DGKlock-11-12

Rotary Awareness

2012-02-12T20:27:00.000-05:00

Jerry Kristafer, Your Town host on Sunday mornings on January 15, 2012
interviewing Gov Sue

January Wrap Up

2012-01-28T12:26:00.000-05:00

This month has flown by -- from the NEPETS Planning Committee meeting, first Saturday of the month,to Northeast Link meeting, third Saturday, for outbound GSE teams from northeast districts, and, of course, events just for District 7890 and our clubs, I have been on the go. Adding to the busy-ness, planning for the NID Team's trip to India. We head out February 14th. I will be with my valentine, aka Peter, on a 14-hour flight from Newark to New Delhi. We are so excited that we will be able to attend a two-day polio summit near the end of the trip. Also, in addition to the three to four days we will spend vaccinating children in rural areas outside Kolkata, we plan to spend a day at a clinic providing LN-4 "hands" to amputees. If you do not know about this miraculous Rotary project, check out their website. I will be bringing a hand to Mid-Year Presidents Meeting on Feb. 7.
I hope to return on February 28th to good news, i.e. record-setting registrations for the district conference. Please sign up now. Registration form is available as a download from our District Website.
Right now, I am in the midst of a series of conference calls with club presidents. These calls are intended to keep us all in touch, to help answer questions which arise, and to remind clubs through their presidents of important events coming up.

New Generations

2011-12-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

Just back from the New Generations Exchange in Boxborough, MA. Over 60 Rotarians from districts around the northeast sharing best practices, and learning through Q&A. Excellent experience.
Why care? Rotary needs to grow to survive. RI Director Ken Grabeau informed us of the Board's goal of growing by 3% by June 30, 2015, i.e. from 1.2 million to 1.3 million Rotarians worldwide.

see a short video about new generations on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZ_eI1S_qo&feature=digest_sat

Service Above Self -- learn about Rotary and District 7890 through video

2011-11-11T14:47:00.001-05:00

http://blip.tv/bbrc/ep024-service-above-self-this-year-in-rotary-5726499

Clicking on link above will take you to the blip.tv page where video of an interview with Governor-elect Eileen Rau and myself can be viewed.

New date for our District Foundation Dinner with Trustee Chair Bill Boyd

2011-11-07T12:27:00.000-05:00

The District 7890 Foundation Dinner, featuring Trustee Chair Bill Boyd, has been re-scheduled for Thursday, March 29th. Foundation Dinner Committee Chair Bob MacDonald and our entire committee are so delighted that Chair Bill has been able to adjust some dates in his spring visit to the United States to make this work. We hope everyone who registered for the dinner last Thursday, November 3rd, will be able to attend on this new date. If not, please request a reimbursement check from District Treasurer, Ray Evans. Ray's contact info is in our district directory. Send requests via email including name for the reimbursement check, a USPS mailing address and phone number. The deadline for requesting reimbursement is Monday, November 28, 2011.
Also, some of you who were not available for the November 3rd date may be able to attend on this new date, Thursday, March 29th. I hope so. With that in mind, there will be a new registration form for new attendees available on the District Website by the end of this week.

World Polio Day and Our District's Facebook Page

2011-10-27T12:50:00.000-04:00

District Facebook Page

After our first Facebook Seminar, October 22nd, I changed our presence on Facebook from a Group to a Page.
Check it out; hope you like it.
While there, click on link to column in Hampshire Gazette re. polio.

Share Your Passion for Rotary -- Refer a Member Today

2011-10-08T13:26:00.000-04:00

In the last 10 years, more than 50,000 men and women have completed the Prospective Member form to find out how they could get involved in their local Rotary club.
Imagine how many more members we might attract if every club and district included a link to the form on their websites and Facebook pages.
“I’ve had 50 to 75 people complete the Prospective Member form in the past two years,” says Winston Connolly, membership development committee chair for District 7020 (Caribbean), whose district website includes a link to the form. “Many of them have gone on to become members.”
Whether it’s community work, networking, or friendship, potential members are drawn to Rotary for a variety of reasons.
After a prospective member completes the form, that person’s contact information is forwarded to the district governor and district membership development committee chair, who send the information on to one or more clubs in the area. If a club is interested, it invites the prospective member to a meeting.
Read more about building membership in Rotary at www.rotary.org.

Rotary Leadership Institute -- become an informed Rotarian

2011-09-28T10:13:00.000-04:00

New members -- do you want to learn more about Rotary and enjoy some fun and fellowship? Club board members and officers -- do you want to be more Rotary savvy?
Sign up now for our District's Rotary Leadershp Institute at the MassMutual Center in Chicopee, MA on October 15th.
Register Online.

Cost is $65 is you register by October 5th. Most clubs reimburse their members for attending.

Be an Ambassador for Rotary -- refer qualified friends -- and create a new generation of Rotarians

2011-09-03T13:06:00.000-04:00

Membership Referral Form

and remember our new Fifth Avenue of Service -- New Generations

Gov Sue's Out-and-About

2011-08-20T13:17:00.000-04:00

A site page on our District Website, "Gov Sue's out-and-about," is accessible from the homepage of the website, www.rotarydistrict 7890.org. Just scroll down left side of the home page. Right now, most useful items on the site page are calendars of my club visits for months of August, September, October and November. This is updated weekly.

Governor's Visits with Clubs around District 7890 Continue

2011-08-14T16:36:00.000-04:00

So far, with August half over, visits with Rotary Clubs of Tri-Town, Bloomfield, Litchfield-Morris, Holyoke, Easthampton, Enfield, and South Windsor have been my inspiration. The visit to South Windsor was not official provided an opportunity for me to observe a remarkable annual event at their Rotary Pavilion, a picnic for challenged youngsters with a variety of issues ranging from autism to Down's Syndrome, plus their parents and aides. All were having fun dunking various Rotary volunteers while I was there. The steak roast with Easthampton and the South Windsor picnic also were great opportunities to view the pavilions both clubs have renovated recently. Wow! Really there's no other word for these amazing facilities. Hope to have photos on our district website before too long.
Believe it or not -- planning for NEPETS 12, our annual eight-district training for all incoming presidents, has begun. We found out at our first full Saturday session that this year's Governors-elect have a very exciting keynote speaker for Thursday evening, immediate past RI President, Ray Klinginsmith, will be focusing on Rotary's youth programs. Presidents-elect mark your calendars. Plan to be at the Presidents-elect Training Seminar on Thursday, March 8, 2012 for the optional afternoon sessions plus the opportunity to hear PRIP Ray.

