THE ROTARIAN - AGOSTO 2018

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AUGUST 2018

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dear fellow Rotarians, A well-known saying goes, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” That doesn’t mean people should ignore the needs outside their own homes; instead, they should pay attention to the needs within.

It can be tempting, when our priority is service, to focus only on the things that look like service: the projects, the planning, the work that yields a visible benefit to those who need it. But to do that work effectively, we need to keep our own house in order. In Rotary, that means conducting ourselves in accordance with the principles of Rotary, treating others with respect, and following The Four-Way Test. It means maximizing our impact by planning carefully and stewarding our resources wisely. And it means looking after the long-term health of our organization by ensuring that our membership is strong, engaged, and healthy.

Our membership has hovered around the same 1.2 million mark for 20 years. We aren’t growing, and our membership is getting older. We have too many clubs that don’t have the knowledge or motivation to have an impact: clubs that don’t know what we’re doing on a global level, clubs that don’t know about our programs or our Foundation, that don’t even know how to get involved. And with a membership that is still mostly male, we clearly aren’t doing enough to become the organization of choice for women who are seeking to serve.

We are a membership organization first. If we want to achieve the goals we’ve set for ourselves, we need to put membership first. All of us have a responsibility to take membership seriously, not only by inviting prospective members, but also by making sure new members are welcomed into clubs that offer them something of value. If you see someone walk into a meeting and hesitate, be sure that person has a place to sit and is part of the conversation. If you’re enthusiastic about a Rotary program, make sure your club knows about it and knows how to get involved. If you see a need in your community, talk about it at this week’s meeting. If we want to be part of an organization that’s strong, that’s active, that’s having an impact – start at home, and Be the Inspiration in Rotary.

BARRY RASSIN President, Rotary International

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contents AUGUST

Vol. 197, No. 2

features

53

26 S TEP RIGHT UP!

In Rotary’s membership game, everyone’s a winner.

By Geoffrey Johnson Illustrations by Rocco Baviera

FRANK ISHMAN

34 A QUARANTINE ON KILLING

1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 6 INBOX 8 EDITOR’S NOTE

1 1 our world

• Bigger skies • Waste makes haste

• Q&A with Jack Hawkins

• Caught between two nations

• People of action around the globe

• Snapshot: Grand Turk, Turks

and Caicos Islands • August events

24 viewpoints

• Seventh-year advocates

3 our clubs 5 • After hours in Minneapolis • 4 questions with LaShonda Delivuk

• Club innovation: DeMotte-Kankakee

Valley, Indiana • Convention countdown:

Hamburg shopping and cafés • Message from the trustee chair

• Crossword

• World Bank and Rotary celebrate

International Women’s Day • In memoriam

• New directors and trustees take office

Epidemiologist Gary Slutkin has a new – and successful – strategy to stop violence: Treat it like a disease.

By Vanessa Glavinskas Illustration by Viktor Miller Gausa

38 C OULD YOU BE PRESIDENT? What it takes to be a leader in Rotary.

By Vanessa Glavinskas Illustrations by Zulema Williams

44 A REASON TO SMILE

Since 1993, Rotarians in Chile and the United States have teamed up to provide life-altering reconstructive surgeries.

By Diana Schoberg Photography by Daniela Prado Sarasúa

“

Behavior change is the bread and butter of public health.

- Gary Slutkin

”

ON THE COVER What’s your club’s game plan?

Illustration by Rocco Baviera OPPOSITE With support from Rotarians, a U.S. medical team recently visited Iquique, Chile, and performed 82 surgeries to correct cleft lip and palate and other conditions. See page 44.

Photography by Daniela Prado Sarasúa

64 LAST LOOK August 2018 The Rotarian

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General Officers of Rotary International 2018-19

President

BARRY RASSIN East Nassau, Bahamas

President-elect

JOHN REZEK Editor in chief JENNIFER MOODY Art director JENNY LLAKMANI Managing editor GEOFFREY JOHNSON Senior editor HANK SARTIN Senior editor DIANA SCHOBERG Senior staff writer VANESSA GLAVINSKAS Contributing editor NANCY WATKINS Copy editor MARC DUKES Production manager JOE CANE Design & production assistant KAT WERTZLER Production assistant MARK DURAN Research editor CYNTHIA EDBROOKE Senior editorial coordinator MAY LI Circulation manager JWK MEDIA GROUP Advertising representatives

MARK DANIEL MALONEY Decatur, Alabama, USA

Vice President

JOHN C. MATTHEWS Mercer Island, Washington, USA

Treasurer

PETER IBLHER Nürnberg-Reichswald, Germany

Directors FRANCESCO AREZZO Ragusa, Italy OLAYINKA HAKEEM BABALOLA Trans Amadi, Nigeria JEFFRY CADORETTE Media, Pennsylvania, USA BASKER CHOCKALINGAM Karur, India LAWRENCE A. DIMMITT Topeka, Kansas, USA RAFAEL M. GARCIA III Pasig, Philippines KEIICHI ISHIGURO Tsuruoka West, Japan ROBERT C. KNUEPFER JR. Chicago, Illinois, USA AKIRA MIKI Himeji, Japan EUN-SOO MOON Cheonan-Dosol, Korea DAVID D. STOVALL Hall County, Georgia, USA BRIAN A.E. STOYEL Saltash, England PIOTR WYGNAŃCZUK Gdynia, Poland GREGORY F. YANK O’Fallon, Illinois, USA PAULO AUGUSTO ZANARDI Curitiba-Cidade Industrial, Brazil

Ad inquiries: sales@jwkmediagroup.com JWK MEDIA GROUP FLORIDA - 954-406-1000 212 SE Eighth St., Suite 101, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316 JWK MEDIA GROUP NEW YORK - 212-292-3718 800 Third Ave., Suite 2800, New York, NY 10022 Send ad materials to: Marc Dukes, The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., 14th floor, Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3092; email adv@rotary.org Media kit: rotary.org/mediakit To contact us: The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201; phone 847-866-3206; email rotarian@rotary.org Website: therotarian.com To submit an article: Send stories, queries, tips, and photographs by mail or email (high-resolution digital images only). We assume no responsibility for unsolicited materials.

To subscribe: Twelve issues at US$12 a year (USA, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands); $16 a year (Canada); $24 a year (elsewhere). Contact the Circulation Department (phone: 847-424-5217 or -5216; email: data@rotary.org) for details and for airmail rates. Gift subscriptions available at the same rates.

To send an address change: Enclose old address label, postal code, and Rotary club, and send to the Circulation Department or email data@rotary.org.

Postmaster: Send all address changes to Circulation Department, The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201.

Call the Contact Center: USA, Canada, and Virgin Islands (toll-free) 866-976-8279.

Elsewhere: 847-866-3000, ext. 8999.

Unless otherwise noted: All images are copyright ©2018 by Rotary International or are used with permission.

Published monthly by Rotary International. The Rotarian ® is a registered trademark of Rotary International.

Copyright ©2018 by Rotary International. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at Evanston, Ill., USA, and additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 1381644. Canadian return address: MSI, PO Box 2600, Mississauga, ON L4T 0A8. This is the August 2018 issue, volume 197, number 2, of The Rotarian (ISSN 0035-838X). Publication number: USPS 548-810.

4

JOHN HEWKO General Secretary Kyiv, Ukraine

Trustees of The Rotary Foundation 2018-19 Chair

RON D. BURTON Norman, Oklahoma, USA

Chair-elect

GARY C.K. HUANG Taipei, Taiwan

Vice Chair

BRENDA M. CRESSEY Paso Robles, California, USA

Trustees ÖRSÇELIK BALKAN Istanbul-Karaköy, Turkey MÁRIO CÉSAR MARTINS Santo André, Brazil DE CAMARGO JOHN F. GERM Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA MARY BETH GROWNEY SELENE Madison West Towne-Middleton, Wisconsin, USA PER HØYEN Aarup, Denmark SEIJI KITA Urawa East, Japan JULIA D. PHELPS Amesbury, Massachusetts, USA K.R. RAVINDRAN Colombo, Sri Lanka KENNETH M. SCHUPPERT JR. Decatur, Alabama, USA GULAM VAHANVATY Bombay, India MICHAEL F. WEBB Mendip, England SANGKOO YUN Sae Hanyang, Korea JOHN HEWKO General Secretary Kyiv, Ukraine

| The Rotarian August 2018

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IMMERSE YOURSELF IN SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT AND BE INSPIRED. Visit rotary.org/VR to view our new virtual reality resources and download the Rotary VR app.

Use these powerful tools to conduct your own event and inspire others.

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inbox

www.rotary.org

up against formidable obstacles. Where there is

to operate it for the specific purpose of

a need, we will step up alongside city officials

identifying these childhood eye defects. In fact,

and announce, “We’re Rotary. What can we do?”

I would expect in a community the size of

TOVA RAMOS

Cincinnati, such screening is already going on.

Carson City, Nevada

I suggest that Rotary reach out to the Lions

May 2018

CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?

The brain made me do it?

and combine our skills and involvement, especially in this critical area. After all, both organizations

The subtitle of “Neuro-logic” [May], “How Your

are in the business of helping people.

Brain Is Keeping You from Changing Your Mind,”

BILL WILTSE

is incorrect and dangerous. The brain is not a

Meeteetse, Wyoming

moral agent: The attribution of moral agency to the brain is a dangerous means to avoid personal

Word choice

responsibility, e.g., “the brain made me do it.”

A writer’s choice of words matters, a lot.

That position can ultimately lead to tyranny.

In the April World Roundup section, we read

The brain is a wonderful machine. It is better

about the anti-poaching awareness project

than any computer, but, like a robot, it is coded

being done by the Rotary Club of Dundee,

to function in a given way.

South Africa. The item refers to “hunters”

I felt compelled to write after reading about

There is no scientific evidence that the brain

who illegally kill rhinos for their horns.

the Tennessee Rotarians organizing the Pigeon

can rule you or me. The opposite position is a

Poachers are not hunters! Poachers are

Forge fire relief distribution center [“Tennes-

wishful myth.

criminals who violate the law for personal

see Rotarians Fight Fire with Logistics,” May].

gain, usually with no concern for the animals

Hats off to their amazing organization and

Chicago

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‘We’re Rotary’

logistics! We all know the superpowers of our

NELSON BORELLI

or species they target.

Hunters are not poachers! Hunters obey

members, and it’s so satisfying that they were

Partner on prevention

able to share their talents and commitment in

I am a Rotarian and a Lion. In Ira Abrahamson’s

such a worthy effort.

letter in the May issue [“Visionary project”], he ardent supporters of wildlife and habitat

What really struck me was Fred Heitman’s

refers to the need for child vision screening to

preservation. Hunting licenses and fees are

quote, “We’re Rotary. What can we do?” I’m

prevent blindness. This is right up the Lions’

major sources of money to fund anti-poaching

fresh off a Club Leadership Assembly (shoutout

alley. Lions have equipment and people trained

efforts in many countries.

the laws and regulations that protect wildlife and are often among the most vocal and

to District 5190!), and branding was a major discussion point. We spend so much time fielding the question “What is Rotary?” that it was a novel approach to see someone lead with the confidence and assertion that “we’re Rotary.” Contained in that statement is Heitman’s unwavering belief in his members’ skills, follow-through, and grit. All the elements that so impressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency staffer about Rotarians’ management of the center were presented with the claim, “We’re Rotary.”

As my small, young club continues to tackle service projects and make an impact in our community, I want us to lead with the same confidence. That “We’re Rotary” spirit will empower us to solve bigger problems and stand 6

A wildfire near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, forced the evacuation of around 14,000 people.

| The Rotarian August 2018

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Words do matter. Pick them carefully and do not confuse hunters with poachers. We are not the same.

DREW ALLEN

Grantsville, Utah

Press statements Steve Almond’s article “The Story of Us vs.

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

Them” [April] was right on. His comments on the importance of a free press and being informed are so critical now. We all have a civic duty to be educated and should not rely on a single news source. There are numerous print, television, radio, and online sources, including those in other countries, that are worthy of investigation.

DAVID MILLER

Brush Prairie, Washington

I’ve been a Rotarian since 2005 and have consistently been told that Rotary is nonpartisan and that we keep politics out of our conversation and instead focus on doing good.

Then I come across this article, which in my opinion contradicts all of what I’ve been told. A single individual writing a story about discourse in our country’s politics is not an open debate, and doing it in print makes it more of a unilateral statement. Printing it is seriously making me reconsider whether or not I should be a Rotarian.

I hope this publication gets back to focusing on what’s good, and not politics.

JOHN HOLLENBECK

Atascadero, California

A PolioPlus Pioneer

Because of the vision of Rotary’s PolioPlus Pioneers, we have nearly eradicated the disease.

One such Rotarian was Jack Blane, a past governor from my own District 6440. Jack

and encouraging and obtaining support from PolioPlus committees overseas.”

passed away earlier this year, and I was

Jack’s engagement in PolioPlus continued

reminded of his extraordinary commitment to

long after the first campaign was over. It was

polio eradication while attending a memorial

an honor to know him over the years. We

service for him. The stories shared by Jack’s

appreciate his commitment to children

family made clear that PolioPlus had

everywhere.

permeated every aspect of his life. His

CAROL PANDAK

passion for polio eradication was fostered by

Evanston, Illinois

an experience he had when several boys at a Boy Scout camp he attended were struck with the poliovirus. He found an avenue to address his passion through Rotary, and that was PolioPlus.

In the report of the first PolioPlus campaign, Jack was commended for “volunteering … for PolioPlus and wearing a number of different hats throughout the campaign, including major gifts coordinator and international executive coordinator …

Editor’s note: Jack Blane was one of 55 Rotarians honored between 1996-97 and 1998-99 as a PolioPlus Pioneer, an award that recognized service to PolioPlus before 1992. Rotary resurrected the award in 2017-18 to ensure that all those who deserve recognition for their work during the early years of PolioPlus are acknowledged as we near eradication. Learn more about Blane and his impact on the PolioPlus campaign at on.rotary.org/JackBlane.

developing the gift recognition program …

As the director of Rotary’s PolioPlus program, I am inspired daily by the extraordinary work of Rotarians who are committed to achieving a world where no child ever again

The editors welcome comments on items published in the magazine but reserve the right to edit for style and length. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Rotary International leadership, nor do the editors take responsibility for errors of fact that may be expressed by the writers.

is paralyzed by polio. on PolioPlus since the first fundraising

Follow us to get updates, share stories with your networks, and tell us what you think.

campaign launched over 30 years ago.

The Rotarian, One Rotary Center, 1560 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201 USA

These pioneers of the program have stayed

WEBSITE therotarian.com EMAIL yourletters@rotary.org

Some Rotary members have been working

committed to the cause since that time.

twitter.com/rotary facebook.com/rotary instagram.com/rotaryinternational August 2018 The Rotarian

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W

SERVICE ABOVE SELF

hile we’re often told that violence is an epidemic, we don’t treat it as one. Gary

Slutkin believes that if we did, we would be more likely to cure it. Having battled cholera, AIDS, and other infectious diseases in Africa and Asia, Slutkin applied his epidemiologic skills to the violence

A message from the editor in chief JOHN REZEK

The Object of Rotary

he encountered when he returned home to the United States. Read about the success of his Cure Violence program in “A Quarantine on Killing.”

