speaking to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in June.

Aylward said that all levels of government in the four countries are committing unprecedented support for the polio eradication effort by monitoring the performance of immunization activities and holding local authorities accountable for the results.

According to WHO, the incidence of polio in India in 2009 has dropped by 28 percent to 284 cases as of 8 September, compared with 397 cases over the same period a year ago. Monthly immunization campaigns in the highest-risk areas have reduced wild poliovirus type 1 -- the more dangerous of the two remaining strains -- to record lows. Type 1 causes paralysis in about 1 out of every 200 children infected, versus 1 out of every 1,000 children with type 3.

In Nigeria, the incidence of polio has decreased by 41 percent to 379 cases, from 646 cases a year ago. By early 2009, the proportion of unimmunized children in the highest-risk states had fallen below 10 percent for the first time.

Unrest along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has resulted in a slight increase in the number of cases in both countries in the past year. Between large-scale immunization campaigns, however, teams have exploited lulls in the conflict to enter normally inaccessible areas and give children an additional dose of vaccine. In Afghanistan, the wild poliovirus is endemic only in the south, and about 80 percent of children live in polio-free areas.

Rotarians in Pakistan have encouraged the national government to give strong support to ending polio. In early 2009, Pakistan launched the Prime Minister's Action Plan for Polio Eradication. On behalf of Rotary International in August, International PolioPlus Committee Chair Robert S. Scott recognized Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, with a Polio Eradication Champion Award for his outstanding support for a polio-free world.

A new vaccine will be introduced in India as early as November to help stop the transmission of the type 1 and type 3 wild polioviruses. (Type 2 has been eradicated globally except in Nigeria.) This bivalent vaccine, health officials believe, will multiply the gains made during the past year toward eradicating polio. Intended to complement, not replace, monovalent and trivalent vaccines already in use, the bivalent vaccine will also be considered for Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
Worldwide, the number of polio cases has dropped from more than 350,000 in 1988, when the GPEI began, to 1,651 in 2008.

"This is a great improvement from the worst days of polio epidemics," said Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Glenn E. Estess Sr. "But it is not good enough, and it will not be good enough until the number is zero. We cannot pause or slacken our efforts."

Global health experts are calling the push to end polio "the final inch," in light of the remaining 1 percent of cases that are the most difficult and expensive to prevent. Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge, which ends 30 June 2012, is seen as crucial to the initiative's success.

"This is an absolutely devastating disease that affects the poorest, most marginalized communities in the world," Aylward said. "We have the tools to eliminate it forever."

World Polio Day - October 24, 2009

2009-10-30T10:13:00.005-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of October 26, 2009

World Polio Day – October 24, 2009

Some information on Polio in the world …

Globally, cases of polio have been -

2008 total - 1651
Year to date (2008) - 1406
Year to date (2009) - 1198

In endemic countries, cases of polio have been -

2008 total - 1505
Year to date (2008) - 1317
Year to date (2009) - 930

In non-endemic countries, cases of polio have been -

2008 total - 146
Year to date (2008) - 89
Year to date (2009) - 268

Source: http://www.polioeradication.org/casecount.asp

This October, some 162 million children are being vaccinated against polio, in countries from Guinea in West Africa to Nepal in south Asia. This month also marks 95 years since the birth of Jonas Salk, developer of the first safe and effective polio vaccine. Polio survivors and eradication advocates across the globe commemorate 24 October as World Polio Day in his honour.

Polio has been reduced worldwide by 99 per cent since 1988, following the global push to eradicate the poliovirus spearheaded by national governments and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, using oral polio vaccine, developed by Albert Sabin. The virus now survives in parts of four countries where it is the subject of intense eradication activities.

As part of a US$ 355 million challenge grant awarded to Rotary by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary clubs worldwide are aiming to raise a total of US$ 200 million by 2012. The funding will provide critical support to polio eradication activities, including the distribution of a new, more effective bivalent polio vaccine that was recently approved for use in the coming months.

On World Polio Day, Rotarians worldwide are concocting innovative fundraising ideas and activities to remind the world that help is still needed in the fight against polio.

Events include benefit screenings of the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Final Inch” and campaigns to make donations over the mobile phone. Rotarians are hawking a book of jokes, with profits going to End Polio Now. They are congregating in their town centres soliciting donations from passers-by. Many are participating in “We walk so they may walk”-type walking or running events, referring to the lifelong paralysis that polio can cause. In one Rotary Club, walkers are competing in costume to “Scare away polio.”

Rotary has more information on the www.rotary.org website, and you can also follow World Polio Day on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/LatestNews200910.asp#05

Polio Challenge

2009-10-30T10:10:00.002-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of October 19, 2009

Polio Challenge –

Westborough (MA) Rotary Club hoping to raise awareness of forgotten disease

By Scott O'Connell/GateHouse News Service
The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Oct 19, 2009
________________________________________

Westborough Rotary Club - PO Box 840 Westborough, Massachusetts, 01581 USA

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Next weekend the Westborough Rotary Club will be out in full force to raise awareness of a deadly disease.

On Oct. 24, Rotary Club volunteers will raise funds throughout town for Rotary International's "World Polio Day." The event is also known as "Purple Pinkie Day" in reference to the practice of dipping children's pinkies in purple dye to signify that they have been immunized for the disease.

The polio vaccine has eradicated the virus in most of the world, including the U.S. But polio is still rampant in some countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which has led Rotary International to continue the fight to wipe it out completely.

"The saying is that polio is only one airplane ride away," said Carol Burtt Borglund, who serves on the Westborough Rotary Club's Board of Directors.

Polio is a highly contagious viral infection that was widespread up until the creation of a vaccine by Jonas Salk in 1955. Though harmless to the majority of the population, in some cases it can cause paralytic polio, which can lead to muscle paralysis and even death in the victim.

Because the disease was all but wiped out in America several decades ago, Burtt Borglund said many younger people are unaware that it still poses a risk.

"There is a whole generation that doesn't even know what it is," she said. "There are even some parents who don't know they have to give the polio vaccine (to their child)."

Since 1985 Rotary International has campaigned to fight the remaining traces of the disease, contributing nearly $800 million to the cause. For World Polio Day, Westborough Rotary Club volunteers will be at the Verizon store and Roche Bros. supermarket at Bay State Commons, both Stop & Shops on Lyman Street and Rte. 9, Tatnuck Booksellers on Lyman Street, the town transfer station and other locations throughout Westborough to spread the word about polio. They will hand out informational pamphlets and give out simulated inoculations by dipping people's fingers in purple dye.

The local Rotary Club is also hoping to collect money this year as part of Rotary International's fundraising efforts. Last year the Rotary Club contributed $500 - "We're definitely hoping to increase that," Burtt Borglund said.

As an extra incentive, Rotary International is hoping to raise $200 million by 2012 to meet the challenge of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has pledged to contribute an additional $150 million should the organization reach its goal.

Burtt Borglund said the Westborough Rotary Club has high hopes for this year's local fundraising efforts.

"We didn't have a visible campaign last year," she said. "We didn't feel we did our best. This was a challenge."

The Rotary Club is one of the town's largest fundraising organizations; it donates $10,000 annually to graduating seniors at Westborough High School and raises $30,000 each year at its spring festival.

"We exist for the purpose of raising money so we can give it away," Burtt Borglund said.

This month, however, the organization is turning its attention to more international matters.

"Polio still exists," she said.

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WESTBOROUGH Rotary Club – Their website: http://www.westboroughrotary.org/

Join Us for Lunch. The Rotary Club of Westborough meets weekly for fellowship, lunch, and an informative and interesting presentation from a guest speaker.

Meeting Time: Wednesday 12:15 noon to 1:30
Meeting Location: The Chateau Restaurant - Rte 9 Westborough, MA. 01581

Note: Time is important to everyone and meetings begin and end promptly. Our luncheon charge is $15.

From: http://www.town.westborough.ma.us/Public_Documents/index -

Westborough is a classic New England town with a population of about 18,000 residents. It is located at the cross roads of the Mass Pike and Rt. 495 so it provides an ideal location for both residents and businesses.

Problem - No budget for service project?

2009-10-30T10:01:00.002-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of October 12, 2009

Problem: No budget for service project
How does the club manage fund-raising?

It’s January and you have just thought of a great community project, but you now find out there is no money in the club’s budget to fund it. How do you get the money the project needs?

How to you maintain the Rotary Club – continue the club moving forward – raising funds for the projects that will “do good works in the community.”
Without those funds, the club can do nothing. So, it is incumbent upon the Rotary Club to find ways to Raise Funds.

The question was posed in a Rotary forum recently. Here are a few responses:

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You don't need money to do a service project... My Rotaract Club does it all the time. You simply stop using your wallet and start using your hands! Lots of organizations need hands-on volunteers. Sure, donations of money are important, but when funds are low, you can find lots of ways to do service on a budget.

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Unique fund-raising where money comes from public in general is to provide for community toilets at various places. These can be got sponsored by advertisers for the toilet walls. After the toilets are in place, these toilets can be auctioned to individuals on annual rentals to the club. The money so collected can be used to fund more such toilets or for other community projects.

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Our club has printed and sold a "cash calendar" for 2 years - 2008 and 2009. Our fund raising committee draws entries each month, one for every day of the month. There is a money prize of $20.00 for weekdays, extra on weekends and holidays. We mail the cheques out to the winners and very often the cheques are returned to us as a donation!

We sell them at tables in the grocery stores and every community event where we can get space for $20.00 each. The pictures are local scenery and quite spectacular. We combine raising funds with raising awareness and also appreciate that it gives us a chance as a club to come together while we fund-raise. If you need info on how to do it jane.r.cameron@rbc.com

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Two years ago, our LeRoy Club in District 7090 began "Rent a Rotarian". The idea is for residents to pay for the services of Rotarians on a designated day. So on a Saturday, we rake leaves, cut grass, etc. We don't make a ton of money, but whatever we make is necessary to our small budget. It's a great way for Rotarians to interact and have fun. One thing that would make it easier would be some younger males in our club!

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Our club has a membership of 80 but this is a new high, we had 55 members for a long time. Our biggest fundraiser with little investment is an in-house auction, where members bring in items and we auction them off. The largest amount of money comes from Rotarians offering to cook dinners for another Rotarian.

2 to 6 couples go over to Rotarian home for dinner. Our members pay 50 to 100 per person. Easy money no cost, our last auction lasted 1.5 hours and we raised $11,000.00 our cost 0, so you do the math.

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My small club has suffered from always relying on club members to be the primary purchasers of tickets for fundraising events. In this economy, that burden is too great! So, we are currently coordinating a fundraiser where we are making a concerted effort to reach out to the community to seek supporters for a specific project. Through efforts to gain newspaper publicity and through members making direct appeals to friends and acquaintances in the community, we are developing a list of "Friends of the Rotary Club of Central Marin" with names and contact info.

In the future, this Friends list will be the starting point for our fundraising efforts. The result will be that local community members can participate in and share pride in the success of our service projects and the financial responsibility that was once the sole burden of club members can be lightened. A win-win for everyone!

Source: http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/090101_news_yourvoice

Rotary is truly international - Rotary cares!

2009-10-30T09:57:00.003-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of October 5, 2009

Rotary is truly international – Rotary cares!

Westlake Village Rotary Club in California helps the Philippines

When Tropical Storm Ketsana hammered the Philippine capital city of Manila Saturday, it caused an escalating humanitarian disaster that may soon become a major health crisis, said Edwin Velarde, an Oak Park businessman who is leading a local disaster relief effort to help thousands of flood victims.

“Because of massive flooding, we’re looking at huge health issues. We need to brace for a malaria outbreak as a result of standing water,” said Velarde. “And there’s also the threat of cholera — their sewer systems are mediocre and could be overwhelmed.”

Velarde, 48, was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States when he was 15. For the past 10 years, he’s been involved in humanitarian work in his native country through the Rotary Club of Westlake Village. Earlier this year, with funding from the Rotary Foundation and local Rotary Clubs, he helped build water wells in eight Philippine villages.

Last weekend, Typhoon Ketsana, known as Ondoy in the Philippines, pummeled large population centers in Manila and outlying areas, leaving 1.8 million people displaced or adversely affected by flooding, officials said. At least 240 people have died. The Philippine government has declared a “state of calamity” in Manila and 25 provinces.

Velarde said he wants to get bottled water and hot meals to flood victims in relocation centers. The best way of doing this, he said, is to provide funding to those already working on the ground in the Philippines.

The widespread devastation in the Philippines has made it almost impossible for thousands of people to get help, said Tony Grey, executive director of the Filipino-American Council of Ventura County.

“My concern is for the poorest victims because they’re the ones who suffer the most,” said Grey. He said that dozens of shanty towns in river areas and along railroad tracks are easily toppled by a typhoon.

“Their homes have been wiped out, and they’re in dire straits,” Grey said.
A failing infrastructure coupled with high rates of poverty contribute greatly to the crisis, said Bing De La Vega, founding president of the Philippine Emergency Disaster Relief Organization based in Los Angeles. One of the biggest concerns is the scarcity of clean water, he said.

“The Philippine government is doing its best,” he said, “but many are skeptical because of its limited resources.”

By Cynthia Overweg
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Source http://www.venturacountystar.com

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Location of the Rotary Club of Westlake Village in California
http://www.rotarywlv.org/

20 Answers to the Question: Why Join Rotary?

2009-10-27T16:25:00.003-04:00

20 Answers to the Question: Why Join Rotary?

1. Friendship
In an increasingly complex world, Rotary provides one of the most basic human needs; the need for friends and fellowship. It is one of the two reasons why Rotary began in 1905.

2. Business Development
The second original reason for Rotary's beginning. Everyone needs to network. Rotary consists of a cross section of every business community. Its members come from all walks of life. Rotarians help one another, and collectively help others.

3. Personal Growth and Development
Membership in Rotary continues one's growth and education in human relations and personal development.

4. Leadership Development
Rotary is an organization of leaders and successful people. Serving in Rotary positions is like a college education in Leadership: learning how to motivate, influence and lead leaders.

5. Citizenship in the Community
Membership in a Rotary club makes one a better community citizen. The average Rotary club consists of the most active citizens of any community.

6. Continuing Education
Each week a Rotary there is a program designed to keep one informed as to what is going on in the community, nation and world. Different speakers, different topics.

7. Fun
Rotary is fun. A lot of fun. Each meeting is fun. The club projects are fun. Social activities are fun. And the service is fun.

8. Public Speaking Skills
Many an individual who joined Rotary was afraid to speak in public. Rotary develops confidence and skill in public communication. And opportunity.

9. Citizenship in the World
Every Rotarian wears a pin that says: "Rotary International". And every Rotarian is welcome - even encouraged to attend - at 28,000 clubs in 188 nations and geographical regions. There are few places on the globe, which do not have a Rotary club. Instant friends in both one's own community and in the world community.

10. Assistance When Travelling
Because there are Rotary clubs everywhere, many a Rotarian who has needed a doctor, lawyer, hotel, dentist, advice, etc…, while traveling has found same quickly through Rotary.

11. Entertainment
Every Rotary Club and district has parties and activities, which provide diversion in one's business life. Rotary has conferences, conventions, assemblies and institute which provide entertainment in addition to Rotary information, education and service.

12. The Development of Social Skills
Every week and at various events and functions, Rotary develops one's personality, social and people skills. Rotary is for people who like people, or who want to.

13. Family Programs
Rotary provides one of the world's largest youth exchange programs; high school and college clubs for future Rotarians; spouse clubs and programs, and a host of activities designed to assist family members in growth and the development of family values.

14. Vocational Skills
Every Rotarian is expected to take a part in the growth and development of his or her own profession or vocation; to serve on committees and to teach youth about one's job or vocation. Rotary helps to make one a better doctor, lawyer, teacher (or whatever one does for a living) etc.

15. The Development of Ethics
Rotarians practice a 4-Way Test which governs one's ethical standards. Rotarians are expected to be ethical in business and personal relationships.

16. Cultural Awareness
Around the world, practically every religion, country, culture, race, creed, political persuasion, language, color and ethnic identity is found in Rotary. It is a cross section of the world's most prominent citizens from every background. Rotarians become aware of other cultures and learn to live and work with people everywhere. They become better citizens of their countries in the process.

17. Prestige
Rotary members are prominent people; leaders of business, the professions, art, government, sports, military, religion and all disciplines. Rotary is the oldest and most prestigious service club in the world. Its ranks are executives, managers, professionals; people who make decisions and influence policy. Not everyone is invited to join Rotary.

18. Nice People
Rotarians above all are nice people; the nicest people on the face of the earth. They are important people who adhere to the policy that while it is nice to be important, it is more important to be nice.

19. The Absence of 'Official Creed'
- Rotary has no secret handshake, no secret policy, no official creed, no secret meeting or rituals. It is an open society - of men and women who simply believe in helping others.

20. The Opportunity to Serve
Rotary is a service club. Its business is mankind; its product is service. Rotarians provide community service - to both the local and international communities. This is the best reason perhaps for becoming a Rotarian; the chance to do something for somebody else. And to sense the self-fulfillment which comes in the process. And the return to one's own life. Rotarians believe in service above self, it is richly rewarding.

"He profits most who serves the best".
…source http: www.rotary7070.org

Rotary "Tie a Knot"

2009-10-27T16:24:00.002-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of September 21, 2009

Rotary: "Tie a knot"

By Charles Roberts, Editor, Highland Community News
Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009

An inspirational talk by John Capps was presented at the Monday meeting of the Highland Rotary Club at Aquinas High School.

-- Capps reported that two billion children had been vaccinated, thanks to Rotary, enough to fill more than 22,000 Rose Bowls.
-- And he related the story of a young guest at a major Rotary function who pulled a necktie from his pocket and asked for help in tying it.
The youngster said he was raised by his grandmother, and she didn’t know how to tie a tie.

The Rotarian helped the young boy with his tie, teaching him how to do it himself, and the little boy asked, “Would you be my daddy?”