Governor's Visits with Clubs around District 7890

2011-08-01T15:56:00.000-04:00

Well, the best part of this Rotary year, for me, visiting with you at your club meetings, fundraisers and service projects, has begun. In July, I had the pleasure of visiting West Hartford, Bristol, Danielson, East Longmeadow, Plainville, New Milford and Palmer for "official visits." Additionally, it was my privilege to participate in the Kensington-Berlin Sunrise Installation on July 12th, enjoy East Hartford's Sergeant-at-Arms event on the Half Moon at Goodwin College, and again to be with my own club when we met Glastonbury for our annual softball challenge, enjoy the GSE Team to Nepal's presentation for PDG Prasad's Simsbury-Granby Club, and last, but not least, spend a few, fun hours helping at New Milford's Fried Dough Booth during a town-wide festival at the very end of the month. Whew!
To keep track of my meanderings you can visit our district website and check my site page, "Gov Sue's out-and-about." (Just look on left side of homepage under "SITE PAGES." Monthly calendars of club visits are also available under "DOWNLOAD FILES."

District Directory 2011-2012

2011-07-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

Printed copies of our district directory are in the mail to every Rotarian in the district. That's rather like "the check is in the mail," since it is being sent directly from the printer at Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, located in East Hartford, CT. So, we hope it is in the mail. P&W is doing this gratis for our district, and I am very grateful.

In the meantime, a digital version is available on the district website, and, directly from me if you have trouble accessing it from the website.

Enjoy!

Literacy Efforts Around our District

2011-07-12T10:26:00.000-04:00

This week I am polling D7890 club presidents about literacy projects and will share best practices with them soon. But, of immediate note, Pittsfield has gone beyond the usual third-grade dictionary project to provide an interactive talking dictionary when a student in 3rd grade is visually impaired. Seems like a great idea, worth sharing. If you club provides dictionaries to 3rd graders, please consider this option as well.

One possible source of such a talking dictionary is found online at
http://www.independentliving.com/prodinfo.asp?number=246000

Happy New (Rotary) Year

2011-07-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

Treated myself to a bit of Rotary browsing this holiday weekend.
I recommend watching "Why Rotary Now?" on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3q0dMjZ_-I

Some clubs are actually spending a little time this month showing this video at a meeting.

Enjoy.

Young Professional Men and Women Invited to Apply for 7890 GSE

2011-06-25T14:54:00.002-04:00

Local Rotary Clubs are seeking young professionals to participate in a cultural/professional exchange to Mexico, for four weeks (approximate dates are April 5 through May 4, 2012).
Through this program, the team will explore parts of Mexico—the states of Baja California; Baja California Sur; Sonora and Sinaloa. During May/June 2012, a team from that area of Mexico will explore our local Rotary District. While in Mexico, the team members will engage in an exchange for four weeks, sharing personal knowledge of their profession and our country’s customs. They will experience the customs, vocations and lifestyles of the Mexican people. The Team will be led by an experienced Rotarian from this area.
The purpose of the GSE, a program of The Rotary Foundation, is to promote international understanding and goodwill through person-to-person contact. While abroad, team members live with Rotarians and have the opportunity to meet their professional counterparts, experience the cultural heritage of the area, and learn about community and international Rotary projects. They will tour the Rotary district of their hosts, which could include moving to a new location every few days.
The Rotary Foundation provides round-trip air travel, and local Rotarians in the host country provide meals, lodging and group travel within their district. Team members pay for personal and incidental expenses.
Requirements for Applicants: People interested in applying should be U.S. citizens, between the ages of 25 and 40, and employed full-time in a recognized business or profession for at least two years. Applicants must live and/or work within Rotary District 7890, which covers Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. The trip to Mexico will require all team members to be very physically fit. The terrain, the altitude and the living conditions in Mexico should be considered. While fluency in Spanish is not a requirement, it will be helpful for candidates to have some knowledge of the language. Language training grants are available through The Rotary Foundation.
In the past, District 7890 has had exchanges with many countries, including Thailand, Sweden, New Zealand, India, Brazil, Argentina, Japan and Nepal.
For an application or further information, please contact your local Rotary Club, or contact Alma Kruh, District 7890 GSE Chair, at alma_kruh@ml.com or call 860-284-2226. Information is also available at www.RotaryDistrict7890.org. Application deadline is August 1st, 2010.

Dr. Bruce Aylward and the "miracle" of polio eradication everywhere

2011-05-30T15:29:00.000-04:00

http://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_aylward_how_we_ll_stop_polio.html

RIP Ray ties "Cowboy Logic" to bigger, better, bolder Rotary through simple, common sense

2011-05-29T11:54:00.000-04:00

How Difficult to be "This Close" and How Important

2011-05-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZVfaNJB8x1g

ShelterBox on the ground in Japan

2011-04-21T10:21:00.000-04:00

Below is the text from a letter dated April 4, 2011, from RI District 2520 Governor Naoki Narayama to ShelterBox CEO Tom Henderson.

"I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you and your response team to Japan. They have been working hard keeping close contact with us, Rotarians in this district 2520, since the team had arrived Japan on 12th March.

In this state of emergency, we have been greatly supported by the response team to help families in and out of the evacuation centers.

It has been taking some time for us to realize the wonderful effectiveness of tents. We are now, however, receiving requests for sending more boxes, every day from many Rotary Clubs which are distributing boxes in devastated areas.

Please continue to help and support us by sending more shelter boxes to us. We will work cooperating with your response team closely in helping more families who need to receive the boxes as their physical and mental shelter.

Thank you again for your help.

Yours sincerely,
Naoki Narayama
District Governor
Rotary International D.2520"

Register for New Orleans -- $340 prior to March 31, $380 thereafter!!

2011-03-26T11:14:00.000-04:00

NOTE: Any changes or edits to registration information after successfully registering/paying must be done by contacting ri.registration@rotary.org .

2011 RI Convention
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA – 21-25 May 2011

REGISTRATION DEADLINES
Deadline 1: 15 December 2010
Fees will increase after 2400 hours, Central Standard Time, on 15 December 2010
Deadline 2: 31 March 2011
Fees will increase after 2400 hours, Central Standard Time, on 31 March 2011
The Cancellation deadline for registration and tickets is 15 April 2011.
Deadline 3: 06 May 2011
Online registration closes at 2400 hours, Central Standard Time, on 06 May 2011

IMPORTANT! Online registrations made after 15 April 2011 are NON-REFUNDABLE.

2011 registration

For most categories of attendees, the base price for the convention is US$300. Registration for a preconvention event will entail an additional fee; however, you no longer need to register for the convention in order to register for a preconvention event.