Rotarians are committed to the eradication of communicable disease, and our conversation with

THE OBJECT of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

Slutkin reveals how their efforts can be extended.

FIRST The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

Rassin stepped in to take his place. The magazine

SECOND High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society;

woman wasn’t considered. In fact, there’s a clear

When RI President-elect Sam F. Owori died unexpectedly last year, current President Barry received several passionate letters asking why a path to the Rotary presidency, and it’s open to everyone, regardless of gender. In “Could You Be the Next RI President?” contributing editor

THIRD The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;

Vanessa Glavinskas debunks the myths and offers the facts about becoming a club president,

FOURTH The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service

district governor, RI director, regional leader, Rotary Foundation trustee, and RI president. She also talks with Rassin and others about their experience within the leadership ranks.

The Four-Way Test OF THE THINGS we think, say, or do: 1) Is it the TRUTH? 2) Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3) Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4) Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Rotarian Code of Conduct The following code of conduct has been adopted for the use of Rotarians: AS A ROTARIAN, I will 1) Act with integrity and high ethical standards in my personal and professional life

The best thanks a Rotarian can receive is a

There’s a clear path to the Rotary presidency, and it’s open to everyone.

child’s smile. And there are many more of them because of a partnership between medical teams from Chile and the United States. Their program, Sonríe con Rotary, surgically corrects cleft palates and other anomalies. In “A Reason to Smile,” senior staff writer Diana Schoberg and photographer Daniela Prado Sarasúa take us into the Iquique clinic where the healing happens.

What’s the best way to persuade someone to join Rotary? Senior editor Geoffrey Johnson gathered suggestions from Minnesota’s Tom

2) Deal fairly with others and treat them and their occupations with respect

Gump and other Rotarians which will equip you

3) Use my professional skills through Rotary to: mentor young people, help those with special needs, and improve people’s quality of life in my community and in the world

acquaintances. Read his “Step Right Up!” – and

to entice, enthrall, and enroll your friends and prepare to make room.

4) Avoid behavior that reflects adversely on Rotary or other Rotarians

8

| The Rotarian August 2018

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TOGETHER, WE

CONNECT

Now is the time to share your club’s story.

Rotary has launched a global campaign to let the world know we are people of action. The more clubs that join in, the further our message carries.

Go to rotary.org/brandcenter for step-by-step guides, easy-to-follow templates, and ideas and inspiration to tell your club’s story.

Help spread our inspiring message around the globe.

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our world

Bigger skies

ERIC SCHMIDT

BELLA BUTLER Interact Club of Lone Peak High School, Big Sky, Montana What does it take for eight high school students to get from Big Sky, Montana, to Kathmandu, Nepal? About 15 hours, at least $32,000, and the leadership of one determined Interactor: Bella Butler.

“Before we went to Nepal, my friends and I had a passion for service,” says Butler, now 19, who helped found the Interact Club of Lone Peak High School in 2014.

August 2018 The Rotarian

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our world continued from page 11

“After going to Nepal, it became less of a desire to do something and more of a need.”

Butler’s interest in Rotary blossomed when she attended a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp. At the camp, she and other Lone Peak students learned about Interact clubs. When they returned home, they proposed starting one.

“The administrators loved the idea,” she says. “The first year we had around 25 kids, and it’s growing every year.”

Butler and her fellow Interactors got the idea for the ambitious trip to Nepal through Peter Schmieding, a member of the Rotary Club of Big Sky and the founder of Tsering’s Fund, a nonprofit that aims to change the lives of children and families in Nepal through education.

At an August 2016 benefit for the fund, the Interactors met Pem Dorjee Sherpa, a Nepal native and former Rotaractor who told the story of how, in 2005, he carried the Rotary International flag to the summit of Mount Everest.

“It was one of the coolest things I’d ever heard,” says Butler. “Afterward, he was telling me about a trip he’d arranged for students to go to Nepal. We all got the idea: ‘Well, why don’t we do that?’ ” Thanks to donations from local individuals and businesses, the idea became reality. In March 2017, Butler and seven other Lone Peak Interactors, along with Schmieding and two other Big Sky Rotarians, made the long trip to Kathmandu.

The group visited orphanages and schools, where they distributed clothing and toiletries.

The Interactors are sponsoring a young Nepalese woman’s education through Tsering’s Fund, and they hope to raise enough money to send students from the club to Nepal each year.

Meanwhile, Butler, who graduated from high school last year, is taking time off to travel. But she knows that wherever she attends college, she’ll be involved with Rotaract.

“Speaking to people whose lives are so drastically different from my own opened my eyes,” she says.

– ANNE FORD 12

Waste makes haste FOR RAY ANTHONY, it simply doesn’t sit costume; one gentleman was juggling toilet right when winter festivals are held indoors. plungers,” says Anthony. The fan favorite, So when the Rotary Club of Shenendehowa “Poop Happens,” was pulled by a squad in Clifton Park, New York, was looking for a garbed in shirts and caps featuring the poop fundraiser, he told his fellow club members emoji. It won the race, collecting $500 and about his time in Alaska in the 1990s. Dur- a gold-painted toilet seat. The Southern ing the long winters there, he says, “there Saratoga YMCA was No. 2, yet remained was always an outhouse race” to ease the flushed with pride over its victory in 2017.

This year’s race raised over $2,000 for seasonal doldrums.

The club embraced his proposal for a com- the club. Proceeds help provide dictionaries modious competition, and in February it held to every third-grader in the area, among its second annual outhouse race. Six teams other projects. “We have a college scholarof five competitors propelled their themed ship,” Anthony says, “and we also do Ronald wooden outhouses on skis along a 100-yard McDonald House breakfasts once a month,” course. “Pushing and pulling an outhouse on cooking and covering the cost of meals for the snow around a cone can be a little more the families of ill children. The Mohawk Towdifficult than you think,” Anthony says. The path Scenic Byway, along the historic Erie potties – which are unused – are built by the Canal, also benefits from the club’s regular participants; some use $100 kits sold at cost restoration work. by a Rotarian-owned lumber “Pushing and pulling an supplier. There are certain specifications: “You have to outhouse on the snow around have a seat inside with a hole a cone can be a little more in it. Someone has to sit on the difficult than you think.” seat. Each house also must include a roll of toilet paper.” Unlike real out- Anthony’s garage stores two latrines built houses, these faux loos have no doors, so the to help promote the race, and they’re available for rent on race day in case any teams occupant can see where the team is going.

Some 200 spectators lined the town come unprepared. He’s delighted at the succommon and cheered entries including the cess of the Winter Outhouse Races. “I really Shrek-themed “Princess Fiona’s Royal appreciate how much fun the people who Throne,” sponsored by a local insurance come out have,” he says. “Our club really company. “The team members all came in gets excited with this one.” – BRAD WEBBER

| The Rotarian August 2018

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“

You can’t become globally competitive if you’re not globally aware.

”

Jack Hawkins

World classes As chancellor of Alabama’s Troy University since 1989, Jack Hawkins is one of the longest-serving leaders of a public university in the United States. A longtime member of the Rotary Club of Troy and a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Hawkins has guided the university through a period of dramatic change and growth.

Troy has four campuses in Alabama, sites in seven other states, locations at U.S. military bases in Japan and Korea, and partnerships with universities in Vietnam and Malaysia. The university hosts nearly 1,000 international students from 76 countries who speak more than 85 languages.

THE ROTARIAN: Why focus on becoming “AlaVIKTOR MILLER GAUSA

bama’s international university”?

HAWKINS: At the heart of becoming international was our desire for students to be introduced to the global village. You can’t become globally competitive if you’re not globally aware. Many of

our students haven’t traveled extensively, so we wanted to bring the world to Troy – and we’ve changed the culture of the campus and the community. If you understand people and cultures unlike your own, you appreciate them. Once that’s experienced, you can build lasting relationships. Differences aren’t to be feared.

discourage student debt. Our students on average owe $21,000, which is $21,000 more than I’d like to see them drag into their future, but it’s considerably less than average.

TR: Troy’s Montgomery campus is home to the Rosa Parks Museum. How did that partnership come about?

TR: What are some of the fiscal challenges of running a university?

HAWKINS: When I got here in 1989, the state provided about 44 percent of the budget; today about 20 percent of our budget is provided by the state. Balancing a budget isn’t rocket science. We manage what we have well, and we are focused on being entrepreneurs. Troy was one of the first in the country to get into online education. You have to be creative and consider new ways of doing business and new ways of reaching target audiences. And you do it with one focus: quality.

TR: What are your thoughts on student debt?

HAWKINS: When I went to college in 1963, room, board, and tuition were $1,000. Today, on average, students spend $1,200 per year just for textbooks. We always put the student first, trying to minimize tuition and to manage what I call the scourge of higher education: student debt.

On average, students across America in the class of 2016 owed $37,000. We’ve worked hard to

HAWKINS: That was one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve had. We worked directly with Miss Parks to plan, build, and dedicate that facility. We view our role as protecting the legacy of Miss Parks, and it has become one of the crown jewels of Montgomery. We’ve had almost a million visitors since opening on 1 December 2000, 45 years after she was arrested. It was a great experience working with her. She wanted it to be a real learning experience for students.

TR: How are local Rotarians involved with Troy?

HAWKINS: In fall 1989, the Rotary Club of Troy had a major role in constructing our first cottage to accommodate 14 international and American students. We outgrew that quickly, so the club made a major commitment, over a 10-year period, to provide $125,000 to improve a dormitory, now known as the Rotary International Living and Learning Center. Rotaract has also taken hold at the university. We’ve attempted to integrate Rotary International into Alabama’s international university.

— ANNE STEIN August 2018 The Rotarian

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our world

IN A QUIET COASTAL DISTRICT of southern Bangladesh – an area that normally attracts visitors to its beaches, resorts, and natural beauty – a crisis is underway.

Since August 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine state in Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh to escape widespread “clearance operations” by Myanmar’s military, which involved burning crops and homes.

As of March, the Bangladeshi Immigration and Passports Department had registered more than a million refugees.

The Rohingya population now living in the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh endured persecution even before this most recent crisis. The government of Myanmar has long treated them as outsiders, even though the Rohingya have been in the region for centuries. Meanwhile, the government of Bangladesh has committed to helping the refugees but also demanded that Myanmar take the Rohingya back.

Kazi Amdadul Hoque, past president of the Rotary Club of Sonargaon Dhaka in Bangladesh, learned of the Rohingya refugee crisis while watching news reports on 14

television. He quickly began looking for a way to help. On 12 September last year, he traveled to Cox’s Bazar to see what was happening firsthand.

“Beyond one hill, I saw thousands and thousands of people,” Hoque says. “Their faces were telling ghastly stories: exhausted, broken, flushed, hollow – reflective of the sheer terror they fled.”

Hoque is director of strategic planning and head of climate change adaptation and disaster management for Friendship, a nongovernmental organization that helps people in remote communities in Bangladesh. The group provides emergency food relief as well as disaster preparedness, water treatment, legal aid, cultural preservation, and health care services through hospital ships, satellite clinics, and mobile phones.

Friendship is also providing aid to the Rohingya refugees, who have suffered murder, rape, and destruction of their crops and villages in Myanmar.

“None of us had ever witnessed such cruel experiences in our lives: children injured by bullets, newborn babies having

no breast to feed on, elderly people in pain, everyone looking for something or someone they lost in the crowd, not knowing where to go, where to find food, bleeding from injury,” Hoque says.

Hoque and Runa Khan, founder and executive director of Friendship, say they were not prepared for the severity of the situation. When they visited, Khan noticed that most of the refugees entering the camps were children and women.

“That’s when the realization hits you that most of the men had been killed,” she says.

The magnitude of the crisis made it difficult to know where to begin. Friendship quickly mobilized its workers to the area. Without adequate time to raise funds, employees contributed their own money to help with the immediate response, Khan says. Early in the effort, Hoque led a team that implemented a water sanitation and hygiene project and quickly assessed and recommended other needed actions.

Since the crisis began, Friendship has set up a birthing center and comprehensive maternity clinic, offered door-to-door

COURTESY OF FRIENDSHIP

Caught between two nations

| The Rotarian August 2018

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COURTESY OF FRIENDSHIP

health care services, set up basic infrastructure, and installed bamboo bridges and solar-powered street lamps.

With thousands of acres of forests cleared to make room for the refugee camps, the stressed region is at risk of landslides and floods.

But the biggest concern is “to find a way for these people to have hope about their future and hope for the right things,” Khan says. “There are a lot of uncertainties ahead, and for a life of dignity, creating a solution where they can be more selfreliant is very important.”

The mounting pressures of surviving in inadequate conditions add to a growing sense of frustration “that could eventually lead to desperation, especially if no medium- and long-term plan is presented to them,” Hoque says. “This crisis is not so different from the many pogroms that have taken place throughout history.”

Other Rotary clubs are responding to the situation. The Rotary Club of Cox’s Bazar City, at the center of the crisis, has been raising funds, and in September 2017 it distributed aid to Rohingya refugees.

Clubs around the world are taking notice as well. Eric Lee, a journalist and member of the Rotary Club of Cheat Lake, West Virginia, had heard details of the situation from a Bangladeshi colleague.

Lee took the story to the Cheat Lake club, and the club committed $2,500. Lee raised an additional $750, and all of the money was spent on supplies purchased through a wholesaler in Dhaka.

Lee and his wife, Kayley, traveled to Bangladesh in February. Working with Samsul Hoque Shohel and Sifat Imtiaz Hasan of the Rotary Club of Cox’s Bazar City, who coordinated efforts on the ground, they delivered about 100 packets of clothing, hygiene products, and water purification tablets to Rohingya refugees.

Lee says this was a pilot project to assess the feasibility of a larger distribution. “It was a small donation, and it was quite an ambitious undertaking, but part of that was to demonstrate to the world that it could be done,” he says.

Clockwise from top: The crowded Cox’s Bazar refugee camps rely on a limited number of wells for clean drinking water; mothers and infants face serious health risks in the camps; Kazi Amdadul Hoque has become a familiar visitor. Opposite: For many in the camps, improvised tents provide the only shelter.

More than a million Rohingya people need food assistance, and many refugees still don’t have access to basic infrastructure, including safe drinking water and lighting, leading to safety risks, particularly for women and children.

“Reproductive health needs of women are not sufficiently being addressed, and mitigation of incidents of gender-based violence needs to be stepped up,” Hoque says. “The overcrowded camps exacerbate many risks and limit the ability to provide comprehensive protection services.”

The psychological impacts of forcible displacement and dependency on hu-

manitarian assistance will continue to affect the Rohingya refugees, Hoque says, and environmental hazards and disaster preparation have remained largely unaddressed. Rotary, with its partners and global reach, has the ability to make an example for the next generation, he says.

“If Rotary members joined forces and managed to gather the Rotarian expertise that we all either directly or indirectly possess, then I believe this would lay the foundations for an integrated cooperation effort that could bring a lot of positive impacts to the Rohingya,” he says.

— NIKKI KALLIO August 2018 The Rotarian

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our world

France United States

Venezuela

Philippines

Guinea

People of action around the globe

80% of Venezuelans were living in poverty as of 2017.

