Our next meeting will be March 30th at the regular 5:00PM Eastern time. The link will be open at 4:30 for those wishing to have an opportunity to chat with members beforehand.
The link to join meeting is the same every month.
Please use the link below - note that a password is not necessary - participants are admitted by the meeting Chair from a Waiting Room.
Through Rotary’s SHARE system, Rotary districts share in the decision-making process by choosing which Rotary Foundation programs they wish to participate in and support. The SHARE system is the mechanism by which Rotary Foundation funding is distributed worldwide.
Through the SHARE system, contributions to The Rotary Foundation are transformed into both District Designated Funds (DDF) — the funds your district can allocate — and to the World Fund — the funds the Trustees allocate. By giving to either Annual Fund-SHARE or Endowment Fund-SHARE we support both local and international efforts.
You can help our club and district, and support amazing projects by giving to the Annual Fund – SHARE designation.
How appropriate that during Water, Sanitation and Hygiene month we received the following message:
"We are delighted to advise that the District Grant project we undertook with your help this year has been completed. It involved assisting the community of Talniqui by providing a pump and some of the piping for a water system that would relieve community members of the burden of carrying water up a very steep path to their homes. Thank you so much to the Rotary Club of D7040 Passport for your help."
Simmy and I visited the site where this project has now been completed. It was very necessary for the community.
President's Message
Jacinthe Paille
March is Water and Sanitation Month!
Have you ever had to live without water for a few hours, a day, or a few days? Most of us take the access to water as a given, but as you are well aware, many, many people around the world cannot count on turning on the faucet for a glass of clear, drinkable water.
There are several ways Rotary has contributed in helping people get access to clean water, and you can, too. You can choose to give to Water and Sanitation projects through The Rotary Foundation; you can participate in the Earth Day activities and help clean a body of water in your community (Saturday, April 24 - more information at the March 30th meeting); and more.
I would like to end this President's Message by welcoming our newest member, my friend Renée-Claude, who will be a great addition to our club. Renée-Claude is a university law professor in Montreal, and was very interested in hearing Sarah Champagne, the Peace Scholar who gave us a conference last November. Here's to a great start in Rotary! Bienvenue!
Secretary's Thoughts
Hi fellow Passport Club Rotarians and friends,
In President Elect Maddie’s remarks today (see below) she reminds everyone about Corina’s Youth project, which we have talked about in the past two bulletins. This is a truly great youth project with a potential focus on Mexico, the US and Canada. To date only Chris Cochrane has stepped up to the bat, responding to Corina’s request for someone to edit a video sharing the project's story.
Please take a moment to read about Corina’s ask, which appears once again below. Corina is seeking a total of at least ten additional volunteers. Eight of those needed will be for test interviewees and a total of only three separate hours are required as explained below. Of course that means three make ups! The project is scheduled to get underway in only two weeks from now so there’s no time to waste.
In past meetings we have heard a great deal of consensus forming around our support for Youth projects - this is our big chance to provide our direct support to Corina’s efforts and realize potential impact with youth in three different countries.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Terry
President-Elect Maddie Roy
Here is another reminder to anyone who is potentially interested in helping out with Corina's virtual youth project! Volunteers are needed for mock interviews and subsequent feedback sessions to help prepare the students who will be collecting data through their interviews. The project is outlined below - it is very easy and completely free to volunteer.
Tomorrow, March 8th, is International Woman's Day! We celebrate the women in our lives and around the world and we acknowledge the hurdles that women have and will continue to overcome. Women's issues are societal issues and it is up to every one of us to continue supporting women and women-led initiatives and movements!
Have a great week everyone :)
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
Membership Director Ariane Carriere
The March list for Coffee with a Rotarian can be found here. Check out the article by DG Hadi in this week's district bulletin. That's exactly what we are doing, we're taking care of each other.
The following is an excerpt from "Rotary on the Move" from Australia.
Alongside his plan for ‘Each One Bring One’, President-Elect Shekhar is asking clubs to also focus on engaging and retaining members. He encourages clubs to hold tight to the innovations which have occurred during the pandemic and to adopt other new ideas to create strong and vibrant clubs. Engagement of new and existing members is just as important as attracting new members, according to President-Elect Shekhar.
The third plank in President-Elect Shekhar’s membership plan is forming new and different types of clubs. Whilst there are still ample opportunities to create new conventional clubs – especially in underserved areas – there are even more opportunities to create new types of clubs, according to the President-Elect. These new club models, like virtual, hybrid, satellite, cause-based and passport clubs are an essential avenue for growth, making Rotary more accessible and inclusive. New types of clubs will also underpin the growth of Rotaract and the President-Elect urges Rotaractors to have similar plans.
To assist with the idea of new and different type clubs, I thought you might be interested in joining the following meeting:
This will be our Membership Committee meeting for the month of March, rather than the regular meeting. You can get the registration link in the event column on the left.
We will have a celebration in March as we welcome Renée-Claude Drouin as a new member of our club. She was sponsored by none other than our president, Jacinthe.
Attention Everyone - Volunteer Rotarians are
Still Needed
Would you like to help? We’re launching a special Youth service project for healthcare accessibility and are looking for Rotarian volunteers to assist in various ways!
The Project
The D7040 Passport Club, in collaboration with #DesignResearch and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, is getting ready to launch this exciting service project! We’re assembling a team of young people from Canada, USA and Mexico to research how we may create environments in healthcare which help people feel safe and reach out for help when needed. We will be interviewing parents from the Hispanic community in Pittsburgh, in collaboration with local grassroot organizations and the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Students will analyze the results to share back insights with the medical community and the grassroot organizations on a public website, as well as through articles we will build through the project. Ultimately, this project will help children all over North America receive better care when their parents struggle to communicate in their second language, within the hospital setting.
Here is what would help us!
1. 8 Rotarians volunteering 3 hours of their time each to act as mock-interviewees and provide feedback to student interviewers The three hours will mean three separate one-hour sessions, a Zoom orientation, the actual mock interviews, and a general one hour feedback session with all the interviewees, as well as the interviewers and facilitators.
2. 1 Rotarian volunteer to help us draft an agreement to let us use the data collected for publication on our project website portal.
3. 1 or more Rotarians to help with Spanish translations/validation of the 8 interview transcripts and with coordinating with the 4 Mexican students (logistics for registration).