Deadlines

15 December is the first registration deadline. For most attendees, the convention registration cost increases to $340 after this time.
31 March is the second registration deadline. After this time, the convention registration cost increases to $380.

CNN coverage of a CNN Hero, founder of ShelterBox, Tom Henderson

2011-03-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

Copy and paste into your browser

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/17/cnnheroes.henderson.japan/index.html?hpt=T2

ShelterBox Internation Director Laase Peterson on NPR, March 15

2011-03-16T11:34:00.000-04:00

Copy and paste into your browser to hear a brief interview with ShelterBox Director who has been in worst affected area

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/15/134571458/International-Group-Provides-Aid-In-Japan

Bill Gates, keynote speaker at RI Convention New Orleans

2011-03-05T10:31:00.000-05:00

Bill Gates, cochair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be a keynote speaker at the 2011 RI Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 21-25 May.

Gates will discuss the progress of the polio eradication effort and the need to finish the job during the third plenary session scheduled for Tuesday, 24 May, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The session has been moved to the afternoon, 15:00-17:00, from its original morning time slot.

The Gates Foundation has awarded US$355 million in challenge grants to Rotary for use in the campaign to rid the world of polio. Rotary has responded with Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge. Gates has made several trips to India and Nigeria, two of the four remaining polio-endemic countries, and has praised the work of Rotarians in his annual letter.

Register for the convention before 31 March so you don't miss out on early-bird pricing. Register online through Member Access.

Rotary's Anniversary and our Rotary's Public Image

2011-02-20T18:14:00.000-05:00

RI President Ray Klinginsmith will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on 23 February during a ceremony with representatives from Rotary and Sanofi Pasteur, a leading provider of polio vaccine, in honor of Rotary's 106th anniversary and in support of a polio-free world.

Rotarians can watch the event through streaming video at http://www.nyse.com.

Representatives of the two organizations will also take part in opening bell ceremonies in four financial markets in Europe that day: Lisbon, Portugal; Amsterdam; Brussels, Belgium; and Paris. Video of the events will be streamed at www.euronext.com.

That evening, the New York Stock Exchange Building will provide a dramatic backdrop for an equally dramatic message: End Polio Now, which will be projected onto the building. Grammy Award-winning singer Angélique Kidjo, a participant in Rotary's "This Close" polio awareness campaign, will attend the lighting. Other landmarks around the world will be illuminated during the week of 23 February in support of Rotary's pledge to rid the world of this crippling childhood disease.

Working on a video

2011-02-02T18:50:00.000-05:00

2010 - District 7950 Conference from Edward Meaney on Vimeo.

GSE Team Readying for Trip to Nepal

2011-01-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

The 2011 GSE team, which will go to Nepal this spring, attended a full day of fun, fellowship and training, at Northeast Link on January 29th. Led by Torrington Rotarian, Barbara Spiegel, the non-Rotarians on the team -- two men and three women -- were at the link to learn about all things Rotary, including our Rotary Foundation which funds the teams.
To follow the team as it prepares for the month-long vocational and cultural exchange, go to the blog

You will also find a link to their blog on homepage of our district's website, lower, left side of the page under "District Links."

San Diego Here We Come

2011-01-12T15:55:00.000-05:00

Over the next several days, Governors-elect and their partners will be heading toward San Diego to undergo a week of extensive training for their year as governor, beginning July 1, 2011.
The much anticipated announcement of next year's theme will be made by RI President-elect Kalyan Banerjee on Monday, January 17th. Check rotary.org which should have information about the theme, perhaps even the RIPE's speech posted later that day.

The training, a multi-million dollar annual effort by Rotary International to ensure success in the 532 districts around the world, is for both governors-elect and their spouses or partners. Information provided there will be incorporated into the Presidents-elect Training Seminar (PETS) mandated for every incoming club president.

Presidents-elect should check our district's website for location and dates of both the pre-PETS meeting in February and PETS in March.

Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes - The Joy of Stats - ...

2010-12-19T17:02:00.000-05:00

This is worth four minutes of your time.
Check it out.

Early-bird pricing for Rotary International Convention almost over!

2010-11-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

Be sure to register for the Rotary International Convention in New Orleans, May 22-25.
For most attendees,the base price is $300,if you register by 15 December 2011.
After that, the base price is $340, if you register by 31 March 2012.
To learn more or to begin registering online, copy and paste this link in to your browser:
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Rotarians in District 7890 will be invited to a special welcoming reception Peter and I are hosting on Saturday, May 21, in New Orleans, 5 to 7 PM at the New Orleans InterContinental. Once you have registered, email me confirmation and you will be added to the guest list.
If you register before the early December deadline, be sure to let me know. Your name will be entered into a special drawing(get your raffle ticket at the reception in New Orleans). To be eligible you must register for the convention by 15 December 2011.

News about New Orleans Convention Plans

2010-09-12T15:16:00.000-04:00

Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation have announced a special celebration in anticipation of reaching a significant milestone, the successful achievement of Rotary's US$200 Million Challenge! This grand event, Polio Unmasked, is scheduled for Monday, 23 May 2011 at Mardi Gras World.
More details to follow.
As of August 31st, Rotarians have raised about $135 million toward the goal.
In our district, September is the month to focus on the challenge. Do your part!
In the meantime, be sure to register for the convention.
For most attendees,the base price is $300,if you register by 15 December 2011.
After that, the base price is $340, if you register by 31 March 2012.
To learn more or to begin registering online, copy and paste this link in to your browser:
http://www.rotary.org/en/Members/Events/Convention/Pages/ridefault.aspx
Rotarians in District 7890 will be invited to a special welcoming reception Peter and I are hosting on Saturday, May 21, in New Orleans, 5 to 7 at the New Orleans InterContinental. Once you have registered, send me confirmation and you will be added to the guest list.
If you register before the early December deadline, be sure to let me know. Your name will be entered into a special drawing(get your raffle ticket at the reception in New Orleans). To be eligible you must register for the convention by 15 December 2011.

2010-08-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

Applications Being Accepted for GSE Team Leader to Nepal

2010-06-08T17:42:00.000-04:00

DGE Prasad Menon and the District 7890 GSE Committee are pleased to announce that we are currently looking for Rotarians who would like to apply for the position of Group Study Exchange Team Leader to Nepal (District 3292). The exchange will take place early next spring (3/12-4/10 in 2011).

The exchange with Nepal will be very rigorous: the terrain, the altitude, the living conditions in Nepal should be considered when discussing the trip with potential Team Leaders.

