All the Ways You Contribute

A video on All the Ways you Contribute
Video on All the Ways you Contribute

All the Ways you Contribute

I have visited almost all the clubs in our District and am amazed, excited and inspired by the range of ways Rotarians contribute to and change the world in our District. So here's a list of how you each in your own way contribute to the range of our contributions.

1. RYLA, our leadership program for young people. I mention it first because we just finished a RYLA weekend when 75 high school students became leaders and their lives were changed.

2.  A club sees a need for an informative quiet space in a Middle School and gets a District Managed Grant to install an aquarium.

3. The Food Bank in another town needs a food freezer and a club gets a District Managed Grant to buy a freezer for the Food Bank.

4. Yale Rotaract got a Global Grant to buy medical equipment to serve Syrian refugees in Turkey and are right now working to buy medical equipment to serve Rohingya refugees in Bengladesh. In both cases the connections of Rotary allowed the club here in New Haven to connect with Rotarians on the ground in Turkey and in Bengladesh.

5. Our Interact students do service in every one of their communities and raise money District wide($20,000 in the last three years for Gift of Life and Polio) The success of Interact Clubs is assured in each case by a Rotarian who cares.

6. And our District helped found a school for girls in Africa and that school has grown so much that it needed help with a water system. PDG Trish Pearson and many, many of our clubs helped provide that water system.

7. And the eradication of polio is so important. It will change the world. Rotarians throughout the District give to help with the fight. The Ridgefield Rotary Club ran a concert which contributed a large amount to the polio effort and now Arlo Guthrie is coming November 22 and much of the income will be donated to eradicating polio.

8. And Youth Exchange. Every year we send students overseas and receive students from abroad and this changes their lives. Dedicated Rotarians in our District enable this to happen.

9. And one club in our District helps people with dementia and Alzheimers to live a little better. They bring people from Nursing Homes to a location where they can sing to and with each other. Music Mends Minds is the organization and our Ansonia Rotary Club is leading the way on this project.

10. Scholarships. Many clubs provide scholarships to high school students. Interviewing those students is such a rewarding experience for our Rotarians. The students receive help from our Rotary Clubs.

11. This year we have Service above Self Scholarships $5000 each that your scholarship winners from recent years can win. Recommend that the recent winners of your scholarships apply.

12. Clubs(New London and others) have built pavilions for their town. It is so satisfying to see a lasting result for your town from your Rotary efforts

13. Some clubs beautify their towns by planting and weeding town gardens in the Spring.

14. A few clubs do Breakfast with Santa or Breakfast with the Easter Bunny. The Interact clubs often help with these events. In at least one case over a 1000 people come meet Santa and have breakfast.

15. There are many fundraising events where it's all hands on deck. For example Lobster Fest or Shad Bake or....  Although these are a lot of work, the satisfaction from working with your fellow Rotarians is wonderful. And the proceeds go to help your town, fund your scholarships and other good works.

16. And packing meals for Haiti or Bahamas or .... These meal packing events are a wonderful combination of service and fellowship.

17. And I hope you are all planning to do something in support of STEM(Science Technology, Engineering and Math) and Robert insists with good reason that I add Arts. This is very rewarding and does not require you to be an expert.

18. We have another youth program, called Next Generations, which allows young people to talk about their issues and the World. This is enabled by contributions from your club.

19. And a club has people skilled in prosthetics(artificial limbs). They take their expertise and equipment to Peru and help people there who need help.

20. Gift of Life. Many Rotarians in our District help this program for bringing life saving surgery to infants in many parts of the world. Lynda Hammond leads this effort but you make it happen.

21. At Thanksgiving time and other times many clubs give food to the needy.

What a variety of ways to give back to your community and the world. There are many, many other projects and activities , which people in our District do, which bring value to our communities and to the world. Way too many to mention. But think about it, you know how much your club does and multiply that many times for all the clubs and all the people.

But if you have an idea, a passion that is not addressed, you can enlist the help of your fellow Rotarians and make it reality. And don't worry if some Rotarians are not interested now, keep trying, find others and you will find a team to help you make it happen. 

Rotary is a Gift.

