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NOVEMBER 2015
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Posted by DG Mary Kay Hasz (Highlands Ranch) MaryKayDG15-16@marykayhasz.com
I have emphasized as I have met Rotarians around our District, at area assemblies and at individual club visits, the need for every Rotarian to contribute something to the Rl Foundation.
For those new to Rotary, let's look at the mission of The Rotary International Foundation: "To enable Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.....a not-for profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotary members and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world."
Last year only 50% of our District membership contributed to the Rl Foundation, and that amount was over $500,000. A $100 contribution from the remaining Rotarians would have increased that amount by $150,000!!! (One hundred dollar contribution equals $8.33 a month.) Many of our District Rotarians donate significantly more.
My goal, as you have heard and read, is to increase the 50% participation significantly. This past year only 2 clubs in our District (Broomfield and Aurora Fitzsimons) were recognized as achieving a minimum of $100 in per capita giving and 100% participation, with every active member contributing some amount to the Annual Fund.
Many clubs have their own foundations which many times acts as a conduit for distributing raised funds to their communities, and beyond. For those of you new to Rotary, your club's foundation and the Rl Foundation are not one and the same. The Rotary International Foundation awards grants, scholarships, vocational training teams, etc. You can donate to the Rl Foundation by check or credit card. On-line donations can be made at www.rotary.org. Click on the upper right tab that says "give". There will also be instructions if you wish to mail in a contribution. Be sure and enter your Rotary Club's name and mark Annual Fund Share.
You might ask, so where does my money go? In countries like Uganda where malaria is a major health concern, bed nets at $10 U.S. each offer a safe, peaceful night's rest. In Indonesia, tiled water tubs improve community health by providing clean water and preventing the spread of dengue fever. These tiled water tubs are $100.00 U.S. each. There are countless other examples of how far a contribution goes towards life-saving equipment and education.
I hope you will see the need to contribute for the first time and/or continue contributing to The Rotary International Foundation.
"BE A GIFT TO THE WORLD” today.
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Posted by Debi Bush (Denver Cherry Creek) membership@rotary5450.org
Insights and Lessons Learned
Outreach and increased communication with Club Membership Chairs (CMC) in our District 5450 continues to be at the forefront of my charge as District Membership Chair. The insights and lessons learned that clubs share with me and my team (DMT) convey the “day in the life of a Rotary club” with the successes and equal amount of challenges.
There’s that saying about a teacher being taught by his/her students. Well, my “students” are the CMCs, club leaders, my DMT and the District Governor string. Littleton CMC, Dee Leh, provided me with yet another quotable membership moment when she said that she and her club’s president, Jon Moore, have 3 goals for this Rotary year: Membership, Membership and Membership. They couldn’t have expressed it better so why try to create something from scratch!
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We found RI President Ravi’s face on the $100 bill, and you can find him in Denver on January 9, 2016 and help eradicate polio at the same time!
January 9, 2016 – Denver Marriott South, 5:30 – 9:30 pm
Don’t forget to make an extra contribution to Polio Plus – you and your club will receive credit for your Polio Plus contribution.
President Ravi will speak on the 2015-16 theme “Be a Gift to the World” and Special Guest
Rachel Lonsdale will give an update on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Polio Eradication Efforts.
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Posted by Mary Jean Ewing (Boulder) maryjeanewing@gmail.com
Every Last Child...thirty years later.
In 1979 a single Rotarian in the Philippines noticed how the United States had successfully dealt with the polio epidemic and proposed to do the same for his country. By 1985, Rotary International took up the cause, promising the children of the world that polio would be eradicated from the earth. In 1988 the World Health Assembly (the governing body of WHO) resolved to eradicate the polio virus. Along with UNICEF, and the USA’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Rotary International immediately became an integral part of that effort.
Polio eradication remains Rotary's #1 Goal!
Setting this goal was an audacious act. Many felt the goal was unattainable. What temerity! Who do we think we are? Thirty years later, the answer is clear: we Rotarians are nothing if not tenacious problem solvers who know how to finish difficult jobs, especially those which will have a vital impact on the children of the world. We promised the world a polio free future, and we will deliver.