And for the next 15 years, the two kept in touch as the youngster grew into manhood.

“That little boy,” Capps said, “is now a surgeon, tying different knots.”

He said the story emphasizes the impact a simple deed of kindness can have and encouraged fellow Rotarians to go out there to “tie their own knots” to help others.

The Highland Rotary Club meets at 5:30 p.m. Mondays at Aquinas High School and welcomes visitors.

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About Highland, California

Nestled against the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, the City of Highland offers an ideal business and residential location in the Inland Empire of Southern California. Highland takes great pride in being one of the most desirable communities in which to live in the Inland Empire, with low crime, high safety, and an emphasis on community beautification.
<...http://www.ci.highland.ca.us/>

Group Study Exchange

2009-10-27T16:22:00.002-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of September 14, 2009

Rotary International provides great opportunities
- Group Study Exchange

By LINDON DODD - Local Columnist

…source - http://www.newsandtribune.com

As I awoke in the early morning light the sleep quickly left my eyes and I couldn’t wait to shower and exit into the cold morning. I awoke my room mate Matt, a stock broker from Columbus, to join me on my initial exhibition onto the streets of Amritsar, India. That initial stroll was around the small town (by India standards) of 8 million. My senses were overloaded with the stench, the never before experienced crowds of way too many people crammed into a two block area, and that almost surreal feeling that I was actually in a foreign country having just left Chicago less than 24 hours earlier.

My 28 days in India were among the most life changing of my lifetime. To experience another culture, albeit, really another world located on the same sphere as our own is something that cannot be adequately explained to the curious. It was all too mind numbing to process even for a while after I had returned home to Southern Indiana. And, for the most part, it was an all expense paid trip that altered the way I will see the world until I draw my final breath.

It seems almost impossible that I represented my city, the State of Indiana, and the United States almost 10 years ago. In some ways, it can all come back to me in vivid flashback memories while at other moments it’s hard to believe it really happened. Just like they found me and four other willing world travelers so many years ago, Rotary International is looking for a few people who want to have an experience of a lifetime.

Roger Fisher is heading up a committee for the Jeffersonville Rotary Club to seek out applicants for this year’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) team that Indiana will be sending to the Netherlands. In exchange, this year, Indiana will host a team from the Netherlands. The objective of the program is to foster a better understanding among the citizens of the world. Each international team brings along some of their homeland to hosts in a foreign country. Most of the 28 days will be spent living in the homes of gracious hosts.

This experience will definitely be a working vacation. During my sojourn to India our team attended as many as eight local Rotary meetings per day in 8 different cities. The five total strangers who left out of Chicago became pretty intimately acquainted before the month had ended, spending many hours on a van crisscrossing the Indian countryside. Days often began before sunup and very often ended well after midnight. It was at the same time exciting and exhausting- yet always immensely fulfilling and educational. At every meeting we were given time for a presentation to highlight our own small towns and cities from which we came. Everyone wanted to know, “What is it like to live in America?”

This year’s team will consist of 4 non-Rotary people to be led by a long time Rotarian who will act as the Team Leader for the excursion to the Netherlands. The requirements are pretty straightforward. The applicant should be a person of good moral standing between the ages of 25-40 years of age, male or female. Anyone chosen should have an open mind and a willingness to exchange fellowship with persons from another culture. An applicant who is chosen will have to pay for their own passport and an insurance policy that will provide for an emergency medical evacuation in the case of any unforeseen medical crisis. The rest of the expenses will be paid by Rotary.

A successful applicant might wish to take some personal spending cash but not much would be required. On my trip, we were lavished with many gifts from local residents and often if I insinuated I wished to buy something it was usually provided for me.

For anyone not familiar with the Rotary International group, it is one of the most widely recognized and respected organizations in the world. As such, when you are wearing a blazer adorned with the Rotary seal you will always be treated as a VIP. The access we had in 2000 was phenomenal. CEO’s of corporations shared lunch with our team. We had tea with the Commander of the Indian Army in a room literally feet away from the Pakistani Border during which time the two countries were actively engaged in a border war. In an unfortunate twist of fate we were running late on our arrival into Dharamsala which resulted in us missing our private meeting with the Dalai Lama. The access and opportunities that await a Rotary team abroad will allow for experiences usually reserved for such powerful people as heads of state or political ambassadors.

The Indiana team will depart sometime in April and return in mid-May with the exact dates yet to be determined. Serious applicants will spend a weekend (at Rotary expense) at the Bradford Woods retreat located north of Martinsville, Indiana. After a weekend of interviews and interactive activities the final team will be chosen from the applicant pool.

Roger Fisher invites all inquiries from anyone with interest. He can be reached during the day at Budget Print shop by phone at 812-282-8832 or by cell phone at 502-299-8832. His e-mail address is Budgetprint@insightbb.com.

Fisher points out that the people of the Netherlands are very much known for being at the forefront of modern engineering, architecture, future farming methods, and on environmental practices which are serving as working models for the rest of the countries around the world. Theirs is a small, closed society that due to size and population can quickly initiate new ideas and technologies. Anyone taking this trip might well find themselves taking a look into the future in some areas.

As a personal note I would advise anyone who can spare the 28 days from their everyday life and work and has interest to give the application process a shot. I remember thinking it all sounded too good to be true- and in some ways it was. I took a shot in the dark and one early morning as the sun erased the darkness from a faraway sky- I awoke in India!

***************

Lindon Dodd is an Otisco resident who is a freelance writer and can be reached at lindon.dodd@hotmail.com

The Jeffersonville Rotary Club is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. We have 105 members from very diverse business and personal backgrounds. Our membership is involved in all aspects of local government, business ownership, business management, and retired business leaders. We have representation in a great number of community affiliations, not-for-profit boards, and are involved with community events and activities.

Have a look at their website: http://www.jeffrotary.org

About Interact

2009-10-27T16:21:00.002-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of September 7, 2009

About Interact

Learning about both Rotaract and Interact is important in this month of Rotary New Generations.

Also, World Interact Week is November 2 -8, 2009. Does the club have an Interact program scheduled?

Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 14 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting.

Club membership varies greatly. Clubs can be single gender or mixed, large or small. They can draw from the student body of a single school or from two or more schools in the same community.

Each year, Interact clubs complete at least two community service projects, one of which furthers international understanding and goodwill. Through these efforts, Interactors develop a network of friendships with local and overseas clubs and learn the importance of

• Developing leadership skills and personal integrity
• Demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others
• Understanding the value of individual responsibility and hard work
• Advancing international understanding and goodwill

As one of the most significant and fastest-growing programs of Rotary service, with more than 10,700 clubs in 109 countries and geographical areas, Interact has become a worldwide phenomenon. Almost 200,000 young people are involved in Interact.

For more information about Interact read the Interact Handbook and the Interact Brochure - both to be found on the Rotary International website – www.rotary.org.

About Rotaract

2009-10-27T16:08:00.004-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of August 31, 2009

About Rotaract

With September fast upon us as Rotary New Generations Month, it might be helpful to review what is Rotaract.

Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true "partners in service" and key members of the family of Rotary.

The purpose of the Rotaract Club is to provide an opportunity for young men and women to enhance the knowledge and skills that will assist them in personal development, to address the physical and social needs of their communities, and to promote better relations between all people worldwide through a framework of friendship and service, and whose goals are:

a) To develop professional and leadership skills;

b) To emphasize respect for the rights of others, and to promote ethical standards and the dignity of all useful occupations;

c) To provide opportunities for young people to address the needs and concerns of the community and our world;

d) To provide opportunities for working in cooperation with sponsoring Rotary clubs;

e) To motivate young people for eventual membership in Rotary.

As one of Rotary’s most significant and fastest-growing service programs, with more than 7,000 clubs in about 163 countries and geographical areas, Rotaract has become a worldwide phenomenon.

How does it work?

All Rotaract efforts begin at the local, grassroots level, with members addressing their communities’ physical and social needs while promoting international understanding and peace through a framework of friendship and service.
What are some other opportunities available to Rotaractors?

Rotaractors may also

• Assist in organizing Interact clubs or mentor Interactors
• Participate in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
• Become Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars or Group Study Exchange team members
• Seek membership in their local Rotary club

Rotaractors are encouraged to keep their contact information current.

How can I learn more?

The Rotary Club should be very much involved with any club that it sponsors. Plan to share projects with the Rotaractors – let their enthusiasm for service wash over some of the older, more sedate Rotarians.

Also, you can visit the Rotaract Discussion Forum to view or participate in conversations about club projects and activities with Rotaractors from around the world.

• Download the Rotaract Handbook (PDF) and the Rotaract Brochure (PDF).
• Read more about Rotaract events.
• Read about Rotaract twin clubs.
• Read about outstanding Rotaract projects.

Other resources available for download from www.rotary.org

• Rotaract Constitution and Bylaws (PDF)
• Rotaract Presidential Citation Form (PDF)
• Rotaract Statement of Policy (PDF)
• Current Quarterly Worldwide Rotaract Statistics (PDF)

Growing Rotary – Sharing the Magic

2009-08-27T18:11:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-27T18:10:00.003-04:00

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.

***************
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

2009-08-27T18:09:00.003-04:00

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.

********

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

A Bit About Rotary Zones

2009-08-27T18:04:00.004-04:00

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 –

2009-08-27T18:03:00.002-04:00

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)

***********
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

2009-08-27T18:00:00.002-04:00

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.

**************

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.

Onwards and Upwards! Fundraising for a good cause!

2009-07-14T09:05:00.006-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of July 13, 2009

Onwards and upwards! Fundraising for a good cause!

Just as many participate in a Relay for Life (for cancer), Anguilla – and even all of the Caribbean – could begin a Relay for Diabetes Awareness – organizing a similar type of event.

**************

Relay For Life (often shortened to Relay) is a fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, and is now held in many other countries. It is an overnight event designed to spread awareness of cancer prevention, treatments and cures, celebrate survivorship and raise money for research to find more cures for cancer. In 2007, Relay For Life raised over $405 million. The largest per capita fundraiser for a college or university is Loyola College in Maryland.

The Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It is an opportunity to get together with family and friends and celebrate cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost to cancer, and fight back in the hope of finding a cure for this terrible disease.

Relay is fun, fulfilling, and your participation gives strength to our mission to eradicate cancer. The walk is an inspirational 12-hour overnight event as we come together and fight to make cancer history.

**********

…from www.diabetesvoice.org...

The people of the Caribbean region are facing a serious threat to health which will potentially overwhelm healthcare systems in the small and relatively poor countries of the region.

It is estimated that by the year 2010, the number of people with diabetes in the Caribbean will reach 20 million. Diabetes prevalence in the area is projected to increase to approximately 25% of the adult population.

Debbie Jones (Coordinator of the Diabetes Centre and Coordinator of clinical trials at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Hamilton, Bermuda. She is a Vice-President of the International Diabetes Federation) reports on a training initiative which is aimed at reducing this health burden through the development and promotion of diabetes education programmes in the Caribbean region.

The Declaration of the Americas on Diabetes (DOTA), a coalition of diabetes-related organizations which was founded in 1996 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), advocates the promotion of diabetes education for people with the condition.

DOTA recognizes that diabetes education is an indispensable aspect of treatment in order to ensure the active participation of people with diabetes in the control and effective treatment of their condition. In many countries in the Regions of South and Central America and North America, diabetes education programmes are nonexistent.

From http://www.paho.org...

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing globally. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the forecast from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the prevalence of diabetes will increase from 34 million in 2000 to 64 million in 2025.

Diabetes is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among the elderly and it is known to increase disability and premature mortality. Given the ageing process taking place in most developing countries, diabetes will soon become a demand health problem.

The cost of diabetes in Latin America and the Caribbean was estimated at $65 billion in 2002.

World Diabetes Day, November 14th, is the primary global awareness campaign for those involved in diabetes. The number of individuals with diabetes mellitus in Anguilla is escalating and the entire population must be made aware of this, as well as the consequences of this on the entire population. The theme of World Diabetes Day for 2008 is “Diabetes in young and Adolescents.”

From http://www.festival.ai...

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood, and type 2 diabetes in children is becoming a global public health issue with potential serious outcomes. The number of children and adolescents in Anguilla with diabetes is increasing rapidly, and it is hoped that focus on diabetes will raise awareness of the disease as well as help individuals to recognize the signs in children and how to prevent complications. It is hoped that individuals will be encouraged to live healthy lifestyles to help prevent type 2 diabetes in children and adults as well.

Diabetes can strike children of any age, even toddlers and babies. If not detected early enough in a child, the disease can be fatal or result in serious brain damage. Yet diabetes in a child is often completely overlooked: it is often misdiagnosed as the flu or it is not diagnosed at all. Children and adolescents with a strong family history of diabetes should be screened for diabetes.

Types of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus occurs as a result of problems with the production and supply of the hormone insulin in the body. The body needs insulin to use the energy stored in food. When someone has diabetes they produce no or insufficient insulin (type 1 diabetes), or their body cannot use effectively the insulin they produce (type 2 diabetes).

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that cannot be prevented. Globally it is the most common form of diabetes in children, affecting around 500,000 of them under 15. However, as a result of increasing childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyles, type 2 diabetes is also increasing fast in children and adolescents. Type 2 diabetes has been reported in children as young as eight and reports reveal that it now exists in children thought previously not to be at risk.

Signs and symptoms of diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents

Children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes might have few or no symptoms of diabetes. The following symptoms and signs might be present:

• Frequent urination
• Excessive thirst
• Increased hunger
• Weight loss
• Tiredness
• Lack of interest and concentration
• Blurred vision
• Vomiting and stomach pain (often mistaken as the flu)

Prevention and management

We are not show what are the main causes for the increasing number of children and adolescents who develop diabetes in Anguilla, but the fact that more children and adolescents are overweight and obese might be a leading factor. Much more must be done as a community to address the growing problem of overweight and obesity in our young children and adolescents. Parental involvement is crucial if our children and adolescents are to develop healthy lifestyles.

Once children and adolescents are diagnosed with diabetes, they should monitor their blood sugar regularly to help control their diabetes. Prevention of complications of poor glucose control is very important. Proper diet, regular exercise and adherence to medications are key to allowing individuals with diabetes to live successful lives. All individuals with diabetes should have regular medical check-ups as well.

Conclusion

Diabetes is a growing health problem in Anguilla. The number of children and adolescents with diabetes is increasing at alarming rates. We must do more to prevent diabetes from developing and for those with diabetes we must promote measures to prevent complications of poor glucose control.

Ask Your Doctor is a health education column and is not a substitute for medical advice from your physician. Dr. Brett Hodge is an obstetrician/gynaecologist and family doctor who has over twenty years in clinical practice.

Dr. Hodge has a medical practice in the Johnson Building in The Valley.

Rotary Elixir - Week of July 1, 2009

2009-07-14T08:57:00.006-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of June 29, 2009

Local Rotary will help build prenatal clinic in Nepal
…from the Chillicothe Gazette.com

BY LOREN GENSON • Gazette Staff Writer • July 1, 2009

Dr. Biplav Yadav, a physician at Family Health Care in Chillicothe, was raised in the Maleth Village Development Committee, a rural community with six small villages and a total population of 12,000 in the Saptari District of southeastern Nepal, about 220 miles southeast of Kathmandu, the capital city.

He hopes the new 2,500 square foot facility planned will help provide better health care for women and children, and hopefully the community at large.

Ashtha Singh, left, sings a traditional Nepalese song with her brother Ilesh Singh at the Rotary Club's Nepal Night. (Loren Genson/Gazette)

"I have been there, and I saw the hardships these people face," said Yadav, whose father and other family members still farm in Nepal. "The nearest health facility is one to two hours away and many die on the way, or can't afford to go."

The First Capital Rotary Club, based in Chillicothe, Ohio, has teamed up with Yadav's foundation, the International Health Foundation to help construct the facility. Rotary President Randy Davies said they are working with Rotary International and their chapter near Kathmandu to help raise money for the center.

"Our national goal this year is to help child mortality rates around the world," Davies said at a Rotary Club "Nepal Night" featuring traditional Nepalese entertainment and food. "We want to help make sure children can be born in a safe and clean environment."

The facility would provide neo-natal, pregnancy and other medical support for the women and children in the community.

"Ninety-nine percent of deliveries are in the home," Yadav said, adding many homes have mud walls and a thatched roof. "For neo-natal care, there is usually none."
Child mortality rates are also high in the poor and underdeveloped community, where water is provided by a well.

"Upper respiratory infections is the leading cause of infant death, which is something we can easily treat," Yadav said.

The center would be staffed with four people including health assistants, which is similar to a physicians assistant in the United States, and midwives to deliver the babies.
"They are not doctors, but they are able to write prescriptions and can help treat the people," Yadav said.

Rotary said the cost to staff the center and provide medicine supplies is about $6,000 a year, and it plans to make a commitment to support the center yearly.
"We will get some money from Rotary International and also get some grants to help keep the facility running," Davies said.

Health education and immunization also will be important goals, Yadav said. Diseases such as polio, which can easily be prevented, still are seen in the community. Once constructed, the center will be the first brick building in the community.
"This is going to be a really important resource for these people, and there is hope to possibly expand the facility to include an Urgent Care type of facility," Davies said.

***************

The Chillicothe First Capital Club (Ohio, USA) has about 26 members. District 6690. They meet every Thursday morning at 7:00 a.m. at the Pump House Center for the Arts in Chillicothe’s Yoctangee Park. The art gallery presents a unique setting for each meeting. Breakfast is served and everyone is invited to visit and become a member of this club.

Rotary Lives Here - A unique project for a Rotary District!

2009-03-06T21:06:00.002-05:00

Rotary Lives Here – A unique project for a Rotary District!

…and many individual ideas for individual clubs!