United States

Venezuela

Guinea

The Rotary Club of Princeton,

To help children in Venezuela, the

The Rotaract Club of Conakry is

West Virginia, hosted a Mardi Bras

Rotary E-Club of District 2202,

proving the power of partnership.

for a Cause party centered on a

based in northern Spain but with

In late 2017, four club members

sobering topic: domestic violence

a club membership extending

teamed with the Rotaract Club

in a region wracked by poverty and

as far as Mexico, shipped oral

of Bamako-Kanu, Mali, to build

opioid addiction. The February event

hygiene products across the

a library on the grounds of a

generated $2,700 and more than

Atlantic. Fernando Ortuño, a

primary school in Tenezana, about

$4,000 worth of new undergarments,

club past president, worked with

30 miles from Bamako, Mali’s

cosmetics, and toiletries designated

the Catalan pharmacy chain Nova

capital. In March 2017, Conakry’s

for women’s shelters. “The shelters

del Vall and the Rotary Club of

Rotaractors refurbished part of

often receive donations of clothes or

Bilbao to collect goods, mainly

the Regina Maris rehabilitation

coats, but they rarely receive items

donated by store patrons. María

center in Kipé, Guinea, which

such as new underwear and personal

Castillo, an odontology student in

serves orphans and children

care items,” says club member Jane

Venezuela and a member of the

with disabilities. They repainted

Stout. The community’s embrace

club’s sponsored Rotaract club,

the cafeteria, repaired furniture,

of the initiative heartened Rotarians.

began the campaign in 2016.

and worked with the Rotaract

“We had over 100 non-Rotarians

16

“Social inequalities and poverty

Club of Cotonou Marina, Benin,

attend,” says Stout. A bonus:

are a key factor in the presence

to provide classroom supplies,

Three applied for membership.

of oral diseases,” says Ortuño.

foodstuffs, and utensils.

| The Rotarian August 2018

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France

Philippines

Since 2012, charter year of

2,400 Australian casualties –

Known for offering yearly training

the Rotary Club of Amiens,

on the Western Front, the club

programs in cosmetology, professional

les Trois Vallées, club members

sent a message with magnitude:

cooking, and the hospitality trades, the

have paid tribute to the bravery

In February the Rotarians

Rotary Club of Waling-Waling (Davao)

of the Australian forces who

assembled 700 people, among

has added plumbing to its curriculum.

helped defend France from

them Angus Mackenzie, the

Fifteen at-risk young people, recruited

German invaders during World

Australian ambassador to

from among high school graduates

War I. Joining those who gather

UNESCO, to spell out “Do not

living in neighborhoods with active

on 25 April to commemorate

forget Australia” on the lawn in

Rotary Community Corps, passed a

Anzac Day, which honors

front of the towering memorial.

two-day assessment in December

Australians and New Zealanders

“The participants were given a

after an intensive, monthlong basic

who have served and died in

yellow cap to contrast with the

plumbing course. The program was

wars, Rotarians sell breakfasts

green of the lawn, thus recalling

funded with about $1,500 from the

after dawn services at the

the colors of Australia,” says

club and $2,900 from the Davao City

Australian National Memorial at

Evelyne Gadroy, club president,

Water District. “We believe the

Villers-Bretonneux. To mark the

who adds that sales of postcards

participants will acquire competence

centenary of the battles in Val de

featuring the scene viewed from

that will help them gain employment

Somme, which were among the

the air will help fund Rotary

as skilled workers,” says Remedios

most decisive – and bloody, with

Youth Exchange activities.

Calaguas, a club past president.

Plumbers are among the most in-demand skilled workers in the Philippines.

– BRAD WEBBER August 2018 The Rotarian

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August 2018 The Rotarian

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our world

20

| The Rotarian August 2018

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SNAPSHOT: Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands JAIRUS ELYCZAR JALOSJOS, a member of the Rotaract Club of Puerto Princesa in the Philippines, is working in Turks and Caicos as a civil engineer for a construction company. He was heading to Salt Cay to assess damage to historic buildings caused by hurricanes Irma and Maria. He stopped to photograph the shipwreck of the Mega One Triton, a derelict vessel that ran aground during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The government considers the wreck an eyesore and plans to remove it, but the ship has nonetheless become a frequently photographed tourist attraction.

August 2018 The Rotarian

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our world

AUGUST events

19 All’s fare th

4 Glass huzzahs th

EVENT: Fire on the Mountain Chili Fest HOST:

EVENT: Rotary Great Bear Festival HOSTS: Rotary clubs of Kalispell, Kalispell

Daybreak, Evergreen, Bigfork, and Whitefish, Montana

9 Fore Becky th

EVENT: Becky Sheetz Memorial Golf Tournament HOST: Rotary Club of Altoona Sunrise,

Pennsylvania

WHAT IT BENEFITS: The Arc and Special Olympics

of Blair County

WHAT IT IS: Chili chefs compete in three categories: professionals from local restaurants; amateur home cooks; and Rotary club chili gurus. If eating chili is your specialty, come sample the fare and vote for your favorites.

24 Auto drive

WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local charities WHAT IT IS: With the motto Raise a Glass to Raise a Community, th the fest will feature more than 35 regional breweries and cideries. Add wine, live music, and EVENT: Pacific Grove Rotary Concours Auto Rally a variety of local cuisine, and it’s quite the party.

HOST: Rotary Club of Pacific Grove, California

Rotary Club of Henniker, New Hampshire

WHAT IT BENEFITS: Local and international charities

WHAT IT BENEFITS: Community projects WHAT IT IS: The Rotary rally is an alternative event for visitors to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a showcase of vintage autos that concludes the annual Monterey Car Week. Classic cars of all types participate, followed by a barbecue, a raffle, and an awards presentation for rally participants.

25 Polly want a party

WHAT IT IS: Named for Becky Sheetz, who died of breast cancer when she was 38, this memorial EVENT: tournament raises about $70,000 annually for two organizations that support people HOST: with intellectual and developmental disabilities

WHAT IT BENEFITS: – individuals for whom Sheetz was a strong

WHAT IT IS: advocate.

th

Parrots of the Caribbean

Rotary Club of Madison, Alabama Local and international charities Delectable eats, libations, and music by the bands Calypso Vision and Juice sound like the perfect combination for a fun-filled late summer evening.

Don’t forget to break out your Caribbean attire.

Dancing shoes highly encouraged.

Tell us about your event. Write to rotarian@rotary.org with “calendar” in the subject line.

22

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viewpoints

Seventh-year advocates Academics aren’t the only ones championing the septennial sabbatical

I

n 1985, my future wife and I took a sabbatical from our jobs at a national magazine in Chicago and rented a farmhouse in the Italian region of Umbria for six months.

I had a contract to write a mystery novel, and Barb had a reading list as long as the Arno River. The idea of buying a house or having kids was as far away as Osaka, the destination that the editor of the magazine told me we should have picked.

It wasn’t entirely a sabbatical – we had to quit our jobs to go – but in every other respect, our half-year hegira qualified as a full-fledged furlough from the rat race.

And this being pre-internet, it took a little more work to find a rental house than it does today: Our search engine was the ads at the back of the New York Review of Books.

Our location was more secluded than we could have imagined, 3 miles from the tiny village of Allerona, a drive that took 15 minutes over a steep and nearly impassable dirt and rock trail. We were befriended by Piero, the postmaster, and Giorgio, a young medical student and the only person in the village who spoke English. We learned our Italian 24

on the go, relying on Barb’s high school Spanish, my innate grasp of grammar, and the patience of our interlocutors.

Our fluency had its limits. When Barb tried to order a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner, she mistakenly requested an entire country that straddles the Mediterranean and Black seas. The grinning butcher understood that she wanted something smaller – un tacchino – but he did need to confirm one detail.

“Morto?” he asked. “Si, si,” she replied. “Very morto!”

When not reading or writing – or tending the wood stove or gazing out our windows at the olive groves and

grazing goats – we took meandering drives through charming hill towns, stopping for leisurely lunches and sampling local wines. We made overnight trips to Florence and Rome and Siena and Assisi and became regulars in the nearest large town, Orvieto, where we developed a warm rapport with the local merchants.

It wasn’t always la dolce vita. Random road stops by baby-faced carabinieri armed with Uzis had an unsettling effect on digestion. Soon after our arrival, the polizia conducted a midnight drug raid on a house up the hill from us. Shortly thereafter, Piero told us we had to travel to the provincial capital to register our presence. The customs official who questioned us was notably not amused by our linguistic gymnastics. After he ushered us into a room marked “droga” and left for half an hour, we began to wonder if we were under suspicion of fraternizing with our droga-dealing neighbor.

And then there was the morning we were awakened by a volley of gunfire.

Looking outside, we saw a convoy of Fiats and a cohort of men clad in camouflage and carrying shotguns. Hunting season

RICHARD MIA

by PAUL ENGLEMAN

| The Rotarian August 2018

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had arrived, and our bucolic surroundings were terra prima for bagging wild boar.

To Rotarians who travel to distant and sometimes dangerous regions to inoculate infants or build wells, our extended stay would hardly qualify as an adventure. Ours was a self-service project, plain and simple. But it was an indulgence that served us well – as any good sabbatical should.

The term sabbatical has its roots in the Greek word sabbatikos, meaning “of the Sabbath,” and connotes a time of rest. (In Mosaic law, the sabbatical year was the seventh year, when land could not be tilled.) The academic custom of taking sabbatical leave began at Harvard in the late 19th century. Today, faculty members traditionally become eligible for a year of sabbatical after six years of teaching, with the college or university typically contributing a faculty member’s full salary for half a year (one semester).

Ann Davies, provost and dean of Beloit College, a small liberal arts school in Wisconsin, explains that a sabbatical is not merely an opportunity to take a break or clear one’s head. (Disclosure: I attended Beloit and even graduated in four years.) “It’s expected to enhance your teaching,” she says. “When you propose your leave, you have to offer a clear sense of your project and how you see it benefiting yourself and the college.”

Jerry Gustafson, a retired professor of economics who incorporated entrepreneurialism into the Beloit curriculum, arranged for six sabbaticals during a 46-year teaching career, including a stint as a congressional aide – to learn about public policy firsthand – and two Fulbright-funded lectureships in Ankara and Istanbul. “Turkey was a garden of earthly delights for economics in the ’80s,” he says.

Gustafson points out that a sabbatical is as much about the comeback as the getaway. “What you want is the feeling that you can’t wait to get back and share what you’ve learned,” he says. He

“We encourage people to work hard while they are here, but also to have a full life outside of work. Our six-week sabbatical benefit is an extension of this philosophy.”

– Amy Bohutinsky, Zillow Group thinks sabbaticals could play a valuable role in industry, and he is encouraged that some companies have taken a page from the academic playbook and begun offering mini-sabbaticals to employees as part of their benefits packages.

At Morningstar, a Chicago-based investment research firm, employees qualify for six weeks of fully paid leave after four years on the job. Bevin Desmond, its president of global markets and human resources, says the company calls the benefit a sabbatical. “Our employees can use the time any way they choose,” she explains. “Some pursue hobbies, travel, or volunteer within local or even global communities. Most commonly, employees use the time to simply refresh or recharge.”

R&R – in this case “recharge and reboot” – is the title that Zillow Group, the online real estate database company, assigns to its extended leave program. Employees with six years of service qualify for six weeks of leave, three of which are paid. “We encourage people to work hard while they are here, but also to have a full life outside of work,” says Amy Bohutinsky, the company’s chief operating officer. “Our six-week sabbatical benefit is an extension of this philosophy.”

I caught up with Bohutinsky, who has been with the company 13 years, a few days before she left on her second sabbatical. Her plans included traveling “solo” to a surf and yoga retreat in Costa Rica; spending time at home with her family and their children’s grandparents; and taking the kids to Disney

World. For her first R&R session, Bohutinsky says: “My husband and I took a cycling trip across Sicily. I came back with new energy and creativity for my job, and I was excited to return.”

The six-week breaks that Morningstar and Zillow offer bear more resemblance to maxi-vacations than mini-sabbaticals, but why quibble? To my mind, the companies are exemplary rarities. In its 2017 employee benefits study, the Society for Human Resource Management reported that only 5 percent of U.S. employers offer paid sabbaticals, which is a shame. Any time I find myself in rush-hour traffic or shoulder-to-shoulder with commuters on public transit, it seems painfully obvious that we all could benefit from more time off.

Barb and I capped off our sabbatical with a leisurely two-week road trip to Paris. We returned to Chicago refreshed and recharged, albeit somewhat strapped for cash. For a while we caught ourselves answering simple questions in Italian, evidence that we had been in Italy long enough to say that we once lived there. Barb got rehired at the magazine and stayed until she found work at a nonprofit organization, a new career path she had laid out while on sabbatical. I began working from home, which means, as Barb sometimes points out, my sabbatical never really ended.

The person I report to at work – me – is inclined to agree with her.

I found that the biggest challenge of working from home was the nagging sensation that there was always something work-related that needed doing – and if I wasn’t doing it, then I wasn’t being productive. After three decades I’ve finally convinced my supervisor that the more I enjoy myself, the better my job performance. But I still haven’t summoned the courage to ask for a sabbatical. n Paul Engleman is a Chicago-based freelancer and a frequent contributor to The Rotarian.

August 2018 The Rotarian

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STEP RIGHT UP! In Rotary’s membership game, everyone’s a winner

26

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W

hen it comes to finding new members for his Minnesota Rotary club, Tom Gump doesn’t just walk the walk, he trots the trot: the turkey trot.

Gump is a former president of the Rotary Club of Edina/ Morningside, which makes boosting membership a priority. In fact, that’s the fourth item on a list of 10 tips to attract and retain members which has been prepared – and practiced – by the club. It’s tip No. 10 that finds Gump clad in a turkey suit. More on that shortly.

The tips work: During Gump’s 2016-17 stint as club

president, Edina/Morningside added 31 members.

Eleven of them were women; 10 were under 40 years old.

With 94 members, the club “went from being classified as a medium-size club to being one of District 5950’s large clubs,” says Gump, who will be the 2020-21 district governor. “There were 13 clubs larger than our club in our district, and now there are only four.”

The tips have proven so effective that Gump has

taken the Edina/Morningside show on the road, using a PowerPoint presentation to coach other clubs on specific ways they can expand their membership. “I have been called a good salesman,” says Gump (who, for the record, is a real estate lawyer and a developer). “But to me, recruiting new Rotary members is not really selling.

It’s matching up potential members with what he or she wants in a club.”

So if you’re looking to add members to your club,

consider taking a page from the Edina/Morningside playbook. Read on for the club’s 10 tips, as well as five suggestions for increasing membership from other Rotarians and Rotary clubs.

by

GEOFFREY JOHNSON ROCCO BAVIERA

illustrations by

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Create a list of all the great things about your club.

Keep a list of potential members.

List your star members, the advantages of your meet-

It doesn’t matter if it’s a paper list or if it’s kept on the

ing location, how many members you have, the kinds

desktop of your computer. Either way, it makes you

of projects and events you host, and so on. The list can

think about those people who might be a fit for your

serve as a template when sending an email or letter

club. Discuss the list at board meetings – not just the

to a potential member. Make sure to tailor any cor-

concept of bringing in new members, but the specific

respondence so it addresses the specific interests and

names and who’s going to contact them and when. And

wants of any potential member. For instance, if some-

don’t overlook some obvious suspects, such as mem-

one is interested in international work, your email or

bers’ spouses, Youth Exchange host parents – “they

letter should focus on that.

already have a taste of what Rotary is about” – and even former members. “We had two founding members rejoin recently,” Gump says. “Sometimes people need to leave for a reason and then later they have more time and just have to be asked to come back.”