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Please join District 5450 and Denver Southeast Rotary as honored guests for the Annual State of the State Luncheon on December 10, 2015. The focus this year will be on Mental Health. Speakers include Governor John Hickenlooper and Katherine Switz, Sr. Program Advisor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The event will be emceed by Cheryl Preheim of 9News. The program will include a report on the State of the State with an emphasis on the challenges mental health creates in our communities and what can be done to address those challenges. Registration begins at 11:30 with Lunch and the program from 12:00-1:30. There will also be a Mental Health and Wellness Expo from 11:00-11:55 and 1:30-2:30. Registration is now open. We look forward to seeing you then!
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Posted by Peggy Halderman (Golden) rotarypr5450@gmail.com
PR Tips n’ Tricks!
Recently the Executive Committee expanded the purpose of the District’s Facebook page, District website, and monthly District Newsletter to include options for clubs to share activities and opportunities. It is meant to facilitate sharing among clubs, and is not open to private organizations or individuals wanting to gain access to our membership. Following are guidelines for how to use Facebook, the District website, and the monthly District Newsletter.
1. FACEBOOK: If your club has a Facebook Page: Write up a SHORT description of the activity (what, when, where, cost?) and upload it along with a JPG version of your event flyer. (NOTE: Shorter is better on social media.) Examples from a peach sale, an Interact fundraiser, and a service activity:
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Posted by Dan Hershberger (Arvada) dmhershberger@comcast.net
November is Rotary Foundation Month – here are a few facts about where your contributions go and who they are helping in the world.
Annual Fund
Your gift to the Annual Fund helps Rotary clubs take action today to create positive change in communities at home and around the world. Your contributions help us strengthen peace efforts, provide clean water and sanitation, support education, grow local economies, save mothers and children and fight disease.
The EVERY ROTARIAN EVERY YEAR initiative asks every Rotarian to support The Rotary Foundation every year. In addition to contributing to the Annual Fund on a regular basis, members are encouraged to get involved in a Foundation project or program, preferably in the month of November.
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Posted by PDG Peter Ewing (Boulder) pmjewing@earthlink.net
Nominations Being Accepted Now
Rotary District 5450 is accepting nominations for our 2018-2019 District Governor. Any Rotarian, who has served as club president, is a member in good standing of his/her club, and been a member of Rotary for at least seven years when he/she becomes District Governor, may be nominated.
This nomination must be accompanied by a formal resolution adopted at a regular Rotary Club meeting or by the club’s Board of Directors. Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2016 (click here for the application.) Review of nominations and interviews must be completed by February 28, 2016. Any past club president interested in serving as District Governor should contact his/her club President for nomination by the club. Nominations for District Governor are to be submitted directly to the Chair of the DG Nominating Committee, Past District Governor Peter Ewing by January 31, 2016.
303-859-9547
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Free Community Dinners since 2009
Summit County Community Dinner 100,000th Meal was served on October 6th. My husband and I were pleased to be a part of that evening - preparing and serving the community of Summit County. DG Mary Kay Hasz
Deborah Hage, Summit County Rotarian, initiated the dinners in 2009 after becoming aware that the area food-banks were overwhelmed serving workers, children and families. And so The Rotary Club of Summit County, along with the cooperation of Elks Lodge 2561, has been serving a free community dinner every Tuesday since March 3, 2009. (There is a donation bucket at every meal, but nothing is mandated).
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Posted by Carolyn Schrader (Denver Mile High) schrader407@gmail.com
Ties to Denver Mile High Rotary
Attached is a letter from the RI president announcing that Stella Dongo, PDG of District 9210, has been named as one of the six Awardees of Rotary's Global Women of Action in 2015-16. This award will be given as a result of Stella's efforts since 2009 with the Community Empowerment in Zimbabwe, which has trained more than 5,000 women and youth in Harare Zimbabwe. This work has been funded by a Rotary 3H Grant and subsequent Global Grant; both grants were partnerships with the Highlands Rotary in District 9210 and Denver Mile High Rotary.