33 Rotary Clubs in Northern Missouri Participated in District 6040’s Rotary Lives Here Service Day - September 20, 2008

Thirty-three Rotary Clubs in Northern Missouri conducted 39 service projects in their respective communities on September 20, 2008. Rotary service projects include bike safety checks, diaper drives, child ID testing and handing out infant car seats.

Kansas City, MO (PRWEB) September 20, 2008 -- Thirty-three Rotary clubs in Northern Missouri will be conducting 39 community service projects during Rotary District 6040's Rotary Lives Here Service Day on September. 20, 2008. District 6040 represents 53 Rotary clubs in Northern Missouri from Kansas City to Kirksville.

The District's Service Day projects support Rotary International's goal to (a) Enhance child safety and well-being and (2) Reduce child mortality worldwide. The projects range from bike safety training to offering budgeting and life skills training for teenage mothers. The community service projects include:

-- Blue Springs Rotary will help build a Habitat for Humanity house.
-- Eastern Independence Rotary is conducting two projects: (1) One is a "Bears on Patrol" project where members are collecting stuffed animals for first responders to give to children affected by trauma; their goal is to collect 400 bears; (2) The second project is "StarRight Teen MOMs Program” where club members will provide budgeting and life skills seminar for teenage moms.
-- Higginsville Rotary will be responsible cleaning up the entire downtown area following the Higginsville Country Fair.
-- Kansas City Plaza Rotary Club is collecting diapers to deliver to Operation Breakthrough.
-- Kirksville Thousand Hills Rotary will sponsor its 2nd Annual Chicken on a Stick fundraiser during the Red Barn Arts Festival.
-- Lee's Summit Sunrise Rotary will be partnering with Hope House and a local grocer to solicit donations of "life's essentials" products, including diapers and paper products.
-- Liberty Rotary will offer safe Halloween trick-or-treating tips at the opening weekend of Carolyn's Pumpkin Patch.
-- Parkville Rotary is collecting used luggage to give to children in crisis. The "Used Luggage for Kids in Crisis Day" is September 19.
-- Platte City Rotary will partner with local YMCA to offer skateboard and bicycle safety tips.
-- Princeton Rotary will offer DNA child ID protection services during the Princeton annual festival
-- Raytown Rotary is collecting diapers, diaper wipes, children's vitamins, peanut butter and jelly for a local emergency assistance program.
-- South Platte Rotary will provide "PhotoFacts" booklets from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children/Kansas City branch to children and their parents and grandparents during the Riverside Festival in Riverside.
-- St. Joseph Rotary is conducting two projects: (1) Club members will pack backpacks for America's Second Harvest Foodbank's Backpack Buddies program for needy children in the city. Their goal is pack 1,000 backpacks. (2) The second project is a partnership with the Red Cross where members will help the Red Cross with a child CPR class.
-- St. Joseph Southside Rotary is partnering with the St. Joseph Safety Council and bilingual police personnel to provide infant car seats to St. Hoe's Hispanic community and to offer car seat checks during the Annual Southside Festival. Tarkio Rotary will install a bike rack at the Tarkio Resource Center.
-- Trenton Rotary will partner with the local police department to offer a bike safety course.

"Rotary is a service-oriented organization and the clubs in Northern Missouri are demonstrating Rotary's ability to come together on one day to provide important community service projects aimed at helping children," said District 6040 Governor Elizabeth Usovicz. "Rotarians are committed to giving back to their communities in a way that makes an impact. It is very exciting to see 60 percent of our 54 clubs, from Kansas City to Rock Port to Kirksville, participating in District 6040's Rotary Lives Here Service Day."

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. For more information on Rotary District 6040, visit www.rotary6040.org.

Source: http://www.prnewsnow.com/

Opportunities for Fellowship in Rotary

2009-03-06T21:01:00.001-05:00

Most Rotarians are successful professional and business executives because they hear opportunities knock and take advantage of them. Once a week, the opportunity for Rotary fellowship occurs at each club meeting, but not all members hear it knocking.

The weekly club meeting is a special privilege of Rotary membership. It provides the occasion to visit with fellow members, meet visitors and new members, and share personal friendship with other members.

Rotary clubs that have a reputation for being “friendly” clubs usually follow a few simple steps.

• Members are encouraged to sit in a different seat or at a different table each week or to sit with a member they may not know very well.
• Members are asked to invite new members or visitors to join their table and share the conversation rather than merely eating in silence or talking privately to the person next to them.

To further enhance club fellowship, Rotarians should also make a special point of trying to get acquainted with all members of the club.

When Rotarians follow these easy steps, an entirely new opportunity for fellowship knocks each week. Soon, Rotarians realize that warm friendship is the cornerstone of every great Rotary club.

Ask yourself: Is our club a “friendly” club?

<…source The ABCs of Rotary>

Do you know the history of the Four-Way Test?

2009-03-06T20:48:00.006-05:00

When the Great Depression hit in 1930, many Rotarians faced the greatest challenge of their lives. There was no better time to test for ethical conduct than during such a dire economic crisis and the scramble to survive.

Herbert J. Taylor, a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago, was asked to take over the near-bankrupt Club Aluminum Company in 1932. It was a last-ditch effort to save the company, which had no money, low employee morale, and ruthless competition from other firms in similar straits.

Taylor used his Rotary background to draft a 24-word code of conduct. He used this code of conduct to guide all his daily decisions. He found this ethical compass so helpful that he called all the department heads together and asked them to do the same. The code had four points, so Taylor called it The Four-Way Test:

“Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?”

Club Aluminum applied The Four-Way Test to its dealings with employees, customers, dealers, and suppliers. It deliberately walked away from business that, while profitable, would have failed one or more of its standards.

The company’s fortunes turned around; it eliminated its debt, and over the next 15 years paid out $1 million in dividends while building a net worth of $2 million. Herb Taylor credited The Four-Way Test.

The RI Board voted to officially adopt The Four-Way Test in 1943. When Herb Taylor became RI president in 1954, he donated the copyright of the test to the organization. The test has been translated into the languages of more than 100 countries.

-- A Japanese Rotary club printed The Four-Way Test on umbrellas for passengers at railway stations.
-- The Rotary Club of Bayswater, Victoria, Australia, sponsored an essay and poster contest among the town’s 11- to 14-year olds using as its theme “A man’s struggle with his conscience.”
-- NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin planted a Four-Way Test pin on the Moon’s surface.
-- In Meerut, India, the Rotary club erected a stone pillar next to the highway, inscribed with The Four-Way Test
-- Similar monuments were built in public parks by Rotary clubs in Brazil, Japan, and the Philippines.

The Four-Way Test has appeared in gymnasiums, courtrooms, and labour contracts. Today, the test appears on highway billboards, in schoolrooms and halls of government, and on the walls of businesses the world over.

...source: A Century of Service (David C. Forward)

Weekly Elixir - March 10, 2008

2008-03-05T17:07:00.006-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week beginning March 10, 2008

When words fail
By Jeff Cade
The Rotarian

________________________________________

John Corcoran achieved professional success without being able to read and write. After 48 years, he learned to read, and is now working to end illiteracy in North America through his California, USA, based foundation.

Photo courtesy of John Corcoran

How Rotary is helping Johnny (and Jenny) read

John Corcoran prayed a lot when he was in Catholic grade school: “I used to pray, ‘Dear, God, when it comes my turn, please let me be able to read the words.”
Suffering from an undiagnosed learning disability, Corcoran sat in the back row, called the “dumb row.” But he was athletic and good in math. So Corcoran charmed, lied, cheated, and even bought his way through high school and college, eventually becoming a teacher and successful real estate investor. All without ever learning to read and write. It wasn’t until he was 48 that he learned to read through a community learning center.

Now, through the John Corcoran Foundation, based in Oceanside, California, USA, he works to end illiteracy in North America. And he’s even gone on to write two books, including a best-selling memoir, The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read.

Losing ground

When most North Americans hear about illiteracy, they think it’s a problem in other parts of the world. Given that every U.S. and Canadian child has the opportunity to attend school, literacy rates ought to be much higher, Corcoran and others observe. But poverty, undiagnosed learning disabilities, and sometimes even the education system itself are to blame for more and more children slipping through the cracks.

The effects of low levels of literacy continue into adulthood. The National Endowment for the Arts released a report last November that showed correlations between income disparity and the decline of reading. Adult illiteracy in the United States alone carries a $17 billion per year price tag in lost income and tax revenue, welfare, unemployment, crime, and training costs in business.

Mike Chittom, of the Rotary Club of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, has seen the effects of illiteracy firsthand in a third-grade classroom at a local school, which his club supports through a mentoring project. “If every Rotary club could get involved with a school, there is no telling what we could accomplish,” Chittom says.

RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson, of Canada, has made fighting illiteracy an emphasis for Rotarians and appointed an RI Literacy Resource Group to encourage and support clubs in developing literacy projects.

“[Literacy is] the next progression of what the world needs,” Wilkinson says. “We know water is the key issue. Once they have good water, they can have good health. When they have good health, they can go to school, become literate.”

Wilkinson wrote the foreword to Corcoran’s forthcoming book, Bridge to Literacy: No Child or Adult Left Behind. Corcoran lauds Rotary’s efforts, calling them an “exciting development” and noting that “Rotarians are known for their commitment to humanitarian goals and their drive to achieve them.”

An ‘epidemic’ of illiteracy

The illiteracy problem isn’t new. More than half a century ago, Rudolf Flesch published Why Johnny Can’t Read: And What You Can Do about It. “In the years since, the malady revealed by Flesch has grown to epidemic proportions in which nearly one-third of all U.S. school children have serious literacy deficits,” wrote William J. Moloney, Colorado’s commissioner of education, in a USA Today editorial in 2006.
Poverty and illiteracy are ideal partners. The environment of poverty makes it difficult for children to succeed. And success, when it comes, is often short lived.

The U.S. Department of Education found that even though reading skills improved modestly among fourth to eighth graders in the past 15 years – with the largest jump occurring, ironically, before No Child Left Behind went into effect – by 12th grade, reading scores fell and reading proficiency dropped as well.

The education system is failing many students, spouting a fountain of criticism: Colleges often fail to train new teachers to develop classroom programs that work and fit the needs of every student, and teachers aren’t given the support, resources, pay, or respect for the autonomy necessary to cope with their situation.

Teachers need school settings where they are freed from a script that tells them what to do and say, says Susi Long, assistant chair of the National Council of Teachers of English’s Elementary Section Steering Committee. “Publishers who develop programs can’t possibly know children in each classroom and their needs,” she says. To many children, the material isn’t meaningful. Yet teaching from the text of prescribed programs is more prevalent now, Long says.

Taking action

“Children are told it’s their fault they can’t learn,” Corcoran says. “The child feels the shame and gets the blame. It’s a form of child neglect and child abuse.” Rotary wants that to stop.

“So, how do we do that?” Wilkinson says. “We looked for ways to help in North America. Despite the fact that we have fine schools, we still need help.”

Impressed by the results of a pilot literacy project that linked Rotary clubs with Computer-Assisted Literacy Solution (CALS), Wilkinson negotiated a reduced rate for access to the online program. “It enables users of any age to quickly improve their English language and math skills in a measurable way. I’m encouraging other clubs to get involved [with CALS],” he says. “That doesn’t mean we don’t have other great [literacy] programs, but we are attracting new members with this one.”

Corcoran recognizes the potential. “I viewed Rotary as a sleeping giant, but I sense an awakening,” he says. Corcoran has spoken to many Rotary clubs on his lecture circuit. Rotary, in partnership with the International Reading Association, has created a new resource, called Every School a Star, to help Rotarians select and implement school-based literacy projects. Adopt-a-school programs vary in size and scope, but Rotarians in cities throughout North America dedicate themselves to tutoring, mentoring, and teaching to help lift children out of illiteracy.

As hard as it is to reach all the children who need help learning to read, getting them to keep reading is another quest. Book and dictionary drives, which some Rotary clubs are involved with, help provide age-appropriate books to children who live in areas that simply don’t have them. In Canada, England, and the United States, Rotary clubs are working with singer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which buys books for each child born in participating communities. In Arizona, USA, the Rotary Club of Tucson’s Reading Seed program provides books and volunteer reading coaches to students in grades 1-3.

Is Corcoran optimistic that volunteer groups can bridge the gap? “The fires of illiteracy have not been contained, so I do get discouraged sometimes,” he says, citing the political and institutional barriers to literacy. But he remains hopeful that Rotary can make a difference.

“Many of these children have nobody but us,” Chittom says. Wilkinson says current global crises give him a sense of urgency. “A better educated and informed population can make better decisions,” he says. “Literacy is the final key to helping people help themselves.”

Jeff Cade is a freelance writer based in Phoenix.

Weekly Elixir - March 3, 2008

2008-03-05T17:03:00.002-05:00

ROTARY CLUB OF ANGUILLA INDUCTS THREE NEW MEMBERS

Because this year’s goal has been to increase club membership throughout the world, this article is important and very much in tune with this year’s motto Share Rotary.

We must not rest with this situation. We must

• Get every one of our members totally involved in Rotary
• Get every one of our members enthusiastic about sharing Rotary
• Continue to help our club grow
• Become active in the community with viable and helpful community projects
• Focus on international projects
• Continue to support the Rotary Foundation

***************
The Rotary Club of Anguilla has increased its membership recently by three members. Two have returned after a period away, and another has joined as a first-time member of the Anguilla Club.

Shown in the photograph are new members Lindel Brookes, Classification Dentistry; Oliver Brooks, Classification Construction; Harris Richardson, Classification Electronics. President Seymour Hodge introduced the new members to the club, and Rotarian Yvette Wallace “pinned” each new member.

Rotary Club members are expected to participate in the service activities of the club, attend the weekly meetings, and adhere to the high ethical standards of fellow Rotarians around the world.

Rotary offers opportunities for humanitarian service in the local community or in the international community. Rotarians who participate in service opportunities can contribute to improvements in health care and the environment, and can try to eliminate hunger, poverty, and illiteracy. If you are interested in joining Rotary, or would like more information, please contact any local Rotarian. The club meets on Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m. upstairs at the English Rose.

Weekly Elixir - February 24, 2008

2008-03-05T16:56:00.005-05:00

Weekly Elixir - Rotary Club of Anguilla
---for week of February 24, 2008

District 7190 Polar Bears warm up after their end-polio plunge.

From left: Past District Governor Anne Cargile, District Governor-elect Mike Popolizio, and District Governor Harriet Noble.
(Photo courtesy of Harriet Noble )

In the push to finish polio, Rotarians are pressing ahead with Rotary’s US$100 Million Challenge to match the $100 million grant received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The nearly 33,000 Rotary clubs in the world are each being asked to contribute at least $1,000 annually for three years.

On New Year’s Day 2008, 20 hardy District 7190 (New York, USA) Rotarians, dubbed the “Polar Bears,” plunged into the frigid waters of Lake George to raise $25,000 in support of Rotary’s challenge.

“There is really no way to look very elegant when you jump into 33-degree [Fahrenheit] water, but we raised a ton of money and major awareness for Rotary and polio,” says District Governor Harriet Noble. “Too cool, no pun intended.”

Until Rotary’s challenge is met and polio is eradicated worldwide, the Polar Bears say they’ll continue their frosty dips into Lake George, inspired by their founder, Don Wildermuth, of the Rotary Club of Wilton.

The Rotary Club of Parker, Colorado, USA, has raised more than $6,000 for the challenge by contributing $50 per member from its service fund and matching each additional member contribution up to $25 from its foundation.

“A number of members of the Parker club have either had polio or have watched loved ones suffer and die from polio,” says club president Bill Shriver. “The club believes that no human being anywhere should suffer from this crippling and sometimes fatal disease. Eliminating suffering is what Rotary is all about.”

Hundreds of community projects helped fuel the previous polio eradication fundraising campaign in 2002-03. Among them, Rotarians ran in the Los Angeles Marathon, bicycled from Russia to the Netherlands, sponsored theater performances in Tokyo, skydived over England, auctioned off artwork in India, sold staterooms for a Canada-to-Alaska cruise, and individually sold 2,000 pieces of a puzzle in Turkey depicting Mother Teresa immunizing a child. Here are some ways your club or district can set its creative wheels in motion:

-- Auction or raffle off a luxury car, boat, house built as a vocational service project, vacation packages, tickets to sports events.

-- Create special items for sale, including CDs, DVDs, cookbooks, craftwork, and Push to End Polio T-shirts, bumper stickers, and toy bears.

-- Organize special events such as a walkathon, telethon, golf tournament, car rally, festival, fun fair, flea market, variety show.

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Source: www.rotary.org

Weekly Elixir - February 18, 2008

2008-02-16T13:15:00.002-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week beginning February 11, 2008

Q&A with RI President-elect Dong Kurn Lee

Last week, we looked back. This week we look forward to Rotary Year, 2008-2009. The Rotary International President for 2008-09 is from Korea – Dong Kurn Lee, known as D.K. Lee.

***********

RI President-elect Dong Kurn Lee sat down with Vince Aversano, editor in chief of The Rotarian, to talk about how he plans to tackle his year in office as RI’s first Korean president. Get a sneak peek at the interview and look for the full story in the March issue of The Rotarian.

[Q] President-elect Lee, what would you hope to accomplish next year as president?

I would like to see progress made in polio, both in terms of meeting the Gates [Foundation] challenge grant and in reducing the number of polio-endemic countries.

I would also like to see child mortality, the terrible tragedy of preventable deaths of children, become something that every Rotarian is aware of. Every day, 30,000 children under the age of five die, most of them from preventable causes like measles, malaria, and pneumonia. I want people to realize that every day, a disaster of this size is happening. But it is also important to remember how much we have already done, and how far we have come. Children do not die of smallpox anymore, and soon they will not have polio. With the challenge grant from the Gates Foundation, we have a real chance of ending polio completely in the next few years. I see the work of eradicating polio as a key part of my focus on child mortality.