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THE POINT IS NOT JUST GROWING YOUR CLUB, BUT BOOSTING ROTARY’S CAPACITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AROUND THE WORLD.

Look to young Rotarians for fresh perspectives Want some suggestions about attracting younger members?

Look at what’s going on at the Roc City Rotary Club in Rochester, New York. “We are the next generation of Rotary,” proclaims its website. “The baton has been passed. It’s now our turn.”

Chartered in February (and a provisional club since June

2016), Roc City targets recent college graduates and young

Know your club’s strengths.

Most things are strengths if you target the right audience. If you meet in the morning, you’re probably a good fit for someone working 9 to 5. Meet at noon and you’re more likely to appeal to retirees or parents of schoolchildren. “Not every club is right for every potential

professionals by keeping dues low ($120 annually) and meetings infrequent. “We meet once a month and have a solid turnout at every meeting,” says Kristina Chartrand, who cofounded the club with her longtime friend Kelsey Christiansen (they met in 2005 as Interactors while in high school).

“We want the game changers and move makers, people who

member,” Gump says. “If someone doesn’t fit your for-

are busy and thriving in their everyday lives. We attract

mat, recommend them to another club.” Keep in mind

young people who want to get involved but crave flexibility.”

that the point is not just growing your club, but boosting

Rotary’s capacity to make a difference in communities

as well as 20-plus “Friends of Roc City.” Members are

around the world. And with any luck, that other club will

recruited through word of mouth and social media; it helps

send you a potential member one day. Gump points to one member who joined his club last year after a recommendation from the Rotary Club of Edina, which typically meets middays. “Morning meetings worked better

At press time, the club had 24 members, aged 21 to 33,

that Roc City convenes during happy hour at a local pub.

“So many people see us and what we’re doing and just stop by,” Chartrand says. The club plans service projects three

for him than noon meetings,” Gump says. “He has al-

months in advance so members can plan ahead, and it

ready become a Paul Harris Society member, leads our

regularly schedules speakers for its Adulting 101 series

beer tasting committee, and led our 100th anniversary

(topics have included “Paying Off Debt” and “How to Buy

celebration for The Rotary Foundation.”

a House”). “We want this to be something club members look forward to every month” – for years to come.

Make membership growth your club’s top priority – and make sure every member understands that. “I always tell presidents and presidents-elect that the best way to make their year as president easier is to bring in more members,” says Gump. New members bring new energy to a club, he explains, and mean more people to serve on committees, work on projects and events, and raise money for the Foundation.

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Appeal to local volunteers In fall 2014, the Rotary Club of Evanston, Illinois, held its inaugural “Heads Up, Evanston!” an event that’s equal parts community outreach, game show, and, as one member puts it, “organizational speed dating.”

“We encourage participants to connect with each other

during and after the meeting and find new ways to collaborate and partner based on what they have heard each other say,” explains Past Club President Paul Larson. “We follow up by sending all participants a PDF with everyone’s contact information as an added convenience.”

The participants in this service-oriented dating game are

local not-for-profit organizations, about 25 per annual session. Representatives from each organization get exactly two minutes to, as Larson puts it, “give a commercial or news item about themselves.” The time limit is rigidly enforced, albeit in a lighthearted manner. Talk too long and speakers are cut off by a “cheesy disco song from the ’70s,” Larson says. “This makes it fun since people do their best to finish before the dreaded sounds of an old Bee Gees tune or the theme from Rocky tells them time is up.” Finish your “commercial” in 90 seconds or less and the Rotary bell rings,

“IF YOU WANT YOUNGER MEMBERS, HANG OUT WHERE THEY HANG OUT.”

meaning the speaker gets invited back for a free lunch with the club and another opportunity to speak. The “Heads Up” gathering includes a modestly priced lunch – which “organizations are happy to pay,” says Larson – and post-gathering

Talk about Rotary wherever you go – at work, family gatherings, neighborhood get-togethers,

mingling around tables laden with promotional materials.

parties. You will be amazed how easy it is after you prac-

“While the event definitely has the potential to build

tice awhile. “Getting a lot of ‘nos’ helped build my confi-

membership in the long term, we use it strategically as a

dence, because it didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would,”

supplement to more direct recruiting efforts,” Larson says.

But, he adds, it’s also a way for the club to provide “a service to the community – a way for us to offer unique value as a forum for leaders.” And because the club also presents

Gump says. “And most people were happy I asked, even if they did have to decline.” And remember: It’s never not a good time to invite a potential member to a meeting. “People say it’s a bad time, for example, because it’s the holiday season,” says Gump. “Our club recruited and inducted

its own “commercial,” he notes, it’s also an opportunity for

three new members during the holiday season.” Nor is

“awareness building about what Rotary is and what we do.”

there a bad place to talk about Rotary: Gump landed one

Sounds like a love connection.

new member he met at Chipotle. “You never know where you will meet your next member,” he says. “And if you want younger members, hang out where they hang out.”

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Emphasize service After attending a Rotary event with her mother, Fiona Bassett decided her town in the north of Wales needed another Rotary club – to complement the three it already had.

To attract new members, the Rotary Club of Wrexham Glyndwr – Wrexham’s the town; Owain Glyndŵ r was a legendary Welsh leader – puts the emphasis on projects rather than meetings. “We feel that having a meal and weekly meetings puts some people off joining,” says Bassett. “As a club, we believe that the money we would spend on food every week could be put to better use.” Members are encouraged to attend one meeting a month, where the mood is informal and parents may bring their children if the sitter’s unavailable. The tech-savvy club relies heavily on social media to promote itself, its projects, and Rotary: One post notched 42,000 views in 24 hours. It collaborates closely with other clubs in the district – the Rotary Club of Wrexham Yale helped Glyndwr get on its feet – and relies

Make a list of club members’ responsibilities.

It’s important to engage with potential members beforehand. They will want to know how they can fit in with your club and what opportunities there are for serving. The list should also include information about dues, attendance guidelines, and other club expecta-

on high-wattage events to raise its profile. “We host a family fun event that’s going into its third year,” says Bassett.

“It attracts between 3,000 and 4,000 people, and everything is branded so there’s no mistake who’s organizing it.”

Last December, the club’s annual Christmas Lights Switch On drew about 10,000 people, thanks to promotional help from local celebrities, radio hosts, and the town council.

tions – and it should emphasize the many benefits that

“Everyone in Wrexham knows who we are,” says Bassett.

come with being a Rotary member.

“We gained six new members from our first Christmas

Realize there is no finish line.

event and three last year” – and the club raised money for End Polio Now and other charities.

Even if your club is the optimum size, it’s no reason to stop recruiting. There are always reasons people leave. Of the 31 members who joined Edina/Morningside in 2016-17, eight eventually left the club: Three had a job transfer, one had a family issue, and two had conflicts with work. Only two people simply stopped participating. Among those who remained, 10 are now very active in leadership roles, and two are “on the presidential track.” What’s more, the club added 11 more members between July 2017 and April 2018.

“You’re either growing or you’re dying as a club,” Gump says.

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Embrace diversity In February, Rotary welcomed its first LGBTQ club, the Rotary Club of San Francisco Castro. The initiative to form the club came from the top down after local Rotary leaders acknowledged that members of the LGBTQ community were underrepresented in District 5150, which encompasses San Francisco and other towns in Northern California.

“We received a ton of support from our district,” says

the club’s founding president, Lisa De Zordo. “It was invaluable.” She especially singled out two past district governors – Eric Schmautz (“he planted the seed”) and Leah Lambrecht – and lauded her former club, the Rotary Club of South San Francisco. “They were our sponsor club and our cheerleaders,” De Zordo says.

From De Zordo’s perspective, the formation of the new

club recognized what was already a reality: Many members had already been participating in Rotary events and projects. “We did not let not being chartered get in the way of our service,” De Zordo says. Now the club is partnering with Larkin Street Youth Services and other local organizations to help at-risk youth, neglected seniors, and the homeless.

De Zordo thinks it’s essential that Rotary embrace

diversity if it intends to grow. “Rotary has a real opportu-

Celebrate when you get a new member.

“You have to make potential members feel wanted,” Gump says. “Our club makes a poster of the individuals after

nity here,” she says. “We need to be open and affirming to

they’ve been voted in, and we put it in the front of the room

everyone. If we’re interested in bringing peace to the world,

at our next meeting. They love it. Some ask if they can take

that peace has to start with us.”

the poster home. One wanted to mail it to his mother.”

While celebrating new members, don’t forget that clubs

That process is well underway Down Under. Accord-

ing to Steven Aquilina, past president of the Rotary Club of Southbank (in Melbourne), Australia has a wellestablished LGBTQ Rotary network. And in June, Monica Mulholland completed her term as the first transgender

also stay strong by retaining current members. If you ensure that they are having a good experience and realizing the full value of their membership, the club’s current members will be proud to invite a guest to a meeting – and those guests will want to join an attractive and welcoming club.

president of the Rotary Club of Queenstown, New Zealand. During her tenure, the club hosted an LGBTQ “information night”; in a letter, then-RI President Ian H.S. Riseley endorsed the event and encouraged other clubs to welcome people of diverse backgrounds.

“At the core of it all is that we’re Rotarians who are

LGBTQ,” De Zordo says. “The focus is always on Rotary.”

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Be persistent.

At times, it will take more than one or two requests to get someone to attend a meeting. Keep asking. “It took my workout partner two years to convince me to come to a meeting,” says Gump, who joined the club in 2013 after attending just one meeting.

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Be vibrant.

If Gump’s fowl finery is any indication, this is a tip he

Get them in the door

takes to heart, dignity be damned. “The week before

In April, at his induction ceremony into the Arch Klumph

Thanksgiving, I contacted people on my recruitment

Society, Rustico “Chito” Recto Jr. explained how, almost

list and told them I would be wearing a turkey suit to

against his will, he came to join Rotary in 1980 when he

the next meeting and that they should come and see it,”

was 26 years old. “A close friend of mine had recently

he says. “A few took me up on the offer – and some of them joined. It’s all about making club meetings and events fun and vibrant. Other simple things we’ve done is make outrageous centerpieces for our meeting tables.

joined,” Recto explained, “and he attended the Rotary Convention in Chicago, the year Rotary was celebrating its 75th anniversary. Upon coming home to the Philippines,

It gets people talking. For example, at Easter we put

he was so upbeat about Rotary that he practically twisted

baskets in the middle of the tables with plastic eggs,

my arm to attend a meeting.”

and inside the eggs were blue and gold M&Ms with the

Rotary logo on them. At St. Patrick’s Day, we had sham-

did not share his friend’s enthusiasm. Not easily deterred,

rocks with members’ pictures on them; same thing at Christmas, but on foil trees. My club is so welcoming, sometimes it just takes getting a potential member to the first meeting and then they join. Balloons, posters, streamers – it all helps. It really does work.” n

Initially, as Recto confessed after the ceremony, he

his friend picked him up for a lunch date one day. Unbeknownst to Recto, their destination was a Rotary meeting.

“I was a little surprised,” he says today, but once introduced to the organization, he was hooked: “I became a member, and from there on, there was no stopping me.”

Recto went on to assume a number of leadership posi-

tions, including president of the Rotary Club of Lipa South and governor of District 3820 (Philippines). In addition to their generous contributions to The Rotary Foundation, Recto and his wife, Lydia Miral, have been Rotary Youth Exchange hosts, joined the fight to end polio, and helped provide aid to residents of Mindanao after Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, among other endeavors – all because a persistent friend “convinced” Recto to attend his first Rotary meeting.

MEMBERSHIP Rotary International provides a wide range of resources, tips, and tools to help clubs build and sustain their membership. For more information, go to rotary.org/membership.

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VIKTOR MILLER GAUSA

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[

THE ROTARIAN CONVERSATION

]

A QUARANTINE ON KILLING

An epidemiologist who helped stem the spread of cholera and AIDS in Africa, Gary Slutkin has a new – and successful – strategy to stop the contagion of violence: Treat it like a disease

TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, Gary Slutkin moved to Chicago to take

a break. A doctor trained in infectious diseases, he had spent his career battling tuberculosis in San Francisco and cholera in refugee camps across Africa. Working with the World Health Organization, he played a key role in reversing the AIDS epidemic in Uganda. But he had also spent more than a decade surrounded by suffering and death. “I was exhausted,” he says.

In 1995, when he was 44, Slutkin left Africa and his job with WHO and moved back to the United States to recharge. Yet the headlines kept him from winding down: Violence dominated the news. “All across the country, I saw that violence was an issue in the same way that cholera or diarrheal disease had been an issue in Bangladesh or AIDS was in Uganda,” he says. So he began to research violence the same way he had investigated the causes and patterns of disease as an epidemiologist.

Last September, Slutkin discussed his findings while speaking about “Peace in the Age of Uncertainty,” the first installment in a three-part Pathways to Peace Series sponsored by Rotary International and the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

“Looking at violence,” he explained, “we can see through maps and charts and graphs that it behaves exactly like all other epidemic issues.” And like other contagions, violence tended to cluster, with one event leading to another. “How does that happen?” he asked. “It’s because of exposure. That was the insight I came to years ago. What was the greatest predictor of violence? The answer: a preceding act of violence.” What’s more, he insisted, if violence is predictable, it can be “interrupted.”

With that in mind, Slutkin began investigating new ways to treat violence. He started an initiative originally called the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention; in 2000, it implemented its first program – CeaseFire – in a violence-plagued Chicago neighborhood. Known since 2012 as Cure Violence, it’s based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where Slutkin is a professor at the School of Public Health.

The Cure Violence model employs three components used to reverse any epidemic: interrupt transmission; reduce risk; change community norms. Cure Violence outreach workers prevent violence by counseling people exposed to violence in their home or community. These “violence interrupters” work with high-risk individuals to discourage them from acting out violently.

Where implemented, the Cure Violence model typically reduces violence by 41 to 73 percent in the first year. In 2011, a film called The Interrupters documented the success of the program, and today its impact is felt worldwide. “We have a global effort to reduce violence through partnerships in multiple regions, in particular Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East,” as well as in 25 U.S. cities, Slutkin says.

“Public health has been responsible for some of the greatest accomplishments in human history,” he says. “It’s gotten rid of multiple diseases like plague and leprosy and smallpox.

Polio is on its way out. Violence is next.”

Slutkin spoke with contributing editor Vanessa Glavinskas about his pioneering methodology, behavior change, ineffective punitive remedies, and ways Rotarians can lend a hand in the fight to cure violence.

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THE ROTARIAN: How does the Cure Violence model work?

SLUTKIN: All epidemics are managed

from the inside out. They’re not managed by outside forces; they’re managed from the inside. The health sector guides and trains in the specific methods for how to detect, how to interrupt, how to persuade, how to change behavior, how to document work, and how to change local strategies when things aren’t working.

Epidemics are managed through a partnership between community groups, health departments, and other services.

It works over and over again.