December 10 Hawks Ridge Winery-Rotary Builds Business

December 10

Rotary Builds Business and Holiday Party

Hawks Ridge Winery

Rotary Builds Business is a gathering of Rotarians from many clubs to meet others and talk about their businesses. 

Talk about your Business and talk to other Rotarians and Guests

From 5:30 - 9:00pm on December 10 at Hawks Ridge Winery

Heavy appetizers are part of the deal

 Wine can be purchased at the winery. 

Bring potential members, family and friends

What a great way to kick off the holiday season get to tell others about your business and meet others.

Register Now

Rotary Builds Business-Dec 10 Registration

District 7980 Conference-Mystic 2020-NOW September 25 to 27, 2020 in Mystic Connecticut

MYSTIC 2020

District 7980 Conference

Mystic Marriott, September 25  to 27 , 2020

Register Now   

Rotary District 7980 Conference-see link at top

Be a Part of All This

Ron Beaubien-President Mark Maloney's Representative and he was RI Director and aide to RI President John Germ, 

Jeffry Cadorette-What a great speaker on Rotary!!!
Ryan Leigh Dostie-Author of Formation- A Womans Memoir on Stepping out of Line

            Named by Esquire as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year: Chanel Miller's Know My Name meets Cheryl Strayed's Wild and Anthony Swofford's Jarhead in this powerful literary memoir of a young soldier driven to prove herself in a man's world.

Opioids-New London's Overdose Action Team
             talks about what they do and what you can do

Mystic Aquarium-The President tells of the Aquarium and tells us about the Oceans
Robotics teams-Three high schools, Meet them up close
Rotary Public Image from Nikki Mederos on storytelling

In addition

Rotary International Awards

The Pettengill and Osterman

Talks by our clubs on what they do-Community, International, Club, Vocational Service

Youth-meet our Exchange students,  Interactors, Rotaractors 

Rotary Builds Business at scale

March of the Presidents

Memorial Service for those we've lost

District Conference Highlights

Friday 4 PM Conference Opening-welcome to Mystic by Rob Simmons-former Congressman.    Ryan Leigh Dostie on her book Formation

Friday 6:30 PM Dinner
RI awards-Members of our District are honored for what they have done
Ron Beaubien-President Mark Maloney's Representative and RI Director and aide to RI President John Germ, 

Sat

8:30 AM Youth Programs-Youth Exchange, Interact, Rotaract
10:20 AM Jeffry Cadorette-RI Director

11 AM Opioids-New London Overdose Action Team

noon Lunch  Paul Harris Lunch Celebrating the Rotary Foundation and District 7980 Role

1:30 PM Toastmasters and Rotary

2 PM Dr. Stephen Coan-Mystic Aquarium

3 PM Robot Teams at House of Friendship 

5:30 PM  Rotary Builds Business in House of Friendship

7 PM Presidents march into ballroom with bagpipes

          Dinner
 Mark Maloney's Representative Ron Beaubien
Pettengill and Osterman club Awards
Jeffry Cadorette-RI Director

Sunday

8:00 AM Business Meeting
8:30 AM Memorial Service

9:30 AM Our clubs talk about what they do!

10:15 AM Nikki Mederos talks about story telling with Robert Friend
11:00 AM Conference Closing  Ron Beaubien

11:10 AM Enjoy Mystic

At this District Conference

At our district Conference the Presidents representative is Ron Beaubien and his wife Vicki

Ronald L. (Ron) Beaubien:  Rotary Biography Recap:

Ron, a Rotarian since 1976 in Coronado, California with a classification of Insurance, is President of Island Insurance Services, a full-service insurance agency in Coronado, CA.  Locally, he has also been president/chairman of the Coronado Chamber of Commerce, Coronado Hospital Foundation, Selective Service Draft Board and the San Diego Crime Commission. A 15-year member of the United States International University (USIU) Board of Directions, Ron is also a Mason and a Shriner. 

He is also a past Director of the Bank of Coronado.  Among many other community and service awards, in 1993, Ron and his wife, Vicki, were presented the “Coronado Distinguished Citizen Award” for outstanding and long-term service to their community.