Many of the projects that Rotarians are already involved in, in the areas of water, health and hunger, and literacy, already save the lives of countless children every year. I believe that by focusing our efforts on decreasing child mortality through work in these three emphases, we will be able to make a real difference in the number of children who survive to adulthood.

[Q] What image of Rotary should be projected today? Should the emphasis be on business networking potential or on humanitarian projects?

I do not think it is a choice between one and the other. Rotary has to be seen as a whole. Rotary was founded as a business networking tool, and service came after that. Service is now our primary focus, but that does not mean Rotary’s role in business should be minimized. Rotarians should be in Rotary because they want to give, but we can and should also acknowledge the many benefits to Rotary membership.

[Q] Why do you feel the Rotary Youth Exchange program is so important?

It helps young people comprehend the world better. For young people, especially when they are living with host families, it is a kind of experience — an immersion experience — that cannot be duplicated. It brings rewards that are lifelong and benefits that reach far beyond that one individual.

When I was a young man, I spent two years in California. I was a student, and I also worked as a busboy on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. You could not imagine anything more different from my home village in Korea. Everyone was different, everything was different — the food, the people, the language. It completely changed how I saw the world, and it formed who I became in later life. I think I would still have joined Rotary, but I would not have understood it as well.

[Q] What inspired your choice of Make Dreams Real as the RI theme?

Part of why Rotary is so exciting for me is that we are able to do more through Rotary than we could do alone. We can do more as a club than we could as an individual, we can do more as a district than we could do as a club, and when you look at all of global Rotary, you can really dream big dreams. No one individual or even one government, no matter how powerful, could have done what we have done in polio eradication. In this year, my dream is that together we will be able to save the lives of children. That is my own dream. Part of that dream is knowing that children will be able to survive, to grow up healthy, to have better chances, to be able to see their own dreams become real in their lives.

Source: Rotary International News - 8 February 2008

Weekly Elixir - February 11, 2008

2008-02-16T12:15:00.002-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week beginning February 11, 2008

Because this is the month to celebrate the founding of Rotary (February 23, 1905), it may be of interest to learn about Rotarian #5. Who was Rotarian #5?

HOW SINGING CAME TO ROTARY, AND OFF-COLOUR JOKES DID NOT

Almost everyone who is a member of a Rotary club for more than a year knows that rotary member No. 5, Chicago printer Harry Ruggles, brought singing to Rotary meetings. What almost no one knows is why, and most don’t know how important it was to the life of Rotary.

Harry Ruggles was a very moral man. He detested off-colour language, malicious innuendo and classless humour. He argued in club meetings for clean language. Little more than a year after Rotary had been formed, at an evening meeting in 1906, the guest speaker began a story. Having heard it before, Harry also had heard the off-colour ending, and felt it was inappropriate for the club, so he jumped up in the middle of the joke and yelled, “Come on boys, let’s sing!” He then led the club in the singing of “Let me Call You Sweetheart.”

This was not only the first time that members had ever sung in Rotary, but apparently, also the first time that a group of businessmen ever sang at a business meeting, anywhere. By his surprising actions at this evening meeting, Harry demonstrated that demeaning activities and off-colour stories were not welcome at Rotary gatherings. “It was reported at the time that the would-be speaker was embarrassed and sore,” and so Harry Ruggles apologized but the club backed him up. Right then and there, it was decided that all subsequent Rotary meetings should be conducted so that any woman could attend without being embarrassed. This has been the unwritten rule ever since, just as the tradition of singing has endured.

Dirty words were not the only controversy in the early days of Rotary. Oren Arnold, in The Golden Strand, revealed, “The time came, repeatedly, when Paul Harris was faced with failure, for one reason or another – or for no real reason – the club often was at the point of disbanding. On such critical occasions, Harry stepped up front and shouted, “Come on, fellows, let’s sing!”

Was it the magic of Harry Ruggles and his music that worked? Was it his infectious enthusiasm for singing? Or, just maybe some of the reasons for its use had more to do with easing barriers between men, and ending acrimonious discussions than a need for choral music.

History has proven that it was, and is, good magic for clubs anywhere, for families anywhere, for groups of people anywhere. Arnold continues, “After all, clubs are simply families, when they move in divergent paths, group singing often is the best way to reassemble them. Harry Ruggles knew that, hence the parent unit and the whole service club movement is indebted to him.”

Source: http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/leaders/ruggles/index.htm

Weekly Elixir - February 3, 2008

2008-02-16T12:11:00.002-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of February 3, 2008

Rotary works because of its members. Some of the Rotarians you will meet at the District Conference in Nassau in May will be featured in a few Rotary Elixirs in the next few weeks.

The first is Barry Rassin.

• Highest Rotary Position Director, 2006-2008

• 1991-92 Governor, District 7020

• Rotary Leadership Institute – Sunshine Division (Position Faculty; Faculty Trainer; District 7020 RLI Director)

Biography

Born in London, England Barry moved to Nassau, Bahamas as an infant. He got his BBA from the University of Miami and his MBA in Healthcare from the University of Florida.

He worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach until he went home to Nassau in 1979. Today he is the President and CEO of Doctor’s Hospital Health System
in Nassau and is the only Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in his country.

Civic

Barry was recognized with the National Award of Health Hero by the Bahamas Ministry of Health and PAHO. He has served over the years in the following civic positions:

• Chairman of Project Read
• Vice Chairman of Safe Bahamas
• Chairman of the Quality Council of The Bahamas
• Honorary President of the Star of the Bahamas Charity Guide
• Barry even enjoyed being a judge for the Miss Bahamas Beauty Pageant

Barry’s Rotary Philosophy

Rotary has been the biggest influence in Barry’s life after his family. He has found that the more he gives to Rotary, the more he can help people and the more he grows as a person.

Each year, Rotarians around the world bring us closer to achieving our goal of World Peace and Understanding. However, the world is still full of conflict that Rotarians must continue to recognize and influence. This philosophy had been demonstrated since he joined the Rotary Club of East Nassau in 1980 where he worked up the club positions and served as its 1987088 President.

As 1991-92 District Governor, Barry learned about the greater world of Rotary within the District’s ten countries, and has been the DG Council Secretary, Polio Plus Chairman, and District Trainer.

Prior to being selected as a Director of Rotary International, Barry has served in various Zone and Rotary International positions including Coordinator for Rapid Disaster Relief, Polio Plus, and Health and Hunger, but his primary role has been within the area of Training. He has served as RI Training Leader, RI Training Leader’s Seminar Trainer and Chairman for RI Leadership Education, Development and Training. He is a member of the Action Planning Team for the RI Strategic Goal related to Training in 2005-06, and has represented the President of RI at a number of District Conferences.

Barry received the Service Above Self Award and was given the Charlie Braham Achievement Award in Jamaica. Barry is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, Major Donor, Benefactor, and Bequest Society member.

As a bonus question: Can you name the 10 countries in District 7020?

Weekly Elixir - January 28, 2008

2008-02-16T12:10:00.001-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of January 28, 2008

Why I am a Rotarian – April 11, 2006

By Glenn Estess, Sr., RI President, 2004-2005

He wrote Why I am a Rotarian in April, 2006. His short essay follows – and I hope it will give you some idea of why you are a Rotarian – and why you should Share Rotary with many others in this community.

************

Rotarians are a diverse group of people, from different background and often of different cultures. We have learned firsthand that Rotary does contribute to better understanding among people. Each experience adds to our number of special friends.

When I witness the joy of a child and the appreciation of the mother as a result of our club providing a small playground at a local children’s hospital, when I talk with young people about career and educational opportunities, I know my Rotary efforts are worthwhile.

And then, most of all, the fellowship, friendship and sense of unity I experience in my club make me value membership in Shades Valley (Alabama, USA) Rotary above all else, except my church.

I appreciate being part of this, and I am a Rotarian because of it.

Weekly Elixir - January 21, 2008

2008-02-16T12:05:00.003-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of January 21, 2008

During the third plenary session at the International Assembly on Wednesday, January 16, Past RI President Cliff Dochterman emphasized the need for incoming district governors to make membership growth a focal point in the upcoming year.

“Membership in your district will not grow or blossom unless some very necessary steps are taken,” he said. “Rotary’s very survival depends upon it.”

Dochterman outlined three areas in which clubs can expand membership:

• Seek new members for clubs
• Retain current members
• Sponsor new clubs in the community

Who is Cliff Dochterman? Here’s a short bio –

--Cliff Dochterman, RI President 1992-93

--Member Rotary Club of Moraga, California

--Presidential theme: Real Happiness is Helping!

--Author of the “ABCs of Rotary.”

--Recognized by Rotary Global History Fellowship with the 1905 Liberty V. Nickel

--Author of What is a “PHF”

Why I am a Rotarian
By Cliff Dochterman – May 23, 2006

In a single word, Rotary means “opportunities.” Through Rotary membership, you can discover dozens of opportunities to enhance your life and enrich the lives of family and friends. There may be opportunities to establish close friendships with individuals around the world whom you would never have met, except through the magic of Rotary. There are opportunities to share with many others a common beliefe and philosophy of service, without any thought of personal return.

There are opportunities to work side by side with other community leaders whom we highly respect. There are opportunities to stretch your horizons by listening to interesting programs and enjoying the good times at the weekly meetings. There are opportunities to represent your profession and demonstrate how high ethical standards are a vital part of your day-to-day occupation.

There are opportunities to travel into virtually every land and find an open door and a cordial welcome to a totally new world of Rotary fellowship. There are opportunities to make your small part in the world really count through the achievements of the great and noble activities of Rotary’s programs of service. There are opportunities to touch the lives of thousands of people whom you will never know, except through the rewarding glow of satisfaction which comes from knowing that somewhere, someone needed your help, and you took the time to do something. There are opportunities to join in the search for world peace and goodwill through the dynamic work of The Rotary Foundation.

And finally, all of these opportunities add up to one conclusion: Rotary helps you become a better person and makes the quality of your own life just a little richer and more meaningful. What a wonderful experience it is to have all of these opportunities knocking at your door – just because you are a Rotarian.

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Source: www.rotaryhistoryfellowship.org

Weekly Elixir - January 14, 2008

2008-02-16T12:01:00.003-05:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla
…for the week of January 14, 2008

ROTARY TRAINING

All Rotarians should consider attending Rotary Training. What you can learn about Rotary is amazing! But not only that, you can meet so many new people and enjoy friendship, fellowship, and new experiences.

To that end, here are two websites. The first is a Crossword that will test your knowledge about the Rotary Foundation.

Crosswords

The second is a link to photos from the St. Thomas weekend and the get-togethers where we all had a chance to get to know one another!

Photos

On the Winkflash website, click on the first photo in the “folder” to display the photos in the folder. Then click on the green arrow to start the Slideshow.

Share Rotary!

Empowered families strengthen Rotary image - Week of January 7, 2008

2008-01-08T15:05:00.000-05:00

Empowered families strengthen Rotary image – Celebrate the family!
By Maureen Vaught
Rotary International News - 10 December 2007

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Note: This club has/had only 10 members! If a club of this size can make a difference, then so can we! Share Rotary!

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After 75 years, the Rotary Club of Garrettsville-Hiram faced a declining membership and dwindling enthusiasm. But by celebrating family, the club’s 10 members not only strengthened their club, they also helped their community.

Empower the Family Service Project. The Empower the Family service project, now in its fifth year, supports activities that engage and honor families while enhancing Rotary’s image. Its centerpiece is the annual Family Week Celebration, which includes a music festival, carnival, and school-sponsored art, essay, and speech contests. In addition, residents of this small Ohio, USA, town are encouraged to Put Family First one evening and spend time exclusively with their families.

According to club member Amy Crawford, the project has succeeded on many levels:

-- “We have more community involvement with the club.
-- We’ve brought people from surrounding areas together.
-- And we’ve attracted newer, younger members with children of their own to the club.”

Community involvement. It’s also cultivated working relationships between club members and community leaders. Local businesses, churches, governments, libraries, and schools collaborate with the club to sponsor activities throughout the week.

World Peace Parents. Convinced of the project’s global appeal to families and Rotarians alike, Vibert Kesler, chair of the first Family Week Celebration and a former member of the Garrettsville-Hiram club, created World Peace Parents in 2003. This nonprofit organization helps Rotary clubs worldwide carry out similar events in their communities.

To date, clubs in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, USA, have organized family celebrations. And the Rotary clubs of Bombay Bandra, Maharashtra, India, and Muyenga and Port-Bell, Uganda, are working with World Peace Parents to adapt the concept to their cultures.

“This program works especially well for smaller communities and smaller clubs,” Kesler says. “It can really rejuvenate your club.”

Learn more

Weekly Elixir - Happy New Year

2008-01-03T06:22:00.000-05:00

...for the week of January 1, 2008

We can begin the New Year on a “Positive note.”

Please click on the link below to open the page. Or, if that does not work in your email program, copy the link (Ctrl+C) and paste into your browser’s address line.

Click here to view an inspiring story!

A positive note!

Weekly Elixir - December 17, 2007

2008-01-03T06:15:00.001-05:00

‘Tis the Season! Must see!

So, here are two different websites that are a “must-see.” You won’t believe what you see!

What a performance!

These websites feature our very own Rotarians (7 of our regular members) in a very special team event! Don’t miss this! Have a look!

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You have just made a total elf of yourselves. Check it out by clicking the links below.

Click here

and

And here

Merry Christmas to all!
And a Very Happy New Year, 2008!

Weekly Elixir - December 10, 2007

2008-01-03T06:08:00.000-05:00

TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING
Rotary International provides much training for Rotarians.

Sign up to

-- attend a seminar
-- enjoy the fellowship, and
-- learn about Rotary!

District leadership seminar

-- At the district leadership seminar, Rotarians learn how to serve Rotary beyond the club level and how to become the next generation of Rotary leaders.
-- These are the RLI (Rotary Leadership Institute) seminars planned for Distsrict 7020.
-- The next seminar will take place in St. Thomas on the weekend of January 12 and 13.
-- Members of the Anguilla Club who are interested should plan to attend. You will meet others in the District and learn a great deal about Rotary!

District assembly

-- The district assembly prepares incoming club leaders for their year in office.
-- The meeting is also an opportunity for club leaders to meet with district leaders (the district governor-elect, incoming assistant governors, and district committees) who will support club projects and activities.
-- Who participates: Incoming club leaders – presidents-elect and incoming secretaries, treasurers, and committee members

District conference

-- The purpose of the district conference is to advance the Object of Rotary through fellowship, inspirational addresses, and the discussion of matters of importance to Rotary clubs and Rotary International.
-- The conference showcases Rotary programs and successful district and club activities.
-- For Rotarians, the conference is an inspirational celebration and an opportunity to enjoy fellowship.

Join us at the District Conference!

-- Join us for the Magic of Rotary at the District 7020 PETS, Assembly and Conference - May 6-10, 2008
-- Register on line at http://www.district7020conference.com/
-- Go to the following link to see what's new at Atlantis; http://www.atlantis.com/grandopening/index.html?t=go1
-- Who participates: All Rotarians

District membership seminar

-- The district membership seminar prepares club and district leaders to support membership activities, such as recruiting and retaining members.

District Rotary Foundation seminar

-- The district Rotary Foundation seminar emphasizes the benefits of involvement in The Rotary Foundation and outlines the Foundation’s programs and policies.
-- Attendees get answers to their Foundation questions and updates on policy changes and goals for the year.
-- They also learn about ways to recognize individuals and clubs in their district for outstanding Foundation contributions.

Presidents-elect training seminar (PETS)

-- The presidents-elect training seminar helps presidents-elect from the more than 32,000 Rotary clubs worldwide to prepare for their terms.
-- Incoming club presidents learn about their roles and responsibilities, goal setting, club administration, and member recruitment, education, and retention.
-- The meeting is an opportunity for incoming club presidents to build strong working relationships with their district governor-elect and incoming assistant governors.

Weekly Elixir - December 3, 2007

2007-12-03T13:18:00.000-05:00

Rotary International and Gates Foundation together commit $200 million to eradicate polio - Press Release

EVANSTON, Ill., U.S.A. (Nov. 26, 2007) -- Rotary International today announced a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that will inject a much-needed US$200 million into the global campaign to eradicate polio, a crippling and sometimes fatal disease that still paralyzes children in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and threatens children everywhere.

The Rotary Foundation has received a $100-million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary will raise funds to match, dollar-for-dollar, over three years. The Evanston-based volunteer service organization will spend the initial $100 million within one year in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a partnership spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF.

"The extraordinary dedication of Rotary members has played a critical role in bringing polio to the brink of eradication," says Bill Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Eradicating polio will be one of the most significant public health accomplishments in history, and we are committed to helping reach that goal."

The polio eradication grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest grant received by Rotary in its 102-year history. Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Since then, Rotary has contributed $633 million to the eradication effort.

"Rotary members worldwide have worked very hard over the years to reach this point, and it is rewarding to see our approach validated in such a significant way by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," says Dr. Robert Scott, who leads Rotary’s polio eradication effort and chairs The Rotary Foundation, the not-for-profit charitable arm of Rotary that will administer the grant. "We hope that this shared commitment of Rotary and the Gates Foundation will challenge other donors – including foundations, governments and nongovernmental organizations – to step up and make sure we have the resources needed to rid the world of polio once and for all."

Adds Rotary International President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson: "This endorsement of Rotary's polio eradication efforts by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is just the catalyst and challenge Rotary members need to keep our promise to the children of the world that polio will be eradicated."

Founded in Chicago in 1905, Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary’s global membership is approximately 1.2 million men and women who belong to more than 32,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.

Weekly Elixir - November 26, 2007

2007-12-03T13:12:00.000-05:00

Rotarians “share” Rotary

The Rotary Club of Des Plaines, Illinois, USA, put its Rotary Foundation matching grant into motion teaching schoolchildren math and science in an unconventional way.

The students use tiny gears and motors to build working machines under the mentorship of local club members.

Please follow the link below to see a video from the Rotary International website. Copy and paste the link into your web browser's address bar.

