Information Newsletter of Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020 JUNE, 2013
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Newsletter of Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020 June 7, 2013 As we enter June, here is an update on the happenings at Rotary EClub of the Caribbean, 7020. Some of this information has been distributed before – but here it is, all in one place. Our current provisional executive is: Provisional President Provisional Treasurer Provisional Secretary
Kitty Bucsko Diana White Amarylis Davila
Happy Hour Hangouts. We are making progress on our club get-togethers. We have scheduled a Happy Hour Hangout for Saturday mornings and a second Happy Hour Hangout for Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. for those who cannot attend on Saturday – or for those who just want to stop by again for another visit. The small groups have been very productive in planning for how the E-club can move forward. We still must have a commitment from a number of potential members to reach the “magic number” of 20 to become a properly chartered club. Attendance. There is discussion whether we need to put into place a mandatory once-a-month attendance at a HHH for all members. If you attend a HHH, you can earn a make-up. We can also get to know you so much better if you attend – and that will help us become a unified and very effective club.
NOTE: Those who have not attended a Happy Hour Hangout should make plans to join us in the near future. You will be so happy you did! It will become a regular part of your week!
Club Admission/Membership fee. Diana has sent out an invoice to most potential members to remit $25 US as a sign of good faith that you will become a charter member of our Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020. The money will also allow us to cover some of our administrative fees. If you need help with that, please contact either Diana at dianawhite.7020@gmail.com or Kitty at ladykitt@gmail.com.
ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
June 2013
Page 2 Meeting options. We have investigated a few options for small-group get-togethers. We will be publishing more information on these so that all can take advantage. Briefly: ooVoo Somewhat similar to Skype. No cost. You can chat with video and audio with anyone else who also has downloaded ooVoo. Simple. Easy. Good quality video. Good for small groups. GoToMeetings Currently, we are using the District 7020 software. The district is very kind to allow us to use this free of charge. However, if we are going to continue with GoToMeetings, we need to discuss a long-term plan. However, to host a meeting of all 20 of our members – when we do become chartered – we will need a platform like GoToMeeting. Other software is not appropriate for large groups. One disadvantage of GoToMeeting is that a large gathering with GoToMeeting would be conducted by audio only – much like a large conference telephone call. Google Hangout We want to have everyone in the club conversant with Google Hangouts. Access to Google Hangout requires that each member have a gmail account – but it’s not necessary to change your current email. Just sign up for a gmail account. The gmail account – Google account – is necessary for access to Google Hangouts – that’s all. We will send out information to each member to get you signed up with Google Hangouts. The advantage of Google Hangout is that we can invite “live” speakers to our meetings and record the meeting to include both audio and video. When we master that software for all our members, we can invite speakers from our District and beyond to make our meetings so very exciting and entertaining! Google Hangout is free and relatively easy for members to sign up – and we are preparing our members to be able to help each other to get started! If I can assist you in any way, please do contact me at ladykitt@gmail.com.
ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
June 2013
Page 3 Recruitment. We are actively recruiting at this time, and if you have an interest in joining our club – or know someone who does have an interest – please let us know. The Butterfly Storybook project We printed 250 English copies of our Butterfly Storybook and sold all 250 copies at the District Conference in Tortola. The project was a huge success! We hope to repeat it this coming year – and make it our club’s signature project. We will have to get started about September to make this happen successfully for March, 2014. The book is available online at http://issuu.com/rotary7020/docs/butterfly_e-storybook_2013 The French book is available online: http://issuu.com/rotary7020/docs/e-book_for_printer_fr Next Steps - We can move forward with this project and finish up the translation. The stories are translated to French. The cover is also translated. The letters inside – about Rotary and about our EClub – are in need of translation. The ads should also be translated. Once we have the book completely translated, we can consider printing a number of French copies, perhaps 100. We could “donate” 60 of those copies to Haitian schools. We could then sell 40 copies to recover the cost of the printing. All of this must be decided, however, before we can proceed. If we have a “team” that is focused on projects – and we will have that team when we become a chartered club – then the team/committee would make the decisions and present the decision to the Board for consideration and follow-through. Potential Projects. We are currently compiling a list of the projects with descriptions that we wish to present to the club members as potential projects for this coming Rotary year. We will be choosing the projects we wish to undertake. We encourage our members to take the lead on some of the projects – to chair a committee or “team” – to make the projects a huge success. Club Projects We are looking to choose projects that will fit into the Rotary calendar for the year, and to choose projects we can effectively participate in. As a review:
We will distribute shortly a list of current project ideas with details. We will ask each member to peruse these ideas and choose ones that you will be comfortable participating in – and which ones you could lead as the Project Chair.
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June 2013
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We encourage all members to participate actively in some way to make these projects a success. Teamwork will make us successful. We all can participate from any location because we are an E-Club.
