By John Hewko, Rotary International General Secretary
Innovation and flexibility. Those are two words you hear a lot today when we think about any organization adapting to a rapidly changing environment. But what do those two words mean for Rotary?
In short, they will define Rotary’s future, because they are fundamental pillars of our strategic plan for enhanced impact, reach, engagement and adaptability. Continue reading
Members of the Humboldt Rotary Club pack food for the hungry in May.
By Christine Warrington, 2018-21 assistant governor District 6760, and a member of the Rotary Club of Humboldt, Tennessee, USA
Like many Rotary clubs, we were looking for ways to boost our membership two years ago when we heard about the flexible and innovative club models being promoted out of Rotary headquarters. We were excited and did a bit of research to see if one option, corporate membership, would work for us. I am happy to report the results have been phenomenal.
I have since traveled to many clubs near and not-so-near to share our success story with other Rotarians at Rotary events. We are at 75 members, up from 45 a little over a year ago and we anticipate growing to 100 members by the end of this year. Here’s a bit of information about how we did it. Continue reading
Roberta Peverelli and Filippo Arcioni
By Roberta Peverelli, Rotary Club of Como-Baradello and Filippo Arcioni, Rotary Club Como
Many years ago, before our paths crossed, we were each asked to become members of different Rotary clubs. We were honored to be asked, since we felt that Rotary would be a great container for many things: friendship, culture, learning, international connections, and most of all Service Above Self. Continue reading
The first-ever Tacoma Ocean Fest Youth Story Contest invited youth to write about the ocean and what it means to them.
By Rosemary Ponnekanti
At first, Hope was reluctant. She was on the verge of flunking school through poor attendance. But when Kathleen Figetakis, literacy chair at Tacoma Sunrise Rotary, Washington, USA, asked the Tacoma senior for one little favor – to put up posters in her school for the Tacoma Ocean Fest Youth Story Contest – Hope agreed. Six months later, she had not only won second prize in the contest, but she also graduated from high school – and helped the inaugural contest to be a wave of success. Continue reading
Charlie Ruth Castro leads an exercise class for inmates.
Charlie Ruth Castro
By Charlie Ruth Castro, Rotary E-Club of Sogamoso Global, Colombia
I had to go to prison to understand how education for innovation is the path for empowering millions of Latin American and Caribbean women economically. I’ve never committed a crime; I belong to that group of people who believe education is the most sophisticated tool we have to opening any door.
In 2016, I founded MujeresConDerechos.org with the idea of reminding society that all girls and all women are powerful. For this reason, I have dedicated myself to gathering the most influential leaders through summits, marches, and a television program. The attention and support I have received has been converted into generating innovative programs for girls and women most in need. Continue reading
An Instagram story about Miles to End Polio using sound on and clock stickers.
By Ashley Demma, social & digital specialist for Rotary International
As a social media team here at Rotary headquarters, we are encouraged to see a growing number of clubs adopt social media to promote Rotary and tell their stories. We realize that keeping up with all the changes to social media can be challenging. So I wanted to share one of the exciting new features we have been using to tell Rotary’s story, and give you a few tips for creating your own.
Instagram stories are any piece of vertical content, either a photo or video or text, that disappear about 24 hours after you create it, similar to Snapchat. You can extend how long a story is viewable by adding it to your highlights. Stories tend to get more engagement than your regular grid posts, making them a powerful publicity tool. Here’s how you do it: Continue reading
The Gray’s home after the fire.
By Pam Gray, past district governor and member of the Rotary Club of Paradise, California, USA
While 77 days may seem like a long time, it has been a flash for those of us who were living in Paradise, California, and the surrounding foothills on 8 November, 2018.
My husband and I are members of the Rotary Club of Paradise. I was a District 5160 Governor during the 2014-15 Rotary year, and my husband, Brian, is currently club president. Brian was known as the “First Dude” as we traveled to visit 71 Rotary clubs the year I was governor. Continue reading
Pat O’Donnell
By Pat O’Donnell, Rotary Club of Olathe, Kansas, USA
The People of Action campaign is all about showing and telling the public who Rotary really is – a group of people that unites for good and actually roll up their sleeves and do meaningful projects that help their communities.
I know a little about getting the message out, having worked in broadcast journalism. So I naturally got excited when, as the public image chair for my district, I had the chance to coordinate a People of Action media buy covering four Rotary districts in my home region of Kansas and northwest Missouri, USA. Continue reading
Fairwold Interact members and advisors.
By Steve Bass, Fairwold Interact Club advisor
Fairwold Academy serves children that need emotional support from throughout the area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The opportunities we are able to provide these students are amazing. Our members have designed and sold tree certificates to raise money to purchase and plant thousands of trees in our local nature preserves. Our original recycling project, Plastic Planet Savers, won a sustainability award at Temple University’s EarthFest celebration a few years ago. And the club has earned the Presidential Citation from Rotary International each of the past three years.
But better than all of that is what they say about how Interact is shaping their lives. Here is just a sampling: Continue reading
Younis Sebaggala takes part in a service project.
By Younis Sebaggala, professional leadership and development chair and president-elect of the Rotaract Club of Kampala North, Uganda
Common wisdom tells us that when you help someone else, you help yourself. But what does that mean? What does it mean to find yourself, or for that matter lose yourself? In the busy world we live in, we are becoming more and more isolated from our friends, neighbors, and family.
I believe that by using our time and talents to help people, we can reverse that trend. I believe that there is value in being connected to other people, and the volunteers I meet professionally and every day through my Rotaract club continuously strengthen this belief. Continue reading