(Copy = Ctrl + C) (Paste = Ctrl + V)

http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/071112_news_gears.aspx

The key to the success of this program:

 The program captures the imagination of the children. The kids find this very interesting.

 The children also get excellent role models from the participating Rotarians.

 The Rotarians receive the satisfaction of “sharing Rotary” much more than if they just contributed money.

So, let’s all remember: Share Rotary!

Weekly Elixir - November 19, 2007

2007-12-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

Rotary scholars travel globe

Around the world, many young students get involved with Rotary Exchange programs. Here is the story of one club’s activities in Salinas, California. The article is written by Roger Powers of the Salinas Steinbeck Rotary Club.

Perhaps we can get some ideas about how to raise funds for our Anguillian Rotary activities.

Salinas club's silent auction, which funds exchange program, is set for Saturday

At this moment Kalah, a high school student from Salinas, is living with a Rotary family and going to school for a year in Belgium. And Anna, from Norway, is attending school in Salinas, where she is also an honorary member and participates in all Steinbeck Rotary Club activities.

This is the result of the club's student exchange program, which is funded by the club's annual silent auction, to be held Saturday.

Planting seeds for the future! That is the bottom line of Steinbeck Rotary's focus on kids, which is an ever-turning wheel of activity.

It is interesting to watch that wheel go 'round. Several years ago, a young girl from a low-income family was attending Alisal High School. She decided to apply for the Steinbeck Rotary student exchange program, was selected, and spent a year living with a Rotary family and studying in France, all expenses paid for by Rotary.

When she returned, she worked part-time for a local company owned by a Steinbeck Rotarian, went to college, graduated, and is now a biologist with a local seed company. Her name is Estella, and she is now an active member of Steinbeck Rotary.
Student exchange is just one of the many Steinbeck Rotary youth programs. Others include:

• Scholarships
• Youth leadership summer camps
• Spring-break trips to New York City and Washington, D.C.
• Recognizing students of the month
• Top 100 dinners (honoring the top 25 students from each class at Alisal and Everett Alvarez high schools)
• "Job shadowing" with members at their work to see what that kind of work is really like.

All of this, and more, is funded by those who do Christmas shopping amid a myriad of wonderful donated items. Bargains range from kitchen cutlery to dinners out, AT&T Pro-Am season passes, golf club memberships, bikes, phones, televisions, toasters, pictures, paintings, tools, tune-ups, flowers, candles and trees ... You name it and you'll probably find it there - at Steinbeck Rotary's Silent Auction from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas.

You will eat and drink well, too, from complimentary fine foods and superb wines - all donated, of course. And, you'll probably find Estella and Anna working there - to help continue the program and activities that helped them.

ROGER POWERS is a Realtor and member of the Salinas Steinbeck Rotary Club.

Weekly Elixir - November 12, 2007

2007-12-03T12:55:00.000-05:00

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We have just finished World Interact Week – November 5 through 11.

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So, What is Interact?

Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young people. Made up of members ages 14-18 or secondary-school age, Interact gives young people an opportunity to participate in fun, meaningful service projects. Along the way, Interactors develop their leadership skills and initiative while meeting new friends.

Through their service activities, Interactors learn the importance of

• Developing leadership skills and personal integrity
• Demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others
• Understanding the value of individual responsibility and hard work
• Advancing international understanding and goodwill

Interactors have access to the many resources of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation of RI. Rotary International provides the administrative support that helps Interact clubs thrive.

When RI President Harold T. Thomas traveled the world during his year in office in 1959-60, he discovered a deep and widespread feeling among Rotarians that Rotary’s potential for developing youth service had not been fully realized. In 1960, Thomas appointed a committee of five Rotarians to explore the issue, and two years later, 23 students at Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Florida, USA, came together to form the first Interact club.

The word Interact stands for “international action,” and today nearly 200,000 young people in more than 110 countries belong to some 8,700 clubs, making Interact a truly international phenomenon. All over the world, young people are spreading fellowship and international understanding through a wide array of Interact service activities.

How does Interact fit into the Rotary family?

Rotary International is a worldwide service organization for leading business and professional men and women, with more than 1.2 million members in over 31,000 Rotary clubs. Interact clubs are self-supporting and self-governing but receive guidance from a sponsoring Rotary club.

This sponsorship is a result of Rotary’s belief that young people, or New Generations, should take an active interest in community life and have the opportunity to develop leadership skills. Interact provides a vehicle through which New Generations can find that involvement.

Organizing an Interact club is one of the most rewarding activities a Rotary club can undertake in its community. The Interact program gives Rotarians the opportunity to mentor promising young men and women interested in serving their own communities as well as the global community.

Rotarians also act as resources for Interactors who are on the path toward becoming professionals and community leaders. In turn, an Interact club can bring new energy to a Rotary club, inspire fresh ideas for service, increase support of projects, and help develop future Rotarians.

The Standard Interact Club Constitution defines the role of the Rotary club sponsor in Articles III, V, and XIII.

Weekly Elixir – Week of November 5, 2007

2007-11-03T10:06:00.000-04:00

World Interact Week

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Congratulations to the new Rotary Interact Club in Anguilla! Welcome and Well done!

By Ryan Hyland
Rotary International News - 1 November 2007

Every 5-11 November, Rotary International celebrates World Interact Week. Interact is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young people ages 14 to 18. The program gives teens an opportunity to participate in meaningful service projects while developing leadership skills.

Here’s just one example of how Interactors are making a difference.

A promotional effort led by the Interact Club of Brasov, Romania, rallied more than 100 people to donate blood at the Transfusion Center of Brasov in an effort to increase Romania’s blood reserves.

Romania ranks last in Europe, with only 1.7 percent of the population participating in blood donation, resulting in a critical situation in hospitals across Brasov.

Many surgeries that require blood cannot be performed because of low reserves.

For two weeks in February, club president Andreea Timpea and 26 other Interactors traveled to high schools and universities throughout Brasov. On a mission to get the word out, they distributed pamphlets, hung posters, and gave presentations on the importance of blood donation. Interactors, along with the director of the transfusion center, Laurentia Floea, also appeared on local television to promote the campaign’s kickoff.

To maintain sufficient blood reserves, the center needs at least 50 donors each day. Before the campaign, it averaged only five per day, but the publicity and kickoff helped boost that number to 20. The Interact club and the center plan to continue spreading the word in hopes of reaching 50 donors daily.

"I’m excited about being a part of a campaign that will change the way Romania thinks about blood donation," says Timpea. "I’m glad Interact has given me an opportunity to help."

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Here are just a few other projects highlighting Interactors' commitment to service:

• When they discovered a local hospital had no toys for its young patients, the Interact Club of Hoërskool Schoonspruit, South Africa sponsored a toy drive.

• Both the Interact Clubs of Sri Sankara Vidyasharamam and Parimalam, India, focus their efforts on AIDS education to help fight the spread of the disease.

• The Interact Club of Gan Yavne, Israel, reach out to less fortunate youth in their community by sponsoring a camp for local children.

• In partnership with their local media, the Interact Club of San Luis, Argentina, promoted drug and alcohol-free living to the youth of their community.

"Rotary's commitment to youth will not be complete if we do not also nurture healthy social values such as civic-consciousness, caring for others, and concern for the environment at an early age which is possible through support for the formation of more Interact Clubs," says Mark K.Y. Wong, chair of RI's Interact Committee. "This way we will have a ready pool of future Rotaractors, and Rotarians too."

10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life - Week of October 29, 2007

2007-11-03T09:19:00.000-04:00

10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life

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In recognition of Rotary’s significant efforts to provide safe water and sanitation and its commitment to sustainable development worldwide, the United Nations Association of New York has honoured Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation of RI with its 2007 Humanitarian Award on 25 October, 2007.

We, as individual Rotarians, can help by getting directly involved. Share Rotary!

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International Decade for Action - Water for Life 2005-2015

In 2003, The United Nations General Assembly declared 2005 to 2015 as the International Decade for Action on "Water for Life," with a primary goal to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015. These commitments include the Millennium Development Goal to reduce the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by half by 2015, and to stop unsustainable exploitation of water resources.

10 Reasons You Should Care About Water - the essence of life

1. Every 15 seconds, a child dies from drinking contaminated water. (Water Partners International, Kansas City, MO)

2. More than 2.2 million people, mostly in developing countries, die each year from diseases associated with poor water and unsanitary conditions. (WHO/UNICEF/WSSCC, 2000: V)

3. Only 1% of the total water resources on earth is available for human use. While 70% of the world's surface is covered by water, 97.5% of that is salt water. Of the remaining 2.5% that is fresh water, almost 68.7% is frozen in ice caps and glaciers. (UN-WWAP, 2006 : Fig. 4.1)

4. Water scarcity already affects every continent and more than 40% of the people on our planet. (http://www.unwater.org/flashindex.html)

5. There are 1.1 billion people, or 18% of the world's population, who lack access to safe drinking water. About 2.6 billion people, or 42% of the total, lack access to basic sanitation. (WHO/UNICEF, 2005 : 40)

6. By 2025, it is estimated that about two thirds of the world's population - about 5.5 billion people - will live in areas facing moderate to severe water stress. (UN, 1997 : 19)

7. The world's population is expected to increase to approximately 7.2 billion people by 2015. Almost 95% of the increase is expected to be in developing regions. (WHO/UNICEF, 2005 : 40)

8. In an industrialized city with plenty of water, flushing the lavatory in an average household can send up to 50 litres (13 gallons) of water down the drain every day. Yet more than one in six people worldwide - 1.1 billion - don't have access to 20-50 litres of safe freshwater daily, the minimum range suggested by the UN to ensure each person's basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. (www.unwater.org)

9. About 90% of sewage and 70% of industrial wastes in developing countries are discharged into water courses without treatment, often polluting the usable water supply.

10. The economic payback from investing US$11.3 billion per year to reach the Millennium targets for drinking water and sanitation by 2015 is estimated to be US$ 84 billion. (WHO, 2004: 34)

Visit here for more water facts:

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/factsheet.html - from the 'Water for Life' Fact Sheet and other sources.

Let’s Get Involved!

(Source: http://www.unanyc.org/events/water.html)

Weekly Elixir - October 22, 2007

2007-10-24T14:22:00.000-04:00

U.S. ShelterBox response team delivers landmark aid
By Janice Chambers
Rotary International News

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What is a Shelterbox?

Shelterbox started as a small project by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, England, in 2001, but it took off quickly. To date, it has raised ₤15 million and delivered aid in 33 countries.

Recently, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles’s wife, Camilla, agreed to serve as president of ShelterBox. She is believed to be the first Royal Patron of a Rotary club project in the United Kingdom.

The ShelterBox project is designed to assist people who suffer through natural disasters.

Each ShelterBox costs about US$1,000 and is intended to help a family of 10 survive for six months. It contains custom supplies that typically include a large tent, blankets, water purification and cooking equipment, basic tools, and a multi-fuel stove. Rotary clubs provide more than half the funding, and private donors contribute the rest.

The Shelterbox that marked 500,000 people helped by the program was delivered to Jagadeo Argairiya, who has a family of 10, including five young children.

On her first trip delivering disaster relief for ShelterBox, Trannie Lacquey encountered Maoist guerillas, crossed swollen rivers on foot, and hiked miles in a remote, tension-filled corner of Nepal.

But the toughest challenge, says the grandmother of five, was clearing customs at the airport for 410 ShelterBox relief kits, which would help hundreds of families trapped by the monsoon floods that swept Nepal in August. It took 10 days.

“It was tedious and very frustrating. We knew people were waiting,” she says.
Fortunately, extensive training at a ShelterBox Response Team training camp in Cornwall, England, paid off, she says. Lacquey and her husband, John, members of the Rotary Club of Branford, Florida, USA, and Gary Boe, a member of the Rotary Club of Lewis River, Washington, USA, were the first U.S. ShelterBox Response Team members sent on a disaster relief mission.

They also made history, as they delivered the ShelterBox that marked 500,000 disaster victims aided by the Rotarian-sponsored nonprofit.

The effort also depends on energetic volunteers like the Lacqueys, who arrived home 1 September after three weeks in Nepal and are now repacking for a weekend in Blackwater River State Park in Florida, where they’ll help train more response team recruits.

They’ll also tell stories from their recent trip. “The rice paddies were still flooded,” John Trannie recalls. “People lost everything. They were living under tarps in the rain. The living conditions were just horrible.” But through it all, he says, “People would help their neighbors. It was a very humbling experience for us.”

Recently, ShelterBox enjoyed another first. It received its first Matching Grant from The Rotary Foundation, allowing 24 boxes to be delivered to northern Ethiopia in October, providing desperately needed shelter for Sudanese refugees. The grant was funded by the Rotary clubs of Beaverton, Oregon, USA, and Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

It is part of a massive effort by ShelterBox, called A Million in Africa, which intends to provide shelter for one million of Africa’s eight million refugees.

Read more about the ShelterBox Response Team training camp in England in the October issue of The Rotarian.

Weekly Elixir - October 15, 2007

2007-10-15T12:55:00.000-04:00

Wow! What a change!

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Have you had a chance to look at the new and updated Rotary International website? (www.rotary.org)

First of all, you can check out Rotary Basics.

Read what the Rotary website has to say about Rotary Basics:

The 2007-08 edition of Rotary Basics, the annual guide to all things Rotary, is here! The eight-page publication has been updated with new facts and figures for the Rotary year, and now boasts a more user-friendly look.

In addition to providing a crash course in Rotary history and demystifying RI terms, Rotary Basics is a thorough introduction to RI and Rotary Foundation programs and membership benefits and responsibilities.

Released each August to coincide with Membership and Extension Month, Rotary Basics helps clubs educate new and longtime Rotarians alike. It’s also an excellent recruiting tool.

Find it in the August issue of The Rotarian or download it from:

http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en-pdf/595en.pdf

“The more I learn about Rotary, the more I love Rotary.” (Michael P. Slevnik, USA)

I feel the same way, and you can too. It’s all about education!

Please do have a look at the new updated Rotary International website and Share Rotary!

Weekly Elixir - October 8, 2007

2007-10-15T12:43:00.000-04:00

October is Rotary Vocational Service month

…ideas from Rotary International

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A good place to start Vocational Service is by increasing the club’s awareness of the scope of Vocational Service. What are all the occupations in our Rotary Club and in the community? What vocational talents can we contribute to the problems and needs of society? How can we encourage those around us to strive toward integrity, character, and high ethical standards?

The Vocational Service Committee should focus on developing the vocational awareness of the club and its members. Club members should be challenged to improve their leadership skills and be conscious of the ethical nature of their daily lives.

Classification talks. Classification talks are essential for promoting vocational awareness in the club. The presentations give members the chance to learn the inner workings of jobs other than their own, including the various problems that arise and the solutions used to address them. Classification talks can also be of particular value to the Career Development sub-committee. Information gleaned during the talks can help the sub-committee in its search for specific club members who can counsel young people in career-guidance programs.

Tours of members’ businesses. A great idea for a different kind of Rotary meeting! The name “Rotary” originated with the practice of rotating meeting sites among members’ places of business, and that practice remains an excellent way for Rotarians to share their vocations with the club. In fact, those members who find public speaking difficult may much prefer conducting a tour of their workplace rather than giving a classification talk.

If the size of the workplace and the size of your club permit, schedule an occasional meeting in a member’s place of employment. And don’t forget to include young people on the tour. A difficult career choice can be made easier begetting firsthand knowledge about particular occupations.

4-way Test. And don’t forget the 4-Way Test, the best feature of Rotary Vocational involvement!

The more each member and each club can do to promote vocational awareness among members and among the community, the more successful will be the Rotary purpose. Think about sharing Rotary this month!

Weekly Elixir - Week of October 1, 2007

2007-09-29T11:51:00.000-04:00

The following is an article written by Larry Denniston of the Binghamton Rotary Club in New York State of the United States. It appeared in pressconnects.com.

It is an excellent article providing information about Rotary, and I believe it’s worthwhile sharing it with you. I hope you agree.

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At noon, every Tuesday, I feel a very special connection to my grandfather, who passed away nearly 30 years ago. As he did for nearly 40 years, I attend a weekly meeting of Rotary.

Rotary was formed in 1905 to advance the ideal of service to the local community as well as promote international understanding, goodwill and peace. There are approximately 32,000 local Rotary clubs, connected through Rotary International (RI), in over 200 countries, working together to combat critical issues such as poverty, health care, hunger, illiteracy and pollution both at the local level and worldwide. RI is the spearheading member of the Global Polio Eradication initiative and is its largest private-sector donor. It has contributed more than $600 million to polio eradication activities in 122 countries.

My grandfather often took me to his club's meetings during my summer vacation visits to his home; he did it so I would experience firsthand how people can come together to serve others, especially those most in need of a helping hand.

Influenced by this experience, I joined Binghamton Club Rotary Club 64, one of the first Rotary organizations in the world. As I attend our weekly luncheon meeting, I am struck by the similarities to my grandfather's club, which also included a significant representation of community leaders, working together to support their city. I am equally struck with some very significant differences; most noticeably the large number of women members who are now, thankfully, vital members of Rotary.

Like each of the other 44 Rotary clubs who are members of the seven-county Rotary District 7170 in south-central New York State, Binghamton Club 64 supports many local humanitarian agencies and is involved with international projects as well. As examples, within the past year Club 64 has presented financial gifts to support the Binghamton YWCA in the purchase of a pool cover; assisted the Town of Conklin Flood Victims Fund; supported the holiday food basket program of the Family and Children's Society; assisted the Broome County Council of Churches in making van wheelchair lift repairs; and donated 100 stuffed animals to SOS Shelter, Inc.

Annually, funds from the club's Educational Foundation provide Rotary Youth Leadership Award scholarships that allow three students from Binghamton High School and three students from Seton Catholic Central High School to attend a week-long youth leadership forum, "RYLA," at Hartwick College.