Managing disease is something Rotarians are familiar with because of polio eradication. To vaccinate children, health workers go door to door in the communities and talk to parents about the importance of the vaccine. The most important thing that these health workers have is trust.

Cholera was managed this way when I was working in Somalia. We used Vietnamese and Cambodian outreach workers to reach Vietnamese and Cambodian tuberculosis patients and their families.

This is the way it really works. But the U.S. is in a punitive mode about a lot of things that are health problems.

TR: Why doesn’t punishment work?

SLUTKIN: Behavior is not formed, main-

tained, or changed by punishment. It’s formed by modeling and copying. It’s maintained by social norms. People care more about what their friends think than what some authority is telling them. Belonging is not just a nice thing; it’s a way to survive. This whole carrot and stick idea doesn’t even work for donkeys. It’s very primitive thinking.

TR: What are you doing to change the way the public thinks about violence?

36

SLUTKIN: The public still has an ideological

and punitive lens on what is really a scientific, epidemic health problem. We’re training health workers to speak up.

Right now violence is being explained by a punitive sector. We need to stop using scary words like “criminal” and “gang” – all these demonizing terms – and begin to use words from the health sector like “behavior,” “transmissible,” “interruption,” and “outreach.” I think public perception will change if the language changes.

TR: How do you get people to look at violence as a public health issue?

SLUTKIN: Arguing against an existing nar-

rative doesn’t work. Science tells us this too. The brain is wired for people to stick to their ideas. But the good news is that everyone has an understanding of health, and even if they don’t know exactly what public health does, they understand contagion. They understand that epidemics can be reversed. If we continue to talk in that way, everyone has a space in their brain for a new set of ideas. Then you have to develop the ability to look at the person – not just the person in the hospital, but the person who did the violent act as a person who’s been exposed to violence many times. The brain picks up [violent tendencies] just the way the lungs pick up flu or the intestines pick up cholera. We need to be exposed to the scientific idea that the person who’s being violent is reacting to exposure.

TR: The “violence interrupter” is a unique

type of health worker. How did this role come about?

SLUTKIN: For five years, we didn’t put a single person on the ground. We were doing strategy development, trying to find out what would be acceptable and what kind of workers needed to be hired.

We started with outreach workers. But they had too many things to do. They were helping to stop violence from occurring. That was emergency work that had to be done at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., midnight, 2 a.m., 4 a.m. They were doing all this emergency work, and then they were also trying to keep talking to people and help them get back in school or get their family’s life in order or get some kind of employment. As I was talking to the workers, especially two workers who became the first two interrupters, Chip and Tony, we decided that we should make two different categories of worker.

One for the acute phase [the violence interrupter] and one for the longer term, so they could both be done well.

TR: During those five years, did you have funding or were you just building on a theory?

SLUTKIN: I started without any funding, as

I’ve done before in other things, but then I got enough funds to support one worker.

Then we became about three workers, and we enticed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to try our new strategy. They helped strengthen the core of the work.

Then one Illinois state senator, Lisa Madigan, who went on to become the Illinois attorney general, fought for it. She said, “We have to try this. This makes sense to me.” So she got us the first money. I said, “Sen. Madigan, do you want us to try this in your neighborhood?” And her response was, “You know better than I do who needs it most.” So we started in the Chicago neighborhood that needed it the most – West Garfield Park – and we had a 67 percent drop in violence in the first year. We went from 43 shootings and killings to 14. It was almost immediate.

Moms were having picnics on their lawns, and the kids were playing in the street. They were using a park that no one ever used. It was amazing.

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TR: Why did it work so fast?

SLUTKIN: It’s from the inside out. That’s

what we do in public health. We hire people who have access and credibility and trust. We talk to people in their own interest. We train people very well. Behavior change is the bread and butter of public health. We do behavior change all the time: sexual behavior, smoking behavior, drug-use behavior, hand-washing behavior, sanitation behavior. It’s exactly what we do.

TR: Who is best suited to the work of a vio-

lence interrupter? And how risky is the job?

SLUTKIN: It’s best suited for people who

used to be involved in violence themselves and know the people in the neighborhood very well, especially the people in the neighborhood who we actually have to reach: shooters. So it’s best suited for people who know them and are trusted. There have been very few injuries. I think there have been three during the 17 years in Chicago and 12 years in Baltimore and almost 10 years in New York. Many of the workers will tell you that they feel safer than before they were a worker, because everybody knows what they’re doing and who they are. They’re respected and valued.

TR: What’s your take on the rash of mass shootings we’ve seen lately?

SLUTKIN: Almost every one of these

shootings had warning signs that should have gone to the public health sector. There’s nothing wrong with law enforcement being called, but they frequently can’t do anything because no event has happened. If they don’t have someone to catch, there isn’t anything to do but watch. Like the shooter of the nightclub in Orlando, the FBI had been watching him. But that’s like watching

someone develop a disease without intervening. One of our workers could help someone change their course. It’s very similar to the basic work we do on the street. Mom calls because her son is loading up weapons in the basement.

She doesn’t want to call the police on her son. She doesn’t know what to do.

She’s pulling her hair out. So what does she do in this case? She calls an interrupter who comes by, cools this guy down, and helps him see why where he was going makes no sense. He keeps working with him for months, and nothing happens. No shooting.

TR: So should people call an interrupter or law enforcement?

SLUTKIN: Both could be called. But you have to have this option of letting in.

When there are interrupters in the neighborhood, they pick up on information. You may not even need to call, because they hear from other people in the school that this one kid was expelled and they’re worried about how angry he is.

That’s enough to try to check him out.

Ask, “How are you doing?” “None of your business.” “What’s going on?” “None of your business; I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Well, I’m here.” And we hang around a little bit, pay attention, maybe bring in someone else who has a better relationship with him, but it becomes a contact that we have some responsibility for.

We do this all the time: make contact with people who have HIV or syphilis or TB. We’re talking to people who don’t necessarily want to talk with us, but it’s our job to make sure that nothing goes bad for the health and safety of the neighborhood. Whether the event is a mass shooting or a neighborhood shooting, or an event of plague or leprosy or bird flu or Ebola, when you have these workers, things get better instead of getting worse.

TR: Despite the success of Cure Violence, it still has critics. Why?

SLUTKIN: This is a relatively new theory. It

has to go through a generational change until people see it properly. People didn’t want to believe that cholera was transmitted by water; they thought it was in the air. People thought that people with leprosy or plague were bad people; there was not an understanding of invisible micro-organisms. At the same time, we now have USAID, the World Bank, InterAmerican Development Bank, UBS Optimus Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and many city councils and mayors supporting it.

There’s a push toward actually getting rid of the problem rather than living with it.

TR: What can Rotarians do to promote the Cure Violence program?

SLUTKIN: They should talk to city leaders

and philanthropic organizations and the business community, and they should bring in or help build Cure Violence where it’s needed. The Cure Violence method works very fast. Once it gets put into motion, once all the workers are hired and trained, the drop in violence usually happens within a couple of months, and it’s usually very dramatic. It might take a while for the government to decide to do it, but once everybody gets on the street and the right people are hired and trained, the change is very, very fast. n

Rotarians are committed to promoting peace around the world. To implement the Cure Violence health model, someone from the community needs to take the lead.

You can start by registering for a Cure Violence webinar for new communities at cureviolence.org/webinar.

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Could you be the next RI president?

What it takes to be a leader in Rotary

RI

President Barry Rassin says he learned more about leadership from Rotary than he did pursuing his MBA – or even as president of the hospital he ran for years.

“It takes more skill to lead volunteers,” he insists. “It’s harder than leading employees.”

Rotary also gave Rassin the opportunity to practice public speaking. “When I started in Rotary, I couldn’t make a speech to save my life,” he says – a remarkable admission from a man who is clearly comfortable addressing large crowds today.

There are other benefits to assuming a leadership position at Rotary. The organization’s leaders gain access to world-class training that prepares them for their roles. As they ascend the ranks, they also expand their networks to include accomplished professionals from around the world.

A new generation of good leaders is essential to Rotary’s future. They help guide the organization, contribute their professional expertise, and build goodwill with other leaders while working toward a common goal: helping Rotarians create sustainable, positive change.

Thinking of taking on a leadership role? Read on to learn more about different positions available within Rotary and the myths – here debunked – often associated with them.

by

VANESSA GLAVINSKAS |

illustrations by

ZULEMA WILLIAMS

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CLUB PRESIDENT

tunity to improve those skills. He adds that other candidates

Club presidents plan and lead club meetings, set goals, encourage

worry that they don’t know enough about Rotary, such as the

communication between club and district committees, review

ins and outs of securing a global grant. “You don’t have to be

expenditures, participate in decisions, and motivate club mem-

a Rotary expert,” Gee says. “You can rely on your district

bers. They also collaborate with the district governor and assis-

leaders to train you. You just have to lead the club and tie

tant governor. Any member in good standing is eligible to become

everything together.”

club president, though most presidents have already served their

clubs as a committee chair or in some other leadership role.

MYTH: It’s all on you.

“People think they have to be good at everything to be club presi-

“The strongest presidents that I have seen in our club are

the ones who bring leadership to the club and board, but don’t do all the work themselves,” says Mary Ann Collishaw, who has served two terms as president of the Rotary Club of Whistler Millennium, British Columbia. “Instead, they inspire club

dent,” says Conor Gee, who was president of the Rotary Club

members to work hard.”

of Chicago in 2017-18. “But you’re building a team around you.

You learn what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, and

that her experiences as club president improved her profes-

you can rely on others to fill the gaps.”

sional skills. “I have learned and practiced leadership, organiza-

tion, time management, delegation, and more through Rotary,”

Gee says he has seen candidates shy away from the office,

fearful that they lack adequate administrative ability or some other talent. Instead, he says, look at this as an oppor-

Collishaw, who works at Whistler’s tourism bureau, notes

she says. In addition, “my employer sees the value in having the community connection through Rotary.”

Gee notes that the most important thing a club president

should have is a clear vision of how he or she wants to move the club forward. “You don’t have to be a perfect president to be a good one,” he says.

DISTRICT GOVERNOR District governors are an important part of Rotary’s leadership structure. Governors, together with a team of assistant governors and district committees, support, strengthen, and motivate clubs. They also organize training and plan the district conference and other events. Nominees for district governor must have been Rotarians for at least seven years and have served as a club president.

MYTH: It’s impossible to work full time and serve as district governor.

“There are lots and lots of people who were not retired when serving as DG, including me,” says 2017-18 RI President Ian H.S. Riseley. “It’s vital we stop this misconception.”

Riseley, who ran an accounting firm while he was governor

of District 9810, worries that misunderstandings about the role discourage too many people from even considering it. “Anything you do that you really enjoy does tend to take over your life a little bit,” he concedes. He suggests leaders ask for support to make juggling the responsibilities easier. “You are part of a family in Rotary,” he says. “We need to encourage people and offer assistance when they put their hand up and want to do the job.”

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“People think they have to be good at everything to be club president.

But you’re building a team around you. You learn what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, and you can rely on others to fill the gaps.”

Because visiting clubs is arguably the most time-consum-

Rotarians much younger than that.” By offering younger leaders,

ing part of being district governor, Rotary allows multiclub

and more women, the opportunity to weigh in on issues facing

visits. “There are several districts around the world that believe

the Board, Riseley aimed to diversify the perspectives the Board

the district governor is mandated to visit all the clubs,” says

considered when making decisions. The task force advised on

2016-17 RI President John F. Germ. “That potentially weeds

topics such as how to encourage young professionals to join

out younger people who wouldn’t have the time to get that

clubs and assume leadership positions in Rotary.

done.” He points out that gathering members of several clubs

for everyone to meet the governor at once can save time and

year; he says it will play an especially important role because no

offer opportunities for fellowship.

women are serving on the 2018-19 Board of Directors, which dis-

appoints him. Rassin suggests that Rotarians with similar con-

Sherri Muniz, a Rotarian from San Antonio, Texas, who was

RI President Rassin has opted to keep an advisory panel this

a district governor in 2011-12, says that even though she de-

cerns talk to their zone nominating committees. He also

cided to scale back her business selling model cars and trains

encourages clubs to nurture female leaders at the club and district

during her term as governor, her business actually grew that

levels. “That’s where our leaders come from,” he says.

year. The added responsibilities forced her to work more efficiently, focus only on her best customers, and handle more requests remotely, which ultimately benefited her business.

“I put Rotary first for a year, and it paid me back twofold,” she says.

REGIONAL LEADERS Rotary’s regional leaders use their skills to support and strengthen clubs, focus and increase Rotary’s humanitarian service, and enhance and heighten Rotary’s public image. They also serve as train-

RI DIRECTOR

ers and facilitators at Rotary institutes, governors-elect training

Rotary’s Board of Directors establishes policy for Rotary Interna-

seminars, regional and zone seminars, district training, and other

tional and provides guidance to clubs. Past district governors are

events. Regional leaders are appointed by the RI president or The

eligible to serve on the Board, but at least three years must have

Rotary Foundation trustee chair and serve a three-year term.

elapsed since the end of their term as governor. Candidates must have attended two Rotary institutes and a Rotary convention in the previous three years. Each director serves for two years.

MYTH: Directors are appointed by the RI president.

The regional leaders are:

Regional Rotary Foundation coordinators

(RRFCs) assist clubs and districts in fundraising and can support them through Rotary’s grant system. They also encourage Rotarians to support PolioPlus and the Annual Fund.

Every director on the RI Board is nominated by one of Rotary’s

Rotary coordinators (RCs) help clubs develop new

34 zones. Regional nominating committees interview candidates

strategies to attract and engage members. They also support

and select the one they want to represent them. Clubs then for-

district efforts to establish new clubs.

mally elect the directors at Rotary’s international convention.

Rotary public image coordinators (RPICs) pro-

In 2017, Ian Riseley did appoint a task force of eight past

vide marketing, media outreach, and social media advice to

district governors – evenly split between men and women, and

clubs and districts and help them implement Rotary’s public

all of them in their 40s or younger – to advise the Board during

image campaigns.

his year as president.

“Most Board members are in their 60s, if not older,” Riseley

says. “We have to be conscious of the fact that there are many

Endowment/major gifts advisers (E/MGAs) promote major giving opportunities to Rotarians and other community donors.

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“The first woman president of Rotary International should be a lady who is respected, of unquestionable character, who possesses integrity, and has earned this important role.”

MYTH: A regional leader is someone who tells districts what to do.

chairs Rotary’s International PolioPlus Committee. “Some are good fundraisers, some are good program administrators,

“We are subject matter experts,” says Art MacQueen. “If you

and some have other strengths. You need a balance.” McGov-

think we can bring your club or district value, engage us.” Mac-

ern, who worked as a city manager in Cape Elizabeth, Maine,

Queen is a Rotary coordinator based in Florida; he and his team

while he was a trustee, said he tried to facilitate discussion

offer training and conduct educational webinars.

among the trustees to help them make better decisions. It’s

“We are consultants and we attempt to offer solutions,”

something he also had to do in his job serving a seven-member

MacQueen says. “We never tell anyone what to do. Clubs

city council and 9,000 citizens. “I never hesitated to bring is-

are autonomous.”

sues to the table that made people feel uncomfortable,” he says.

