Youth Exchange Students Visit Capital and ...

The students toured the Legislative Office building and the Capital. Our guide was outstanding and the students even sat in on a Legislative committee public hearing. They met state reps from Naugatuck and Westport. And they saw several statues at the capital and then one of JP Morgans' dad at the art museum.

There was a lot of walking and on the way they met a local entrepreneur who talked some about her career. She runs a shop selling Salvation Army clothes as antiques. She might not agree with that characterization.

Next Generations conference-Feb 25,2017

Ninety or so high school students from all over our District participated in a workshop called Next Generations. It is student led and student facilitated with training by Rotarians. The subjects this year were communications, family, drugs/alcohol, dating, technology, passion, stress, self image, sexuality, race(social inequality). Each student attends five of the subjects and there is a discussion among the students facilitated by the student facilitator.

East Hampton Rotary club-A talk on schizophrenia

Talk on coping with Schizophrenia at East Hampton Rotary club. Has productively worked with mental illness for more than 40 years. This is an amazing story, he sees visions and hears voices but is able to deal with it and work productively.

What a big project. very impressive


Avon-Canton Rotary Helps Favarh With New Building Project

A nonprofit group that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities plans to start work this summer on a new building that is part of a big expansion of its facilities and the services it offers to its 350 clients.

That project is part of a $4 million effort that is expected to create a three-building campus on Commerce Drive for Favarh. The group's headquarters is at 225 Commerce Drive and it recently occupied part of a 12,500 square foot warehouse across the street that it plans to eventually buy.

Up next is constructing a 7,500 square foot building adjacent to the warehouse that will have classrooms and a kitchen to teach Favarh's clients life skills. Favarh received $1.5 million from the state last year for the new building and got another boost on Wednesday when the Avon-Canton Rotary Club announced a $150,000 donation.

Paul Mikkelson, chairman of the Rotary Club's community service committee, said it raises about $50,000 a year to help non-profit groups. The commitment to Favarh will involve raising an additional $30,000 annually, he said.

"We were looking for a major initiative we could do over a five-year period," Mikkelson said. "We talked to other non-profit groups but we knew Favarh is in Canton, it does great work so we said 'Let's work with Favarh.'"

Favarh Director Stephen Morris said the donation announced on Wednesday is the latest and biggest in a long relationship with the Rotary Club.

"The difference here is not just the size of the donation but the scope. It is not just a donation but a commitment to get more involved with us and be a partner in fundraising, " Morris said. He said the new building will be named in the club's honor.

Mikkelson said the club will give Favarh $30,000 annually for the next five years for the building. Fundraisers to help the club include a Taste of the Valley event on April 1 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Tower Ridge Country Club in Simsbury. Mikkelson said a golf tournament in September will help too and he is organizing a 100-mile bike ride from Avon to Providence, R.I., in April to raise more money as well.

Favarh is also seeking state funding for a 40-unit residential development on Commerce Drive that will include housing for its clients.

Next Generations Conference on Feb 25 for High School students

Next Generations is a conference for high school students. The next one in our District 7980 will be on February 25 at Quinnipiac. More than 110 students are registered.
You can see it on the District 7980 Youth website
http://rotaryyouthservices7980.com/next-generations/next-gens-about/
You can see it on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/1795209407410156/

Public · Workshop

 · Hosted by Next Generations Rotary Youth Conference

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  Saturday, February 25 at 9 AM Next Week · 34–54° Rain Showers

• pin	Show Map Quinnipiac University-North Haven 370 Bassett Rd, North Haven, Connecticut 06473

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  Find Tickets Tickets Available rotaryyouthservices7980.com

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Details

Each year, high school students from all across the district meet their peers, in order to have dialogue about important issues. The diverse backgrounds of students from urban to rural areas provides participants with a variety of perspectives on topics. The workshops change annually based on student experiences and needs.

2017 conference:

February 25th

** Check in/ Registration begins at approximately 8:45 AM

** The conference ends at approximately 5:00 PM

*** Location: Quinnipiac University

About Next Generations Rotary Youth Conference

Next Generations Rotary Youth Conference

Community Organization

Rotary Governor thoughts 

Three principles

 a. The clubs are the key. We will succeed or fail based on the success or failure of the clubs. At the District we need to support the clubs and help them.
b. The support of people in the district for the district is key, no one can do it alone.
 c. I expect to learn a lot in the Governor training and the process, any suggestions I make now could change based on what I learn

Possible Initiatives

 1. Clubs/Foundation-Quarterly, ask each AG and each FAR to make the clubs in their area aware of speakers on Foundation related topics who could come to their club.
 2. District Conference-Have Interact and Rotaract conferences at same venue, same time Some combined sessions some separate.
 3.Global Leadership Initiative-Rotary has made a point of wanting to attract members of ages 18 to 31. a. Ask our Rotary clubs who sponsor Rotaract clubs to pay for sending an attendee to Global Leadership Initiative. b. Have a day at Global Leadership Initiative where District 7980 Rotaractors can attend without charge. c. Provide a scholarship(s) for attendance at GLI by young adults in our District.
 4. Membership-Ask each club member to talk with a non-Rotarian about a project they are excited about. Help overcome the barriers to asking to be a member.
5. Rotary Foundation/Grants-Encourage all clubs to be involved in grants. For every grant given, ask the club(s) who have proposed that project to seek at least one additional club to participate who have not been involved in grants recently. Goal- every club involved in a grant.
 6.  Organization- For most AG meetings have a focus in addition to AG discussion. Membership, Club Health, Youth Services, Foundation grants, District activities Some of these will be joint AG/FAR meetings
7. At Governor visits to clubs have the Interact Club and Rotaract clubs also attend.
 8.Multiclub Projects Encourage activities/fund raising with more than one club.
 9. After each AG visit to a club, the AG writes two sentences on what happened and sends to me and/or post on blog.
10. I'll keep a blog on activities in our district and beyond.

Membership Tips from RI

Rotary International Membership Minute February 2017 |

 Ideas for strengthening membership Club members How flexible are your membership options? Do you know Rotaractors who could bring new perspectives, ideas, and energy to your club? Have your members asked for a more flexible attendance policy or different membership types? 

Here are five ways to implement the new options for membership flexibility approved during the 2016 Council on Legislation. 

1.  Change your meeting schedule — you can change the day and time your club meets, as long as your club meets at least twice a month. 
2. Vary the meeting format — you can meet in person or online, or have a combination of both. Read how the Rotary Club of New York is teaming with the UN to host monthly breakfast meetings online. 
3.  Relax attendance requirements — while attendance is important, you can encourage members to give their time in different ways.  
4. Offer different membership types — alternative types include family, junior, or corporate memberships. These members will only be considered active and counted toward your membership total if they pay RI dues. 
5.  Invite Rotaractors to be members of your club — you can reduce fees or relax the attendance policy for these members, as long as your bylaws reflect this. 

 Visit www.rotary.org/flexibility to learn more and to access resources to help your club start applying these changes. If you’ve already made changes to help your club membership become more flexible, tell your story to fellow Rotarians on the Membership Best Practices Discussion Group.