GSE is a program funded by The Rotary Foundation. It pairs teams from districts around the world for a vocational/cultural visit of four weeks. Teams are comprised of a Rotarian Team Leader and four non-Rotarian Team Members. All travel expenses are paid, and the team will stay with families in the Host District.

Your club may have participated in GSE activities in the past, so you know how much fun this program is for a Host District.

The position of Team Leader is very important. The qualities that we are seeking include a good knowledge of Rotary and our District. The Team Leader must also be able to work well with a group of young people to create a team that can live and work together and be a good representation of the diversity within District 7890.

Applications for this important position will be taken until August 1st. The GSE Committee will meet with each candidate no later than the week of August 9th. The Team Leader Application is available from club presidents and presidents-elect.

Applications should be submitted to:

Alma Kruh

44-217 Avonwood Road

Avon, CT 06001

Applications may also be faxed to 860-398-5136, but the originals must be mailed to the address above.

ShelterBox Responds to Storm in Central America (Guatemala)

2010-06-01T15:15:00.001-04:00

International disaster relief charity ShelterBox is responding to a devastating tropical storm, which has ravaged large parts of Central America and forced tens of thousands of people out of their homes.

Tropical Storm Agatha struck Guatemala on Monday dumping more than 3 feet of rain in the mountainous west of the country and in neighboring El Salvador.

The torrential downpours have killed nearly 150 people and left more than 94,000 homeless as the storm buried homes under mud.

ShelterBox is deploying a US and Canadian-based ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) to Guatemala to assess the need for emergency shelter.

“Nearly 100,000 people have been evacuated from their homes so the need for emergency shelter is clear. Last week’s eruption from the Pacaya volcano is likely to have worsened the effects of the flooding and we are looking to see how we can help those in greatest need,” said operations manager, John Leach.

Last November ShelterBox responded to Hurricane Ida which caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 150 people as it moved through the region.

Central America is vulnerable to heavy rains due to its mountainous terrain, while poor communications in rural areas complicate rescue efforts.

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation. For information on or to make a contribution by phone, please call 941-907-6036.

Next Big Event -- Installation of Presidents and District Governor -- June 3

2010-05-22T17:53:00.001-04:00

Be sure to get your club's registration AND PAYMENT to Eileen Rau no later than this Wednesday, May 26th. Payment to the Riverview must be made a week in advance of the event which occurs Thursday, June 3, 2010.
Seating will be by clubs. It will be great if every club in the district can fill at least one table.

District Assembly this week -- still time to sign up

2010-05-09T17:50:00.002-04:00

Upcoming in our district — May 12, District Assembly

Clarion Hotel

1080 Riverdale Street, West Springfield, MA, 01089| Phone: (413) 781-8750

Interstate 91 North or South: Exit 13B. Take a right at light off ramp.
The hotel is 1/8 mile on the right.

Interstate 90 East or West: Exit 4. Follow Riverdale Street exit (RT 5 South).
The hotel is 1 and 1/4 miles on the right.

Why should club members attend our district assembly?

The district assembly, held each spring, is an opportunity for Rotarians to increase their Rotary knowledge, develop leadership skills, and meet other Rotarians in the district.

Club leaders receive resources at the district assembly to help them lead and motivate their club members, along with information on their role and responsibilities. They also can meet incoming district leaders, including the district governor, assistant governors, and various committee members. This is why incoming club board members and committee chairs are expected to attend this half-day event.

Attendees use case studies to exchange ideas and brainstorm solutions to common club issues, while also drawing on the expertise of other Rotarians in their district. Sessions dedicated to public speaking, long-range planning, and effective goal setting are among the most popular.

The assemblies also provide Rotarians with information about their district’s goals for the next year, the new RI theme, the Club Leadership Plan, and membership recruitment and retention strategies.

Overall, the district assembly helps all club members get motivated for the upcoming Rotary year while enjoying the fellowship of other Rotarians in their district.

(Excerpted from RotaryWorld, April 2009 issue, p.3)

Who should go to our district assembly?

At the district assembly, club leaders, including the club president-elect and the incoming

secretary, treasurer, and committee chairs, will discuss their role and responsibilities, work

on annual goals, and develop their working relationship for the coming year.

President

President-elect

Secretary

Treasurer

Incoming-treasurer

Committee Chairs (membership, foundation, community service)

New members who want to find out more about Rotary

$30/person

In East Hartford, the pays for you to attend.

This year’s District Assembly is on Wednesday, May 12^th, 7:30 AM.

Breakfast is included, no lunch. Contact President-elect to arrange registering.

You can leave in time to attend our club meeting that day.

GSE Team Has Arrived -- Come Meet Them in Saratoga at District Conference

2010-04-19T11:08:00.001-04:00

Tamami Seki, Team Leader Yoshiki Sugioka, Nana Matsuoka, Norio Hara, and Mika Furuhashi. The Team starts its four-week stay in our District with the Watertown (CT) Club.

The entire inbound team plus three members of our outbound team will be in Saratoga for our District Conference. Still time to sign up. See you there.

Conference Package - 1 Person- $540 2 people- $740
Includes registration, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast, Sunday breakfast, room Friday & Saturday nights, all taxes, tips, and service charges. Saturday dinner (optional) is at the Saratoga Springs Racetrack ($45/person). See registration form for complete details.

Registration Form
Deadline extended for registration. Call Registrar immediately if you are interested. See registration form

NEED COMMENTS / FEEDBACK

2010-04-15T23:36:00.000-04:00

I feel like Sisyphus
Only comment so far is from my husband/partner.
What's going on with the rest of you Rotarians!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShelterBox Responds to Earthquake in Western China

2010-04-14T10:08:00.000-04:00

Fifth earthquake and tenth disaster which ShelterBox has responded to this year

International disaster relief charity ShelterBox is responding to a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that has rocked Western China.

A series of aftershocks collapsed houses, schools and offices in the ethnic Tibetan county of Yushu, leaving survivors without shelter in freezing conditions.

The charity will be working to assess the areas of greatest need and has already mobilized one of its China based ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members.

Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox General Manager, said: "The local officials are already saying the biggest problem they're facing is lack of tents. The situation of several villages higher up in the mountains is still unknown, and roads and communications have been cut. Reports suggest there's widespread destruction and we are liaising with our personnel in China to assess the need."