Rotary invested in regional leaders to provide support to

“I just wanted everyone to understand what they were voting

clubs and districts in three key areas: membership growth and

on, and I’ve always believed that the best decisions are made

engagement, fundraising and grants, and enhancing Rotary’s

with more input.”

public image.

side McGovern as a trustee. While Matthews considers fund-

Most regional leaders have been successful district gover-

Past Rotary Vice President Anne Matthews served along-

nors and show an interest or expertise in public image, mem-

raising to be one of her biggest strengths, she echoes the

bership growth, or fundraising. They have demonstrated

sentiment that a good trustee isn’t just a good fundraiser. “They

success at the district level, but are also selected based on skills

also need to be able to think strategically,” she says – which is

they developed in their professional lives.

where her experience as a director with the South Carolina

Department of Education came in handy. “You need to be able

“I see my goal as to help the district governors and the dis-

trict Rotary Foundation chairs succeed by guiding them

to develop plans and measure results,” Matthews says.

through the sometimes intriguing maze of Rotary information and guidelines,” says Patrick G. Coleman, a regional Rotary Foundation coordinator based in Zambia. “If they succeed,

RI PRESIDENT

then I have succeeded.”

The official requirements to become president of Rotary International are actually pretty simple: A member must first serve

ROTARY FOUNDATION TRUSTEE

nically eligible for the presidency. However, most RI presidents

To become a trustee of The Rotary Foundation, candidates

have held additional leadership roles, including serving on com-

must be nominated by Rotary’s president-elect and elected

mittees that offer international experience.

by the RI Board. Trustees serve a four-year term, and they manage the business of the Foundation, which is the chari-

MYTH: Women aren’t welcome.

table arm of Rotary that funds service activities. The trustee

After the 2018-19 Board was announced, The Rotarian maga-

chair is elected by the Board of Trustees and leads the Founda-

zine received a spike in letters expressing concern about the

tion for one year.

lack of women directors and wondering when Rotary will elect

MYTH: You have to be an amazing fundraiser to be a good trustee.

42

as club president, district governor, and on Rotary’s Board of Directors. Once a member has been a director, he or she is tech-

its first woman president. Rotarian Monica Smith wrote, “It pains me to see how little concrete action appears to be taken at many other clubs locally, nationally, and internationally to

“When you look at the trustees, it’s important to have a balance

recruit, support, and promote women members, not to mention

of people,” says Past Trustee Michael K. McGovern, who now

officers.” Texas Rotarian Sarah Carriker wrote, “If the leaders

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YOUR NAME HERE

of Rotary really wanted more women in Rotary, there would be

and has as many women as men. Trudeau called it a “cabinet

more women in leadership roles.”

that looks like Canada.”

Past RI President Riseley says the lack of women on the Board

While Rotary has yet to elect a female president, four

is unfortunate: “It indicates to the world and Rotary that there’s

women have served Rotary as vice president. The first was

no place for women in Rotary – and that’s completely incorrect.”

Anne Matthews. “I was honored and humbled to be asked to

Smith, a member of the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C.,

serve as vice president,” Matthews says. While her appoint-

says her club’s strategies to diversify its membership could

ment marked a first for women in Rotary, Matthews is quick to

serve as a model for the organization. The club has attracted

point out that it was her experience, not her gender, that stood

young professionals by enacting programs such as its “Rule of

out to President Ron D. Burton. She expects the same will be

35,” which offers discounted membership fees for new mem-

true for Rotary’s first female president. “The first woman presi-

bers under age 35. It also relaxed attendance requirements and

dent of Rotary International should be a lady who is respected,

moved club meetings to evenings to accommodate young pro-

of unquestionable character, who possesses integrity, and has

fessionals who can’t meet for lunch. “Making a program indi-

earned this important role.” ■

cates you’re trying,” she says. Over the past few years, she says, club members have also made an effort to invite more women.

That effort has paid off as those new members invite their friends. Now the club is about 40 percent women, and it has members from 30 countries.

Smith admits that it’s probably easier for her club to foster diversity given its location in the U.S. capital, but mem-

Ready to take on a leadership role beyond your club – but not ready to be a district governor?

There are other options.

bers do make a concerted effort to achieve that diversity. “If you don’t see Rotary’s leadership pushing this, there are going to be clubs that don’t make it a priority,” she says. One hypothetical solution: Rotary could set a minimum number of leadership roles that have to be filled by women. That might seem drastic, Smith says, but Rotary isn’t the only organization wrestling with a gender imbalance in leadership. She notes that Canadian Prime Minister Justin

District committees often need volunteers. Most districts have committees that focus on the following areas: finance; international service; public image; training and leadership development; and youth programs and scholarships. Ask your district governor about opportunities in your area.

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A reason to smile Since 1993, Rotarians in Chile and the United States have teamed up to provide life-altering reconstructive surgeries

by Diana Schoberg | photography by Daniela Prado SarasĂşa

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Counterclockwise from top left: The SonrĂ­e con Rotary team evaluated 250 potential patients; the team selected patients based on need and the complexity of each surgery; a boy plays on his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone; surgeons James Lehman (left) and Lena Pinillos talk with a father about his child; a mother comforts her daughter. Previous pages: In addition to cleft lip and palate, surgeons perform ear reconstructions.

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Ricardo Román was shopping with his wife

at a department store in Chile in 2012 when a woman in her early 20s approached him. He didn’t recognize her, he confesses through an interpreter, but there were two good reasons: He had last seen her more than a decade earlier – and her smile had changed drastically.

Román, a member of the Rotary Club of Reñaca, Chile, is the national coordinator for Sonríe con Rotary (Smile with Rotary). The program has helped thousands of children in Chile with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other birth defects – including this stranger who now wanted to give Román a hug.

“She told me, ‘This is my Rotarian smile,’ ” he recalls, his voice full of emotion. “It was a very gratifying moment.”

The project got its start in 1993 when San Francisco (California) Rotarians, led by Peter Lagarias and Angelo Capozzi, sponsored a medical mission that performed reconstructive surgeries in Chile.

That was the beginning of Rotaplast, a program that evolved into a nonprofit organization that has since sent teams to 26 countries.

In 2004, Rotarians in Chile assumed leadership of the program in their country and renamed it Sonríe con Rotary. Over the years,

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“She told me, ‘This is my Rotarian smile,’ ” he recalls, his voice full of emotion. “It was a very gratifying moment.”

Chilean doctors became more involved, and eventually the program expanded to include breast reconstruction for cancer patients.

“It’s a great commentary on Rotary that you’ve got people in a Spanish-speaking country and people in an English-speaking country working together to get things accomplished,” says James Lehman, a plastic surgeon who joined the Rotary Club of Fairlawn, Ohio, after working with Rotarians in Chile.

In February, Lehman and a team of U.S. surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses visited Iquique, a Pacific port city and tourist hot spot about 80 miles south of Chile’s northern border. With financial help from the nearby Collahuasi copper mine, local Rotarians coordinate and pay for the medical team’s food, lodging, and in-country transportation.

(Visiting doctors pay for their flights between the United States and Chile; an Ohio-based nonprofit funds the travel of some support staff.)

More than 250 potential patients lined up early on a Saturday morning outside Ernesto Torres Galdames Hospital to try to get a

”

Above: Dino Ibanaceta (right), a pediatric surgeon from Iquique, talks with parents who had traveled from Concepción, 1,400 miles to the south. The team has performed multiple surgeries on the couple’s daughter. Right: An anxious father waits on the floor in a hospital corridor; with so many surgeries, there are often more people than chairs.

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Counterclockwise from top left: Preparing for surgery; cleft lip and palate have a hereditary component, but their precise cause is unclear; Lehman wears fanciful scrubs to get the kids to smile; many children need multiple surgeries; the team includes surgeons, nurses, an anesthesiologist, and a speech pathologist, as well as Rotaractors and Rotarians who handle logistics and translation; during the February session, 82 patients underwent surgery.

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spot on the team’s schedule. They had come from all over Chile, including a family who had traveled from Concepción, 1,400 miles to the south. About 600 children are born each year in Chile with cleft lips and palates, and though the government established eight centers to treat those abnormalities, the long wait list means corrective surgery can lie years in the future. “The demand exceeds the supply of people to take care of the patients,” Lehman explains.

Using four operating rooms – one for cleft lip

or palate, one for ear reconstruction, one for breast reconstruction, and one for other issues – the team got to work. Patients were chosen based on need and on the complexity of the surgery. By the end of their stay, the surgeons and their staff had operated on 82 patients.

In many cases, however, the complete reconstruction may take multiple surgeries, and some patients return several years in a row to complete the procedure.

But the final surgery doesn’t always signal an end to the relationship between a patient and Rotary. Román, who has coordinated Sonríe con Rotary since 2004, recalls an occasion involving the young woman he encountered in the department store. At Román’s invitation, she described her transformational cleft lip and palate surgeries at a Rotary district conference in Chile in 2012. Moved by her story, many in the crowd of 300 broke into tears, dazzled by her Rotarian smile. n

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Welcome

YOUNGER PROFESSIONALS

into your club and share your passion and energy for

DOING GOOD

LEARN HOW AT Rotary.org/engaging-younger-professionals

AUG18 - Rotarian Main Conformer_v1.indd 52 MemberEngageYP_RotarianAd_EN18.indd 1

6/21/18 12:05 2:30 PM 6/15/18 PM

our clubs

After hours FRANK ISHMAN

Rotary Club of South Metro Minneapolis Evenings As the sun sets over the Minnesota River, it casts a nearby hotel into silhouette. Young people trickle through the hotel’s front doors and gather at a long wooden table in the bar for happy hour. It’s not actually happy hour, but that’s what August 2018 The Rotarian

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our clubs continued from page 53

they call this casual gathering before their club meeting.

Twice a month, the Rotary Club of South Metro Minneapolis Evenings (SMME) meets here. It’s a nontraditional club, but that has less to do with the members’ average age – 33 – than the fact that they meet after work and tend toward activities not usually associated with Rotarians, such as rock climbing,

“I made a point to

sit down with each prospective member outside of the meeting time to give them a full rundown on our club, as well as answer any questions they had about it.

”

WhirlyBall, and escape rooms. The club also organizes one or two social outings (such as rock climbing) every month, and another focused on community service. Those have included serving breakfast at the local Ronald McDonald House, planting trees, and reviewing résumés for English as a Second Language students.

SMME’s mix of social and service – of doing and giving – has been key for drawing young people. Take Matt Lunde, who, at 36, is now one of the club’s elder statesmen. He sits at the far end of the table and has brought a prospective member, a woman who once skied in the Junior Olympics. Lunde was one of SMME’s charter members, and, like Previous page: Rotary Club of South Metro Minneapolis Evenings members Ashley Taylor (from left), Krysta Peterson, Matt Lunde, and Kristen Schlough.

54

many in the group, he isn’t from the Twin Cities. He came from Fargo, North Dakota.

Not long after he moved to Minnesota in 2008, Lunde learned from a fellow Fargo transplant about a new Rotary club that might interest him. “I liked the concept of it being after work,” he says, “not in the middle of the day, and not every week – but still being able to have some sort of community and to give back.”

When happy hour is over, the group walks down a carpeted hallway to a conference room that feels a little too cavernous, though no one seems to mind.

“Eli, you want to recap paintball?” asks Ashley Taylor, the 2017-18 president.

Eli Johnson is succinct: “We shot balls of paint at each other. It was really fun. And it only kind of hurt.”

There are two guest speakers: Karen Walkowski, a member of the Rotary Club of Lake Minnetonka-Excelsior, who talks about ending human trafficking in Minnesota, and Mark Hegstrom, of the Rotary Club of Edina/Morningside, located in a suburb of Minneapolis.

Hegstrom helped get SMME started in 2009, but tonight he is here in his capacity as past governor of District 5950 to present the club with a Presidential Citation for adopting Rotary’s online tools, donating $4,400 to The Rotary Foundation, and focusing on membership attraction and engagement.

Like many clubs, SMME has faced challenges in recruiting and retention.

“The constant battle is that people are always moving for jobs,” Lunde says. In fact, soon after the club was chartered in 2010, there was an exodus as people relocated for work.

With a concerted effort, the club doubled its membership in one year from that low point of 13 members. “We had a handful of transplants from out of state who were familiar with Rotary already,” Lunde says. “I made a point to sit down with each prospective member

outside of the meeting time to give them a full rundown on our club, as well as answer any questions they had about it.”

Since then, membership numbers have stabilized. “We’ve started to settle a little more,” says Past President Krysta Peterson. “We may have all moved here from somewhere else, but we’re not leaving as much. We’re starting to buy homes and things like that.”

After Walkowski’s presentation on trafficking, the young Rotarians chat before heading back out into the night.

Later in the month, they’ll meet on a Sunday afternoon at a food pantry where they will organize giant boxes of overstock food items from Amazon.

A few weeks later, about eight members of SMME meet at Upstairs Circus, which has been described as an “arts and crafts bar.” This is the club’s social event this month: a night of drinking and crafting.

On this Thursday evening, the young Rotarians sit at a long table with their projects spread out before them as they sip drinks. The chatter is easy and the mood is light. Taylor is making a serving tray while Peterson puts a necklace together. Others do string art, wrap flasks in colored leather, or try to construct wallets.

Amanda Fay works on a leather clutch purse. Fay had been a member of an afterhours club in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and wanted to find a similar club. Asked if she would ever switch to a traditional club, she shrugs. “I don’t know,” she says.

“Maybe. We’re the first generation of the after-hours clubs. So I think it will depend on how they evolve as we get older.”

– FRANK BURES

We’ll be visiting clubs around the world to highlight the diversity of the Rotary experience. This is the third in a monthly series.

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4 questions about

... attracting young

people to Rotary

with LaShonda Delivuk

President, Rotary Club of Lynchburg-Morning, Virginia

1

VIKTOR MILLER GAUSA

You’re 28 years old, and you joined Rotary when you were 23. Why did you get involved?

I live in a city where we really value community service. I heard about service clubs that way. At my Rotary club, we look to the community to let us know where the needs are, so we change our beneficiaries every year. I liked that we were actively involved in meeting the needs of the moment rather than being boxed in to one thing.

I also really liked that there were so many different types of people in the room that I wouldn’t normally meet. Our former and current city manager are both in our club. I would not ordinarily have an opportunity to talk to the city manager, and now they are my friends.

There are so many opportunities to be mentored by members of the club, people who are much further along in their journeys as CEOs and upper management. My husband and I had just started our business, and I have learned so much about entrepreneurship from people in the room.

2

How can Rotary clubs reach more young people?

I think many people just don’t know about it. I have gotten in the habit of telling my friends about Rotary and what we are up to. I try to post about it on my personal Facebook wall.

Word of mouth is extremely powerful; do projects that get you excited so that you naturally want to talk about them with your friends.

Millennials don’t like to be talked at. They want you to talk with them and have a dialogue.

Take people out for coffee – whether millennial, middle age, or older person. Talking with people is never going to go out of style.

3

Your club has grown from 40 to 60 members in the past four years. What can strug- gling clubs do differently?

We can’t expect a vibrant club when we only invest in it on our meeting day; we have to have Rotary experiences outside of the meeting. People weren’t going to service projects, because they didn’t know when they were. We started to send email newsletters and post on our website and social media. We also have printed versions of things. You have to make sure you communicate in enough ways that everyone is reached.