So far, we have discussed briefly projects that will involve all the clubs in the district:
Membership drive for August Butterfly Storybook – signature project Foundation Dinner Fundraiser (February perhaps?) Water Project …others
We must move quickly, however. At this point, we’ve decided that all of the projects our club will participate in this year will be in the form of “contests” or something similar.
We will encourage participation in our projects by all the clubs in the district. These district-wide projects may become the symbol or characteristic of our E-Club These district-wide projects may prove to be the way that our E-Club can function in the most effective way to help District 7020.
ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
June 2013
Page 5 PARTIAL EARLY LIST OF IDEAS for PROJECTS AUGUST Membership
Membership Drive – a drive to get active members into the E-Club (We must make this happen quickly.)
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER
Begin the Butterfly Storybook efforts – send out information to district (Butterfly Storybook). A good long lead time will improve the project from our first year’s success.
FEBRUARY World Understanding
Dinner - Foundation Awareness/Fundraising dinners hosted by all members individually and shared through photos/videos/Skype, etc.
MARCH Literacy
Butterfly Storybook. Publish the Butterfly Storybook in preparation for our District Conference if we wish to sell them (or can we sell them online?)
Further information will be forthcoming. Here are some photos: First below - Kitty, Lou and Amarylis checking out ooVoo and GoToMeeting.
Here we are again at the HHH on Wednesday evening. Genevieve and Jacquie attended by audio only.
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ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
June 2013
Page 6 Why our E-club? Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020 is actively recruiting new members – Rotarians who would find the E-club more suitable for their needs than the traditional Rotary club. If you know of anyone for whom this might be the situation, please let them know about us! Our E-Club has already successfully completed our first project, even though we are only a provisional club, and we are partnered as well with the Rotary E-Club of District 9220 in Mauritius. We are on our way to great things! Below is the link our Butterfly Storybook online. We printed 250 copies of the book, and we sold all 250 copies of the book to the clubs in District 7020! An excellent international literacy project that we look forward to repeating next year and for many years to come. http://issuu.com/rotary7020/docs/butterfly_e-storybook_2013 Our club members come from all over the Caribbean and beyond, and represent an interest in District 7020. We can have a wide positive impact upon our communities because we are an E-Club. As a clarification, we encourage our E-club members not only to participate online with the E-club and the E-club activities, but also to participate with Rotary clubs at service projects in their local communities at the level they feel comfortable. It is the best of all possible worlds! We offer flexibility from the normal physical club. Many Rotarians these days travel or have busy schedules that prevent them from attending a regular meeting during the week. We offer the flexibility to maintain the excellent participation, networking, and fellowship – and we do it on your own schedule. The best things about our E-club?
Flexibility of meeting time – at any time during the week, according to your own schedule Low cost. We don’t have additional dinner costs every week – so we are a real “bargain” for our members. (Drinks are on the house – your house!) World-class speakers and world-class topics at every meeting
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June 2013
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Global village. Club members who are interested, enthusiastic about Rotary, energetic, and who live and travel in many places. We are a true global village. Technology. Club members who learn to use technology and truly stay up with the 21st Century in that regard. Networking. Club members who can network with Rotarians all over the globe because of our own social networking. (Our partnership with E-Club of District 9220 is a good example.) Our ability to attend meetings all over the world without ever leaving the comfort of our own homes. Our ability to offer attendance at our meetings by visitors from all over the world who do not have to leave the comfort of their own locations. Projects. Projects that adhere to Rotary’s Areas of Focus, but that affect the entire District 7020 and are not limited to one small area.
We can get together once a year or more often at various Rotary gatherings. We hope that we can all meet and plan a breakfast or dinner at the Rotary District 7020 Conference, or even at the Rotary International Convention. There is so much excitement about the E-Club. The goal is small-group get-togethers through the week on a regular basis for those who want to have that fellowship and that social interaction. It must be flexible and it must not be mandatory. Our club dues will be roughly $200/year. What sets us apart from a physical Rotary club is that we do not have the additional weekly cost of a meal, which can be about $20 each week. Potential members who cannot afford a normal physical club can join the E-Club and know that they can afford the cost. We will encourage all our members to support The Rotary Foundation every year (EREY) with a donation, if possible, of $100 per member.
Rotary e-clubs follow the same policies as all Rotary clubs. The key difference is that an e-club conducts its weekly meeting on the club’s website. Rather than being physically present at an appointed day and time, members may attend meetings at any time and any day of the week. As all Rotary clubs do, Rotary e-clubs meet weekly, perform service projects in local and international communities, support The Rotary Foundation, and enjoy fellowship among members. And the keys to their effectiveness are also the same: service-minded members, opportunities for fellowship, and strong leadership.
We must offer all things to all people if we are going to be the best we can possibly be. We welcome all interest in our Rotary E-Club of the Caribbean, 7020! Rotary cheers!
ROTARY E-CLUB OF THE CARIBBEAN, 7020
June 2013