PROCEEDINGS
Rotary Institute
Zones 23 &
24
San Diego, California
Sam Greene, Director/Convener
Fifth Plenary Session,
Sunday, September 5—“A Different Way of Looking at things.”
Steve Brown presided and
introduced NASA Astronaut Marsha Ivins took us on a tour in space by way of slides and film to
“a galaxy we have hardly explored.” “Look
at that,” she said while showing us a view of earth from space, “they forgot
to draw the lines in where the borders are.”
The video gave us all a glimpse at life on a spacecraft, including a
vivid description of how they “use the facilities.” Her statement:
“Astronauts must exercise 20-minutes every day or risk bone loss” reminded
us of the importance of exercising our service in Rotary or having it atrophy.
Her description of the16 sunsets and sunrises a day from orbit made many
mindful of the “whole earth” program of Rotary, on which the sun never sets. By taking us outward in her presentation, Ivins made us all look inward and see our planet with new eyes.
PPPPPP
Jon
Stillman of
the Rotary Foundation staff returned to answer the question:
“Are the Program of the Rotary Foundation Accomplishing Its Mission.”
Jon provided some sample data.
Last year the Foundation sponsored 1,175 Ambassadorial Scholars and
supported 564 Group Study Exchange teams. Zones
23 and 24 sent out 84 of the scholars to 35 different countries and hosted and
sent 25 GSE teams. Ninety-six per
cent of our zones’ districts sent at least one GSE team.
Three of our districts donated scholarships to districts in other
countries to send ambassadorial scholars to the U.S. or Canada.
He also noted that 25% of all the matching grants in the world originate
from zones 23 and 24.
Stillman provided data on the
polio plus effort and its impact on world health.
He particularly cited District 5170 and Past Director Paul
Sandus for their efforts on National Immunization Day in Ghana. In summary, Stillman said: “You
do great work in your zones in support of the Foundation and its programs.”
PPPPPP
Howard Vann, a trustee of The
Rotary Foundation, gave a report on the status of the Permanent Fund of the
Rotary Foundation.
P An endowment in which the principal is never
spent, it was started four years ago by Cliff
Dochterman.
P The initial goal was $200 million by the year 2005.
This goal has been reached six years ahead of time.
P The revised goal is $1 billion by Rotary’s
100th anniversary in 2005.
P There are many ways to give.
Here are some of the kinds of gifts the fund has received in the past two
years:
P
A major gift of $10,000 or more with tax benefit
P Appreciated stock, which provides a tax
benefit
P
Paid up life insurance with the fund as the beneficiary
P Cash
P Pooled income fund, which pays you a
predetermined amount of interest
P Gifts “in-kind” such as land, art, (even)
scotch whiskey
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Breakout Sessions—Meeting the Mission of the Rotary Foundation
Rotarians
spent the next hour discussing individuals; clubs and districts can improve
support of the Foundation and its programs.
The discussion leaders were: Cliff
Dochterman, Jerry Barden, Grant Wilkins,
Jack MacKenzie, George Palmer, and Charlie
Cole. At the end of each
session, participants “voted” for the most important three ideas suggested.
The ideas receiving the most support are summarized elsewhere in this
report (see Plenary Session 6, Sunday, September 6).
However, because they may serve as a stimulus to action, and to show the
volume and variety of the ideas generated, a number of them, in no special order
of popularity, are listed below:
1.
Make
multi-year staggered appointments to Foundation committees, including a
vice-chair that the DGE approves.
2.
Separate
raising Foundation funds from the dispensing of the funds.
Have two assistants to chair the Foundation committee—one for raising
funds and one for dispensing funds.
3.
Track
ambassadorial scholars better.
4.
Put the
names of all known Foundation alumni in the District Directory.
5.
Recognize
Foundation alumni groups on a regional basis.
6.
Hold
Foundation alumni “conferences” where non-Rotarian officials and Rotary
leaders interface with Foundation alumni.
7.
Do a
cost-factor analysis of the Ambassadorial Scholarship program.
8.
Consider
shortening the time frame for Ambassadorial Scholars.
9.
Refine
the selection process and criteria for selection of GSE team members/leaders.
10.
Plan
international youth seminars/summer camps related to Rotary’s Peace Programs.
11.
Provide a
“reeducation” program for newer members who know little of the history or
work on “Polio Plus.”
12.
Develop
two-week Rotary Volunteer programs.
13.
Emphasize
the tax benefits on contributing to the Permanent Fund.
14.
Improve
the reporting by RI on Foundation activities.
15.
Consider
funding Youth Exchange in part from the Foundation to get more “bang for the
buck” than from the Ambassadorial Scholarship program.
16.