Last year, the club's World Community Service program coordinated the visit to Binghamton of a five-member Group Study Exchange (GSE) team from northwest France. Local Rotarians hosted the team members in their homes and work sites during their stay. The GSE program provides opportunities for young business and professional men and women, between the ages of 25 and 40, to experience the host country's institutions and culture, observe their own vocations as practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

Rotary clubs are dedicated to service to youth and the organization's Youth Exchange program gives over 7,000 students throughout the world an opportunity to live for a year with host families in one of the countries in which Rotary clubs exist. Local clubs in the U.S. serve as hosts for foreign students who spend a year in our area to interact with U.S. students and to learn more about U.S. culture. As outbound participants, more than three dozen high school students within the seven-county District 7170 area participate in this program annually, as they live and study abroad.

Unfortunately, like many service organizations, the Rotary Club of Binghamton has experienced some decline in its membership over the past few years. The reasons for the decline are not surprising; a decline in local population and the loss of some businesses certainly contribute to the trend. Unfortunately, the decline in membership in service organizations is also tied to a change in the priorities of some individuals. It reflects to some degree the "It's about me" way of living that has become more prevalent in our society.

What happens as the membership of these community-oriented groups declines? The answer is clear; there is less financial and volunteer support for the myriad projects and humanitarian organizations Rotary supports. The local community and the world become less than they have been, and the people who directly benefit from club activities receive less help.

My grandfather, if alive today, would consider it his responsibility to urge his neighbors to become involved in service work. He would remind them of the incredible resources they possess that can be used to make their community and the world a better place. He would remind them to put "Service Above Self" a recent motto of Rotary International.

If Rotary's mission is one that you think deserves your support, we urge you to learn more about it by linking to our Club 64 website at www. binghamtonrotaryclub64.com.

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And if growing Rotary and “sharing Rotary” is something you, as Rotarians, believe deserves your support, I believe that promoting an increase in membership is what you should be considering as a priority.

Weekly Elixir - Week of September 24, 2007

2007-09-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

Rotary Membership

Rotarians are like plants. Each of them needs nutrients that will help them sink their roots into Rotary.

First, they need fellowship. Rotary was founded on this principle. Successful fellowship activities demand attention and planning to ensure that no one in the club is overlooked.

Social activities need to be regular. You cannot water a plant with 3 gallons of water and then leave it dry for the next three months.

In a similar way, you cannot induct a new member with fanfare and then cut off the Rotary nourishment. Fellowship activities need to be extended beyond the immediate family of Rotary to our partners in service:

Every fellowship or social activity can and should be planned with the purpose of promoting membership recruitment and member retention.

The test of leadership. Every Rotarian wants to know that he or she is making a valuable contribution to the club. The test of leadership is discovering what skills a Rotarian has or wishes to develop and providing opportunities for growth, helping the Rotarian and others discover the value of vocation as they provide Service Above Self.

Sense of pride. Every Rotarian also wants to feel a sense of pride in belonging to his or her Rotary club. Clubs need to work at creating a positive public image. I am always impressed when I visit a club that has a club brochure listing successes of the past as well as the present. I get excited when I see the Rotary wheel at the entrance of a community, and when I see Rotarians on the job, all wearing Rotary hats or shirts. And I like to watch the faces of Rotarians beam when they invite Interact clubs to a joint meeting. When Rotarians are proud of their club, they bind together with a shared sense of spirit and meaning.

Education. And every Rotarian needs ongoing Rotary education. Without opportunities to learn more about Rotary and the growth we experience from service, we are like plants that are never pruned...having lots of leaves but bearing little fruit. A Rotary minute each week in the club, fireside chats, monthly Rotary topics for speakers, and the sharing of Rotary experiences that not only increase our knowledge but also touch our hearts all make our adventure in service worthwhile.

...from the Rotary Membership Minute

Weekly Elixir - Week of September 17, 2007

2007-09-15T09:53:00.000-04:00

New Generations – What does this mean?

The Rotary Bunch - Keeping it all in the family
By Alice C. Chen (The Rotarian) September 2007

At the left: Judith Lorigan and grandaughter Carly wear their Paul Harris Fellow medallions.

The old Rotary slogan “Every Rotarian an Example to Youth” is as relevant today as it was more than a half-century ago. Rotarians can help young people reach their full potential. We can instill our motto of Service Above Self at a young age – and let it continue to guide Rotary through the next century.

Judith Lorigan, a past assistant district governor, has been recruiting new Rotary club members for years without even knowing it. “I’ve spent a lot of life as a Rotarian,” says Lorigan, of the Rotary Club of Bethel Park, Pa., USA. She adds that her family is always asking her, “What’s going on?” The answer usually leads to some of her three children or seven grandchildren getting involved in service. That includes Lorigan’s 14-year-old granddaughter Carly Zalenski, who has organized drives to send supplies and toys to Vietnam and helped raise $50,000 to build a school.

At the left: Youth Exchange student Vanessa Ursini gets ready to leave Machu Picchu. With her is a local boy who provides entertainment for passengers, racing their buses down the mountain on foot and stopping to pose at each hairpin turn. Vanessa helped deliver $3,500 worth of supplies in Peru.

“It’s incredible that Carly’s been able to do this, to stay with it,” says Lorigan, a 65-year-old retired bank manager who has been a Rotarian since 1988. “When she started this, I thought, This is going to be difficult.”

Lorigan’s family, along with others who can list Rotary affiliations through the years, serves as a reminder during New Generations Month that when seeking out potential club members, we shouldn’t forget those who are right under our noses: our own children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

It only makes sense. After watching – and perhaps helping – their Rotarian family members dish out spaghetti in soup kitchens, give dictionaries to third graders, and raise money to drill wells in Africa, these potential recruits have come to personally understand the importance of volunteering and its ability to put smiles on the faces of both givers and receivers.

So just how can you get younger family members involved? It’s quite simple, really.

“Invite them to the things you do,” Lorigan says. Introduce them to Interact, Rotary’s service program for people ages 14-18, and Rotaract, for those ages 18-30.

“My family always supported any function my Rotary club had,” she adds. “They’d always come, be a part of it, donate, and buy raffle tickets.”

It also helps to bring back photos. After distributing the items Carly helped provide to children in Vietnam, “I came back with pictures of the supplies and toys given to the kids,” Lorigan recalls. “It was an incredible experience. They were thrilled. They had reconditioned Barbies. These little girls in Vietnam were smiling from ear to ear. Some had never had a toy.”

Because of her influence, Lorigan’s son-in-law Fred Zalenski decided to join the Rotary Club of Canton, Ohio, about two hours away from Lorigan’s home.

The Rotary service bug spread to his daughter, Carly, who was in third grade when she initiated a project at her school to collect items for children to send overseas. She amassed 10 suitcases of materials, which her grandmother and other Rotarians took to Vietnam in 2002 for a school they’d helped build.

But Carly, who became a Paul Harris Fellow in April, didn’t stop there. In 2006, she launched an effort to raise $50,000 to cover half the cost of constructing another school in Vietnam. (The other half was to come from the Vietnam Children’s Fund, whose cochair is Ohio-born Terry Anderson, a journalist who was held hostage in Beirut, Lebanon, from 1985 to 1991.) Carly began speaking to Rotary clubs about the project, and by June had rounded up enough money to meet her goal. To help raise funds, Anderson, who has met with Carly, spoke at a March benefit dinner in Canton.

“It’s exciting,” says Carly, who wants to become a Rotarian some day. “It’s been such a surreal experience. Everything’s been happening so fast.”

Carly is starting high school this fall and plans to join an Interact club. She hopes to eventually become a Rotary Youth Exchange student, Rotaractor, and Group Study Exchange participant.

Source: http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/features/0709_tr_rotary_bunch.html

Weekly Elixir - Week of September 10, 2007

2007-09-08T11:41:00.000-04:00

Rotary Volunteers

Numerous opportunities for Rotarians to serve as volunteers exist in our own communities.

Many projects in developing countries would benefit from a Rotary club's involvement.

These projects come under International Service, and could involve applying for a Foundation Matching Grant.

There might also be an opportunity to serve as an international volunteer with a project.

Project Ideas – Children at Risk

-- Host an immunization clinic or distribute immunization history cards to new mothers to prevent childhood diseases

-- Support a school-based meal program to improve students’ nutrition. Do all students in Anguilla enjoy a good breakfast before school?

-- Conduct a literacy program focusing on girls

-- Offer vocational guidance and training to increase a young person’s opportunities for employment and break the cycle of poverty.

-- Host a community-based workshop focused on raising awareness of children’s issues

-- Promote a local program that assists victims of child abuse

What other ideas are there that are directly relevant to Children in Anguilla? The club can benefit from community projects that require hands-on support and participation from the Rotary Club members.

That is what Rotary is all about. Actually sharing your time and your expertise in the community.

Get involved. Share Rotary!

Weekly Elixir - Week of September 3, 2007

2007-09-01T18:50:00.001-04:00

Share your motivation and enthusiasm

Nothing could be more important to prospective members than the level of energy they feel during a club visit.

Prospective members need to see and feel your enthusiasm as well as your pride for your membership in Rotary. When club members are friendly, inviting, and inclusive, a potential Rotarian receives the most important message: You are welcome here and will have the opportunity to participate in something important.

Recruitment Strategies for Rotary

August was Membership and Extension Month, but we can keep membership top of mind all year by implementing one of the following ideas each month:

-- Place a promotional ad or insert in your local chamber of commerce directory.

-- Create business cards printed with your name, the Rotary logo, and the phrase "Be My Guest," along with the day, time, and location of your club's meetings. The cards serve as an invitation to attend a club meeting at the club's expense.

-- Develop a spreadsheet or database of program alumni (e.g., Rotaract, Interact, Youth Exchange, Group Study Exchange) so that these individuals can be invited to become Rotarians once they are qualified.

-- Invite program alumni as guests to your meetings, and propose any qualified alumni for membership.

-- Ask members to consider recruiting their spouses to the club, and offer that spouse an incentive, such as no club dues for a full year.

-- Send a welcome letter to the owners of new businesses in your community.

-- Hold a luncheon for community leaders. Each club member is responsible for inviting a set number of prospective members who are community leaders, and club members donate a set amount for the cost of the meal and invitations. Show the six-minute video This Is Rotary (449-EN), and bring in a dynamic Rotary leader as a speaker.

-- Scan local business journals and newspapers for the names of influential business people and community leaders.

-- Invite a prospective member or members to participate in a club activity or project that demonstrates the meaningful work of your Rotary club.

-- Ask members to wear pins or T-shirts with the slogan "Ask Me About Rotary" to generate conversation about membership in Rotary.

-- Create a prospective member leaflet or brochure called "What's in It for Me?" that lists recent speakers at your club meetings, area companies that are represented in the club membership, and current local service projects.

-- Obtain space in a prominent shop window to display information about the club's activities in the community.

-- Collect business cards from individuals who attend a meeting as a guest or speaker, and send a follow-up note or postcard thanking each visitor and inviting them back. Buy a supply of Rotary Notecards (980-MU) or the RI Theme Postcard (910-07MU) to use for this purpose.

-- Wear the Rotary logo on your clothes during service projects.

Make it a point of honor to propose a new member. But be sure that the member is educated about Rotary before joining. That is very important!

Recognize the proposer in the club bulletin or at the weekly meeting.

RI President Wilf Wilkinson is encouraging all Rotarians to help strengthen Rotary's membership by bringing at least one new member

Weekly Elixir - Week of August 27, 2007

2007-08-24T22:15:00.000-04:00

ROTARY SHARES

Share Rotary with a young person – Mentors make the grade

…Vincent T. Davis, Express-News Staff Writer, San Antonio, Texas (This article appeared in the local Texas newspaper.)

Margaret Tovar, a senior at Burbank High School, knows how empowering it feels to have someone listen when she talks about her future. She knows students believe that adults underestimate them and doubt their opinions.
Margaret is lucky to have found a one-on-one match in Yvonne Perez, her Big Sister and a member of the Rotary Club of San Antonio.

Perez is always ready to lend an ear as part of the Diploma Plus program, sponsored by the Rotary Club.

"She helped me open up as a person," Margaret said. "I can talk to her about any problem."

The club partnered with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of South Texas, which provides mentoring for the program.

In the photo, Margaret Tovar, 18, shares a light moment with her mentor, Yvonne Perez, in the school’s library, where they meet once a week.

ROTARY SHARES - MEMBERSHIP

Consider the following membership development strategy implemented by the Rotary Club of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada:

For each quarter of the Rotary year, club members must prepurchase a punch-card meal ticket, bearing the club's meeting dates for that quarter. For each meeting a member attends, the meeting date on the ticket is punched. The only way a member can redeem unpunched dates on the ticket is to bring a guest.

The club has seen an increase not only in the retention of existing members (who have an extra incentive to attend because they've already paid for the meal) but also in the number of potential new members attending meetings, as existing members use their unpunched tickets. This system has helped members develop a habit of inviting new business and professional guests to accompany them to a Rotary meeting.

FINAL QUESTION -

How is the Rotary Club of Anguilla prepared to increase membership?

It must be a long-term program where each Rotarian will sponsor one new member every year to SHARE ROTARY.

If it is to be, it is up to me!

Rotary Elixir - Week of August 20, 2007

2007-08-18T12:18:00.000-04:00

Weekly Elixir – Rotary Club of Anguilla

…for the week of August 20, 2007

Some interesting Rotary information to keep you inspired. Rotary is the world’s First Service organization. But here are some other firsts.

Some Rotary Firsts

-- Rotary became bilingual in 1916 with the first club was organized in a non-English-speaking country (Havana, Cuba)

-- Rotary established the “Endowment Fund” in 1917, which became the forerunner of The Rotary Foundation.

-- Rotary first adopted the name “Rotary International” in 1922 when the name was changed from the International Association of Rotary Clubs.

-- Rotary first established the Paul Harris Fellows recognition in 1957 for contributors of $1,000 US to the Rotary Foundation.

-- The Rotary club which first held meetings on a weekly basis was Oakland, California, the No. 3 club established.

-- The Rotary emblem was printed on a commemorative stamp for the first time in 1931 at the time of the Vienna Convention.

-- The first Rotary club banner (from the Houston Space Center) to orbit the moon was carried by astronaut Frank Borman , a member of that club.

-- The first Rotary International convention held outside the United States was in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1921

-- The first head of state to address a Rotary convention was U.S. President Warren G. Harding in 1923 at St. Louis.

Just the facts…

(Source: The ABCs of Rotary)

Weekly Elixir - Week of August 13, 2007

2007-08-11T09:00:00.000-04:00

Sharing Rotary with New Members

The goal is one new member in each club. But the Rotary Club of Anguilla can do much better than that!

The Rotary policy on club membership states: “In order for a Rotary club to be fully relevant to its community and responsive to the needs of those in the community, it is important and necessary that the club include in its membership all fully qualified prospective members located within its territory.”

One merely has to glance through the yellow pages of the local telephone directory to realize that most clubs have not invited qualified members of all businesses and professions into Rotary.

Only a Rotarian may propose a customer, neighbour, client, supplier, executive, relative, business associate, professional or other qualified person to join a Rotary club.

Have you accepted your obligation to share Rotary?

The procedures are very simple, and everyone must know at least one person who should belong to Rotary.

Take some action - one step at a time

As members of the Rotary Club of Anguilla, let’s make a list of community leaders who should be Rotarians. Let’s get them on a PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS list. From there, we can move forward with preparing to educate them about Rotary before we invite them to become members.

Prospective members should know the benefits – and obligations – of Rotary BEFORE they are invited to join us at a meeting.

Whom do you know in Anguilla who would make an excellent Rotarian?

-- One who will become inspired to join the club
-- One who can commit to attending the weekly meetings
-- One who will participate in the club activities
-- One who will participate in community projects
-- One who wants to make a difference in the world, and
-- One who WILL make a difference to Rotary in Anguilla

Let’s every single one of us add a few names to our list of prospective members now and keep the list growing so that we can invite all prospective members to an information meeting in the near future!

Weekly Elixir - Week of August 6, 2007

2007-08-04T13:46:00.000-04:00

Perhaps this story goes well with this year's theme of Rotary Shares. It can be a powerful inspiration when we share.

"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

*************

The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise

"Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed" - Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

******

NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond.

They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother.

If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another.

We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures.

"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

*****

Additional Note about this story:

The Hippo and the Tortoise Who Became Friends After the Tsunami - Truth!

The Truth - This odd pairing really did happen.

According to numerous news accounts the hippo and the tortoise found each other at a wildlife refuge where they were taken after being stranded by the tsunami disaster.

According to the BBC, the hippo is about one year old and was found alone and dehydrated near the Indian Ocean in Kenya.

He was taken to a wildlife enclosure near Mombassa where keepers have named him Owen.

He and a 100-year-old tortoise named Mzee struck up a friendship and have been partners ever since. Keepers say they are inseparable and that the tortoise has been mothering the baby hippo.

Weekly Elixir - Week of July 30, 2007

2007-07-28T08:40:00.000-04:00

What are other clubs doing?

Other clubs have posted on their websites the rules and regulations for membership. The Rotary Club of Barrie, Ontario, which is www.barrierotary.com, shows some very specific information. It would be helpful to make much of the same information available on the Rotary Anguilla website.

The bylaws of the Rotary Club of Anguilla should be made available so that they can be added to the website. New and current members of the Rotary Club of Anguilla would benefit from a review of the bylaws of the club.

Below, I’ve added some specifics that are included in the Barrie website. You may all may find them interesting. Of course, these are the Rotary International policies, but the Barrie Club strictly enforces them.

Making the Rotary Club of Anguilla a little more official by publicizing these policies could be beneficial to all.

*********
Membership

The membership of any active member who is absent for four consecutive regular weekly meetings of this Club shall automatically terminate, unless such absence is made up as hereinafter provided, or he is excused by the Board of Directors for good and sufficient reason.