We helped members find more opportunities to be with each other. I just added a page to our website called “Support a Rotarian.” Often our members are part of fundraisers on their own, so it makes it easy for members to support each other.

We need to stop worrying about the numbers and worry about the people behind the

numbers. If clubs return to family and fellowship, they will be fine. Celebrate life’s events like getting into college or a promotion at work, and thank people for showing up. We have pregnant women, people with kids, and people with grandkids. We had so many people have their first child that we made Rotary onesies and gave them away. We are giving and serving, but it’s not the main motivator; the motivator is that we have a community here and we, as a community, have a desire to serve.

4

What role should young people play in a club’s member recruitment strategy?

People are more than numbers and labels. I’m cautious of elevating any age group, because we are all important. If we are recruiting recent retirees, these people are incredible, have lived full lives, and have money to give. Millennials are just one piece of the puzzle. Rotary attracts service-minded people, whatever their age.

Build a vibrant club that spans generations. Learn more strategies to bring young leaders into your club at rotary.org/engaging-younger -professionals.

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our clubs

Corporate citizens

Rotary Club of DeMotte-Kankakee Valley, Indiana

CLUB INNOVATION:

Chartered: 1979 Original membership: 26

Membership: 49

AN EXPANDED COMMUNITY:

After weighing corporate membership models to energize its roster, the club chose an approach pioneered by other clubs in District 6540 and turned to local businesses to sponsor employees as Rotarians. Nine members and counting have signed on under the program, which provides the newcomers flexibility in attendance. Their employers pay club, district, and RI dues.

Located between Chicago and Indianapolis, a few miles off an interstate highway, DeMotte, Indiana, is a bedroom community; many residents commute to nearby jobs in light manufacturing or agriculture. The Rotary Club of DeMotte-Kankakee Valley embraces community initiatives funded with the proceeds of its annual 5K race, the Rotary Ramble, and joins district clubs to construct water tanks in Guanajuato, Mexico. They are tasks that might be typical for a club in a small town of 4,000 people.

But appearances can be deceiving: The club is using corporate memberships to reach out to the business community.

The newcomers are full-fledged Rotarians. “We wanted every

Deann Patena’s knowledge of Rotary came from her job

appreciates the more lenient attendance requirements. “It’s a

booking meeting space for a large hotel and entertainment

way to do a little more for the community and for Rotary world-

complex that served as the home base of the Rotary Club of

wide,” he says. Patena lauds the club’s drive to involve new

Merrillville, Indiana.

members in committees. “I’ve found it very engaging and in-

corporate member to be a Rotarian and have every right and privilege of being a Rotarian,” Ryan says.

Ryan recalls his first solicitation, a call on the chief financial officer at the Hamstra Group, a real estate and construction concern. “He said, ‘We were just talking to two of our younger officers and emphasizing the importance of being involved in your local community,’ ” Ryan says. In short order, two company vice presidents, Eric Van Kley and Bruce Przybylski, were inducted into the club, supported by the firm.

Przybylski, busy as a coach for his children’s sports teams,

“I was familiar with the people – they were always very nice,” Patena says, though she never imagined herself joining.

value the support of the clubs.”

The doing of good deeds at home and abroad, she assumed,

Ryan believes the infusion

might be too costly for a hospitality worker with a young child.

of new spirit has paid divi-

But after the venue shuttered about two years ago, Patena

dends for his club. “They bring

landed a similar job at Fair Oaks Farms, an agricultural tour-

an energy, and they bring more

ism attraction that offers eateries, exhibits, and a chance to

hands to projects,” he says. “We

get up close with barnyard animals. In October 2017, a month

had gotten older as a club, so

after she started her new position, Patena’s supervisor asked

you’re not able to do the proj-

if she would be the farm’s representative to the DeMotte Ro-

ects like you used to when you

tary Club. “I did not ever think I would be a Rotarian,” says

were 20 years younger.” And

Patena, but she accepted because she wanted to meet local

for sponsoring businesses, the

business leaders. And her company would be covering the fees.

benefit is immeasurable. “One

The enlistment of the farm and other corporate sponsors

advantage is serving the com-

was the work of club member Dan Ryan, 2018-19 governor of

munity,” Ryan says, “but also

District 6540. He credits the Rotary Club of Portage, Indiana,

offering your employees lead-

for laying out the options that work for DeMotte: Companies

ership training and the opportunity to network and to be men-

pay the monthly dues for the employee representatives. The

tored by older businesspeople in the community.” — BRAD WEBBER

attendance rules depend on the number of employees registered: two meetings per month for one company representative, or one meeting monthly for each of two representatives.

56

formative,” she says. “I didn’t realize how much smaller towns

From top: Deann Patena is welcomed to the club by Dave van Keppel (center) and Dan Ryan; club members walk to raise funds for polio eradication.

What is your club doing to reinvent itself?

Email club.innovations@rotary.org.

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A message from Foundation Trustee Chair

Ron D. Burton CONVENTION COUNTDOWN Shopping and cafés

I

n the past 15 years, cafés and fashionable shops have opened all over Hamburg. When you attend the 2019 Rotary International Convention there from 1 to 5 June, take a little time to experience what the city has to offer.

On a sunny day, start with breakfast by the shores of the Outer Alster Lake (Außenalster) on the deck of AlsterCliff, a café with stunning views. Try the “Seaside,” scrambled eggs on dark rye bread topped with tiny shrimp.

From here you can stroll into the Pöseldorf neighborhood, which boasts cozy restaurants, art galleries, antique shops, and high-end boutiques.

Or take the steamboat that departs every hour from the Fährdamm dock to the Jungfernstieg, a historic lakeside boulevard in the heart of the city.

On the Jungfernstieg and adjoining streets, you can snack and people-watch in one of the numerous cafés. You’ll find international stores such as Apple, Hermès, and Gucci, along with family-run businesses such as Chocolaterie Leysieffer. Make sure you visit Steiff, the teddy bear maker, inside the traditional brick mall called Levantehaus, and check out the stylish Europa Passage designed by star architect Hadi Teherani.

For alternative fashion and design, head to the Karolinenviertel, a vibrant artists neighborhood with studios and shops run by young local designers. Enjoy a German-style cheesecake at Gretchens Villa.

– GUNDULA MIETHKE

Register for the 2019 Rotary Convention in Hamburg at riconvention.org.

Without The Rotary Foundation’s Endowment Fund, our efforts would be for naught. The endowment is the backbone of Rotary’s efforts around the world, providing access to the time, talent, and resources needed to make a difference. Our goal of building the Endowment Fund to $2.025 billion by 2025 and this year’s fundraising goal of $380 million are surely some of the most important tasks at hand for our organization.

Your financial support has made possible every single thing that Rotary has done over the years. But what’s equally essential – and might sometimes be in danger of being overlooked – is your participation.

Without you, Rotary is nothing. The Foundation needs your presence, your input, and your creative mind just as much as it needs your generous financial backing. Your Rotary club needs you to be there at meetings – not to warm a chair, but to engage, to inspire.

I shared last month how my relationship with Rotary changed when I went from being a tepid (at best) seat-warmer to a committee chair who was engaged and focused. You don’t need to wait for someone to ask you to chair a committee or be a club officer to begin to transform your Rotary journey. There’s a place in Rotary for all of you to step up and become people of action.

Be engaged. Working with your club on service projects that qualify for District Designated Funds is one way to participate and use your voice to make a real difference. If your club has no service projects that interest you, work on getting some new ones underway. Carry out community assessments to find out how we can best use our resources to create positive change.

This month, I invite you to transform the way you think about your involvement with Rotary. Consider every meeting a chance to discover new channels for your energy and to brainstorm with like-minded Rotarians about how you can work together for a better world.

Ron D. Burton FO U N DAT I O N T RU ST E E CH A I R

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NUTRITIONAL HARMONY

Across

By Victor Fleming Rotary Club of Little Rock, Arkansas 1

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59 Partakes of 1 Deep opening 60 Bit of poetry 6 Betrothal symbol 61 Roast host 10 Lodgings 62 Papa, in Paris 14 Video’s counterpart 63 Saigon star Alan 15 Poker payment 64 Kansas City athlete 16 Tennis champ Yannick 17 Start of a riddle Down 19 Get outscored 1 Crow cry 20 Canal or lake name 2 “What did you say?”

21 Type of code 3 Tooth care org.

22 Part 2 of the riddle 4 Plop oneself down 26 Targets of baking soda 5 Poses for photos 28 Giants great Willie 6 Diameter halves 29 Absorbent powder 7 Processor producer 30 Spoofs and such 8 To the ___ degree 33 Folklore sprite 9 Lead-in for whiz 36 End of the riddle or whillikers 39 Along in years 10 Small bays 40 We all have one, 11 “If a tree falls in the once in a while forest and ___ ...”

41 Cork’s locale 12 Of the nose 42 Move swiftly 13 Clam cover 43 Ill-___ 18 Part of a pen 44 With 53-Across, sion plan, briefly the riddle’s answer 21 Money order recipient 50 Jungian principle 22 Gave (out) 51 Like a recitation 23 Marble ___ 52 Words of denial (London landmark) 53 See 44-Across 24 Spanish girl friend

25 “Terrif!”

26 Comics canine 27 Author Roald 30 Prolonged gaze 31 Expand upon 32 Director Browning 33 Archie Bunker’s spouse 34 Possibly apocryphal tales 35 Flintstone fellow 37 The Audacity of Hope writer 38 “Way cool!”

42 Curtains, so to speak 43 Purification aid 44 “Stop being such a wuss!”

45 Win by ___ 46 Certain maker of bad checks 47 Interminably 48 Goofed up 49 “That’s the ___ it’s always ...”

53 Pipe connector 54 Rome’s ___ Veneto 55 Med. plan option 56 Bone-chilling 57 Cultural funding org.

58 Do stuff?

Solution on page 19

CREATE. SHARE. CONNECT.

LIDERANÇA. LEADERSHIP. LEADERSHIP. INSPIRATION. INSPIRATION. INSPIRAÇÃO. VOYAGE. TRAVEL. TRAVEL. FUN. FUN. DIVERSÃO. LEARN. LEARN. FORMATION. SERVICE. SERVICE. SERVICE. 海外体験。 TRAVEL.GROW. TRAVEL.GROW. DÉCOUVERTE. LEADERSHIP. LEADERSHIP. LEADERSHIP. 学び。 LEARN. LEARN. TRAVEL. TRAVEL. TRAVEL. ACTION. ACTION. ACTION. 奉仕。 VIAJES. SERVE. SERVICE. SERVE. SERVICE. DISCOVERY. DISCOVERY. DISCOVERY. FRIENDSHIP. FRIENDSHIP. AVENTURAS. FUN. FUN. FUN. FUN. FUN. DIVERSIÓN.

Descubra um mundo novo fora da sala de aula.

Discover a world outside the classroom through Discover a world outside the classroom through Participe de um programa intensivo de liderança que an intensive leadership experience that builds an intensive leadership experience that builds se baseia em técnicas de comunicação, solução de communication skills, teaches creative problemcommunication skills, teaches creative problemROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE problemas e maneiras de transformar o mundo num solving, and challenges you to change not only solving, and challenges you to change not only LONG-TERM LONG-TERM lugar melhor. yourself but the world. yourself but the world.

Long-term exchanges build peace one young person Long-term exchanges build peace one young person Long-term exchanges build peace one young person at a time. Students learn a new language, discover at a time. Students learn a new language, discover at a time. Students learn a new language, discover Join the global movement of young leaders taking Join the global movement of young leaders taking Join the global movement of young leaders taking another culture, and live with host families for a full another culture, and live with host families for a full another culture, and live with host families for a full 新世代交換 NEWtoGENERATIONS NEWtoGENERATIONS action build a better world. Exchange ideas with action build a better world. Exchange ideas with action to build a better world. Exchange ideas with academic year. Become a global citizen. Start in one academic year. Become a global citizen. Start in one academic year. Become a global citizen. Start in one SERVICE EXCHANGE SERVICE EXCHANGE leaders in your community and mobilize your friends leaders in your community and mobilize your friends leaders in your community and mobilize your friends of more than 100 countries. of more than 100 countries. of more than 100 countries. 目標をもって海を渡り、異国での奉仕活動に参加し、短 to develop innovative solutions toathe world’sUniversity most to Professional develop innovative solutions world’sUniversity most to develop innovative solutions to the world’s most Professional development with purpose: development withtoa the purpose: 期間の滞在で新しいスキルを学びたいと思う大学生やフ students and young professionals learn new students and young professionals learn new pressing common challenges. pressing common challenges. pressing common challenges.

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE レッシュ社会人にとって、 この上ない特別な経験ができる skills, learn a language, and take action through skills, learn a language, and take action through SHORT-TERM SHORT-TERM SHORT-TERM でしょう。 humanitarian service during short-term, customizable humanitarian service during short-term, customizable Short-term exchanges immerse young people in Take action, build Short-term exchanges immerse young people in Short-term exchanges immerse young people in Toma acción, promueve la comprensión internacional Take action, build international understanding, international understanding, exchanges. exchanges. another live with host families for up another culture. Some live with host families for up live with host families for and up make new y forja nuevas amistades alrededor del mundo. and make newanother friendsculture. around Some the world.

Develop friendsculture. aroundSome the world.

Develop to skills threewhile months, others to three months, while others embark on a tour or toskills threewhile months, others Desarrolla tus aptitudes de liderazgo mientras your leadership you while discover the embark power on a tour or your leadership youwhile discover the embark power on a tour or go to camp few how weeks.

Go on an adventure in go to camp for a few weeks. Go on an adventure in go to camp fewhow weeks.

Go on an adventureofinService Above descubres el poder de Dar de Sí antes de Pensar en Sí of Service Above Self and for finda out serious Self andfor finda out serious more than one of more than 100 countries. of more than y cuan divertido es el verdadero liderazgo. leadership canone be seriously fun! 100 countries. leadership canone be of seriously fun!100 countries.

ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE LONG-TERM

Create your own promotional cards to showcase your youth activities. Available now in Rotary’s Brand Center.

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World Bank and Rotary celebrate International Women’s Day gee children around the world. De La Fuente worked at the National Defense University in Washington, where she fostered relations across the Middle East and South Asia.

THREE ROTARY WOMEN WERE RECOGNIZED in March at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., for their commitment to improving lives through innovative humanitarian projects.

The honorees were:

“These are women of action who are making a huge contribution to the world,” said Annette Dixon, a World Bank vice president, who moderated the event. “They have given a lot of themselves to their initiatives and are playing a leadership role for many women.”

GEETHA JAYARAM, a member of the Rotary Club of Howard West, Maryland, founded the Maanasi Clinic, which has been recognized by the World Health Organization for its effort to advance mental health care in developing countries. The clinic has reached nearly 6 million households since it began in 2002. It operates in partnership with St. John’s Medical College and has received funding from the Rotary Club of Columbia, Maryland, and from Rotary Foundation grants. A Rotaract alumna, Jayaram received the Foundation Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award in 2014-15.

are making a huge contribution to the world.

