I’d like to take the opportunity to address three important issues clubs in our District are dealing with: 1. Meeting Formats; 2. Environmental and Youth Programs; and 3. Membership.
Meeting Formats: I have now completed 31 club visits and it has been very enjoyable and lots of fun. I thank you all for the camaraderie and your attention during my talk. The biggest lesson I learned is that Rotary is carrying on with its mission of service even with the many obstacles in our way. I needed to watch for the frequent schedule changes caused by venues, especially due to venue rule changes and venue labor issues. In July, all clubs were headed to in-person meetings, mostly with a meal of some sort. Many were experimenting with hybrid technologies to conduct zoom and in-person meetings, and most had moved away from mask wearing. Today, things have changed again, due to the Delta variant. Clubs are rethinking their plans, and talking again about what is best for their club.
A few clubs have transitioned back to Zoom only for regular meetings but are finding ways to meet together, outdoors at picnics, under gazebos, and doing service projects. Some clubs have eliminated food so Rotarians do not have to drop their mask during a meeting. Some venues allow great opportunities for social distancing even indoors. I am so pleased to see clubs meeting, socializing, and providing service. These are the core values of Rotary.
As one of our seven Areas of Focus, Rotarians understand the critical importance of literacy. The ability to read and write is an essential skill necessary for our ability to participate and contribute to society. Literacy empowers people, expands our opportunity to lead a productive and meaningful life. Literate people have access to better employment, improved child and family health, and improved nutrition.
BELRAG (Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action Group) supports Rotarians to address these challenges to enable children to be confident readers and learners. BELRAG is offering three excellent opportunities to assist clubs in their outreach to support literacy in their communities.
As the sun rose on 1 January 2021, we all worried about what this new year would bring. For those of us who closely follow polio eradication progress, it was an especially worrisome time. 2020 and 2019 had seen an uptick in wild polio virus cases and in circulating vaccine derived cases. Polio vaccinations had had to be suspended for a while in 2020 due to the coronavirus and vaccines for Covid-19 were just starting to receive early use approvals.
The polio news was especially bad in Afghanistan. On the very first day of 2021, a wild polio virus case was reported. In the next week, the national health minister was fired due to hints of corruption on non-polio matters. Before month’s end, the government of Afghanistan ordered the UNICEF polio lead to leave the country relating to a verbal spat that had occurred in the President’s office. Then in March and June there were coordinated attacks on polio workers and their security teams leaving eight families having lost loved ones. The Taliban denied responsibility for the attacks, and it appeared the attacks were tied to elements who supported ISIS or ISIL as they are also known. We also noted that some areas of the country had been subject to over 30 months of a ban on house-to-house polio vaccinations.
At the urging of DG Dick Hall, I am sharing about the actions being taken by the Rotary Club of York to assist Haiti. We hope some other clubs and/or individual Rotarians may find it useful.
We are all deeply concerned with the dual natural disaster devastation that Haiti is facing. We would like to DO SOMETHING, but the frustrating reality of government breakdown and rampant corruption can give us pause and dampen our enthusiasm.
Here are two suggestions for club or individual donations.
Do you know an educator - or someone who is interested in literacy and education - who would make a great Rotarian? The Education and Children’s Issues Rotary Club might be just the right opportunity for them to get involved. We promise an opportunity to network, meet other great people involved in meaningful projects, and make a positive difference for children in your own community or far away corners of the world.
Education and Children’s Issues Rotary is forming as a new club - currently partnering with Portland Rotary to become a Satellite Club.
District 7780 is pleased to announce that 16 clubs have been awarded funding for their District Grants submitted earlier this year. The projects range from community gardens and play areas to backpacks filled with school supplies, providing summer meals and year-round food resources to vocational graduate support kits. Some clubs are improving their community by building a boardwalk on a current heavily used trail system, while others are educating dog owners on being river friendly. Club members should be proud of the positive impacts on their communities! Click here to get more details on the projects, and maybe help find some ideas to form a similar project in your community!
We need you! District 7780 is seeking applicants for our Rotary year 2024-2025 District Governor and candidates for the District Finance Committee.
One of the most important decisions we make as a District is choosing our future leaders; we are seeking the most qualified person for the position of District Governor for the Rotary Year 2024-2025. If you have a demonstrated history of leadership and collaboration as a Rotarian and are willing to share your passion and talents as our District Governor, please seriously consider this opportunity. If you know a Rotarian with these qualities, please encourage them to consider serving in this important leadership position.
Congratulations to Ruby! Bowdoin ’21 graduate Ruby Ahaiwe received the wonderful news that her Rotary Global Grant Scholarship to attend Johns Hopkins University was approved. Ruby will be studying Public Health and plans to return to her home country of Nigeria to help educate rural women in the area of reproductive health.
Ruby contacted the Rotary Club of Brunswick after her acceptance into the graduate school of her choice: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Even with an academic scholarship from the college, Ruby needed funding in order to attend.
A generous philanthropist contributed $10,000 to the Brunswick Rotary Club. The Rotary Club of Umungasi-Aba, Nigeria agreed to serve as the International Partner and to contribute to the Global Grant as well. The Rotary Club of Howard West offered to serve as the host club because of its proximity to Baltimore, the home of Johns Hopkins.
Nearly five years ago, District 7780 launched our Rotary Recovery Committee to focus on substance use disorder and ways Rotarians could combat the stigma, education gap and lack of resources evidenced by the opioid crisis. Among the things we learned: Adverse Childhood Experiences are indicators and precursors to substance misuse. Ground-breaking research over twenty years ago established the clear links between ACEs and a variety of health issues. For More Details click Here
Thirty trainers were selected and participated in curriculum developed by Dr. Robert Anda and Ms. Laura Porter, pioneers of ACEs/community initiatives around the country. These thirty local leaders (six of them Rotary Club members) have now fanned out in their areas of discipline with a target of training nearly one thousand people during the course of the project.
In York ME, Strafford and Rockingham Counties NH, our team set a goal of raising sixty thousand dollars over two years. The money helped Pinetree Institute of Eliot ME launch a master-trainer program to educate communities about ACEs and positive actions at the local level.
PDG Sheila Rollins was a woman of many talents who generously gave of her whole self. This ‘woman of action’ was a pilot and flight instructor, a restaurant owner and a gourmet chef, as well as a mental health counselor. Given the way she battled her illness, we can add “brave” to all the adjectives we use to describe Sheila, such as fun, creative, ambitious, generous, loving and energetic! Sadly, she lost this battle on June 29, 2021.
We need a place for our district committees to meet. Husson College in Portland was our former meeting space host, but they have closed their Portland Campus.
The District International Service Committee (DISC) is excited to announce the first in this Rotary year’s Saturday Morning International Cafes. On September 18, 2021 - 9:30-11:00AM, we will have the following presentations: PERU Project Fair; BELRAG, Bill Dunn's Update on his Prosthetic Limb Project in the DR, plus one or 2 other speakers.
We hope you can join us - the ZOOM link will be emailed closer to the date!!
Get ready to celebrate the first annual Rotary – Peace Corps Week this September 20-26th! It will provide an opportunity for members of both organizations to learn more about the formal partnership (first established in 2015).
For those on Facebook, we now have a new District Facebook Group! It’s called Rotary 7780 – People of Action Please go to this Group now and click “Join” to see what is happening in clubs around our District.
This District Group is available for all clubs and members to post about the various activities of your club – events, fundraisers, projects, awards, or anything else Rotary-related that you would like to share.
