“During my time as a Rotary scholar, I learned to look at development differently. We often think of international aid in terms of poverty reduction, and we often see poverty reduction in terms of dollars spent and earned. The anthropology of development aims to analyze global aid in another way. We pay particular attention to how initiatives play out on the ground to determine just what local communities’ needs are and how those needs might be met sustainably and, eventually, autonomously…Rotarians understand that to have the most impact, we need to learn from other cultures. As global grant scholars, that’s what we aim to do – during our studies, and afterward.”
Levi Vonk, Global Grant Scholar and Fulbright fellow to Mexico.
February is Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution Month!
Can you believe that this is the 30th bulletin message I write since starting my term as president of this fabulous club? Every week I try to bring you some fresh news so you can stay informed and motivated. I hope you enjoy it ;)
As I am writing this piece, my birthday is right around the corner, and for the occasion I decided to use the new feature called Raise for Rotary. I created a fundraiser for the Foundation in honour of my birthday! Please join me in improving basic literacy and education projects by contributing to it here: https://raise.rotary.org/Jacinthe-Paille/celebration
I want to thank Nicke who contributed to it, and Ariane who let me donate as payment for a quilt she made for my cousin. Every dollar counts!
Finally, as this Rotary year is coming to an end in a few months, our President-Elect Maddie will get to attend some great training to help take on the role. Enjoy, Maddie, and you can count on me (and the rest of the club) to support you next year :) Talking about 2021-22, the new theme for the year has now been revealed: Serve to Change Lives. Looking forward to a new year of Rotary service!
Secretary's Thoughts
Hi fellow Passport Club Rotarians and friends,
Well another week has passed and we’re right into February – hope you are all staying well safe and like me anticipating that the current lockdown at least in Ontario is going to start to be lifted tomorrow as it has apparently already been in Quebec.
Last week Margaret provided us with an excellent update to the F.A.R. Project which we are partners with Cataraqui-Kingston Rotary and other Kingston Clubs as well as the RC of Gananoque and Madras India. And we both attended the “breakfast meeting of the CK club on Tuesday morning and were treated to first hand reports from two of the Pathways staff including Roger Romero the Pathways to Education Program Coordinator and Jon Oosterman the FAR Project Coordinator. Jon was quite forthcoming in describing the challenges the Pathways program experienced last year primarily stemming from the experience of dealing with the fallout from the Pandemic. Their numbers of graduates last year were down significantly and so this has meant a slower start to our mentorship project, but they have achieved some success with seven participants in the FAR project so far starting to get close to their target of ten.
It is well worthwhile taking the time to hear what both Roger and Jon had to say on Tuesday morning and the link is below. There are three files to be downloaded and the one I used was the QuickTime recording. You may be required to first download the Quicktime application. I believe there is also an option to see and hear the recording directly on Zoom, but that didn’t seem to work for me.
You will need to type in this Passcode: cIYbT.1y. which is case sensitive
Next Sunday is of course Valentines Day and also President Jacinthe’s Birthday and she has already told us what she would like for her birthday – support for her Foundation Fundraiser to support the Foundation’s Basic Education and Literacy efforts. Please consider supporting Jacinthe’s fundraiser and help celebrate both her Birthday and Valentine’s Day! The link to follow is in her article this week.
That’s it for now – have a great week everyone!
Have a great week everyone!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Terry
President-Elect Maddie Roy
I hope that you are all hanging in there - the days are getting longer and spring is just around the corner! It's been a long winter and it's tough to be cooped up for so long, so what better time to reach out to your partner for February's "Coffee with a Rotarian" than now.
February is also Black History Month and the theme for its celebration in Canada this year is "The Future is Now". The presence of Black people in Canada dates back to the 1600s, there are so many incredible stories to celebrate. The US government has online events listed here to celebrate the history and culture of African-Americans.
I would also like to speak about some events that are happening in my former host country. As most of you probably know, I am a university student and I lived in Turkey, where I was a Rotary Youth Exchange student. It has been difficult to see university students in Turkey protest for the rule of law and democratic principles to be upheld on campus, and to see them violently shut down by the government, who has begun referring to the students and to LGBT people as "terrorists". Please keep your eyes on the news and these students in your thoughts!
Have a great week everyone.
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
Membership Director Ariane Carriere
Good news! At our District Council meeting on Saturday, District Membership chair Anna Rochon presented us with the following chart:
We're #1! We're the leader in new members for this Rotary year. I know the image is small but you can see us there at the top.
The February list for Coffee with a Rotarian can be found here. Nico will be contacting someone for another Meet the Member article for February.
The articles and presentations for Len Goddard are now on the Education Centre page https://d7040passport.org/sitepage/education-centre/welcome-to-our-education-centre. There is Len's bio, a photo album of my visit to the new Sonshine Centre in Ottawa, the Sonshine Cove presentation and of course the video in our list with other videos. Take a look.
Have You Tried the Learning Center?
Use the course catalog to get direct links to all RI courses. These deep links will take users directly to the course after they sign in to My Rotary. Write to learn@rotary.org if you need assistance getting these links.
New courses are now available in the Learning Center:
Rotary Foundation Basics. This course has been updated and includes a new quiz to test your knowledge.
Leadership Basics. This course from Toastmasters International focuses on essential leadership skills and is now available in several languages.
Leading a Team. This Toastmasters International course focuses on leading a small team and is now available in several languages.
Rotary’s Action Plan and You. This course shows you how your club can make a greater impact and implement other facets of the Action Plan. It’s now available in several languages.