A brief recap of Ron’s Rotary experiences includes:

*1994-5: Governor of District 5340 in Southern California;

*Numerous positions in the District and Zones 23-24, now 25-26, including GETS, Zone Institute Co-Convener and Chair, multiple events as a Speaker, Presenter, Discussion Group Leader or Panelist;

*2003-5: RI Board of Directors;

*2001: Disaster Relief Chair; 2007-8 International Membership Development and Retention Chair - chairing seven International Membership Conferences (North America) in 2007 and 12 International Membership Conferences (throughout the Rotary world) in 2008;

*Group Discussion Leader at the International Assembly in 2000 and 2001;

*For 8 years a member of either RI Audit and/or Finance and Investment Advisory Committees (Known now as the combined RI&TRF Finance Committee);

*Representative to and COL Committee member;

*2012 Moderator of the Rotary Coordinator/ Rotary Public Image Coordinator Institute;

*Most recently Ron and Vicki served as Aide to RI President John and Judy Germ;

*Many positions and activities within the Rotary Foundation as well Ron & Vicki are multi-level Major Donors.

             

A native Californian, Ron and Vicki have been residents of Coronado, California since 1968 and celebrated 51 years of marriage last November. They have two sons, both graduates of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.   Layne, a Three Time Olympian for the United States Water Polo Team (Athens, Beijing & London) earning an Olympic Silver Medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is currently taking over Ron’s insurance company. Brady is married and working in the film industry in Hollywood – as owner and Founder of an award-winning graphic arts company as well as co-owner of Cine-Concerts producing over 1,200 movie enhanced orchestral concerts in more than 60 countries.

Beaubiens To Serve As Aides To Rotary President-nominee

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Coronado Rotary Club President congratulates Ron Beaubien on his confirmation as aide to President-nominee of Rotary International, John F. Germ.

Posted: Tuesday, November 4, 2014 9:34 am

0 comments

Ron Beaubien, Past-President of Coronado Rotary Club and Past District Governor of District 5340, and his wife Vicki will assume the duties as aides to the President-nominee of Rotary International, John F. Germ and his wife Judy. This assignment will last through June 30, 2017.

President-nominee, Germ, said in his confirmation letter that “we know that we can count on you to help us navigate through the various challenges of planning, preparing and serving Rotary in this new and challenging assignment. I am looking forward to the opportunity to contribute to the growth and vibrancy of Rotary and I will need your help at each step of the way.”

Beaubien, President of Crown Insurance Services, Inc. has been a member of Rotary since 1976. He has served on various Rotary International committees and attended numerous regional, zone and international institutes as well as International conventions.  In India he chaired and participated in a Polio Plus National Immunization Day. As Rotary International Director in 2003- 2005, Coronado Rotary Club named him Rotarian of The Year.   

Working and serving Rotary is a large part of Beaubien’s life, however, he has served the Coronado community as well as San Diego as chairman of the Coronado Hospital Foundation, chairman of the Selective Service Draft Board and member of the San Diego Crime Commission. Ron was a director and secretary of the Bank of Coronado for 20 years and is past president of the Coronado Chamber of Commerce. He and Vicki were presented the Coronado Distinguished Citizen Award for outstanding service to the community by the Coronado Chamber of Commerce.

More about Coronado California

Paul Harris Lunch

Speaker Mike McGovern-RI Polio Plus chair and former VP of RI

Michael K. McGovern

PolioPlus Committee
Chair, Rotary International

Michael K. McGovern is current Chair of the Rotary International PolioPlus Committee and Past Vice President of Rotary International in 2007-08.

Mike joined Rotary in 1986 as a member of the Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA. He has served as club president, district  governor, district foundation chair, Rotarian Action Group chair, international training leader, RI committee member and chair, director of Rotary International and vice  president of Rotary. He has served in numerous other positions at the district, zone and international levels and has attended numerous councils on legislation in various roles.

Mike holds the Rotary classification of “Town Government” as the full-time appointed town manager of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He was previously president of the Maine Municipal Association and has served on regional boards for the United Way and the American Red Cross. Mike is a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation and a recipient of the Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service.

