Weekly Programme for week commencing 31st October, 2013

Now there is an interesting and scary question for a day when the community celebrates Halloween. In our current campaign to promote Rotary we boldly announce that ‘We’re for Communities’, so in doing this we must ask how?

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Certainly with the current down turn, finical restraints on local authorities, we read almost daily about Council Cuts and families finding life so much more difficult. Therefore an ideal opportunity for an organisation like Rotary International with a wealth of experience in being leaders in business and/or community, to turn their hand to helping to build new opportunities within our communities.

Can we help to facilitate change? Can we help to encourage a new lease of life in community involvement? Can we get people exploring new ways of doing enterprise and helping to build sustainable places to live and work?

So where do we start in identifying the community assets and then help them to be used for the greater good of all. The key is in Rotary’s Object: to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and in particular, to encourage and foster:

• The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
• High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of occupations as an opportunity to serve society;
• The application of the ideal of service in each individuals personal, business and community life;
• The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

So this week in our programme let us all consider how we do the following:

How do we as individuals identify the service we give in our personal lives or in the communities within which we live or work?

How do we value others in our community and use their skills to help develop projects in our communities?

Do we in our work maintain ethical standards and when we are in our communities do we support ethical business?

As eRotary we endeavour to be a flexible and affordable opportunity for busy people to join Rotary International (please read more in the Member’s Forum under the Membership Section). We pride ourselves making Service above Self the key to all we do, through online activities, eAwareness and sometimes physical projects.

Does Rotary have a role to facilitate and support communities to identify community assets amongst those who live in them and help to develop projects to meet expectations and need? To enable communities themselves to be sustainable and happy places to live in.

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Please visit the following websites to learn more about building community Social Capital and how we might help:

The Rotary Community Corps – Community Act

The Asset Building Community Tool Kit – ABCD

REconomy – the Transition Network