March 3, 2012
District Team Training Seminar
Noon –Lunch program
ENGAGING CLUB PRESIDENTS
I feel perfectly comfortable suggesting to you that if club presidents know the true extent of Rotary’s reach, (often defined narrowly, but hopefully broadly with your leadership) they will want to have a successful club and will hopefully re-define their club’s reach, using the International in our name for a greater depth of service opportunities!
Somewhere in all your Rotary training you have seen the graphic of the Four Pillars of a Effective Club. Note they are Grow Your Membership, Have Successful Projects, Develop Leaders Beyond the Club Level, and Support The Rotary Foundation [insert graphic]. Choose any one of the Pillars and you are engaged! Choose more than one and you probably qualify for the Gold Club Award, Choose all Four and I will pay a personal visit and bring the Governor with me to say thanks!…Governor Woody, will you agree?
The purpose of this DTTS event is to load all your guns for a success. Your success will be vicarious as each of your clubs achieve stardom and for the District committee chairs, involvement of each club in our district is your goal! A hefty goal, right? Possible if we expect it, not possible with an indifferent attitude.
Knowing a little of our history is going to be a plus for you and load one of your two-shooters..
I got my first job teaching History. It was another day and time, and even though my undergrad degree didn’t lead me to it, my graduate focus was ahead of its time. As a grad focus I pursued Counseling, the state certification had just been established but most districts were slightly behind the Commonwealth’s curve and still required a foot in the classroom, thus a requirement for Counselor Ferguson to teach as least one class, and I did teach one class of bright seniors who had interest in Political Science, it wasn’t even called that, it was Advanced History, aka PS. So a fall back to undergrad certification and I had had enough French and History ( in preparation for what- that famous Liberal Arts degree? My career goals were well underdeveloped when I chose majors.
History was where I started with that sidestep.
107-YEAR HISTORY OF ROTARY IN A FEW WORDS
Walking into a scene from history would be fun…but impossible, so we have to imagine what Chicago was in 1905. As a History student, now teacher, I had to remind myself about Chicago in the early 1900’s by looking at some history books. Chicago was a frontier town of dubious distinction in 1905. The city was assimilating every level of society. Certainly not anticipated as a likely place for the beginning of a fellowship that is now called, just Rotary! Historical thoughts go more to bossism and bad politics. But here comes 32 year-old Paul, a young attorney DOB- 4/19/1868, moving there from Wisconsin [Racine] to start a law practice in the early 1900’s. He sought business friendships, and invited a few acquaintances to meet him for a meal….in other words he was lonely and looking for business.
One was mining engineer [Gus (Loehr)], yet a second was named Sylvester [Schicele], the third Hiram [merchant tailor]. They ate together at a restaurant and talked; and began to unfold an idea of getting together again, next time in someone’s office to get acquainted with what each other did and enhance each other’s sense of community [they were all new to Chicago]. They rotated, week after week, office-to-office. Paul was the instigator and formalized their arrangement by inviting other newcomers in town and on 23 February 1905, Rotary was born! The first group came to be called the Rotary Club of Chicago.
Whatever the problem was, barely a year later and this same small group decided they needed to help their new community by providing a public toilet just outside City Hall, Rotary’s first community service project.
Paul Harris was the first president of the National Association of Rotary Clubs [later called Rotary International…it wasn’t international at this time]; a fact noted in Rotary trivia as well as in the “ABC’s of Rotary” to never have been a club president. –elected in 1910.
That year coincidentally the OBJECT OF ROTary which speaks to the opportunity of service, business ethics, the ideal of service, and the advancement of international understanding was first introduced.
Quickly thereafter, clubs were formed in Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland and the organization called the National Association of Rotary Clubs became the International Association of Rotary Clubs.
Another bit of trivia, the first club to be established outside the US was in Cuba in 1915 and the first non-English speaking as well.
6th RI Pres. Arch Klumph proposed the Rotary Foundation [“to do good”] in 1916 at the Atlanta convention. One of the first donations from the Foundation was to the fledging International Crippled Children’s Association (March of Dimes).
1932 – The Four-Way Test “OF ALL THE THINGS WE THINK SAY OR DO…”
Back up---[The Roanoke Rotary Club- founded by Richmond in 1914] and in1935-6 the RI president came from Roanoke, VA…Ed R. Johnson was his name…the first [but not the last] from our district 757 [districts were numbered as they are now; and clubs had to have names to identify them geographically AND had territorial definitions].
Fast Forward: 1942 The Rotary Conference held in London on education and cultural exchanges sets the stage for UNESCO.
And in 1945 there were 49 Rotarians among the group that helped draft the constitution of the United Nations. That next year 1946 Paul Harris, founder of Rotary, died and the out-pouring of funds from Rotarians was the impetus to establish fellowship programs.
There were 18 Rotary Fellows who studied abroad in 1948 and they were the precursors of the Ambassadorial Scholars.
The first Interact club was formed in Melbourne, FL and the WCS was launched that year of 1962.
In 1965 the Matching Grants program and GSE was started and in 1968 Rotaract was started.
1979-80 The Foundation issued a grant to immunize 6.0m Philippine children against poliomyelitis and the stage was set for PolioPlus which honestly got underway in 1984-5 with a financial campaign to raise US$120m with a audacious goal of immunizing ALL the children of the World!
1987-8 saw US$247 [NOTE: US$120m] goal of raised $600m by the time the campaign is over this year. 3 countries remain endemic; Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria.