Jeffry Cadorette

Director 2018-20 
Rotary Club of Media 
Pennsylvania, USA 

Jeffry Cadorette had a 25-year career as a physical therapist in private practice as president and CEO of Physical Therapy Associates of Delaware County in Pennsylvania until merging his practice with Riddle Memorial Hospital to form the Riddle Rehabilitation Institute and Riddle Sports Medicine. He is now associate broker and executive vice president at Media Real Estate Co., where he is active in all phases of commercial real estate sales and leasing, tenant representation, and new project development.

A Rotarian since 1977, Cadorette has served RI as a committee member, Council on Legislation delegate, international training leader, seminar trainer, and president’s representative. He was worldwide coordinator of Rotary Foundation alumni coordinators from 2010-11.

Cadorette is a Foundation Benefactor and Major Donor and has received the Citation for Meritorious Service, the Distinguished Service Award, and RI’s Service Above Self Award.

Jeffry Cadorette-A Rotary Prescription

Ryan Dostie-Youth Exchange alum, Global Scholar, Author
Talking about the Effect of Rotary on her

Ryan Leigh Dostie goes by Ryan Leigh Dostie only in written work because her mother christened her with an extremely masculine first name, and Ryan without the Leigh seemed kind of confusing on a book cover. She secretly believes her name is the reason she joined the military, because names have that kind of formative power. She’s always been a writer, if you consider a short story in second-grade with the dubious plot of a girl making best friends with a wild mountain lion as “writing.” On her elementary school bucket list were four items: go to college, travel, become an author, have a horse. Ryan is working real hard on getting that horse.

She loves to travel and once wanted to visit every major city in the world. Now she would just like to see the countryside of new places and discover paths less traveled. Maybe that’s because she’s learned the beauty of a place is in its raw, untouched landscape, or maybe it’s because she suddenly doesn’t like crowds. With age comes agoraphobia. More accurately, with war comes agoraphobia.

Ryan has studied six languages (Japanese, Persian-Farsi, Dari, French, Ancient Greek) but only her mother says Ryan speaks six languages, because honestly Ryan has forgotten almost of all that, save for some conversational Japanese.

As far as hobbies go, Ryan likes to pick things up and put them down, preferably heavy and slowly (i.e. Olympic Weightlifting), but will move faster if her trainer yells loud enough (i.e. Crossfit). She loves to read, but will never admit to how little she actually does, because it’s shameful. While a journalist and photographer in the Connecticut National Guard, Ryan learned she really enjoys photography and maybe she’s even good at it. It's pretty amazing what you can do with an automatic setting on expensive cameras these days.

Ryan secretly loves Urban Fantasy because she has an unhealthy obsession with the ancient world and its impact on modern society and religions, and what better genre to explore such delightful connections? Ryan will happily regale you with tales of powerful, ancient deities, and how the biggest war god was originally a woman. Yet her current works revolve around women in the military and combat, because women are there, they exist, and have for a very long time. She would like to add her voice to literature regarding the “The Long War,” America’s ongoing conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ryan has a beautiful, adventurous daughter, who has a delightful passion for horses (this is how Ryan hopes to trick her husband into getting that horse), as well as big dogs (Ryan wants another dog, too). Ryan is married to a Marine, whose ability to improvise, adapt, and overcome is probably the exact thing Ryan needs in a man and husband. He’s a devoted father, hard working teacher, volunteer fireman, EMT, and often caretaker of all household animals. We understand his reluctance for more animals. We will persevere.

Video at New Haven book store

Interview with Ryan Leigh Dostie onWNYC by Alison Stewart

June 7, 2019

https://www.wnyc.org/story/formation-womans-memoir-stepping-out-line/

Book by Ryan Dostie Formation-A womans memoir of Stepping out of Line



A Talk on Opioids Treatment-Jennifer Muggeo and Carol Jones

For almost three years, the City of New London, Ledge Light Health District, Alliance for Living and many other community organizations, first responders.  government agencies, individuals with lived experience and families from New London and surrounding towns formed the Overdose Action Team (OAT), which is focused on improving local response to the opioid epidemic through data sharing and coordinating intervention efforts.

