“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”
– Tim Cahill
Although every month really is “membership month” in Rotary, the official designation for Membership Month is August, as we launch into a new Rotary year with new goals and renewed enthusiasm for the work we do as People of Action. Rotary International President Holger Knaack commented to the incoming class of District Governors that “It’s not about the numbers. It’s about bringing in the right people, and then when they are in, it’s about taking care of them.”
What do you think he meant by that? For me, it’s about looking for those people who share your values, those people with whom you are already friends, and those with whom you would like to be friends and/or associates. One of the unique dimensions of Rotary is this emphasis on fellowship and friendship; in fact, fellowship is one of Rotary’s Core Values. That doesn’t mean we are all the same, not by a long shot! It means our world of Rotary is made up of the diversity that defines our lives: diversity of backgrounds, nationalities, vocations, perspectives, skills, and interests. And, not surprisingly, diversity is one of our Core Values.
With whom do you want to travel this JOurneY we call Rotary? With ”just anyone” … or with friends? Ask your friends to join you on a Zoom call or at an in-person meeting. Invite them to participate in your club fellowship activities and in your club projects. Ask them to join Rotary. With friends by our side, the JOurneY moves faster and is that much sweeter.
It is also so important to treat our members with care. That means ensuring that their experience in Rotary is meaningful, fun, and satisfying. It means that our meetings are welcoming and engaging, interesting and educational, and that we involve everyone in our club activities.
Talk about Rotary, what you do in your club, how you change people’s lives, how your club makes a difference in your community or to others somewhere around the globe. Say it loud! Say it proud! And, don’t be afraid to talk to strangers, too, those with whom you feel a sense of camaraderie. If a person has a heart of service and integrity, talk to them about what Rotary is and about what we do. Let your community know what your projects are and the impact they make. Those of like-mind will come to you and say “I want to be a part of that!”. And your circle of friends will grow.
Let’s GROW ROTARY, from the inside out and maximize the meaning and joy that we both give and get from our Rotary JOurneYs.
Captain Encouragement is the face of Call to Inspire's Youth Program, a program which goes to schools across to teach children (Pre-k to 3rd grade) about the values of non-violence, compassion, and how to properly deal with situations involving bullying. The program reaches children through various programs ranging from the Introduction to Superhero Training program all the way up to the complete Superhero Training Course, as well as through the comic book based on the Captain Encouragement character. As a result of Covid-19 the school assemblies were halted and other means to keep the program alive was used including educational videos. In order to encourage the Captain Encouragement program, the Rotary Club of Jackson provided funds for videos and other materials as part of a District Service Grant. These and other videos can be found on the Captain Encouragement YouTube channel.
District Membership Chair Will Help You Grow Rotary!
The District Membership Chair is prepared to assist your club’s efforts to Grow Rotary!
Membership Retention Chair Pete Hochrein (pjhochrein@gmail.com) of the Quincy Rotary Club can share ideas that will help your club be more vibrant, more welcoming, better serve the needs and expectations of your members, and get your members more involved in Rotary. Innovative and flexible meeting schedules, alternative types of membership, and new attendance requirements can also be explored. All these ideas will lead to club members being more engaged and will result in their continued involvement in Rotary!
Membership Attraction Chair Richard Forster (rforster@amadorgov.org) of the Ione Rotary Club is poised to help you find and induct new members. Finding potential members, interesting community leaders and do-ers in the community, new membership types, inductions and orientations, Red Badge programs, marketing ideas, adding flexibility and affordability, and more are the types of information that Richard can provide and discuss with you.
And in case your club wishes to explore organizing a Satellite Club or a Rotaract Club or even sponsor a new club, Club Extension Chair Dave Bianchi (david.bianchi@nm.com) is prepared to help you lay plans for success!
We have developed a Membership page on our District 5190 website that contains your job description as well as the most important Rotary resources for your use. I suggest that club membership chairs visit that page at https://district5190.org/page/membership at their earliest convenience and review what’s there. Bookmark the page so you can refer to it often.
District Membership Committee members are available for club programs – electronically or in person – as well as for e-mail and phone contact whenever you reach out! All the email addresses are on the website and more contact info is listed in the District Directory.
We look forward to working with you this Rotary year and hope to hear from you soon! We want to help your club be sustainable, grow and thrive so that Rotary can have even more of an impact in your community and in the world!
With this scholarship Elijah will pursue an MSc agree in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and Environment. Over the course of the program, he intends to learn how to sustainably and equitably mange water resources in addition to researching how data and modeling tools can best be used in water management. His MSc will serve as a starting point for his doctoral work, which he plans to use serving in the public sector, helping governments achieve goals as those described in the Rotary organizations "Water and Sanitation" Area of Focus.
Elijah was introduced to Rotary in high school when he volunteered for the ‘Bill's Bikes for Kids’ program. His experience building, delivering, and teaching children to ride bikes made him realize that he was not only serving at-need families but doing something true to himself. He worked with the program for the next three years, as well as with a group of volunteers at Rainbow Acres, a center for adults with learning disabilities, where they performed routine maintenance. These experiences inspired him to commit to service, both professionally and in his free time. After high school, he majored in Political Science at Houghton College, where he recently graduated Summa Cum Laude with honors. He found ways to serve many communities during his undergraduate education, including Sierra Leone, Los Angeles, and Buffalo. He also completed an honors project on how sustainable water policy develops over time. Additionally, he engaged in several service roles on campus, such as teaching English to recently arrived refugees, mapping trails with the Center for Sustainability, and leading a two-week wilderness trip for incoming students. Currently, he is co-authoring a book with his professor on natural resource governance which will support policymakers applying lessons from academia.
Global Grant Scholar Paige Buell
She will be pursuing her master’s degree in international public management at the Paris School of International Affairs, a graduate school within the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies It is a two-year program including three semesters of intensive and practical courses and one semester participating in an internship. Her objective is to be trained as an international policy maker who can work within a variety of cultures on complex issues such as peace and conflict prevention.
Since high school, she has had a passion for discovering cultures and helping others. This passion has led her around the world and informed her decision to double major in government and French studies. She studied abroad three times while in college which helped to build international relationships and gave her a set of tools to work and learn abroad. After graduating cum laude, she moved to Chartres, France to become an English language assistant. The school she worked in was in a zone d’éducation prioritaire which means that the students were socially disadvantaged. She found it incredibly rewarding to work with them and share their cultures. This experience was culturally educational and was her first experience mediating conflict. She often had to step in when students were fighting, either physically or verbally. Despite being minor conflicts, helping the students understand each other’s points of view and find a resolution gave her an introduction to peacebuilding. This scholarship will allow her to continue gaining the tools she needs to be a successful peacebuilder on a larger scale. She believes that learning in and from other cultures is essential to Peace and Conflict Resolution.
HELP WANTED! Experience needed in Quickbooks. Time commitment is just a few hours a week.
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COVID-19 has changed the world. Rotary is uniquely suited to create solutions during trying times. Knowing creativity thrives in constraint, District 5190 is bringing you more distance learning opportunities to stay on top of best practices, procedures for each executive club role, and much more.
Click here for more training resources and folks to reach out to if you need help or have any questions.