We are thrilled that our partner in these grants will be recognized for her outstanding leadership at the United Nations Rotary Day on November 7, 2015.
Carolyn Schrader
District Grants Chair
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It is never too late to "play and pay it forward".
How did an initial $300 contribution from the Grand Lake Rotary to earthquake devastated Nepal grow into almost $17,000 of immediate aid to help The Small World Relief Program obtain over 60 tons of rice, 40 tons of lentils, and 60,000 liters of safe drinking water? Dedication, creative leverage, matching grants, and Rotary generosity all pulled together to have this small club, high in the Rockies, help Solukhumbu, its sister village even higher in the Himalayas.
The story of two mountain region's friendship really begins almost thirty years ago. Karma Sherpa, the founder of The Small World, lived with his 12 siblings in a small Nepalese village some 7700 miles away from Grand Lake. Too impoverished to go to school, he fended off tigers from his grandmother's livestock. His older brother, a renowned sherpa, helped a Colorado woman reach her goals on Everest, and in kind-hearted turn, she made a donation for Karma to attend school. The first of his village to receive a bachelor's degree, Karma Sherpa returned to "pay it forward" by giving other children in Nepal the same educational opportunities.
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Posted by Deborah Brackney (eClub One) Fan & Friend of Gary Fletcher
Gary Fletcher, Founding Father and Life Friend of Rotary eClub One
Think back to the year 2000. Long before texting, YouTube and even so much email, the power of the Internet was just starting to be realized. In the early 2000's our eClub was lucky enough to have two visionary’s willing to put time, energy and perseverance into creating the world’s first online Rotary club.
Those two men were John Minter and Gary Fletcher. Those early years of launching the eClub were not easy. There were many questions and doubts about how a Rotary club could function without weekly meetings and other social interaction. However both John and Gary held fast to their vision and came up with an online Rotary club meeting design that emphasized service and the opportunity for Rotarians to connect worldwide, creating a truly international Rotary club. All this was done in technology, the Internet which was in its infancy.
Yesterday October 7, 2015, our club learned of the passing of our Rotary eClub life friend, Gary Fletcher. He died of cancer at the age of 71. Gary was a visionary. The fact that there are now over 300 online Rotary clubs is a testament to that. But Gary was more than a visionary. He was action oriented as well.
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Posted by Carol Carper (Evergreen) carper1337@gmail.com
Sasa Harambee-Kenya agricultural program is “making a difference”.
The year 2007 marked the quiet beginning to a revolution taking place in rural Western Kenya. George Oyeho, of the Utimishi Club of Nairobi, asked Carol Carper, of the Rotary Club of Evergreen Colorado, to help install a well in his home community of Uluthe, Kenya. The clean water from this well would supply a clinic serving over 2,000 patients a month and the surrounding community. That well was finally drilled by Engineers Without Borders in January of 2014.
What ensued during the seven years in between can only be considered miraculous.
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Posted by Jim McGibney (Denver) jmcgibney@earthlink.net
In 2016, Rotary International will be holding the International Convention in Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK). The current projection is the meeting might exceed the current record attendance, which was in Osaka, Japan in 2004 and was 43,381. We are hoping to top 45,000 this coming year.
Rotarian Jim McGibney, Club 31, was appointed in 2011 to the position of Honorary Consul to the Republic of Korea in Colorado, and has worked to promote the relationship between Colorado and the ROK. The focus has been on Visa's, Driver license exchange, visiting Executives and much more.
For those that are interested in Seoul and Korea, Jim has developed a 30 minute program that he presented to the Rotary Club of Fort Collins and to the Denver Rotary Club. He is scheduled to give that program in Steamboat Springs in November.
If you have an interest or any questions on the program, please feel free to contact jim at jmcgibney@earthlink.net or by phone at 303-888-3689. You can also watch a great (short) You Tube video for the convention at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbeRjRF-x0E.
°¨»çÇÕ´Ï´Ù. (Thank you)
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The attached report shows year-to-date giving to The Rotary Foundation and End Polio by club, and per member. The District 5450 goal is for Every Rotarian to give something Every Year (EREY).
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