Re: Timely Rotary Workshops
Many issues arise for Rotary clubs that are not covered in any of our other training programs. As a result, we are attempting to isolate and provide a forum for Rotarians to gather and discuss many of the issues that we are addressing. Some of the programs deal with emerging issues, others with the scope of our day to day operations.
Membership will be a highlight and deserves special emphasis. While our District has not lost a large number of members, we have not gained a significant number of members either. It is important for our Rotary clubs that want to be effective to continue to grow. We have invited the past director, Sam Green, to join us to explore some of the issues of expanding membership. Dan Spencer, the president’s representative to our Conference, will join us, and he is a member of the Zone Membership Committee in New Jersey. This should be an exciting and useful opportunity to hear a different point of view on membership.
That program will be followed by a program featuring generation differences. We will look at the various generational gaps that have existed and discuss how we can overcome them in our programs and Rotary activities. It is important to be inclusive and we need to understand how older Rotarians can make their clubs more receptive to young professionals. We have also invited two young Rotarians to present at that session. Megan Cotugno, who will be talking about the community-based Rotaract clubs and how those have been effective in the Los Angeles area, and Bob James, to discuss the new generation club, which he formed in San Diego. Both of these individuals provide a different perspective to the inclusion of young people in Rotary and I believe that it is important that we understand these tools and how they can be applied.
We will be able to greet and meet the Group Study Exchange Team from Chile. Elsewhere, you may have seen a description of their background and history. This will be a session held after breakfast on Saturday, allowing you to get acquainted with them and allowing them to make a presentation of what it is like to work in Chile and describe their impressions of their visit to District 5320. Those who have international interest, or that have hosted them, should be sure to attend.
In recognition of World Understanding Month, we thought it would be interesting to look at what clubs are doing throughout the world. We are all familiar with the many projects that are going on in Mexico, but we also have projects in Chile, Columbia, Peru, Costa Rica, and El Salvador in South America, and in the Philippines, Myanmar and India. We have a strong relationship with Afghanistan that is developing and we are looking to expand our relationships in eastern-block countries. Further, Africa is an area that we have provided very little service; however, we have Bob Selinger working in Zambia and projects being considered in Nigeria. We ask that all of you working on or considering the projects be present and describe the scope of what you are planning to do. The interaction developed from such a discussion could allow a greater and more efficient application of our resources.
We will also invite clubs with sister-club relationships to describe the nature of their relationships and the kind of projects that they are undertaking. It is important to see how we can maximize the benefits of these sister-club relationships and how we can keep them active. All to often, a relationship is established and then shortly dies because of inaction and a lack of careful planning to keep the relationship open and viable. Clubs that have been successful in doing this will give some tips as to how they have managed to accomplish this.
President Elect D.K. Lee announced at the International Assembly that two of his major programs would be water resources and youth. We will be having workshops on both. Uzo Okereke, who works in the water management area, will be leading a discussion on what the Water Resource Action Group is doing throughout the world and what actions we can take as a District to provide a course of action.
Rotary has partnered with scouting for many years to the benefit of our youth. That partnership will continue, but in a new arena. New opportunities will be presented and new benefits will accrue as a result of the restructuring that has occurred in scouting. Lane Calvert will be leading a panel on the scouting programs and how our Interact clubs, and clubs in general, can benefit from this restructuring.
Finally, other panels, including literacy, disaster relief planning, and long-range vision planning will be presented in order to provide full and meaningful activities. We urge you to plan to join us in the District Conference block time and be available to contribute in the brainstorming that will occur at each of these sessions.