Welcome

Sharron Czorny is our newest member. She looks forward to meeting everyone at charter night.
 
Weekly reminders
Remember to add your make-ups to the website after you have read this bulletin.
 
You’ve all received an invitation to charter night. Please respond, one way or another.
 
Dues are payable to d7040passport@gmail.com
 
Sad news
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I need to advise you that the President-elect of Rotary International, Sam Owori, died this week.
 
Sam had undergone some surgery in Texas that he had been planning for some time, and there were post-operative complications from which he couldn’t recover.   I will provide appropriate details when they are known. In this time of great loss, I ask you to keep Norah, the Owori family and Sam’s millions of friends around the world in your thoughts.
 
Sam was a special person in so many ways, and is a huge loss.  We will provide more details on funeral arrangements as they become available.
 
From the perspective of Rotary administration, we in Evanston are looking at what needs to be done as a result of Sam’s passing.
 
With enormous sadness,
Ian H.S. Riseley
President, Rotary International 2017-18
 
How are you making a difference?
As I find notable articles or videos, I included them in the bulletin. You may find both of these interesting.
 
Sadako Ogata, winner of Rotary International’s Alumni Global Service Award for 2016-17, was a Rotary Foundation Fellow in 1951. She went on to have a distinguished career in academia and diplomacy, most prominently as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991-2000.
Neil Carriere
Working at the Brockville Golf Classic.
Lynn O'Flaherty
Volunteering, it’s what we do
Three of our Rotarians volunteered at the Brockville Rotary Golf Tournament the past week. They had a great time, and added 8 hours of attendance credits each.
 
We’ve been invited to assist in the parking at the Williamstown Fair August 11, 12, 13. I’ve created a Doodle to make things easier for you. Click on https://doodle.com/poll/nmvm4rh55vtd2wgs and mark in your choices.
 
This volunteering does pay. We get $10 per person, per hour for the club. If you can make it to even one time slot that would be a help. It would also show that our club is willing to assist other clubs in the area.
 
Note from Rotary International Vice President Dean Rohrs
To the many of you who have been wanting to offer help for the victims of the wildfires currently burning in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, thank you for your care and concern. It is our intent to have a District wide coordinated response available to Rotarians throughout BC and Alberta.
 
This is an ongoing and developing situation, so the ultimate needs are yet to be determined. Our recommendations to Rotary Clubs and Rotarians is as follows:
 
1. If you wish to support the immediate response and relief needs, then the best route to do that is through the established charities already at work such as The Red Cross or Disaster Aide Canada. These charities have the resources on the ground now and are at work as the situation continues. They are also Canada Revenue Agency registered organizations able to issue charitable tax receipts for donations.
 
2. It is the intent of District 5040 to set up a special and separate fund for contributions to help with recovery once the needs are known and identified. This fund will be centrally administered and held as a special Rotary account until the local Rotary clubs in the affected areas can assess recovery and possible rebuilding needs in their communities. These funds would then be made available to the local Rotary clubs for appropriate projects in their communities.  Further updates will be provided as things get set up.
 
Are Volunteers the real superheroes? By Evan Burrell
I’m sure that, as a child, you had a favorite superhero. Maybe it was Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman or even Spiderman, weaving webs and leaping tall buildings in a single bound to help those in need.
 
Now that we’re older, we all know too well that this sort of superhero is hard to find now days. But do you know the easiest place to find a modern-day superhero? Your local Rotary club that's where! And they don’t even hide behind a secret identity!
I’ve been volunteering with Rotary ever since I was a kid and originally, I joined for my own selfish reasons. I didn’t join because of some great desire to help change the world because I hadn’t had much experience with that at the time. But I soon realised what a difference I was making by helping those in need by being a volunteer in Rotary.
 
With Rotary, I enjoy making a contribution to my local and global community and not by just cooking sausages! I enjoy the fun I can have as a volunteer in Rotary, It gets me out of my own circle. I meet people from all walks of life, and basically feel like, “It doesn’t matter where you come from, we’re all equal.” Our world today is fast-paced, and it’s easy to forget how important it is to build community and have fun. If everyone in the world made an effort every day to have a positive impact on someone’s life, especially people they don’t know, the world would be a vastly better place don’t you agree?
 
I guess it’s kind of ingrained in me by now. That’s part of the reason why I volunteer, the fulfillment I get out of Rotary is knowing I have done something to help improve someone else’s life, and I think wanting to make a difference in the world is one of the most important virtues a person can develop, and much like our superhero counterparts, volunteers are just regular people who go about their daily lives until “the call comes in.”
Superheroes don’t just exist in comic books or movies, and luckily, we don’t need to put on a cape to be effective. Each of us, through volunteering, has the power to do some good in the world and to make a difference in the lives of others.
 
Have you ever of thought becoming a "Super Volunteer"? Find out more how you can give back by visiting www.rotary.org and help make the world just a little bit super.