The quake, which struck at 7:49 PM ET (0749 local time) on Tuesday, April 13, was centred 150 miles north of Qamdo in Tibet and 235 miles south of the mining town of Golmud in Qinghai, and had a depth of 6.2 miles according to the United States Geological Service.
ShelterBox previously responded to a magnitude 7.9 quake in May 2008 in neighbouring Sichuan province. At that time ShelterBox provided emergency shelter for and estimated 45,000 people after the earthquake devastated a huge area of South Western China and left millions homeless.
Veronica Brandon Miller, executive director of ShelterBox USA said that this marks the fifth earthquake and tenth disaster which ShelterBox has responded to this year.

"Having provided shelter for upwards of 150,000 disaster survivors since January of this year already," said Miller, "ShelterBox continues to respond quickly to ensure the survivors can have adequate shelter in the critical days after a disaster."

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation

ShelterBox makes the difference in Uganda

2010-04-13T18:04:00.002-04:00

At around 6pm local time on Monday, March 1, a torrent of mud and huge boulders hurtled down the slopes of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano in the Bududa district of eastern Uganda.

The mudslides wiped out an entire village including a health centre and a church where people had gathered to pray. Children sheltering in a village shop from the heavy rain were all killed when a river of thick mud buried the building.

ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Stuart Oates (UK) and Laura Dale (UK) were sent to the disaster hit region and distributed aid for up to 2,000 people.

Standing on the site of the mudslides it was difficult to take in the scale of the disaster. A few mud-beaten shacks were perched lopsided on the edge of the slopes having narrowly missed the avalanche of mud which swept away neighbouring houses.

Metal rods from a hospital bed poked out from underneath a boulder. Household rubble and pieces of clothing were littered about the muddy slope - including a child’s red shoe.

The bright morning sunshine lit up the horrors of the last few weeks as villagers from neighbouring mountain communities helped the army dig for bodies using hoes and spades. Unable to get heavy machinery up the mountain - it is an hour and a half walk and a 15 minute drive from the nearest road passable by truck - soldiers hike up the mountain everyday burdened by the task of searching for buried villagers.

So far 97 bodies have been recovered from the mud with up to 400 people feared missing. One man from the village, his eyes sunken and his hands clasped in prayer, had lost every member of his family and not one body had been found. Another mudslide victim was unidentifiable so villagers buried him near where he was found.

Up to 5,000 people have been displaced with roughly 3,500 based at an internally displaced person’s camp some distance from the mudslides at Bulucheke. More than 1,800 of them are children.

Despite the lingering danger of more heavy rain and mudslides, some villagers chose to stay on the mountain, reluctant to leave their animals or their land.

I had less than 24 hours to finish work, research the mudslides in Uganda and do some last minute kit shopping before the deployment. I tipped everything out over the living room floor and started to pack, remembering things that had come in useful during training like Gaffa tape, which we used to bind Marie’s feet when she had crippling blisters!

I became a SRT member in November and Uganda was my first deployment. With SRT trainer David Eby’s (US) mantra ringing in my head - eat when you can, sleep when you can and manage your down time - I began the journey to Entebbe airport, Uganda, with fellow response team member Stuart Oates from Cornwall, UK.

Stepping out into 30 degree sunshine we were met by Fred Kusolo Walimbwa - the programme manager for the Child Development Fund in Mbale, who had got in touch with ShelterBox and asked for their help. After 32 hours of travelling - sometimes on the wrong side of the road through Kampala’s grid-locked traffic - we found a place to stay and got some rest.

The following morning we headed for the camp. Local women, some already very traumatised, told us they didn’t have enough aid and their children were getting sick. The Uganda Red Cross Society had been working very hard at the camp but the reality was they hadn’t dealt with a disaster on this kind of scale before.

After our assessment and discussions with other NGOs also providing aid, we called ShelterBox HQ with our ‘wish list’. Days of battling with bureaucracy and red tape followed, underlining the importance of sending out SRTs with the aid; without them it just wouldn’t get there. Luckily Uganda Red Cross agreed to act as a consignee for the aid and the secretary general wrote us a letter to hurry along the progress of the aid through customs.

200 ShelterBoxes, hundreds of hoes, stoves and other tools and 12 Classrooms in Box along arrived at Entebbe Airport a week after our first visit to the camp. We had to overcome huge challenges to get the boxes through customs and transported to the camp but with help from the Red Cross and our Ugandan driver, Hassan, we organised transport to the camp, eager to begin distribution.

Heavy rain had turned the camp into a mud-pit and the population had increased putting more strain on the already inadequate resources. The Red Cross had put together a list of the most affected households - women with four or five children under the age of five and families with expectant mothers - ready for distribution.

We began training camp volunteers how to put up the tents, use the stoves and other equipment. Green domes started to pop up all over the camp as our efforts finally began to pay off.

Families were allocated a tent and immediately set about making it a home, digging the land at the front and putting stones down to create a patio. Stoves were burning out the front of the tents and the camp suddenly had something it had been lacking - a sense of community.

Seeing families move into ShelterBox tents filled me with a pride I’ve not felt before. Not of personal achievement or altruistic gain, but of being part of a charity where the difference they make is tangible. Many of the families had lost loved ones and some of them had lost their homes and belongings.

In these desperate times, it felt good to be able to do something, however small, to help.

Watching the villagers carefully disturb the rubble which lay under the surface of the mud, the reality of the situation began to sink in. Underneath my feet, below this river of mud, there were potentially hundreds of villagers - mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children - who literally drowned on their own land.

It was an emotional experience and one which I find difficult to explain - the photographs fail to capture the scale of the disaster and fall woefully short of expressing the pain and suffering of the villagers who have lost everything.

But the experience did bring home the importance of responding to disasters and the work that ShelterBox does.

As we left for the safety of our own homes we were informed that a new 5km crack had appeared in Mount Elgon in the Munafwa district prompting fears of yet more mudslides in this beautiful African country.

http://shelterboxusa.org/news.php?id=298

Aid for Mexico -- 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Baja April 4

2010-04-13T14:55:00.000-04:00

Emergency shelter for up to 2,600 people is being sent to Mexico after an earthquake rocked the country last week.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Baja California region on Sunday, April 4. An estimated 25,000 people have been affected by the earthquake with the worse damage in rural areas south of Mexicali.

More than 5,000 families have reported that their homes have been either complete destroyed or severely damaged. ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members John Mackie of Florida, and Jennifer Kormendy of British Columbia, arrived in Mexicali on Saturday, April 10 and will soon receive the first consignment of ShelterBox tents.

“The need is great,” said Mackie. “The devastated region is quite large and unlike Haiti’s earthquake, the loss of homes is not centred around a city but is found in little villages miles apart from each other.”

Mackie has said that tremors are happening daily and the people are fearful to go indoors. He has also said that flooding has been an issue due to the fissures in the ground opening up miniature geysers of water which cause additional damage to the homes of the region.