1988-89 was an historical year when women were admitted to Rotary and that same year saw Rotary return to the Eastern European countries of Poland and Hungary.
The Western Hemisphere was declared polio free in 1994-5 and in 98-99 the Rotary Centers for International Study were created.
2000-01 and the Western Pacific was polio free and Europe in 01-02 and in a single year of 2002-2003 Rotarians raised US$119 to complete the immunization job of global eradication of polio by 2005.
In 2004 Rotary began the centennial celebration by encouraging clubs to develop plans for Centennial Community Projects and the Rotary Centennial history book was published.
We are here today a changed face of Rotary from 1905 and it has been Rotary’s ability to respond to the needs of the day, from toilet needs in Chicago to tsunami relief in South Asia to polio immunization EVERYWHERE!…that has made us great! A cornucopia of projects is matched by the diversity of Rotary’s membership. An idea that was a small dream of one man set in motion a larger circle and has become a giant force it is today. 1.2m: 31.0:165.
We can all tell our individual stories of what Rotary has meant. I have had the pleasure of meeting the man who was responsible for starting polio immunization in Manila that led to the Polio Plus project, and a GSE connection in Sapporo [named Okanuki], a fellow DG in Norfolk [named Joe], and a Costa Rican Rotarian in San Jose [David]; a Rotarian ally in Cape Town and I have wept together over the needs of displaced children born of parents who are HIV-positive and the children will not live beyond 5-6 years It was there that I saw the black Jesus in the mosaic over the chapel altar. …and the second president of Rotary from our district, Bill Skelton, whom I would never have known any other way…and connections go on. [In 2006] a Rtn from my club traveled to Bhutan on a medical mission has been put in contact with a Rtn. in northern India [Bengal and Darjeeling] for assistance as he traveled to that Himalayan country.
A member of my club went to Romania and the Deborah House will someday be seeking a Rotary partner
And it goes on… and on. But it remains…an idea and according to Paul Harris, founder, “an idea that the value of disinterested friendships is the most essential means of bringing together servants of humanity—for a better understanding of life”. You see, Rotary began with one idea and one man, but has created thousands of ideas in women and men and lives on in us.
It’s rich, and its complex, and organizationally confusing to some but the simplistic nature of helping others is somehow…simple [“to do good”]. But now you know some basic history of Rotary’s 1st 100 years. Share it with your clubs, somewhere in our history is something they may want to repeat and Come each Feb 23, help each celebrate our roots.
An automobile analogy sometimes likens each of us as members of a club as the Tires, our club as the Engine, and our District as the Chassis of an automobile. The District chassis is constantly (I assure you) and silently examining our delivery of support. We in D7570 are an enviable part of our parent organization. Years of excellent leadership has well-positioned our district and 3,612 tires hit the road every week! Sometimes it a squeek, sometimes when looking backward (briefly), there is some rubber there.
You, as AGs are asked by your Governor to be his eyes, ears, hands, and feet in relaying the message of theme and goals. Both President Tanaka and Governor Sadler need your support. They need your broad vision of Rotary and thus your selection was not accidental…never think your name was randomly drawn from an available hat!
You were selected to open Rotary to your clubs, to interpret Rotary to each club president AND on occasion of request from your club presidents to make that light available to club members. It is a heavy assignment. What is meaningful to you is going to reflect in your associations.
Ask clubs in a defining moment what is meaningful to them. What is available in the club’s community that is there because of Rotary and thus without Rotary would not occur or be present.?
Mark Twain, yes Samuel Clemons Mark Twain, “Rotary (yes he was) in our community is expected to do great things, sometimes they simply do lunch!”
Ouch, if that hurts a little! Let’s not just do lunch, that is so minimal!
Each club is Rotary D7570 has great opportunity for change; the power to effect change is simply awesome to me. But so many pass it by, or take so little time to give it attention.
ASK clubs for their traditions if you don’t already know. Build on that foundation of tradition and urge [no…dare?] a small departure, maybe even discomfort in order to make a difference is someone’s life. Try some new stuff, just for the fun of it! Maybe invite a new business owner to belong. Try a survey of your community leaders for ideas of stuff your Rotary club could build or provide for the community who would never have budget for but would like to have for building of character or community image of well-being and enhancement.
It hit me hard the first day of my new Rotary job as club president when someone unknowingly said I had been chosen to lead leaders, Green Light! Remind your club presidents.
What makes a strong club?
What makes a club strong?
Building membership is certainly crucial. EVERY club needs a plan and needs someone who is not reluctant to ask worthy individuals to become a member. Urge your club presidents to choose well.
Eight (8) words
Assess –listen, what do club members want?
Emphasize –accent the positive, don’t forget social aspects, glue binds us
Market –club is not a product, it is a service
Induct –bring new members in with dignity and class
Involve –early but not too heavily at first
Mentor –a seasoned member to nurture a new member and officers
Educate –update clubs with what’s new from RI, a little at a time; AGs always have list to share
Enthuse –make it fun!, play a little, work a little.
And finally, you can make a difference! There was a teacher, and a student named Teddy. The teacher was Mrs. Thompson…you may have heard the story, bear with me.
I want to share a story with you.
This is about that elementary school teacher – Mrs. Thompson. As she stood in front of her fifth grade class on the first day of school, she told the children she loved them all the same, but that was not entirely true because there, in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy name Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn’t play well with other children; that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big “F” at the top.
At the school where Mrs Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a big surprise. Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around.” His second grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.” His third grade teacher said, “His mother’s death has been hard on him. He doesn’t show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.” Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class.”