The OAT was awarded one of only 13 grants in the country in 2018 through the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. As a result of this funding, three Recovery Navigators were deployed in locations through the city where data shows the highest numbers of overdoses. Since the project began, the navigators have engaged over 300 people, with many of those contacted initiating medically based treatment as a result. The program is so successful that the grant was almost doubled and the work expanded to other Southeastern Connecticut communities. We currently have 5 Recovery Navigators working in the community.

Here is a video on channel 8 of Jen Muggeo who will be one of our speakers
Opioids-New London effort Jen Muggeo

Talk on the Environment, the Oceans and STEM

STEPHEN M. COAN, PH.D. of Mystic Aquarium

Dr. Stephen M. Coan is president and chief executive officer of Sea Research Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which operates Mystic Aquarium and JASON Learning.  Committed to protecting the ocean environment, Sea Research Foundation accomplishes this through public engagement in conservation, STEM education, and research programs related to the ocean environment.

 Mystic Aquarium is the largest cultural attraction in Southeastern New England with annual attendance of 750,000.  JASON Learning is a digital based STEM curriculum that annually reaches 3 million students throughout the world.

 Dr. Coan has been an officer of Sea Research Foundation since 2001. He was appointed chief operating officer in 2004, and completed a radical restructuring of the organization’s financial platform, including reduction of $20 million in debt. He became president and CEO in 2006.   Under his stewardship, Sea Research Foundation has enjoyed record setting fund raising, and took over management of JASON Learning from National Geographic Society in 2010.  In 2014, Mystic Aquarium was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service at the White House in recognition of its unique array of community and national programs serving at-risk youth and people with special needs. 

Prior to joining Sea Research Foundation, Dr. Coan was the chief education officer of the JASON Foundation for Education, now known as JASON Learning. He has served as executive director of two educational organizations and held faculty appointments at Tufts University, Bentley College and Cambridge College. He is a trustee of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Horizons in Windham, Conn., the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation in Baltimore, Md., and a founding trustee of the North American Marine Environment Protection Association.

 Dr. Coan earned his bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University and both a Masters in Management degree and a doctorate in social policy from the Heller Graduate School at Brandeis. 

Mystic Aquarium video

African Penguins at Mystic Aquarium

Robots from High School Robot Teams for you and your kids to play with

On Saturday

Interact and Rotaract

Youth Exchange

















On Sunday

The Memorial Service-a moving remembrance of the Rotarians we have lost this year.

Talks by Clubs on What they do really well

Public Image

Nikki Mederos-Public Image Coordinator for Zone 32 and great storyteller.

Niurka “Nikki” Mederos District Governor

North Hudson Rotary Club

401 Gorge Road, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010

Mobile: 201-956-1667 Email: nikkimederos7490@gmail.com

A lifelong resident of Hudson and Bergen counties, Niurka “Nikki” Mederos is the Director of the External Affairs/Outreach Community at Hackensack Meridian Health Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, NJ. During her 35-year tenure at the medical facility, Ms. Mederos has worked within local communities to promote the hospital’s services, build community partnerships and provide healthcare outreach programs to local residents. Additionally, she has organized dozens of community health fairs and health screenings to connect with thousands of members from the community.

Rest of Sunday
Find a Restaurant for Lunch with Some Rotarians
Go to Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport, Naval Museum or...

Yale Rotaract-Rohingya Refugee Osteoporosis Project

Rohingya Refugee Medical Relief Project

This year, the Yale University Rotaract Club will undertake a large-scale, collaborative fundraising effort towards medical relief for the Rohingya Refugee Camp of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. According to Human Rights Watch, since 2017, almost 700,000 Rohingya muslims have fled from Burma’s Rakhine State in order to escape large-scale ethnic cleansing, which has included acts of mass killings, widespread arson, and increased sexual violence. As they have been denied citizenship by the Burmese government, the Rohingya is one of the largest stateless populations in the world, many of whom have found temporary refuge in camps around Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
As a club, we have forged a relationship with our international partner club in Bangladesh, the Rotary Club of Dhaka (the Dhaka Mavericks), in order to gauge the most underserved needs of the Rohingya refugees and to help administer our medical relief project.