“‘ShelterBox tents will allow the survivors to gather their families and remaining possessions and stay close to their homes until they are able to rebuild,” said Kormendy. “The tents will likely be used for up to a year as many do not possess the resources to rebuild immediately. “

The team has been working closely with locals to work through logistics. Mackie described the locals as truly amazing people.

“The Mexican people are so supportive of our efforts,” said Mackie, “We have people who have organized volunteers to train the locals how to set up the tents and civil organizations ready to help us transport the boxes from the airport to the most needy.”

Veronica Brandon Miller, executive director of the ShelterBox USA, said that this is the fourth earthquake and ninth disaster that ShelterBox has responded to since January having provided shelter for upwards of 150,000 people.

“It is amazing that even though we have responded to the Chile and Haiti earthquakes, ShelterBox continues to get the job done,” said Miller. “We are saving lives, one box at a time.”

Individual tax-deductible donations to ShelterBox USA can be made at www.shelterboxusa.org or via text message by sending SHELTER to 20222 for a one-time $10 donation.

ShelterBox News

2010-04-11T13:54:00.000-04:00

The Biggest Deployment of ShelterBoxes in Four Years Saving Lives One Box at a Time Emergency disaster relief and shelter provision for more than 100,000 people deployed in earthquake-struck Haiti. Shelter for 50,000 more on the way. Saving lives….one box at a time.

See a brief video about shelterbox, copy line below and paste in your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19-2PJWqqU

Three months after one of the worst disasters ever witnessed, over 100,000 Haitian earthquake survivors are rebuilding their lives in ShelterBox tents.

The international disaster relief charity has now delivered over 13,000 ShelterBoxes to families who lost everything in the 7.3-magnitude quake. Each box contains a disaster relief tent to house a family of up to 10, water purification, a cook stove, blankets, a tool set among other items.

As the world marks the three-month anniversary of the disaster that struck on January 12, ShelterBox is sending another 5,000 boxes of aid this month - enough for an additional 50,000 people - with thousands more ShelterBoxes due to arrive in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, during the coming months.

ShelterBox began its response to the Haiti earthquake just 12 minutes after the quake struck on January 12, by mobilizing a ShelterBox Response Team to Port au Prince. The next day, the first ShelterBoxes left the charity's HQ in the UK bound for Haiti.

The first boxes arrived five days after the earthquake and were used to set up emergency field hospitals, immediately saving lives by providing vital shelter to patients who had nowhere to go. Hundreds more boxes followed and ShelterBox camps were set up in suburbs of Port au Prince including Delmas, where families with newborn babies and pregnant women were prioritized for emergency shelter.

A total of 13,000 ShelterBoxes have now been distributed in Haiti with thousands more to come, making it ShelterBox's largest deployment since the Indian Ocean Tsunami. All aid has been delivered by volunteer ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members from across the globe who have carried out extensive training with ShelterBox. More than 30 SRT members, including 12 US SRT, have now been deployed in Haiti as well as Santo Domingo and Miami coordinating logistics for Haitian aid.

Having just returned from Haiti, Philadelphia Businessman and Response Team Member Bill Decker, is proud of the ongoing efforts and successes of ShelterBox to provide shelter for Haiti.

"I'm proud of the efforts of all of the dedicated people in Haiti," said Decker, "especially my ShelterBox colleagues who have provided enough shelter and warmth for over 130,000 of those displaced. That's about 13% of the total displaced by the quake."

Partnerships forged with organizations on the ground in Haiti such as French aid agency ACTED, the French Red Cross, the IOM, local Rotarians, the Dutch military and the US military allowed SRT members to distribute boxes effectively and securely, ensuring aid has been delivered to people most in need.

"While there are still mountains of rubble and ongoing medical crises," said Decker, "we're seeing aggressive efforts by NGOs and the Haitian people to clear away debris and actually begin to rebuild. Our ShelterBox tents will continue to be a key part of that rebuilding effort."

Across the globe, people have been supporting ShelterBox on unprecedented levels and volunteers at ShelterBox HQ have been packing more boxes, in the shortest space of time, than they ever have before.

The President and Royal Patron of ShelterBox, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cornwall Camila, visited the charity's HQ in Cornwall, England last month to thank staff and volunteers for their relief efforts in Haiti.

ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson said, "With tens of thousands of families still living without adequate shelter in heavy rains and the hurricane season soon approaching, the need for emergency shelter is still great and we won't rest until this need is met."

For more on ShelterBox USA visit www.shelterboxusa.org

[To view a recent video of Wayne Robinson on the ground in Haiti, copy and paste this URL into your browser --
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3969588/shelter-boxes-distributed-in-haiti/?playlist_id=87249
PLEASE BE PATIENT. It takes a couple of minutes to download.]

Still time to register for District Conference -- Fun & Fellowship in Saratoga!

2010-04-08T16:52:00.001-04:00

Conference Package - 1 Person- $540 2 people- $740
Includes registration, Friday lunch and dinner, Saturday breakfast, Sunday breakfast, room Friday & Saturday nights, all taxes, tips, and service charges. Saturday dinner (optional) is at the Saratoga Springs Racetrack ($45/person). See registration form for complete details.

Registration Form
Call Registration Chair ASAP if you would like to go.

Saddle Up For Saratoga
Find out how you can help support the conference

ShelterBox in Peru

2010-03-18T13:21:00.000-04:00

Click this link to see a first-hand account of a ShelterBox team member delivering disaster relief in Peru.

Long-term Recovery Relief for Chile

2010-03-15T13:28:00.002-04:00

The Rotary Foundation (TRF) Chairman Estess has asked Rotary International Director and Treasurer, Michael Colasurdo, to advise all Rotarians in Zone 32 of the action taken in concurrence with President Kenny in the aftermath of the earthquake in Chile.

The Rotary Foundation is establishing an account to receive contributions from Rotarians and the general public for longer-term disaster recovery efforts in Chile. Contributions to this account will not receive PHF recognition credit. Funds contributed to this account will be utilized in Rotary Foundation projects to address infrastructure needs in Chile. Districts may donate District Designated Funds (DDF) to this account.

Rotarians wanting to contribute to this account should direct their contributions through the normal means by which they make other contributions.

Information regarding the account will be posted on the RI website as soon as possible.