Make a
portion of the DDF (District Designated Fund) available for local projects.
17.
Improve
the efficiency of record keeping by the Rotary Foundation.
18.
Establish
an “exchange club” for returning youth exchange students so they have the
opportunity to discuss their experience with others.
PPPPPP
Institute
Luncheon, Sunday, September 5
Rotary
International Director Sam Greene presided.
RI President-elect Frank Devlyn substituted for Francisco
Creo in issuing an invitation to attend the Rotary International Convention
in Buenos Aires, June 4-7, 2000.
Frank described the beauty of
the city and the great welcome Argentina is planning for all Rotarians.
“When Rotarians meet Rotarians,” he said, “good things happen.”
Phil
Sperl and his committee provided a dazzling multi-medium invitation to the
Rotary Zone Institute in Portland, September 6-8, 2000.
The theme is “Everything’s Coming up Roses.”
Those who registered for Portland at the San Diego meeting will be
receiving a Jackson and Perkins rose as a gift, courtesy of the Portland
committee. Phil
reminded us of the programs, projects, entertainment, tours, fun and
fellowship that always characterize the zone institutes.
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` Planning on Portland? The
dates are September 6-8, 2000. The
site is the DoubleTree Hotel Jantzen Beach at 909 North Hayden Island Drive,
Portland, OR 97217. Telephone:
(503) 283-4466 or (877) 442-9336. Reservations
fax: (503) 283-4743.
The special Rotary room rate is $89.
For more information on registration contact: J.B. Switzer, 3425
Snohomish Ave., Everett, WA 98201. Telephone:
(425) 258-4275. Fax: (425)
259-6914. Email:
jbswiss@aol.com.
“Take
time to smell the roses in Portland—Institute 2000!”
Sixth
Plenary Session, Sunday, September 5, 1999
Rotary leaders identify ways clubs and districts
Can improve education, support the foundation
In
brainstorming sessions at San Diego institute
More than 110 Rotarians put their heads together, waved their arms, and
exercised their vocal cords at “breakout” sessions during the San Diego Zone
Institute held in early September under the leadership of Rotary International
Director Sam Greene. After
hearing discussions and presentations on “Education” by experts in the
field, Rotarians met in small groups to discuss ways in which Rotary can help
improve education.
After an hour of discussion each Rotarian was asked to vote for the three
ideas they thought had the most merit. The
“votes” were tabulated and reported out by Jim
Hawkins at a session on Sunday.
In the order of their level of support among group members, the eight
ideas related to education were:
1. Create mentoring and job shadowing programs that bring young people
into contact with adults in the business or professional setting.
2. Emphasize the importance
of literacy and math (numeracy) in our schools.
3. Support efforts to reduce
class size.
4. Teach the 4-Way Test and
sponsor speech and essay contests based on it.
5. Promote curriculum improvement at all levels.
6. Raise funds to improve programs and/or donate materials “in-kind.”
7. Give scholarships, awards, and recognition to students and teachers.
8. Support mentoring efforts that help bring ethnic-group students into
organizations such as Interact and Rotaract.
On Sunday, Rotarians heard presentations on “Meeting the Mission of the
Rotary Foundation.” At breakout sessions following the presentations, Rotarians
came up with the following, prioritized, ways in which clubs, districts, and the
Rotary organization can improve support of the Rotary Foundation:
1.
Utilize
Rotary Scholars and GSE members and other alumni better in making clubs and
individual Rotarians more aware of the impact and scope of Rotary Foundation
programs.
2.
Provide
better continuing education and better reports from RI regarding foundation
contributions on all levels.
3.
Create or
strengthen machinery to provide communication and solicitation of funds on a
regular basis.
4.
Provide
better quality instruction on Foundation procedures.
5.
Create
more simplified ways to explain the Foundation and the SHARE program.
6.
Create
interest in world affairs and local activities through improved publicity about
Rotary and what it does.
7.
Improve
the process and criteria for recruiting GSE team members and leaders.
Hawkins,
in reporting the results and commented on the 500 different ideas and responses
that grew out the breakout sessions. “The
responses show Rotarians are extremely sensitive to the needs of people,” Jim
said in his report. “The passion
for the Foundation and its work created high levels of enthusiasm in the
discussion groups,” he said. It
was generally agreed that the voting and tabulation of responses resulted in a
valid measurement of the sentiments of Rotarians at the institute.
The aggregate responses represented the opinions of more than 40% of all
the Rotarians registered, Hawkins
said.
How can individual
Rotarians, clubs and districts make use of the ideas and suggestions generated
at the institute? Let’s face
it, most of us forget most of what we heard in those breakout sessions.