The membership of any active member whose overall percentage attendance is less than fifty (50) percent during the first or second six months of the Club’s fiscal year or whose attendance at his own Club is less than thirty (30) percent, shall automatically terminate, unless he is excused by the Board of Directors for good and sufficient reason.

Upon written application to the Board setting forth good and sufficient cause, leave of absence may be granted excusing a member from attending the meetings of the Club for a specified length of time.

Method of accepting new members is also very stringent. The proposed member is clearly informed of the obligations and benefits of membership before his/her name is circulated to the membership – with his/her permission. A 10-day waiting period must follow during which any current member may reject in writing the new member. However, if the member is accepted into membership, the Secretary shall issue to the newly elected member a copy of the Club By-Laws and Customs, Lapel Pin, framed copies of the Four Way Test and Object of Rotary, a Rotary membership identification card, name badge and the “ABCs of Rotary.”

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The Rotary Club of Anguilla can become a very well organized club by following some of these policies. We all can help by volunteering our time in this year of “Rotary

Weekly Elixir - Week of July 23, 2007

2007-07-28T08:33:00.000-04:00

Literacy

Literacy is a global challenge. Rotary International this year emphasizes the importance of literacy and the importance of clubs getting involved in literacy projects.

What can the Anguilla Club do to promote Literacy?

A couple of years ago, the Rotary Club of Parry Sound, Canada, donated books to fill the library at the high school in Anguilla. Perhaps volunteering – keeping in mind the theme for 2007-08 “Rotary Shares” – would be beneficial.

According to countryreports.org, 95 percent of the Anguillian population is literate. That means that 95 percent of those over the age of 12 can read and write. It also means that roughly 600 individuals in Anguilla over the age of 12 cannot read and write.

From the RI website, here is some information on Volunteering for Literacy Projects.

Volunteering

Service-minded Rotarians love hands-on projects like volunteering as reading tutors or mentors.

“Volunteering in existing tutoring or mentoring programs is one of the most effective and rewarding projects clubs can do,” says David Plater, a program coordinator at Rotary International who specializes in literacy. “Both volunteers and students benefit from the interaction, and all it really requires is time.”

Your club’s community service or literacy coordinator can serve as a liaison to the community and seek out opportunities for tutoring. Clubs also can work with local affiliates of the International Reading Association to get project ideas and contacts.

Literacy projects

Literacy projects allow Rotarians to make a creative contribution to building communities, reducing poverty, and opening opportunities for those in need.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), 98% of the world’s illiterate population is in developing countries. There are roughly 137 million school age children who are illiterate around the world. Sadly, over 64% of all illiterate people in the world today are women and girls.

So, “What can my club do to make a positive difference,” you may ask?
Perhaps you can invite a guest speaker to discuss literacy and education issues that are important in your community, or plan a community awareness campaign to promote literacy.

The important question to answer today is simply this, does my club have a Literacy Committee to plan and coordinate literacy projects and activities during the year? If yes…Super! If no…Now is the best time to get started.

Let’s Get Involved

Let’s get involved with hands-on projects in our local club. The community – the wonderful island of Anguilla – will benefit.

Rotary Elixir - Week of July 16, 2007

2007-07-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

The idea of the Rotary Elixir is to provide ideas and information to “light a fire” under our Rotary Club. To this end, here is an article that appeared in a Greenville, Texas, newspaper.

Two individuals honoured by Rotary

Renee Francey was named "Citizen of the Year" by the Greenville Noon Rotary Club at a special awards dinner held Thursday night at the Webb Hill Country Club.

"Every year we nominate someone outside the Rotary Club who we feel exemplifies our motto 'service above self'," said Gloria Jordan, when announcing the award. "This year the person we selected should be a stranger to no one. Everywhere you go you will see this person volunteering.

Whether its at the DrugFree Walkathon, Fishing Friday, Rally Round Greenville, Halloween on the Square, Relay for Life, the Follies where she is equally entertaining both onstage and offstage helping on committees, New Horizons, Women in Need, at the fairgrounds when the Katrina victims hit town, picking up trash along the highway, reading to elementary school children and entertaining seniors or anyone else for that matter."

Ms. Jordan went on to point out that she had nominated Ms. Francey for the award because, "Everywhere I went I saw her helping out, doing something."

Rotarian awarded as well

Rotarian Jordan was also the subject of special honors at the same banquet as she was named Rotarian of the Year. This award is for the same "service above self" recognition, but is given to a person who is a member of Rotary.

"The things she does for the Follies and the Veterans of Foreign Wars are really outstanding," said Rotary President Tom Swanson, who nominated Jordan along with Bill Rolston and James Handley. "She's one of the main drivers in this area for the Fisher House (a home in Dallas open to the families of veterans who are receiving medical treatment). All the things she does for the community and for Rotary, she really gives of her time and her talents. Honestly, it would be kind of hard to remember them all."

2007-07-08T12:54:00.000-04:00

…for the week of July 9, 2007

Vocational Service

As business leaders, Rotarians share their skills and expertise through vocational service, one of the Four Avenues of Service.

Your vocational service efforts can play a vital role in improving the quality of life for those hardworking members of the community who need direction and expertise. By participating in any of a number of vocational service activities — mentoring, career days, vocational awards, business assistance, or even talking about your job at a club meeting — you can turn your experience into an invaluable resource for others.

mentoring

career days

vocational awards

business assistance, or

even talking about your job at a club meeting

Project Areas

The focus of vocational service has expanded from individual vocational excellence to providing service within the workplace and to the community. Vocational service can be accomplished in various areas:

Vocational awareness. Give classification talks and conduct tours of members' businesses.

Vocational awards. Recognize vocational excellence and high ethical standards in the community.

Career development. Use members' professional experience to advance employment; develop and support apprenticeship programs; organize career-planning programs in schools; and retrain adults for new vocations.

Vocation at work. Generate new jobs within the community; work with retirees; address drug, alcohol, and literacy problems in the workplace; create vocational opportunities for the disabled; develop and implement HIV/AIDS education and policy; and promote high ethical standards.

Vocational Awareness starts at home

Do you know what the other members of your Rotary Club do for a living? Would you be interested in learning about what the others do? Would you be willing to share with the club members what you do for a living? This sharing is an important part of a Rotary Club fellowship!

Sharing vocational service will enhance Rotary in many ways. Schedule a classification at a club meeting to share what you do in your community. Through sharing and communication, Rotarians can become better community leaders.

Do you have a hobby or interest that you can share with your club members? Perhaps you are interested in joining a Rotary Fellowship and would be willing to share that information with the others in the club.

Rotary Elixir - Week of July 2, 2007

2007-06-30T11:22:00.000-04:00

July is Literacy Month - Project Ideas

The ability to read, write, and do simple math is not only critical to progress and prosperity, it is necessary for the very survival of individuals in a modern society.

Literacy and numeracy projects allow Rotarians to make a creative contribution to building nations, reducing poverty, and opening up opportunities to those who need them.

This year’s Rotary motto, Rotary Shares, means giving of your time.

Demonstrate your commitment to literacy by developing a project in your community. Below you'll find several ideas for community and international projects the Rotary Club of Anguilla may want to consider.

Apply for a Rotary Foundation grant to establish literacy programs for girls and women, working with an international partner in a country with high rates of female illiteracy

Establish a literacy center with a library where people can come to read and meet tutors

Sponsor a business breakfast, inviting business executives and managers of local businesses to hear about literacy efforts in the workplace

Donate books to students and class libraries at home and abroad

Schedule a reading hour at a local library when club members would read to children

Provide child care for parents attending literacy classes

Reward students who read the most books, win a spelling bee or book report contest, or tutor others.

Rotary Elixir - Week of June 25, 2007

2007-06-23T11:33:00.000-04:00

Council on Legislation changes affecting membership

The 2007 Council on Legislation adopted 97 items, 59 of which were enactments that change the RI constitutional documents. All policy changes take effect on 1 July.

Some of the changes that affect membership administration are summarized below:

ATTENDANCE

-- The club board can cancel a club meeting for commonly recognized holidays.

-- Club members are required to attend or make up 50 percent rather than 60 percent of their own club’s regular meetings in each half of the Rotary year.

-- Assistant governors are excused from the requirement of attending at least 30 percent of their own club’s regular meetings in each half of the Rotary year.

CLUB MEMBERSHIP

-- Rotaractors who have ended their Rotaract membership within the preceding two years and have been accepted into a Rotary club are exempt from paying a club admission fee.

-- Clubs can elect Rotary Foundation alumni into active membership, even if the classification of the alumnus is filled.

-- Clubs can elect into active membership people with good reputations in the community who have demonstrated a commitment to service and the Object of Rotary through personal involvement in local affairs.

DUES

-- RI per capita dues will be US$23.50 per half year in 2007-08, $24.00 per half year in 2008-09, $24.50 per half year in 2009-10, and $25.00 per half year in 2010-11. Dues will remain at $25.00 per half year until changed by the Council on Legislation.

-- For each new member, clubs will pay prorated per capital dues until the beginning of the next semi-annual period for which dues are payable. The amount payable for each full month of membership will be one-twelfth of the per capita dues.

-- The Manual of Procedure will be updated with all revised constitutional documents and mailed to all clubs and districts. The English version should be available by the end of October, and version in other languages should be available by March. In the meantime, you can download the complete Report of Action at www.rotary.org.

Update #3 from Anne in Whitewater

2007-06-20T19:50:00.000-04:00

...June 20, 2007

Hi Seymour et al

We are almost there. You will need to come to the other summit so that you can organize strategies for the boys.

We will have to work ahead of time, so I am proposing that the White Water summit will be, in some way, my community service.

Youth is the topic, and we will need to send more than two students.

The international display we had went well. I had lots of road maps with lots of ads from various businesses and they went well.

The comments, though, were “Where is Anguilla?” They wanted a map with Anguilla positioned. That used to be part of the inset at first, but I have no idea why the tourism department and the flyers stopped positioning Anguilla relative to Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, etc.

I guess we will need to give this feedback to Tourism.

I got a formal note from Admissions today by Rick. The interview for Shellia is tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. The other girl is not really interested. She said that she will shop around first.

With Shellia, she fell in love with Wisconsin while we were driving along. When she saw the campus, she said, “This is it. I would like to go to school here.”

With repeated exclamations of the feeling, I approached Rick and asked him what he thought of the possibility of Shellia getting in. He said from what he has seen of the two girls, he is impressed.

He also said that The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, is desirous of increasing its international intake of students so all should be well.

Will write tomorrow and let you know how the interview went.

I feel happy here. It is a non-threatening atmosphere.

The kids are happy, and all seem to be able to resolve conflicts even before they start. Of course, the place is full of counsellors and access is easy. It is a real professional set-up with no time wasting.

So far they have had two sets of days whereby they had a full morming of different type of games. That is good planning as they are kids and energy needs to be used up wisely. I am impressed.

The Rotary has an interesting student exchange programme going.

I will look into that some more this evening if I see Rick.

Have a great evening.

A.J.Edwards

Update #2 from Anne in Whitewater

2007-06-20T12:23:00.000-04:00

...June 20, 2007

Hi Don et al

Just came from the Talent Show. It was just great! It felt like an old time concert.

These kids - especially the boys -- played the piano, the guitar, the flute, the bagpipes, you name it.

The girls sang and danced -- from Trinidad, Nigeria, Canada, throughout the USA – Great!

For sure, I have my work cut out for next year. We will come prepared if I have anything to do with it.

For supper, we had a hill-side picnic. The area seems to be designed for hillside concerts, etc. There is a bar and BQ equipment there, so the kids were able to play games and eat as much as they wanted.

During the evening, when the big guys were circulating, Rich came to sit at my table. After talking generally for some time, we got on to scholarships. I told him I am desirous of Shellia getting help to come to The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

He said he had already set up an appointment for me to see the admissions person with Shellia tomorrow, so we should know soon after that meeting if she will be given a scholarship. He told me he was very impressed with her personality. He said that he will ensure that she is given a p[position in next year's World Affairs Seminar.

Isn't all this great?

He assured me that he would like to see me come back with the next batch of kids, and he hopes that other funding agencies in Anguilla will see it important to send some more students.

So we will have to work on these things.

The focus is on the Youth, and we have to show that we mean what we say.

Good night and talk to all of you tomorrow. Please send this to Jack Billingsley as well.

Thanks
A.J.Edwards

Update from Anne in Whitewater

2007-06-20T12:20:00.000-04:00

...June 18, 2007

We have arrived in Whitewater and the girls are all settled.

I have been attending the seminars with them and it is all very enjoyable. I have seen Rick but not to talk with him.

[Editor’s Note: Who is Rick?]

I will make an appointment to do so and give him some literature on Anguilla.

We were given some goodies by Seymour - pens, pencils, books flag, etc., and they are all coming in very useful.

It was great to see our flag among the 30+ flags that were mounted on the stage. Of course, Anguilla was called first and the two girls got up to identify themselves.

Tomorrow there will be a talent show and one of the girls will be doing something creative that she had done for the queen show. So all in all, it seems to be a good thing.

It is good I came as a Rotarian, as there are things that I have noticed that will come in useful when briefing the others who will be coming in future.

Anyway, can't stay long on the computer as many people are waiting to use it. Greetings to all, and thanks for giving me the opportunity to chaperone the girls this time.

Regards
Anne

31st World Affairs Seminar - Whitewater, Wisconsin

2007-06-14T11:03:00.000-04:00

The 31st World Affairs Seminar will be held June 16-22, 2007 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

The very timely theme is:

“GLOBAL HEALTH PRESCRIPTION FOR SURVIVAL - WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?”

We live in an interdependent world. We trade. We travel. We watch “the news”. It’s all good. Right?

But what are the consequences of globalization for the way we think about our health – inside our political institutions, in light of our economic models and plans, hemmed in by national healthcare systems, dealing with our own national and even individual health issues, aware of the dangers of infectious disease, hearing rumors of global pandemics, wide-eyed at the ravages of African AIDS?

What are the most important trends and patterns? Which institutions are engaged in the global conversation? What have we learned, and what work remains? This week will take us well beyond “the bird flu”. Come gather around the table with leaders from the front lines.

We’re going to talk. It’s going to be great. We need you!

**********

Rotarian Anne Edwards and two Anguillian students from Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School - Ms. Sherise Brooks and Ms. Shellya Rogers -- are planning to attend this conference. We look forward to a full report on your return!

Rotary Elixir - Week of June 11, 2007

2007-06-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

Community Service and projects

Service defines Rotary's character; whether local or international, it promotes Rotary's appeal and visibility in the community, and is the reason Rotary continues to grow.

Community service responds to the needs of a local community. Rotary clubs should determine top priorities for service projects by first learning about a community's needs and assets, and then developing a response that addresses them.

An effective service project:

Responds to a real issue, not an imagined one

Improves the lives of community members

Incorporates the abilities of those who are served

Recognizes all participants' contributions as important and necessary

Comes from a realistic assessment of resources available

Aims for specific goals and objectives with measurable results

Builds a working network

About Community Service

A community, defined in its simplest terms, is a group of people who have something in common. But in real life, it is something far more complex than that. Each member — every individual, group, organization, and business — draws benefits from the community in many different ways. For a community to thrive, each of its members must honor a commitment to contribute to the well-being of the whole by returning those benefits in kind.

Rotarians recognize the importance of giving back to the community. Every Rotary club and every Rotarian assumes a responsibility to find ways to improve the quality of life for those in their communities and to serve the public interest. When those efforts are effective, they not only contribute to the greater good, they also promote Rotary's positive image.

What makes a community service effort effective? Relevance.

A community service project must address a real, current community concern or issue. Rotary clubs should start by surveying their communities to find out where help is needed. Once a club has listened to its community, it can begin to envision effective responses to problems.

Some community service projects can benefit from other RI programs, including: Rotaract, Interact, Rotary Community Corps, Rotary Volunteers, or Youth Exchange.

Rotary Elixir - Week of June 4, 2007

2007-06-14T10:40:00.000-04:00

Rotary International Public Relations (PR) Grants

Learning about Rotary is an ongoing challenge. Rotary International is a very complicated organization. But little bit by little bit, we can all learn more about Rotary and how to benefit from being part of the world’s first service organization.

Public Relations Grant. Did you know that there is a grant available for Public Relations? I learned that recently from Barry Rassin, a Director of Rotary International who is a member of the Rotary Club of South East Nassau.

The Rotary International Board of Directors recently approved funds for grants to assist Rotary clubs and districts in their outreach efforts to the general public, promoting Rotary and improving Rotary’s public image. The grant will enable Rotary clubs to place Rotary billboards, banners, the RI prepared TV and Radio Public Service Announcements in their local TV and radio stations, or newspaper supplements that feature local Rotary stories.

For the 2006-07 Rotary year, funds have been allocated, ranging up to US$3,000 to support media projects during the current Rotary year. Assistance will be available until the funds are depleted. Grants may be available for the 2007-2008 Rotary year. The PR grant application can be downloaded from the following website:

http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/downloadcenter/pdfs/pr_grants.pdf

The Rotary International contact is Thomas Rothstein at 847-866-3134.

Public Relations Award. There is also a Public Relations Award. The purpose of this award is to recognize Rotary clubs that have generated increased awareness and understanding of Rotary through outstanding media coverage or public relations efforts. Competition and selection of winning entries take place at the district level.

Rotary Elixir - Week of May 28, 2007

2007-05-27T11:09:00.000-04:00

ABOUT ROTARY VOLUNTEERS

The ROTARY VOLUNTEERS program is the embodiment of Rotary's motto Service Above Self.

Rotarians are considered Rotary volunteers whenever they give their time and energy to provide a service to someone in need.

The ROTARY VOLUNTEERS program

-- encourages Rotarians to become actively involved in hands-on projects to use their vocational skills.
-- provides opportunities for Rotarians and other skilled professionals to offer their services and expertise to local and international humanitarian projects in need of assistance.