MARIE-IRÈNE RICHMOND AHOUA, a member of the Rotary Club of Abidjan-Bietry, Côte d’Ivoire, was Rotary’s PolioPlus chair for her country and now helps coordinate immunization activities in West Africa. She is an international communications consultant and worked as an outreach adviser for the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire. Richmond Ahoua was recognized by Bill Gates at the 2017 Rotary International Convention in Atlanta for her role in polio eradication and peace.

”

DANIELLE DE LA FUENTE, a member of the Rotary Club of Coronado Binacional, California, co-founded the Amal Alliance. The nonprofit group provides social development and educational programs to refu-

ROTARY INTERNATIONAL

are women “ These of action who

Marie-Irène Richmond Ahoua (from left), Geetha Jayaram, and Danielle De La Fuente were honored at the International Women’s Day event.

The Rotarians told their stories to more than 300 people at the celebration and thousands more watching the livestream. Held in honor of International Women’s Day, the event was hosted by the World Bank Group Staff Association and sponsored by Rotary International and investment firm Oppenheimer & Co. – RYAN HYLAND

HOWARD EDSEL BENSON, Athens, Georgia, 1955-56 SAMUEL BERNARD ROSS JR., Brewster, New York, 1962-63 JULIAN M. KURTZ, Opelousas, Louisiana, 1977-78

In memoriam With deep regret, we report the death of CHARLES C. KELLER, California, Pennsylvania, who served RI as president in 1987-88, director in 1974-76, and district governor in 1963-64.

In addition, we report the deaths of the following Rotarians who served RI as district governors:

JACK B. BLANE, Wheeling, Illinois, 1978-79 TOYOHIDE ABE, Kofu-North, Japan, 1985-86 MICHAEL ASAFO-BOAKYE, Accra-North, Ghana, 1985-86 KOUZO FUKUTA, Nagoya Airport, Japan, 1985-86 NDUKA MICHAEL OKWECHIME, Benin City, Nigeria, 1985-86 GEORGE F. BALLARD JR., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1986-87 SHIGEYOSHI MANABE, Kure, Japan, 1992-93 KUNITARO KATSUYAMA, Shizuoka East, Japan, 1999-2000 CHARLES M. RAND, Lake Mary, Florida, 2010-11

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New directors and trustees take office The RI Board of Directors has 19 members: the RI president, the president-elect, and 17 club-nominated directors, who are elected at the Rotary Convention. The Board manages Rotary International affairs and funds in accordance with the RI Constitution and Bylaws. Eight new directors and the president-elect took office on 1 July.

The Rotary Foundation’s 15-member Board of Trustees manages the business of the Foundation, the charitable arm of Rotary which funds service activities. The RI president-elect nominates the trustees, who are elected by the RI Board to four-year terms. The trustee chair-elect and four new trustees took office on 1 July.

DIRECTORS PRESIDENT-ELECT 2018-19

Francesco Arezzo

ROTARY CLUB of Decatur, Alabama

ROTARY CLUB of Ragusa, Italy

Mark Daniel Maloney is a member of the law firm of Blackburn, Maloney, and Schuppert LLC in Decatur, practicing in the areas of taxation, estate planning, and agricultural law.

A Rotarian since 1980, Maloney is a past president of the Rotary Club of Decatur and was governor of District 6860 in 1989-90. Maloney also served on the RI Board of Directors in 1999-2001 and as the aide to Jonathan Majiyagbe of Nigeria, RI president for 2003-04. Maloney was vice chairman of the 2004 Council on Legislation, chairman of the 2010 Council, and parliamentarian and trainer for the 2016 Council. He was a trustee of The Rotary Foundation in 2004-08 and vice

Francesco Arezzo is an orthodontist who has worked in his own practice since 1980. He has taught courses in the subject and belongs to numerous professional societies.

Arezzo owns a farm that produces extravirgin olive oil. He and his wife, Anna Maria, are fans of art and music, and Arezzo founded the Ragusa chapter of Fondo Ambiente Italiano (the National Trust for Italy), which focuses on the preservation of art and the environment.

A Rotarian since 1988, Arezzo has served RI as training leader, president’s representative, assistant Rotary coordinator, and committee member and chair.

He was president of the editorial board

Mark Daniel Maloney,

chairman of the Trustees in 2006-08. Maloney served four terms as chairman of RI’s Operations Review Committee and was the chairman of the 2014 Sydney Convention Committee and vice chairman of the Foundation’s Future Vision Committee. He is a recipient of the Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Award presented by the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation.

Maloney’s wife, Gay, is an attorney at the same firm and a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of Decatur Daybreak, Alabama. Both Mark and Gay are Paul Harris Fellows, Benefactors, and Major Donors of The Rotary Foundation and members of its Bequest Society. They have two daughters, a goddaughter, and two grandsons.

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of Rotary Italia in 2009-10. Arezzo is a Benefactor and Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation.

Olayinka Hakeem Babalola ROTARY CLUB of Trans Amadi, Nigeria Olayinka Hakeem Babalola is regional safety manager responsible for Shell Petroleum’s upstream oil and gas activities in sub-Saharan Africa and chair of the board of directors of Riviera Nigeria Ltd., an oil and gas engineering consortium. He is lead consultant for an executive coaching and organizational performance company.

Babalola has served RI as endowment/major gifts adviser, training leader, member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, committee member, and president’s representative. As regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, he helped increase the number of Arch Klumph Society members in his zone from four to 19. As club president in 2002-03, he won the RI Global Quest Award for highest percentage net membership gain worldwide and was recognized onstage at the Brisbane convention.

Babalola is a recipient of RI’s Service Above Self Award, The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service, and the Rotary regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World. He and his wife, Precy, are Foundation Benefactors and Major Donors. They support the Foundation through a named endowment fund and as members of the Arch Klumph Society.

Jeffry Cadorette ROTARY CLUB of Media, Pennsylvania Jeffry Cadorette had a 25-year career as a physical therapist in private practice as president and CEO of Physical Therapy Associates of Delaware County in Pennsylvania until merging his practice with Riddle Memorial Hospital to form the Riddle Rehabilitation Institute and Riddle Sports Medicine. He is now associate broker and executive vice president at Media Real Estate Co., where he is active in all phases of commercial real estate sales and leasing, tenant representation, and new project development.

A Rotarian since 1977, Cadorette has served RI as a committee member, Council on Legislation delegate, training leader, seminar trainer, and president’s representative. He was worldwide coordinator of Rotary Foundation alumni coordinators in 2010-11.

Cadorette is a Foundation Benefactor and Major Donor and has received the Citation for Meritorious Service, the Distinguished Service Award, and RI’s Service Above Self Award.

Lawrence A. Dimmitt ROTARY CLUB of Topeka, Kansas Lawrence A. Dimmitt is retired from AT&T, where he was general attorney. He then was an adjunct professor at Washburn University School of Law, his alma mater. He

is a member of several professional associations.

A Rotarian since 1983, Dimmitt has served RI as committee member, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and president’s representative. He personally raised $200,000 for a Million Dollar Dinner in District 6040 (Missouri) in 2010 and co-chaired a similar event in District 5710 (Kansas) in 2014.

Dimmitt has received the Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Lois, are Benefactors and Major Donors to the Foundation, and members of the Arch Klumph Society and Bequest Society.

Rafael M. Garcia III ROTARY CLUB of Pasig, Philippines Rafael “Raffy” Garcia III is the chairman and CEO of Mega Group of Computer Companies, a multinational conglomerate of 44 companies that specialize in high-tech systems. The company is based in the Philippines and has offices in the United States, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Singapore, and Germany.

Garcia joined Rotary in 1971. He has served RI as endowment/major gifts adviser, training leader, committee member, president’s representative, and member of The Rotary Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers. He was chair of the Philippine Rotary Magazine Foundation in 2016-17.

Garcia received the Avenues of Service Citation from Rotary International

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for his work on the Pasig Rotary GK Housing Village, a 159-unit housing project in Pasig City. He and his wife, Minda, are Benefactors and Major Donors of The Rotary Foundation, and members of the Arch Klumph Society.

Akira Miki ROTARY CLUB of Himeji, Japan Akira Miki, a dentist with his own practice, dedicated himself to disaster recovery projects after the January 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, one of the worst earthquakes to hit Japan in the 20th century.

Miki worked on building a children’s home and supported children who needed emotional care.

Miki has served RI as president’s representative, training leader, GETS trainer, committee member, assistant Rotary coordinator, Council on Legislation representative, and sergeant-atarms for international conventions and assemblies. He is director of the RI Japan Youth Exchange Committee.

Miki is a former Interactor and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his wife, Chiharu, are Benefactors and Major Donors to the Foundation.

David D. Stovall ROTARY CLUB of Hall County, Georgia David D. Stovall retired from commercial banking in 2011 after a 32year career, 22 years of which were served as president and CEO of a national market NASD bank holding

company. He then launched a career as a commercial real estate broker.

Stovall has served RI as committee member, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, training leader, president’s representative, endowment/ major gifts adviser, and Council on Legislation delegate. In 1994-95 he hosted a Rotary Peace Forum in Senegal that led to the formation of what is now the Rotarian Action Group for Population & Development.

Stovall has received the Avenues of Service Citation and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award.

He and his wife, Kim Waters, a past Rotary district governor, are Foundation Benefactors, Major Donors, and Bequest Society members.

Piotr Wygnańczuk ROTARY CLUB of Gdynia, Poland Piotr Wygnańczuk graduated from the Faculty of Shipbuilding at Gdańsk University of Technology.

During the first half of his career, he supervised ship construction in various shipyards for Polish Ocean Lines. Later, he worked for the Swedish industrial company Alfa Laval, spending his last five years there as general manager of Alfa Laval Polska. He founded the packaging company Izipak, now run by his son Pawel.

Wygnańczuk became a Rotarian in 1997. He has served RI as Council on Legislation delegate, committee member, president’s representative, and assistant Rotary coordinator, co-founding many Rotary clubs as special representative of the district governor.

TRUSTEE Gary C.K. Huang,

CHAIR-ELECT 2018-19

ROTARY CLUB of Taipei, Taiwan

Gary C.K. Huang is an adviser for Wah Lee Industrial Corp., supervisor of Wah Hong Industrial Corp., director of Sunty Development Co. Ltd., and chair of Huang Ping Sing Insurance Scholarship Foundation. He previously was president of Malayan Overseas Insurance Co. and chair of Taiwan Shin Kong Security Co. Ltd. A Rotarian since 1976, Huang has served RI as 2014-15 president and as vice president, director, Foundation trustee, International Assembly group discussion leader, regional session leader, task force member and coordinator, and committee member and chair. He wrote about his experiences in business and Rotary in his book, Finding Solutions, Not Excuses.

Huang received the Civic Service Award of the Federation of Non-Profit Associations and the Outstanding Community Service Award from Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior. In 2001, when the Rotary International Convention was held in San Antonio, Texas, he was named the city’s honorary mayor. He is a recipient of the RI Service Above Self Award, a Presidential Citation, and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Corinna, are Benefactors and Major Donors to the Foundation.

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TEES

John F. Germ ROTARY CLUB of Chattanooga, Tennessee

John F. Germ is the retired board chair and CEO of Campbell & Associates Inc., consulting engineers. He joined the firm as an engineer in 1965 after four years in the U.S. Air Force. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the board and executive committee of the Public Education Foundation and Orange Grove Center Inc., and as board chair of Blood Assurance Inc. He also is founder and treasurer of the Chattanooga State Technical Community College Foundation and president of the Tennessee Jaycee Foundation. He has received many awards for his volunteer work.

Germ joined Rotary in 1976 and has served RI as president in 2016-17, vice president, director, Foundation trustee and vice chair, aide to the Foundation trustee chair, chair of Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge, RI Board Executive Committee member, chair of numerous committees, area coordinator, and training leader. In 2013, the White House recognized him as a Champion of Change.

Germ has received RI’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Judy, are Foundation Benefactors and members of the Arch Klumph Society.

Per Høyen ROTARY CLUB of Aarup, Denmark Per Høyen holds a bachelor’s degree in media

production and management from the Danish School of Media and Journalism. He has held technical, production, and management positions at several companies in the graphics industry, retiring in 2001 from Nordgraf A/S. He was national president of Round Table Denmark in 1995-96.

A Rotarian since 1999, Høyen has served RI as treasurer, director, president’s representative, committee member and chair, Council on Legislation representative, district Rotary Foundation committee chair, and district polio coordinator. For six years, including two as chair, he has represented the five Danish districts on the board of Rotary Norden, the official Rotary magazine that serves Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and chaired the committee for the publication’s digital development.

Høyen has received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and its regional Service Award for a PolioFree World. He and his wife, Annette (a member of the Rotary Club of Assens who was district governor in 2012-13), are Foundation Major Donors, Bequest Society members, and Benefactors.

Gulam A. Vahanvaty ROTARY CLUB of Bombay, India Gulam A. Vahanvaty joined his family ’s scrap processing and ship-breaking business, and later diversified into other enterprises.

In 1978, Vahanvaty traveled to Indiana (then District 656) as a member of a Group Study Exchange, which he describes as “a life-enhancing experience” that made him want to join Rotary.

A Rotarian since 1979, he oversaw a record contribution to The Rotary Foundation of $654,000 as district governor, the largest in Indian Rotary districts until 2006-07. He has served RI as regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, committee chair and member, and training leader.

Vahanvaty is a recipient of RI’s Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award. He and his late wife, Haseena, are Benefactors and Major Donors to the Foundation.

SangKoo Yun ROTARY CLUB of Sae Hanyang, Korea SangKoo Yun is a graduate of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University in New York and is president of Dongsuh Corp., an architectural materials trading and engineering firm. He is involved in many civic organizations with a special interest in preservation of cultural heritage.

A Rotarian since 1987 when he was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Sae Hanyang, Yun has served RI as a director, convention Host Organization Committee chair, Future Vision trainer, Rotary coordinator trainer, committee member and chair, resource group zone coordinator, assistant moderator, and training leader. He has led the Keep Mongolia Green project since he was district governor in the Rotary centennial year.

He and his wife, Eunsun, are Benefactors and Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation, and members of the Arch Klumph Society and Bequest Society.

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XIMENA JERIA

last look

DONATE Constanza Parraguez credits Rotarians for her dazzling smile: When she was a child, she received four surgeries to repair her cleft lip and palate through a project of Rotarians in Chile and the United States (read more on page 44). Years later, Parraguez reconnected with Ricardo Román, a member of the Rotary Club of Reñaca, Chile, and the national coordinator of Sonríe con Rotary (Smile with Rotary).

The two, pictured here, have stayed in touch.

Fighting disease is one of Rotary’s six areas of focus. Rotarians involved in this project received a global grant from The Rotary Foundation to purchase two portable machines with high-definition cameras that allow surgeons, therapists, and speech pathologists to get a better view of a patient’s palate.

Help support more projects like this. Make your donation to The Rotary Foundation at rotary.org/give.

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GUARANTEED PERFECT FIT.

PMS 7463 1/C spot

FREE EXCHANGES. EASY RETURNS. IMPORTED. NEW CUSTOMER OFFER. LIMIT 4 SHIRTS. SHIPPING EXTRA. EXPIRES 8/31/18.

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What sort of people read The Rotarian?

People who mentor the next generation.

We surveyed our readers to see what matters most to them.

41% replied: working with young people to develop their professional and leadership skills.

SOURCE: 2016 Rotarian Reader Survey conducted by GfK MRI

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