…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

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

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.