 Since access is restricted in the Rohingya refugee camps, we will work with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, an NGO based in Bangladesh, to provide screening and treatment services for osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a systemic bone disease that can lead to increased bone fragility, often from lack of proper nutrition. Although osteoporosis can be prevented with early detection and subsequent changes in lifestyle and nutrition, it is often left undetected and untreated until first fractures appear. Fractures, in turn, can be life-threatening both in their immediate and consequential effects, including the inability to remain in the workforce and a gradual decline in independence. In many ways, the effects of osteoporosis left untreated can prove more costly to heal than the care necessary to diagnose and preventatively treat the insidious disease.
We plan to fundraise for specialized medical screening equipment called the Echos portable bone densitometer to initially provide treatment for over 2,000 refugees in Cox’s Bazar. This project will also serve to begin a longer effort towards osteoporosis awareness, diagnosis, and treatment in the camps. The total cost for this project is approximately $75,000.
We are in the process of building a network of partner Rotary-affiliated clubs to help aid us in this endeavor. In order to achieve and hopefully exceed our ambitious fundraising goal, we need your help. We hope that you may be able to donate or join us in our fundraising efforts.
Thank you for your time and donations. Thank you for helping us put service above self!
How can you help:

1. Donate here!
2. Venmo @YaleRotaract
3. Write a check made payable to “New Haven Rotary Charitable Trust Fund” with a notation for “Rohingya Refugee Project” and mail it to Colin M. Gershon, One Century Tower, Suite 500, 265 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06510.
4. Donate to our GoFundMe.
5. Email yalerotaract@gmail.com to join our fundraising efforts and partner up with Yale Rotaract. We are especially eager to invite domestic and international Interact, Rotaract, and Rotary Clubs to our team!

Our Partners:

• Rotary Club of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Dhaka Maverick) - Host Club
• Rotaract Club of Rheingau, Germany - Twin Club
• Rotaract Club of Boston University Sargent College
• International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

Jack's Talk to Clubs

 I wanted to have Interact Clubs at the Rotary meeting because the Interact Club and Rotary Club working together is beneficial to both. You can help each other on projects on fundraising. It would be great to have Interact Clubs be involved in District Managed grants. So Interactors think of a project that you want to get funded and work with the Rotary club to get Foundation funding.

President  Mark Maloney has chosen Rotary Connects the World as his theme. You may have seen the theme logo.

This means that each of us is connected in our Rotary Clubs, we are connected to our towns through Rotary, we are connected around our state and we are connected worldwide. Rotary Connects the World.

There are three things that RI President Elect Mark will focus on.

Focus

1. Membership

Create new membership models

New paths/models to Rotary membership

Create new Rotary and Rotaract clubs

Membership Committee at every club

What's new here is a recognition that Rotary is very versatile. We have our clubs but each is different.

New models for clubs and for membership are possible and are desireable. Barry Rassin, current RI President

has said that every Rotary Club should have a Rotaract Club. There are young people in our towns who could enjoy and benefit from Rotary. But they need to design their own way of being Rotarians. And we need to give them the space and encouragement to create their version of Rotary. The same could be said for other groups.

2. Involve our Families

We should have family activities and encourage family members to participate in our Rotary projects.

We shall do this in the coming year i.e. family Rotary activities and involvement of families in projects.

3. United Nations

This is the 75th anniversary of Rotary's involvement with the UN. President Elect Mark will

be planning some celebrations.

Membership is so much a part of Mark Malone's focus that I wanted to share a bit about my views on it.

Rotary consists of three essential elements 1) fellowship and friendship. 2) service and 3) a code, the four way test and other principles. There are three members of my club who are near or over 90. They are at almost every meeting because they have friends at the meeting who they want to see. Club members pick them up and help them get to the meetings. They enjoy the friendship. That is a key element of Rotary the friendships we create, in our clubs, in our area and beyond. These friendships are an essential element of Rotary and keep us in our clubs. Service is another essential element. Working together to help our town, people in our town\ or beyond makes us feel good and reinforces the friendship element. Packing meals forThanksgiving, planting flowers in the Spring, building a playscape together and much more are examples of Rotary Service to our towns. An excellent example of Rotary Service was the recent packaging of meals for Haiti in Area 8. Over 150 Rotarians and guests prepared more than 40,000 meals. Fellowship and Service were completely together on that day.The third key element is the Four Way Test which describes how we interact with each other and with the world.