What's up in District 7890 this weekend

2010-03-05T23:58:00.000-05:00

Head to the Convention Center in Hartford, March 5, 6, 7, our district SHINES.
Exhibit the brainchild of Suffield Club, manned/womanned by volunteers from many clubs, thanks to AGs Pam Lupoli and Eileen Rau.
More news about PETS after this weekend.
ROTARY ROCKS1111111

Relief for Haiti

2010-02-21T19:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you who keep telling me you cannot see any evidence of ShelterBox in Haiti
If you go to the East Hartford club's website, www.easthartfordrotary.org, look on left side of the homepage, and under club links, scroll down to rotary on youtube, click link to see Mark Pearson of ShelterBox in Haiti.

The Rotary International youtube videos change fairly frequently; so, please do this at your earliest convenience, assuming you are interested.

Another lively Rotary week. In our district, pre-PETS was on Thursday, February 11th. A very successful meeting thanks to persistence of incoming governor, Prasad Menon. Registration for NEPETS10 opened that afternoon, and that's when all the "fun" began for me as Registration Chair.
As of today, we have 441 Rotarians signed up for this event, 75% of our target, with two weeks to go.

Hope all is well in your Rotary whirled.

Gearing up for PETS (the Presidents-elect Training Seminar)

2010-02-09T14:03:00.000-05:00

All presidents and presidents-elect have been invited to this Thursday's Pre-PETS (an introduction to the Presidents-elect Training Seminar) and the mid-year Presidents Meeting!
This is an exciting time in the district, an opportunity for the current presidents and their successors to meet with club leaders from all around District 7890.
As District Governor-nominee, I am involved only to support both Governor Herb and incoming Governor Prasad. Among other duties, I serve as Registration Chair for the Northeast Multidistrict PETS Committee in mid-March. This is no small task as there are over 500 attendees plus many senior leaders from around the Rotary world to inspire and train incoming presidents for Rotary year 2010-2011.
If you are a club president-elect, your invitation should reach you via email about 5 PM on Thursday, February 11th. All meals, plenary sessions and breakout sessions for presidents-elect will occur at the Radisson, while most sessions for Assistant Governors will occur at the Courtyard Marriott.
Watch for the invitation from PETS Chair Steve Silverman, open it, and register ASAP for the best chance to room at the Radisson Hotel, one of the two hotels housing attendees at this event. Another way to increase your chances of being assigned to the Radisson, as well as to save some money, is to opt to room with another president-elect.
See you Thursday at the Clarion in West Springfield, then on to PETS, March 11, 12 and 13 in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Rotary Leadership Institute on youtube

2010-02-02T15:26:00.000-05:00

Copy and paste the url here below into your browser for a good overview of the Rotary Leadership Institute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okvXmwiOkCc

If you have never attended a session of the Rotary Leadership Institute(RLI), consider signing up for one this spring.
For more information as well as a schedule of sessions in our area, go to
http://www.rlinea.com/

Update from Haiti; biggest deployment in four years

2010-01-26T11:22:00.000-05:00

The Biggest Deployment of ShelterBoxes in Four Years, Saving Lives One Box at a Time -- Emergency shelter for more than 20,000 people is now in Port au Prince and surrounding areas with small camps in Delmas, Petion-Ville, Carrefour and Leogane. More ShelterBoxes containing disaster relief tents and other life-saving
supplies are being sent to the Haiti in the next few days from Miami, Curucao and France with enough for an another 11,000 people.

“Nearly 100 tons of additional aid is being flown to Haiti this week as thousands of people who lost their homes in the devastating earthquake are being given the chance to start rebuilding their lives in ShelterBox tents” said Veronica Brandon Miller, Executive Director of ShelterBox USA.

“The need in Haiti is massive. Our team in Port au Prince is working with Dutch marines to ensure the safe and effective delivery of disaster relief tents and hundreds of these are already being used in four different locations,” John Leach, Head of Operations for ShelterBox. “Distribution of aid by our highly-trained ShelterBox Response Team members is underway but the need for emergency shelter
is still desperate.”

A number of ShelterBoxes have also been used at an orphanage and at two hospitals in Port au Prince where tents are being erected to help save lives.

Speaking from Bernard Mews Hospital in Freres, a suburb of Port au Prince, ShelterBox Response Team member Wayne Robinson (volunteer from Tennessee ) said, “Right outside the hospital there have been hundreds of people who have been laying in the sidewalks, on the streets and in blankets right on the ground in unbelievable conditions. They are bleeding, they have missing limbs and there are even women giving birth. We felt this was a good use of the initial boxes that we had here on the ground and we’ll be bringing more here and using them as a transitional point to get people out of the elements while they are waiting for treatment at the hospital.”

Public donations are vital to ShelterBox’s continuing work around the world. To make a donation go to www.shelterboxusa.org to donate online and get the latest updates on the charity’s response to the Haiti earthquake.

Governor-elect Prasad Menon planning for 2010-2011

2010-01-25T19:27:00.001-05:00

The International Assembly, final training for all incoming district governors, has ended. Now, the DGEs are armed with their theme for 2010-2011 -- important as it helps the district and our clubs establish goals for the year.
Go to www.rotary.org to find out more about the theme, incoming Rotary International President Ray Klingensmith's goals, articulated in the theme, the Presidential Citation brochure, and many of the emphases at the International Assembly.
If you are a current club president or a president-elect, be sure you are signed up for pre-PETS, morning of Thursday, February 11th. There, you will find out more about the upcoming year and be inspired by Past Rotary International Vice-president, Mike McGovern, to achieve this year's goals and work on next year.

Update from Haiti; witness to Boxing Day says, "worse than the tsunami."

2010-01-16T11:32:00.004-05:00

ShelterBoxes are being packed around the clock. Hundreds of ShelterBoxes that were dispatched from the prepositioned stock in Curacao on Wednesday are due to touch down in Haiti late this afternoon, Haitian time. More ShelterBoxes are set to arrive in Port au Prince, Haiti later this week.

Since ShelterBox is the largest Rotary Club project in world – local Rotarians in Haiti have played a vital part in obtaining clearance for ShelterBox to land and get the life saving aid into the country.

ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members David Eby (US), Wayne Robinson (US) and Mark Pearson (UK) have been in Port au Prince since Thursday and have been working nonstop assessing the most effective ways to distribute the much needed aid.

[To view a recent video of Wayne Robinson on the ground in Haiti, copy and paste this URL into your browser --
http://video.foxnews.com/v/3969588/shelter-boxes-distributed-in-haiti/?playlist_id=87249
PLEASE BE PATIENT. It takes a couple of minutes to download.]

A second Response Team, consisting of SRT members Mark Dyer (IL) and John Lacquey (FL) are in Miami, coordinating the ShelterBox logistical effort into Haiti from there. They will be joined later today by SRT member Ian Neal (UK) who will be traveling with the ShelterBoxes which are being shipped through Miami.

