Programme for week commencing 4th April 2013
Welcome to President Mel Powell of the Greater San Fernando Valley E-Club, which this week will celebrate becoming an official E-Rotary Club, so congratulations, especially as we see this E-Club as our partners across the pond. Mel has also suggested a great idea as to how we could develop our partnership working, as E-Clubs we could do E-wareness Campaigns together e.g. Autism Awareness for us and they have just done a similar thing with the Bone Marrow Database/Donation campaign. Together through social media we could develop other such campaigns, please let us know if you’d support this idea. Anyway, over to Mel:
Mel in the latest edition of their Newsletter wrote:
I am writing this message during the Jewish holiday of Passover. One of the key elements of the holiday celebration is the recitation of the Four Questions.
You’re expecting a tie-in now to the Four-Way Test, aren’t you? Not today.
Instead, here are four questions for us as Rotarians. You only have to answer them for yourself, but once you’ve found your answer, feel free to put that answer in motion.
One: Have you reached out, explored Rotary, read just a little more, looked for possibilities, made the most of your Rotary, instead of waiting for Rotary to come to you? You could play on the Rotary International website, or visit a local Rotary Club and learn about them, or visit another E-Club online and see how they do things, and find what grabs you the most. Then bring it to our Club and pursue your passion.
Two: Do you donate money to The Rotary Foundation because someone asked you to, or because someone told you to, or because you were offered the chance to win something for yourself in a raffle, or for the “bling” and recognition of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, or because you have learned the value of The Rotary Foundation and you understand how it helps fund our international and local projects?
Three: While Rotary’s motto is Service Above Self, you still need to take care of your Self, so are you making sure that your Self is getting what you need out of Rotary? Even as you put others first, each of us is busy, each of us has very valuable time and the same amount of it every day. If there is a way to ensure that, while you give your time and effort and compassion to the world through Rotary, you are also getting what you need, find it…or talk to the Club and we’ll find it together.
Four: So…what’s your passion, and how can we work together to use Rotary, and our Club, to take that passion and change the world?
You might like to share your answers in the comments below.
I agree totally with 3/4 of this. The one part I have never agreed with in the UK is donating money to Foundation in order to get a PHF. Foundation is Rotary’s Charity and does a great deal of good and is worthy of support, but in the UK at least, we earn our PHF by being recognised for the work we do not the money we give. That aside, his thoughts do deserve our attention and action.
John, and that is precisely my point. The *last* reason to give to The Rotary Foundation is to get recognition for ourselves. People do like recognition and I understand that…at times that influences others to donate, and if it creates more beneficiaries of Foundation programs–people to whom we give a hand up–I can live with that. But, as you say, the recognition should not be the reason for the donation, not ever.
An interesting comment was made at the President Elects Training that I recently attended, that we all spend a lot of time supporting and raising funds for other charities, but complain about paying into The Rotary Foundation which is our very own charity. To me this is because we are always being told we have to do it, there is a recommendation that each member pays in £60 per year on top of their subs. The way this is put across I believe puts people off, the pressure to pay pushes us away. But the comment did make me stop and think. Over a series of 4 programmes one of our members, Jill, described for us all that the Rotary Foundation does (captured for our information under the Welcome button at the top, ‘What is the Rotary Foundation?’) and if we understood it more and experienced what it does throughout the World, our passion to support it would grow.
I had a chance at our PETS one year ago to have this conversation with then President-Elect Sakuji Tanaka. He agreed that the key is educating Rotarians about why TRF is important, what it does, how many lives it benefits–then Rotarians will *want* to donate because they will understand that TRF is funding *our* projects. It is important, I think, to maintain that attitude–making Jill’s program even more valuable–and not fall into the trap of pushing, or forcing, or inducing guilt, or focusing on abstract numbers.
Thanks Mel for your thought provoking e-letter to us 🙂 You have the gift of stating complex ideas simply and have given me food for thought about several aspects of my rotary membership. Passion is so important, it’s what keeps us all alive, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Please accept my apologies that your Program Chair could not use a smaller photo of me. 🙂 This even scared me! Our E-Club looks forward to working and playing with you, to provide great Rotary service, for many years to come.
If you have a virtual way of sending us seasonal weather that would be great. Is really cold here.
Mel’s presence is always a ray of sunshine!
I certainly support the idea of E-wareness Campaigns and would love to help out in any way possible!! and Congratulations Mel!!