The ROTARY VOLUNTEERS program is implemented through the Avenue of Vocational Service and functions on three different levels:

-- At the CLUB level, Rotarians perform service projects and commit to filling volunteer needs in their communities.

-- At the DISTRICT level, Rotarians participate in both district and club service projects that require help from others in the district.

-- At the INTERNATIONAL level, Rotarians worldwide join together to work on a service project in another country.

ROTARY VOLUNTEERS are often the key to successful Rotary projects. Rotary Volunteers make a difference around the world:

-- Dentists and doctors from around the world have served at Rotary-sponsored medical and dental clinics in Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Kenya, and Thailand.

-- French volunteers have treated leprosy victims in Madagascar.

-- A theater arts director/teacher from the United States assisted in the implementation of a psychodrama program for the Psychological Assistance Center in Croatia.

-- A Thai librarian traveled to Egypt to work on the revival of the ancient library of Alexandria.

-- A Canadian livestock production manager provided advice to a commercial poultry farm in Ghana.

-- A Brazilian dentist has made multiple trips to provide dental care to orphans and villagers of Mexico.

-- A team of Indian Rotarians traveled to Western India during an earthquake aftermath and assisted the victims.

What service projects can we find in Anguilla where we can truly become ROTARY VOLUNTEERS?

Rotary Elixir - Week of May 21, 2007

2007-05-27T10:18:00.000-04:00

Rotary International
District Governor, 2007-2008
District 7020
Dick McCombe
Rotary Club of Southeast Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas

What you don’t know – but should know – about the incoming District Governor

Richard James McCombe was born in Mayo, Yukon, Canada on November 23, 1952. Where he lived for two years before moving to Peru where his father was superintendent of a copper silver mine.

Richard was educated in Peru until grade 9 when he returned to boarding school in Canada. He attended St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario. Going on to attend the University of Toronto and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology where he graduated second in his class with an Interprovincial degree in Heavy Duty Mechanics, Electrics.

Richard worked for Syncrude Canada Limited from 1977 until 1987 when he moved to the Bahamas permanently. His wife is Carla.

Rotary Elixir - Week of May 14, 2007

2007-05-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

Rotary International President
2007-2008
Wilfrid J. Wilkinson
Canada

What you don’t know – but should know – about the incoming RI President

Wilf is a founding partner of Wilkinson and Company, a tax and accounting firm. He retired in 2001 and has since served as Executive Director of the Quinte Ballet School of Canada and as Canadian coordinator for the National Association of Forensic Accountants.

A Rotarian since 1962, Wilf is a PolioPlus national advocacy adviser and a member at large of the PolioPlus Partners Task Force.

He has been a district governor, International Assembly discussion leader, regional session leader, consultative group member, committee member and chair, task force member, Foundation trustee and consultant, director, and vice president.

Wilf was chair of the 2005 Chicago Convention Committee and Vice Chair of RI’s Afghan refugee relief project. His wife is Joan.

Weekly Elixir - Week of May 7, 2007

2007-05-09T13:56:00.001-04:00

BOND. ROTARIANS BOND – FOR THE FOUNDATION.

In recognition of Rotary Foundation month, the Rotary Club of East Nassau, Bahamas, invited Rotarians and guests to attend the world premiere of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, in November.

The club billed the event as A Licence to help the Rotary Foundation – a take-off on the superspy’s film.

Tickets to the film, which was partially shot in the Bahamas, were sold at a ‘charity’ price, with all proceeds going to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Programs Fund. The fundraiser, together with the club’s ongoing support of the Foundation, will enable the club to attain $250 USD in per capital giving for 2006-07 and qualify as an Every Rotarian Every Year club. (A club can receive this recognition if 100 per cent of its members contribute to the Foundation’s Annual Programs Fund, and the club has a minimum $100 per capita giving level.)

“We have 17 of [the] 63 Paul Harris Fellows in the District [7020] and 92 of the 102 club members are Rotary Foundation Sustaining members,” says Lindsay Cancino, the club’s Paul Harris Society co-ordinator. “It is incredibly satisfying to know the pleasure I got out of the release of the new James Bond film also translated into [support for] the Rotary Foundation.”

Photo caption: From left, RI Director Barry Rassin, Rotary Club of East Nassau and his wife, Esther; Trevor Sunderland and his wife, Barbara, both of whom appeared in Thunderball, the first James Bond film shot in the Bahamas in 1965; East Bahamas Club Past President, and Foundation Chair, Lindsey Cancino; Andre Feldman of the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama Sunrise (District 6990); event host and East Nassau Club member, Leroy Archer and his associate.

...Editor's Note:

How can we add something exciting to our Second Annual Rotary Foundation Dinner in March of 2008? Get your thinking caps on now and plan ahead!

Rotary Community Service Jumps Into Action

2007-05-09T13:51:00.000-04:00

...May 9, 2007

The Rotary Club of Anguilla, in conjunction with American Airlines and the Westchester Medical Center located in Valhalla, New York, has been able to assist a local woman in saving her eyesight.

Special ophthalmology treatment has been secured for the Anguillian woman, who wishes to remain anonymous. However, the generosity of both American Airlines and the Westchester Medical Center must not remain hidden.

The Anguillian patient was very much in danger of losing her eyesight without a special procedure to correct her vision – a procedure performed at the Westchester Medical Center. Dr. Gerrald Zaidman, Chief of Ophthalmology at Westchester, graciously arranged with the hospital to accept a fee of only $5000 USD to complete the surgical procedure -- roughly one-third of its usual cost.

American Airlines/American Eagle donated the round trip transportation from Anguilla to New York. The Rotary Club of Anguilla and Dr. Louis Bardfield (Anguilla Vision Center) contributed $5,000 USD towards the operation and recovery.

Through an excellent community effort, here is another example of the wonderful works of Rotary – helping our community.

Weekly Elixir - Week of April 30, 2007

2007-05-01T09:10:00.000-04:00

Trek of a lifetime

What are other clubs and other Rotarians doing in our world?

Ambassadorial Scholars walk 1,250 miles to fight AIDS in Africa -- By Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga, Rotary International

A group of six students at a South African university, four of them Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars, made strides against HIV/AIDS in December.

After several months of training, the team from the University of the Witwatersrand hiked for 20 days to raise almost US$10,000 for the fight against AIDS. The trek also increased public awareness of the devastating effects of the disease.

Passing through stunningly beautiful landscapes and, in places, hair-raising cliffs and dangerous, jellyfish-infested beaches, the students walked 1,250 miles in a relay from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

“It was an experience of a lifetime and something we shall all remember for the rest of our lives,” says Kelly Lewis, an Ambassadorial Scholar from Wheeler, New York, USA.

Despite facing unexpected challenges, the students found inspiration in the many good Samaritans, including Rotarians, who welcomed them at every stop, provided free medical treatment for their physical injuries, and donated money to their cause.
The team also included Keegan Kautzky and Ikumi Maekawa, Ambassadorial Scholars from Perry, Iowa, USA, and Ena-shi, Japan, as well as students Ruan Koorts, from Pretoria, South Africa, and Jacob Maboja, from Nairobi, Kenya.

Just last month, the hike inspired further action. Brittany Jungck, a University of Northern Iowa employee who knows Kautzky from high school, organized an event on 1 February to raise money and awareness about Africa’s HIV/AIDS crisis.
“It’s all about collaborating with people who are concerned,” notes Jungck. “If we can get 10, 20, or 100 more people aware of the issue, surely something would be done about it.”

Upon learning of her effort, a student group sold roses on Valentine’s Day in support of AIDS orphans, and a socially conscious local poet planned a poetry reading with a global HIV/AIDS theme.

All funds raised from the hike and the University of Northern Iowa events will support the projects of Rotarians for Fighting AIDS, a Rotarian Action Group that’s implementing community-led responses for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in seven African countries.

Read more in the RI Newsroom.

Weekly Elixir - Week of April 23, 2007

2007-04-28T13:37:00.000-04:00

Ambassadorial Scholarships –
Another Opportunity provided by
The Rotary Foundation

Rwandan scholar blazes a new trail
By Dan Nixon

Rotary International News
Photo courtesy of Alexandre Ngamije

Alexandre Ngamije broke new ground for himself and Rotarians alike when he arrived in Rockford, Illinois, USA, as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar from Rwanda in August 2006.

"When I came to the U.S., I had my own culture," says Ngamije, age 31, who is in a two-year master's program in business administration at Rockford College. "Then I gained a new culture. In Africa, we don't have development as it is here. [In the U.S.] I see many paved roads, tall buildings, and how people behave in a different culture."

Ngamije's first time outside Africa also marked a first for his host District 6420.
"We are excited to receive our first Ambassadorial Scholar in 15 years and the first one from an underdeveloped country," says Elise Cadigan, of the Rotary Club of Rockford. "Alex arrived with two small suitcases, little cash, and incredible determination to work hard, [and] better himself and his family."

"Rockford Rotarians have come together to provide him with everything else he needs," says District 6420 public relations chair Brian Adams. "Rotarians helped him obtain clothing, a computer, and other personal items."

Ngamije was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and moved to Rwanda, his parents' homeland, in 1994 after the genocide had ended. While working there for a nongovernmental organization, he served as an interpreter for Bob Cerwin, of the Rotary Club of Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Cerwin told him about the Ambassadorial Scholarship program.

"My dream was to continue my education but I did not have the means," says Ngamije, whose wife and 16-month-old son live in Rwanda. "I was extremely happy when my scholarship was approved. The Rotary scholarship is very good, because wherever you go you are a member of the Rotary family.

Ngamije, who was raised speaking French, has also been intensively studying English. "When I came to the U.S., English was my fourth language," he says. "Now it is the first one I speak."

Once Ngamije felt comfortable enough with English, he began making presentations to Rotary clubs. In January and February alone, he spoke to seven clubs.
Ngamije has discovered, however, that people generally have a one-dimensional view of his homeland.

"Unfortunately, many people don't know Rwanda for good things, only for genocide," he says. "But they want to know the real situation and I am happy to tell them. Rwanda erected a genocide memorial, so it could teach others to avoid that kind of evil in Rwanda and throughout the world. Also, Rwanda is a good country to visit for tourism."

After he returns to his country, Ngamije would like to start his own business, perhaps in the transportation field. But he also has other ambitions.
"I am studying as an Ambassadorial Scholar and want to be connected with Rotary International wherever I will be. To be an ambassador of goodwill, I must be an ambassador everywhere that I am."

********************
This article is © Rotary International and is provided for the non-profit use of Rotarians worldwide; commercial use is prohibited. The article may be quoted, excerpted or used in its entirety, but the information should not be changed or modified in any way. Read more information in the RI copyright notice.

Weekly Elixir - Week of April 16, 2007

2007-04-19T12:04:00.000-04:00

Clean Water Project -- focus of Rotary Club of Albion meeting
**********

Here is an example of a World Community Service project – helping people less fortunate in the world

*******************

District 6360 Rotarians Dick Laney and Terry Allen were guests at the Rotary Club of Albion on March 29, 2007. They are members of Rotary's Clean Water Project which is dedicated to improve water quality in the Dominican Republic and other countries throughout the world.

Mr. Allen is shown holding a plastic filter filled with sand and gravel that cleans the polluted water that is what is available to many people in the Dominican Republic.

In the photo: District 6360 Rotarians Dick Laney, left, and Terry Allen were guests at the Rotary Club of Albion on March 29, 2007.

The water often contains disease causing parasites, viruses, toxins and/or bacteria. As a result of polluted drinking water, diarrhea, especially in infants and young children, is one of the leading causes of disease and death in developing countries.

The original filters were made of concrete and were very heavy to transport and install. The new ones made of plastic weigh only 15 pounds. Both types of filters are made both in the United States and the Dominican Republic and have been proven to save lives.

Weekly Elixir - Week of April 9, 2007

2007-04-07T16:17:00.000-04:00

Weekly Elixir for Rotary Club of Anguilla

...for week of April 9, 2007

New Rotary Theme - 2007-2008

Rotary Shares

The 2007-08 theme Rotary Shares will act as a daily reminder of what ordinary people can accomplish through the extraordinary work of Rotary, said RI President-elect Wilfrid J. Wilkinson at the 2007 International Assembly recently in San Diego.

"What makes Rotary great is our expressing the love in our hearts through the work of our hands and our minds," said Wilkinson. "As Rotarians, we don't just sit back and talk about loving other human beings. As Rotarians, we demonstrate that love, and we share that love, through helping each other."

Almost everything Rotary does involves sharing, Wilkinson said. "We share our time, we share our talents, and we share our money with others who need our help."

Furthermore, he said, "In Rotary, sharing doesn't mean giving away what you have to spare, what you don't need for yourself. Sharing means giving of yourself, selflessly, for the good of others."

Anguilla's School Playgrounds

2007-01-30T14:06:00.000-05:00

I have a question -- What ever happened to the intention of the Rotary Club to upgrade or repair all the playgrounds at the elementary schools on the island?

I see now that children don't play on the equipment.

What is required for repair?
Who is responsible?
Did this action item get overlooked in the last year?
Is there any chance that we can assist the island children?

It would be very interesting to learn the status of this project.

Etymology as requested

2007-01-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

Chewing the Rag --

Sometimes credited to Civil War army slang. Also may be of the Victorian era and "chewing the rag or fat" was derived from the ladies in a sewing circle and using there tongues to chew the (rag) their cloth, or (fat) a juicy morsel of gossip.

...http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/WORDS/1998-05/0896378654

*************
Piggyback --

Piggyback, the main sense of which is '(of something carried, esp. a person) carried on the back or shoulders', dates back to the sixteenth century, but is found in many different forms.

The earliest forms vary widely: pickback, a pickback, a pick pack, on pick pack, and pick-a-pack were all in use before 1700. The usual assumption is that the pick word is a dialectal word for 'to throw' that is related to the standard word "pitch."

The second element is probably back, in reference to where the burden is carried. It could also be pack, which was the more common form in the seventeenth century. So the compound could refer to "a pack pitched (onto one's back)," or "(a burden) pitched on one's back."

The alteration to piggyback is an illustration of folk etymology.

Folk etymology is the process of altering an uncommon word or element to conform it to one that's better known. Pickback, which had become obscure, was changed in the eighteenth century to pig back; this was in turn changed (perhaps influenced by the pick-a-back form) to the familiar piggyback in the nineteenth century.

So while pickback definitely doesn't make any sense, piggyback at least seems as if it could.

Since the word had so many variant forms even in its early history, the one thing we can conclude for sure is that people interpreted it in many different ways as soon as it appeared, and this same reanalysis is the source of our current word.

...http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19960816

Slate of Officers, 2007-2008

2007-01-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

District 7020 - Anguilla Rotary Club

Our incoming Board for Rotary year June 2007 - May 2008 will consist of:

Seymour Hodge (President)
Louis Bardfield (Vice President)
Preston Bryan (Treasurer)
Don Mitchell (Secretary)
Calvert Carty (Past President)

Meeting day
-- Thursday
Meeting time
-- 6:30 p.m.
Meeting place
-- English Rose Restaurant, Upper Level
Contact number
-- (264) 497 2139

A short Rotary visit and exchange

2006-11-30T09:39:00.000-05:00

... from Don Mitchell

Fellow Rotarians,

Below is the sort of enterprise in the use of the Rotary Directory that I really admire. It is what the Club Directory is there for. If one of us was going to Bhavnagar on a cruise I am sure there would be a dozen local Rotarians who would volunteer to give up an hour or two on a Sunday morning to give us a quick car tour. If one of you is free to help, please reply directly to Past President Kiran Oza and copy me with the message.

YIR - Don

*********
Respected Rtn. Friend

I am PP Rtn Kiran from RC Bhavnagar (Dist.3060)., will be visiting Anguilla on 14 January 2007 Sunday from Morning to Evening, arriving by Easy Cruise Ship for this short visit.

I would like to exchange the Rotary Club banner Flag.

My wife and I will be there for few hours. May we request you that if one of the Rotarian friend can show some interesting places of Anguilla, we will be highly obliged.

Thanking you

Yours in Rotary

Kiran OZA
Bhavnagar INDIA
kiranoza@hotmail.com

Sharing Christmas Joy

2006-11-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

...from Ray Whittaker, District Director International Service 7020

Christmas is a time of sharing with our family and friends, and as this Festive season comes upon us, may we not only give thanks for that which we have, but may we also remember those that have gone before us and who contributed so much that we enjoy today,and those that are in need of our help in our Communities and around the World.

Whilst we sometimes overlook it, it is in International Service that Rotary is most known. The millions saved through Polio Plus, Food,Water and Health, Environmental Programs, Shelter Programs, Schools, Conflict Resolution Programs and the list goes on.

At the request of our Think Caribbean Coordinator, PDG George Banning, we encourage all clubs that have Twinned to share your various Christmas/New Years traditions this year with your Twinned Clubs. Share how each is spent and copy this to PDG George at GWB6890@aol.com . He will arrange for these to be posted on our Thinkcaribbean.org website.

I would ask you to take this a step further as we plan our Christmas and New Years Festivities,and share our traditions and well wishes to all clubs around the world that we will partner with this year in International Projects / World Community Service Projects.

Let them know We continue to remember them, That We Lead the Way in Caring and Sharing.

May each of you,your families, and the members of your clubs have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

Early as it may seem, by the time you turn around it will be past you. Let's make this little District the shining Star on the Christmas tree of the Rotary World.

Yours in Rotary Service

Ray Whittaker District Director International Service 7020

An experiment for the Rotary Club of Anguilla

2006-11-30T08:53:00.000-05:00

Welcome! This blog is an experiment. Post current news items to keep the members up to date! As I began this in August, 2006, the weather in Anguilla was 82F but in Parry Sound it was only 59F.

Today is November 30, 2006, and it's very cold and gray in Parry Sound. I know that the weather in Anguilla is sunny and warm, but that's not news!

If I get this to work, we can share information this way -- it might be fun. After all, do you even know what a blog is?