‘So much destruction’

SRT Mark Pearson, who was one of the first on the ground after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, said: “This is worse than the tsunami. It’s utter chaos at the airport. Buildings have been completely destroyed, the hospital has been destroyed. It’s a full scale emergency, there’s so much destruction.”

For those of you who like youtube videos, here is a short one from shelterboxusa.org
(copy the line below and paste into your browser).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s19-2PJWqqU

Haiti -- can you help?

2010-01-15T23:57:00.004-05:00

Emergency disaster relief and shelter provision for more than 19,000 people is en route to earthquake-struck Haiti. Tens of thousands dead, even more left homeless and scenes of chaos; this is the picture coming out of the Caribbean island of Haiti.

If you want to help, first go to www.shelterboxusa.org and www.shelterbox.org find out for yourself, what is being done and what you can do.

In District 7890, a fund has been established to support sending both medical supplies and shelter -- the most immediate needs. Ask your club president for details.

First Full Week of 2010

2010-01-10T19:16:00.000-05:00

Rang out the old year, hopefully with some end-of-year contributions to our Rotary Foundation, and now the new is underway.
For those of us in the District Governor "track," governor-elect Prasad Menon, myself, the governor-nominee, and governor-nominee-designee Eileen Rau, the focus was a day in Nashua, NH, where we joined others on the Northeast Multidistrict Presidents-elect Training Seminar (NE PETS) Planning Committee, meeting with leaders around New England who have agreed to help train this year's class of incoming presidents. For our district, and the other seven districts we join, leadership training is a major task, but something Rotary takes very seriously.
Prasad and his wife, Sree, will be heading to San Diego third week of this month for a final training session for incoming governors before he embarks on training his presidents. That process begins with pre-PETS the morning of Thursday, February 11th. Attending is an absolute must for incoming presidents who will meet with Prasad and current presidents who will have their mid-year meeting with Governor Herb.
If you have not registered for this, you can find the form via a link from the district website --
http://www.rotarydistrict7890.org/docs/2010-Pre-Pets-PresMtg.pdf
So, back to the week -- hopefully, yours began with a great club meeting. Our club welcomed Rotarian Steve Bates, a member of East Hartford and an accountant, to alert us to significant tax changes affecting all of us this year. Excellent program for a business group. If you do not do something akin to this, talk to your program chair. It's not a yawner!
After working on some bylaws proposals with DGE Prasad (you'll hear more about those in the next few months), I prepared for a meeting of the Northeast Link Committee today (Sunday). Did you know we have a multidistrict group which helps Rotary-Foundation-supported scholars as well as Group Study Exchange (GSE) teams know more about Rotary before they embark on a month or year abroad. It's a very critical training program, and one which will increase in importance as we adapt to some changes being made over the new few years by The Rotary Foundation.
It is very important if any of you are Foundation alums (former scholars, GSE team members) that you attend these meetings; share your experiences with folks who are heading out in the next few months.
To read more about Northeast Link and the days when you can participate in these events, go to
http://www.northeastlink.org/
If you know you want to attend the meeting for the GSE teams, especially if you are an alum of a team and can share your experiences, please go directly to the online registration
http://www.northeastlink.org/html/nel_rotreg_2.shtml
So, it's been a busy week. Business, since I am not retired, actually must be tended, but my being self-employed has helped meet the demands of the Rotary world. A great world!

Weekly update, leaving December behind -- a brand new year ahead!

2009-12-28T13:30:00.000-05:00

You may think this is a slow time in the Rotary world -- not so.
Here in the USA many folks make donations to their favorite charities as close to the end of the year as possible.
Please keep The (our) Rotary Foundation in mind. In addition to the extraordinary efforts being made to eradicate polio, we need to fund annual giving. Remember 50% of all the money given by individuals and clubs to the annual fund returns to the district three years from now. Contact PDG Karen for more information. Karen chairs our district's foundation subcommittee for annual giving.
Also, at the club level, remember ShelterBox USA, another 501(c)(3), where as always "The Need Exists, The Need Persists." Visit www.shelterboxusa.org for news about latest disaster relief efforts and how to make a contribution. . Locally, Peter Klock of the Rotary Club of East Hartford is the ShelterBox representative for our district; contact him for more information.
Two more dates as we head toward the beginning of January: (1) newsletter articles must be submitted before the tenth of each month in order to appear in the following month's district newsletter; (2) to be considered at this year's district conference, any proposals to amend the district bylaws must be submitted to PDG Ray before the end of this month.
Get in touch with me for more detail or contact information for anyone mentioned above.

See you around the district in 2010.

Enjoy

2009-12-21T22:29:00.002-05:00

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Gfj3oQH8Y

Presidential Citations

2009-12-20T23:18:00.000-05:00

NB all you club presidents --
did you know the Presidential Citation is NOT all about you? This is an end-of-year award for your club, recognizing achieving goals laid out beginning of the year by the RI President.
It's also an award Interact and Rotaract Clubs can achieve.
go to www.rotary.org and search for "Presidential Citation" for more information

Getting Underway

2009-12-19T16:40:00.001-05:00

Intent of this blog is to enable Rotarians in District 7890 to "track" me as I move along in the governor track. Hopefully, there will be useful information posted every day or so. Please register to comment.
At this time, I am known as the governor-nominee, scheduled to become governor-elect July 1, 2010, and governor July 1, 2011.
So, what have I been up to this week?
Sunday afternoon a holiday party at The Gallery, hosted by Governor Herb -- VERY NICE.
Monday, 10 AM, delivering third-grade dictionaries in East Hartford, a club activity many of you are familiar with.

Clubs' doing this can apply for a District Simplified Grant. Application form is a simple three-page document, available from our district website.
You apply, then do the project, then complete a two-page form which essentially repeats what was in the original application, asks for receipts and verification club has completed the project.
There is still money available for clubs, for all sorts of projects.

Monday, noon, happily joined the Hartford Club as they strategized about finding a new meeting location. Currently the club is meeting alongside West Hartford at the Pond House in Elizabeth Park Monday noon.
Tuesday and Wednesday spent several hours online doing webinars, learning to set up an event, register attendees for MultiDistrict PETS in Nashua, March 2010. I am Registration Chair.
Wednesday afternoon, Grants Committee Meeting -- the committee still has thousands of dollars to award. Get your club's collective thinking cap on and apply for a grant!
Thursday evening, Foundation Committee Meeting -- the committee approved actions of the Grants Committee, received reports from GSE Committee, and strategized about Annual Giving.
So that's it for this week.