Fortunately, Jim Hawkins has made
it easy by providing validated lists.
A few ideas for implementation: 1) Sitting governors could prepare a
list of the ideas for discussion at meetings of district leadership staff. 2)
District governors could work the ideas about the foundation into their club
visitations as the opportunity presents itself.
3) DGs and DGEs could make the ideas basis of a session at district
assemblies, conferences and other district-wide events and meetings, 4) The
ideas could be used to prepare an article in District newsletters. Past
District Governors, mellowed and stimulated by their attendance at the
institute, would make great allies in getting the word out to clubs.
--Editor
Jon Grant, Regional Rotary
Foundation Coordinator, and his committee brought the final plenary session of
the institute a resounding close with what could only be called a production
celebrating the Rotary Foundation and its accomplishments in our zones.
Utilizing slides, videos, music, and live presentations, the audience was
treated to a blend of statistics, facts, and descriptions of projects and
programs supported by clubs and districts in zones 23 and 24.
No attempt is made here to capture the intensity, poignancy, and breadth
of the presentations and descriptions. You
had to be there. What follows is a
list of in brief of the information and projects described in the two-hour
program.
P Foundation programs include matching grants,
helping grants, discovery grants, 3-H grants, children’s opportunity grants,
new opportunity grants, group study exchanges, peace program, disaster relief,
ambassadorial scholarships, cultural scholarship, and university teacher
scholarships.
P Zones 23 and 24 led the Rotary world with
over 704 open matching grants last year out of approximately 1700 approved world
wide. An example:
District 5000 (Hawaii)—solar
powered safe drinking water systems in Western Samoa and the Philippines.
P Our zones had 15 3-H grants, 76 children’s
opportunity grants, 99 ambassadorial scholars, nine discovery grants, and a GSE
team in every district.
P 12 of the 20 districts in our zones exceeded
their goals for annual/unrestricted giving to the Foundation. Seven governors
exceeded $100 per capita in their districts.
P Rotarians in zones 23 and 24 gave $5,078,138
to the annual program fund of TRF, an increase of more than $1 million over the
previous year.
P Polio plus is “on target” to help
eradicate polio by the year 2000 and certify a polio-free world by 2005.
Rotary, however, must continue to support the National Immunization Days
and can do so through the Polio Plus Partners campaign to reach the goal of
eradication.
P Polio victim Bob Mutchler of District 5180 has personally secured pledges of over
$2 million for Polio Plus with motorcycle rides to the capitals of the lower 48
states and across the 12 provinces of Canada.
P The one-time Children’s Opportunity Grant program last year set aside $20 million for projects. 8000 proposals were received requesting more than $150 million. So far, awards have been made to 467 districts in 107 counties, including 76 grants obtained by districts in our zones. A few examples:
P
District 5110 brought Rotary and many community agencies together to
provide immunizations through the “Shots for Tots” program.
P
District 5000 launched a “Books for Newborns” program.
P
District 5050 improved the lives and health of many children in Guatemala through an
“Adopt a Village” program.
P A 3-H grant to District 5280 will provide polio corrective surgeries in India.
The district also sponsored a corrective surgery project in Africa.
P Helping grants provide funds for projects in
countries that have not Rotary clubs or few Rotary clubs.
Such grants made it possible for District
5130 to provide a potable water system in Viet Nam and District
5170 to carry out a water project.
P Disaster relief efforts are a magnet for
Rotary attention and support. District
5170 responded to the devastation of Hurricane Mitch by raising funds to
rebuild an entire village in Honduras.
P In our zones, 14 Rotarians were honored with the Meritorious Service Award of the Rotary Foundation. Two Rotarians received TRF’s highest award: The Distinguished Service Award.
P Fifteen clubs in our zone are “100% Paul
Harris” clubs. Only 106 of the
world’s 29,367 clubs have reached that plateau.
P Matching grants are one of the strongest
elements in our zones’ service through foundation programs. Several were
highlighted as examples of cooperation and sustained effort.
P
District 5330 provided toilets in Baja California—reflecting
Rotary’s history of attention to important human needs.
The first service project in Rotary was a public convenience station in
Chicago. Rotary is not sitting down
on the job.
P
Districts 5110 and 5150 teamed up with TRF to produce wheelchairs
for needy people in Uganda, Mexico, and, soon, in Guatemala. A zone-wide effort
is underway to sponsor wheelchair shops in several other countries.
P
One
Mexican district and 18 Districts in zones 23 and 24 combined resources and
effort to purchase a fire truck. Firemen, Rotarians, and city officials from
Ensenada were at the session to thank Rotary and accept the keys to the fire
engine.
A slide show and song concluded the final plenary session of the institute.
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