When the going gets tough, the tough keep going!

New Team takes Click 4 Action eRotary Forward

Cheers to every one in Click 4 Action eRotary

We are pleased to announce our new team as from the 1st November, 2014 President Janice Mason takes over the reigns, to support President Elect Mary as she prepares to take on the President mantle in 2015/16. Janice will also lead the new Treasurer Team that will help manage the eRotary finances, becoming the Treasurer with a team in 2015/16. James Lovatt has been elected President Nominee for 2014/15, James brings a wealth of experience in Rotaract, RIBI and website/social media, we are pleased and excited that he is eager to help take our eRotary forward. James will also continue as part of the Webmaster team for us and we are in the stages of upgrading our website as we move forward. Tim continues for now as the Secretary, but is planning to hand this on in 2015/16. Debbie Vance has agreed to help coordinate a Mentoring Team to help new members feel art home in eRotary, whilst learning more about eClub involvement. As we continue to develop our team we hope other members will join in with the teams we are creating to ensure that our work is a team effort and no one member is having to carry the burden. We remain committed to ensuring that our eRotary engages our members and responds to their passions as we develop Rotary for busy people in the 21st Century.

What we’ve achieved so far

So far we have already achieved our plans including the involvement in Peace One Day in September and in October a really good Mental Health Awareness Day at the Cafe Bliss in Worcester as part of our efforts for World Mental Health Day. We were please to see the launch of the Malmesbury and District Foodbank which we are a co-partner in and the launch of Safe Places Swindon, where we are partners in the Steering Group. Plus we’ve launched this year’s Young Writer’s Competition (please help us to promote). Rotarian David has been busy helping District 1100 with our bid for a Vocational Training Team and a Global Foundation Grant to send a team to help the FSCI Charity in Bulgaria with developing Social Enterprise for young people leaving care.

There is still much to do to complete our plans for 2014/15

We intend to put achieving the District 1100 Equality and Diversity Charter Mark as one of our goals for 2014/15, so we are leading by example in making E & D Central to all eRotary achieves. As part of that we want to make eAwareness a key part of our programme, particularly in raising awareness about Disabilities in our Communities and how we can ensure needs are catered for and that everything is accessible. We are already committed to Autism Awareness, Mental Health Awareness, Let’s Loop Swindon for people with Hearing Aids and we want to assist with the website development of Show me the access.

We’ve had the ambition to develop an online shop, as mentioned above our website is to have an overhaul, as part of this we hope to have a Let’s Loop Swindon page and incorporate an online shop to help organisations we support sell their goods and help us raise funds. Hoping we can sell some lovely things made out of ties from our Tied Up with Rotary project helping to support charities and End Polio Now.

We will run our annual virtual balloon race to help raise funds to purchase a Disaster Box, we intend to continue to support Roll Out the Barrel and with our Christmas Song project we hope to help water sanitation in Gambia. We will continue to develop our eDraw to help raise funds for the Rotary Foundation and a new charity to be announced.

Environmental Issues still remain a key priority and we hope to get involved in Earth Day whilst encouraging all our members to be extra practical when recycling at home. Above all we want to learn more about the transition movement and encourage this kind of community enterprise and sustainability.

Membership Development remains a key to all we do

We will continue to develop our menu of opportunities in joining eRotary, especially Family Membership and our offer of provisional membership for those who are interested in seeing if eRotary works for them. A key to our community efforts will be the Rotary Community Corps, in Malmesbury with the Flood Defences and in Swindon with Let’s Loop Swindon, our hope is that we can encourage other Rotary Clubs to adopt this way of forming a team to volunteer where there is a need or project in our communities. We will also continue our relationships to develop support for Uplands Educational Trust and our Uplands Interact Club, plus support PN James to develop the Rotaract Hub.

We believe once you’ve become a Rotarian you’ve joined a network of 1.2 million members in over 200 countries. Learning and experiencing International Rotary is really important for our membership, so we intend to arrange some international exchanges and encourage members to attend international opportunities.

Together we will working to 

How much do you know about – The Rotary Foundation?

The Rotary Foundation works towards the Eradication of Polio throughout our world, it works to bring about Peace and International Understanding, it helps young people to explore vocations, culture and study in other countries, it gives grants to help build projects in communities. Are we aware of how much The Rotary Foundation is helping to make our world a better place?

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.

I n 1917, RI President Arch C. Klumph proposed that an endowment be set up “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” In 1928, when the endowment fund had grown to more than US$5,000, it was renamed The Rotary Foundation, and it became a distinct entity within Rotary International.
Five Trustees, including Klumph, were appointed to “hold, invest, manage, and administer all of its property . . . as a single trust, for the furtherance of the purposes of Rotary International.”
Two years later, the Foundation made its first grant of $500 to the International Society for Crippled Children. The organization, created by Rotarian Edgar F. “Daddy” Allen, later grew into the Easter Seals.
The Great Depression and World War II both impeded the Foundation’s growth, but the need for lasting world peace generated great postwar interest in its development. After Rotary’s founder, Paul P. Harris, died in 1947, contributions began pouring into Rotary International, and the Paul Harris Memorial Fund was created to build the Foundation.
That year, the first Foundation programmme – the forerunner of Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships – was established. In 1965-66, three new programmes were launched: Group Study Exchange , Awards for Technical Training, and Grants for Activities in Keeping with the Objective of The Rotary Foundation, which was later called Matching Grants .
The Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants programmme was launched in 1978, and Rotary Volunteers was created as a part of that programmme in 1980. PolioPlus was announced in 1984-85, and the next year brought Rotary Grants for University Teachers . The first peace forums were held in 1987-88, leading to the Foundation’s peace and conflict studies programmes .
Throughout this time, support of the Foundation grew tremendously. Since the first donation of $26.50 in 1917, it has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion. More than $70 million was donated in 2003-04 alone. To date, more than one million individuals have been recognized as Paul Harris Fellows – people who have given $1,000 to the Annual Programmes Fund or have had that amount contributed in their name.
Such strong support, along with Rotarian involvement worldwide, ensures a secure future for The Rotary Foundation as it continues its vital work for international understanding and world peace. (Information from The Rotary International website, see below link for visiting it yourself.)

This article can only give you a flavour of what The Rotary Foundation achieves, click on the script in blue to be taken to Rotary International’s pages about this fantastic contribution to making our world a better place.

Within our forming District 1100 eClub one of the forums will be to support the work of The Rotary Foundation.  All members will be asked to get involved and help fund raise for the different Rotary Programmes which are paid for through these charitable funds. Would any of our membership be willing to act as the Lead for this Forum Group?

For visitors to this page we hope you have enjoyed learning more about how 1.2 Million Rotarians in 200 countries are helping to make a better world by ensuring The Rotary Foundation can continue to do this important work. We invite you to join us in the District 1100 eClub, are you the missing piece?

To view more about The Rotary Foundation Ambassador Scholar Programme see an earlier post The World-wide Rotary Family, where Galina talks with Emma about her experience as a Scholar from Russia in London. In April Tim and Janice will be hosting visitors on a Group Study Exchange visit, we hope some eClub members will have the opportunity to meet them.

Finally what ideas can members and visitors suggest for District 1100 eClub’s The Rotary Foundation forum to do to make a World of difference?