So from this description of Rotary how do we handle membership-some ideas

1) Organize a Community Assessment event. Invite the town leadership, other non-profits and people interested in service. Identify some service projects. Keep track of who comes and invite them to service projects and fellowship events.
2) Have public service projects where we invite people to help us do service.

Keep track of those who want to help, they are potential members. Have public

fellowship events also.Invite those who have helped to come to other events and meetings and then ask them to be members.

3) Once you have a new member do everything you can to encourage her/him to create

friendships in the club within a short time. It has been said that there is a friendship when

the people involved do things together one on one. That's the objective the new member has one or more friendships in the club.

4) Hold fellowship events at different times, different places and invite others. In particular invite the non-members who can't or won't attend your regular meetings. . (Rotary after hours/ dinners instead of lunch, cocktail hour etc.)  Encourage the others who come, to design a Rotary involvement that they are interested in. Make whatever they design a part of your club also. Do this for people under 30 to create a Rotaract club.

Membership video

Some Governors have a project for the District. I am suggesting that each club get involved in STEM locally. Help a robot team, judge at Invention Convention and my daughters' favorite, help your Science teacher. Many Science teachers  use their own money to buy class room equipment for their students. You could help the teacher buy what she/he needs to do a class project. . You'd get to know a teacher and help the school. Sort of a scholarship for a teacher. And a project that one of our clubs, New London, does. A STEM summer camp for Middle School students.  You kick it off and organize it but teachers from your school run the camp. It might be easier than you think. STEM Summer Camp

 So do a STEM project at your schools, locally. I cncourage your club to talk with the school and figure out a way for your club to help with STEM. It will help our students, it will help your club and it will help your schools. My Governors project is that your club do something on STEM, in your community.

And while we're talking about students I want to mention our District Interact Board. This group of students from Interact clubs across our District has run a fund raising dance for the last 3 years. They have raised over $20,000. The first two years they gave the money to Gift of Life and this last year they gave the money to polio. These students organize themselves and also have the responsibility of running events for the leadership of all our Interact Clubs.

The Rotary Foundation District Managed Grants are a great opportunity for your club. Some examples of how clubs have used grants for their town are buying and installing a freezer in their local food bank, installing an aquarium in a quiet area in their school, helping build a pavilion on a beach. Think about what needs in your town could be met with a District Managed Grant from our Foundation.

                                    Every year we have an Awards process which your club can participate in. This year the awards are all based on the RI Presidents Citation and a Governors Award. There is a handout, it's on the website and on the Governors Blog so you can see now what is involved. Every club can win these awards. By that I mean that 57 clubs could win the Presidents citation and 57 clubs could win the Governors Award. The awards are kind of a road map.

                                    Our District Conference next Spring April 24 to 26 will be at Mystic. It will be a blast, more on that later. Your club will have an opportunity to talk about some of the special things you do to inform the other clubs. So put on your calendar that you will talk about your club at the Mystic Conference. There are three speakers committed already. Jeff Cadorette  Jeff Cadorette on Leadership     Stephen Coan of the Mystic Aquarium   Dr. Stephen Coan video   Admiral Sam Cox Director of Naval History Museum   Admiral Cox and the discovery of the Indianapolis          
                                 What should your club do? This Rotary Year.

1. Have a public event/service project at least quarterly. Track who comes and follow up with them.

2. When new members come into your club, have a big installation ceremony and ensure that they become friends, that's friends, with at least one or two members of your club.

3.Work with your Interact club, they will impart energy to your club.

4.Establish a Rotary Day in your town

5. Have  family Rotary events periodically

6. Create an alternative Rotary involvement in your town. Let the newcomers design a Rotary they want to be part of.

7. Do something on STEM