The Rotary Foundation has been so effective because it matches money with people. In the words of Arch C. Klumph, the founder of our Rotary Foundation: “Money alone does little good. Individual service is helpless without money. The two together can be a Godsend to civilization.”
Your financial resources, time, energy, and talent are useful in the Rotary mission. Thank you for your contributions and your efforts in support of The Rotary Foundation and Rotary International.
There was a time in Rotary when April was Magazine month, possibly because April 23 is World Book and Copyright Day. In honor of books, our Rotary magazine and all the wonderful writers out there, whether they write fiction or non-fiction, in magazines, newspapers, books, blogs or other, I’d like to share some interesting information with you.
-It all began in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which brought books to the Industrial Age. Is there a book you’ve read in your life that you especially enjoyed, or that had a significant impact on you?
-The first American library was established in 1653 in the city of Boston. Is there a library in your hometown? Do you use it? It’s a great way to have access to books for free 😊
-The April issue of Rotary magazine features a great article entitled ‘A History of Vaccination’ (pp. 40-45). It was written by Erin Biba, a science journalist whose work has appeared in such magazines as Scientific American.
-Rotary has a blog, Rotary Voices, by and about Rotarians. It can be accessed here: https://blog.rotary.org/ In it, you’ll find all kinds of recent Rotary news; it can be read in seven languages, including English, French and Spanish! If you click on the tab ‘Contributor guidelines’ you’ll learn how to submit your own piece. I think I might do just that (once the semester is finished) 😉
Secretary's Thoughts
Hi fellow Passport Club Rotarians and friends,
Most of our members are either in Quebec or Ontario right now which means that the majority of us are in the midst of our third Covid Lockdown, so I’ll begin by offering a wish that this finds you all in somewhat good spirits and coping well under the strain of these unusual times. Now that the vaccination process is well underway let’s all hope that we are getting close to a new beginning of somewhat normal life again.
In that spirit I have just today received information about the status of the 50 50 Lottery introduced to us about a year and half ago by the Mississauga Rotary Club. The timing of their initial roll out occurred just before the Pandemic hit us last winter and after a short time, they decided to curtail operations for the time being.
Passport Club members may recall that we had decided to join the effort and had gone so far as to select some of the charities that we might wish to support. During the hiatus, Mississauga Rotary decided to revamp their model and so have decided now on a “Chase the Ace” weekly game. Now I believe we should be re-examining our initial decision in light of the new model and deciding whether or not we wish to once again get aboard.
The original fundamentals of the lottery management process remain unchanged. The Rotary Club of Mississauga holds the Ontario-wide license through the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO). They handle all of the reporting and costs associated with administering the fundraiser. Any Rotary Club in Ontario is able to participate at no cost. Since I have only just received the document outlining the process in detail there has not been time to digest the contents. Over the next few days, I plan on doing that and will then be submitting my recommendations to the Board for their consideration and discussion.
I am hoping that we might be in a position to make a short presentation at our next club meeting on April 27th . In the meantime, I will also be endeavouring to set up a new folder on our Documents page in Club Runner and populate it with updated documents with the details of how this new model works so that all members will have an opportunity to become familiar with the working details of the model. If the Board is comfortable with the revised Mississauga Rotary 50/50 lottery we would then need to consider which charities we may wish to support.
So please stay tuned and I will provide a short update in our next Bulletin.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Terry
President-Elect Maddie Roy
I have been thinking a lot about the image of Rotary lately - both how its members view the organization and how the outside world (mis?)understands what Rotary is and what it stands for. As you all probably know by now, a certain head of state's husband recently passed away and I have seen a plethora of Rotary clubs around the world advertising the fact that he was an honourary member of a Rotary Club. Allow me this perhaps controversial opinion - I found it to be tone-deaf and a misrepresentation of Rotary's values. Rotary is not about the rich and famous becoming honourary members so that they can claim to be philanthropists - Rotary is about people like us making our best efforts to make the world a better place. It is about seeking opportunities to support local and international initiatives to do good and to enjoy the fellowship of like-minded people. I think that sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit. In order to show the world what Rotary stands for we need to celebrate what actual Rotarians do to make the world a better place. I find vague quotes about service (from people with professional speech writers on staff) much less impressive than the achievements of my peers and other members of my community, including the global Rotarian community.
The best way to show future Rotarians what we're all about? Celebrate Rotary and Rotarians.
I hope you're all having a wonderful week and those of us entering spring are enjoying the beautiful outdoors!
Ariane Carriere, Membership Chair
As I was switching from one computer to another (don't ask - it's painful), I came across some articles that I had forgotten about. I thought that I would spend the next few weeks writing a bit about Rotary's five avenues of service, with the first being Club Service:
Without clubs, Rotary could not be functioning the way it does. The clubs, more than 35,000 of them worldwide, are truly at the heart of the organization and they are also at the core of the Rotarian experience. Clubs have substantial autonomy on how they organize themselves – within some boundaries defined by Rotary’s Council of Legislation. Clubs decide on the service projects they want to implement locally or internationally. They also have broad latitude on whom they welcome as club members, and how they work in communities.
Club service is, simply stated, service performed by members for the benefit of their club, or sometimes district. In a way, all other avenues of service are to some extent a service to a club. But there are also a number of tasks that need to be performed specifically for clubs to remain strong. Clubs have a leadership typically including a President, President-elect, maybe a Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and other members of the club board. All these positions are in service to the club, and a similar but more complex structure is in place for Rotary districts which may have 50 to 70 clubs.
Clubs also typically have various committees, such as a membership committee, a fundraising committee, a public image committee, or a Foundation committee. Members of these committees as well as Committee Chairs also perform services for their club. Club service often involves many Rotarians in a typical club because operating a club requires substantial dedication and volunteer time.
If you are a new Rotary member or just need a refresher, here's the reference guide for Rotary Basics.
Have your checked Coffee with a Rotarian this month? You can find it here. You’ll find it’s slightly different.
There will not be a Membership meeting this month. Do take a look at the District calendar for training events www.rotary7040.com.
PETS starts this coming weekend.
Registration for the Virtual Convention will open in this week.
