By Eva Palmer, assistant governor for District 7280 (Pennsylvania, USA)
Our club is very committed to working with our community and telling people about Rotary. It’s woven into everything we do, including our club’s strategic plan. So when I heard that the city wanted to update the welcome signs leading into our town of Oil City, I jumped at the opportunity to help beautify our city, support tourism efforts, and promote Rotary at the same time.
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By Sofía Brega, Rotary Positive Peace Activator and member of the Rotaract Club of Juárez Centro, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Growing up in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, I always knew I wanted to work on girl empowerment and the rights of women. I wanted to be an activist for women’s rights, and learned about Girl Up, an organization that strives to advance opportunities for girls to be leaders. It’s a club-based initiative that supports projects that focus on women’s rights and builds awareness of current challenges for women in Mexico and elsewhere.
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By Isaac B. Owolabi, past governor of Rotary District 7670 and a member of the Rotary Club of Asheville-Biltmore, North Carolina, USA
I am grateful for my involvement in Rotary, not only because it has allowed me to make many friends but to grow in countless ways. My excitement for Rotary has increased over the years because I have been fortunate to have been offered many opportunities to get involved, learn new skills, and lead. This is what is meant by participant engagement, a pillar of our Action Plan. And it is necessary if we want our clubs to thrive and grow.
Continue readingBy David Wick, President, Rotary E-Club of World Peace
As members of the Rotary E-Club of World Peace, we will be joining other members and people around the world in participating in the United Nations International Day of Peace on 21 September. It is fitting for us to do so and follow Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta in focusing on “Girls Empowerment and Peace” as a strategy to achieve our common goal. It’s also fitting because several of our members have been promoters of a Peace Day from the very beginning.
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By Kiran Singh Sirah, a 2011-13 Rotary Peace Fellow and president of the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee, USA
The news coming out of Afghanistan has been painful to watch. So many of these images of suffering — the cargo plane filled with refugees, and especially the image of the baby being passed over barbed wire to a soldier — reminded me of my own family’s experience as refugees. Forty-nine years ago, they were forced to flee their home in Uganda along with 50,000 others, when a murderous dictator threatened them with genocide.
Continue readingBy Barton Goldenberg, immediate past governor of District 7620 (Maryland and Washington D.C., USA)
If you’re a baker, you know that a great cake is made up of individual ingredients that come together to produce something special. A great Rotary club is like that, in that it is made up of a unique mix of ingredients. Here are the five that I have found in most, if not all, successful Rotary clubs.
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By Céline Chhea Operations Coordinator, ShelterBox
Through my work as an Operations Coordinator at ShelterBox, I have had the opportunity to work with Rotary clubs around the world. But the work together has never been more instrumental than last year during the pandemic.
In November 2020, Hurricanes Iota and Eta brought a wave of destruction across Central America. ShelterBox responded in Honduras, where an estimated 82,307 homes were damaged and 174,241 people had to shelter in collective centers.
Continue readingBy Ken Masson, President, The Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy
The need for human rights for people with disabilities is worldwide. From the largest to the smallest countries, there are opportunities for Rotary to improve the dignity, respect, and quality of lives for people with disabilities. That is why we chartered the Rotary Club of World Disability Advocacy. We saw so many possibilities of what Rotary could do.
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Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of posts for Membership Month inviting experts to share how they reach out to prospective members, keep existing members engaged, and create an environment that allows new clubs to form and thrive.
By Andy Rajapakse, assistant Rotary Coordinator for Zone 8 and a past district governor
Last Rotary year was a year of opportunities for the Rotary Club of Warwick in Queensland, Australia. The club, chartered in 1932, had only seven members when I took office as governor of District 9640 on 1 July 2020. It dropped to three in March 2021. But on 30 April 2021, the club reported 15 members including eight women. It had 11 members under the age of 30 and three were previous members of a Rotaract club. What was Warwick’s magic?
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Editor’s Note: In September 2020, Rotary formed a task force charged with assessing the current status of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in Rotary and shaping a comprehensive action plan to help us further value and live those principles throughout the organization. This is the second in a series of blog posts from DEI Task Force members reflecting on their work on the committee and why it is critical for the organization.
Valarie Wafer, task force chair, is 2021-22 Rotary International vice president, and a member of the Rotary Club of Collingwood-South Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada. She has served as an RI training leader, 2018 Toronto Convention Host Organization Committee member, assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and RI president’s representative. (Read her full bio).
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