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Have recent headlines left you fielding questions about our ability to end polio? Steve Crane, a Seattle Rotarian and chair of his district’s polio eradication advocacy committee, shares why the important headline to remember is the one proclaiming the end of polio in India. Eradication is certain, as long as Rotary’s powerful force of volunteers stays committed to the cause.
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The Global Grant for the Girl School Toilet Block has been approved! Please see below for the exciting news from Puru in India providing the local effort to move this project forward.
This is the power of Rotary!
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Dear Woody Alexander,
I am thrilled.
The effort taken by our team has been successful.
When DGN - DRFC Vasu telephoned to me that the Global Grant has been approved, I said to myself, Three Cheers for all those who had helped.
I could assure you this will be a successful "Global Grant - Girl School Toilet Block Project" constructed at many Girl Schools.
The amount US $ 99,000/- will be spent as per terms and conditions stipulated in the agreement.
I take this opportunity to Thank R.C. of Richardson East and all those are connected with this project. The District Governor to be thanked for his generous contribution.
I will be in touch as the project progresses.
With warm regards,
Puru
Below is a picture of urinals built at another school.
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RERC RERC continues the succesful concept of small groups for 2014.
Below are the expectations for the groups:
- Meet anytime between August 6th and November 15th 2014
- First person on the list is the chairman of the group
- Each group will create two themed basket for Casino Night one valued to at least $100 and one $75
- Basket to be turned into D. Schieferstein by December 1st 2014
- Groups need to meet as a unit and take a photo - sent to Tom Brooks for publication on the website etc.
- Group gathering can be for theater, dinner, drinks, volunteer event etc.
- Group plans need to be reported to Mary Bedosky at maryb@bartech.net
- See more at: SitePage/small-groups-fall-2014
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 Thanks to each of you for all you are doing as Rotarians. Richardson East Rotary is a very successful club because of each of you who truly believe in service above self. Our meeting this week will be a joint meeting with Richardson Central Rotary as we enjoy a visit by District Governor Bill Dendy. Let's each welcome our fellow Rotarians as they join us for this very special meeting. I hope you will all make plans to attend. If you were at last week's meeting but didn't see your buddy there, please give him or her a call or send an email. Remember to check your calendars for August 16 for the party at the Higgins' lake house. I will send out a map soon, and I hope many of you will be able to join us for what promises to be a fun day. August is membership month so this is a great time to invite someone to visit. Thanks to Bill Zeigler who is the first to propose a new member this Rotary year. Our next Board Meeting is Tuesday, August 5 at the Credit Union of Texas. Hope to see each of you next week!
Thanks,
Kathy
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 Attracting new members is easy when you explain why Rotary matters
August is Membership Month -- the perfect time to recruit new club members and find ways to get members more involved. Interact, Rotaract, and Rotary clubs are all powered by members. Our clubs thrive when we connect with new friends, welcome new voices at our meetings, and work together to improve life in our communities.
What’s the easiest way to invite new members? Just ask! At your next club meeting, brainstorm a compelling answer to the question, “What is Interact?” or “What is Rotaract?” or “What is Rotary?” so that a prospective member’s next question will be, “How do I join?” Learn innovative strategies from international membership expert Nikki Walker on 13 August at 10:00 Chicago time (UTC-5) in the first of five Membership Matters webinars, Membership: It’s Now or Never. And find more ways to strengthen your club on our Membership page.
Social media offer a powerful way to show the world that you are a proud Interactor, Rotaractor, or Rotarian. Change your profile picture or cover photo for August; invite friends and family members to join you at your next club meeting, service project, or Rotary Day; and give prospective members the chance to experience Rotary in action through hands-on service.
As an Interactor, Rotaractor, RYLA participant, or Rotary Youth Exchange student, you are Rotary! We want to see you and your friends taking action! In August, share your photos using the hashtag #WeAreRotary on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and they could be featured on Rotary’s Facebook page and Rotary.org.
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 Art provides a medium for building peace
Rotary members in California, USA, have been working with Hands of Peace to break down barriers and build dialogue between students from Israel, Palestine, and the United States. Kelly Mellos, an artist who uses her workshop to teach the visiting students trust and compassion, writes a powerful and timely post about the experience in Rotary Voices.
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I am so honored and excited to be President of Richardson East Rotary Club for the coming year. Having just returned from the Rotary International Convention in Sydney, Australia, I am energized by the stories told by people who are doing Rotary’s good work, exemplifying service above self. I would strongly recommend and encourage anyone who has not yet attended an International Convention, to do so. We, as Rotarians, have so much to be proud of, but there is always more on the horizon.The theme for this coming year is Light Up Rotary, chosen by RI President, C.K. Huang, member of the Rotary Club of Taipei, Taiwan. Hechose his message based on a quote by the Chinese philosopher, Confucius, who died nearly 2,400 years before Rotary was even founded. Confucius said, “It is better to light a single candle, than to sit and curse the darkness.” Huang feels that many people sit around thinking there is nothing they can do to solve the problems in the world, so why try. |
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But that is certainly not true for Rotarians. Huang says that together, we light up the world. Huang suggests that Rotary Clubs examine our strengths and the needs in our community and world when determining how we are going to light up Rotary in the coming year. The sessions I participated in at the Convention reiterated Huang’s theme over and over again. In my opinion, Richardson East Rotary is a group of hard-working, dedicated individuals already committed to service, both in the community and world-wide. In considering some goals for this year, I considered the messages resounding from the stage in Sydney. One of the main themes was membership growth and retention. Our current membership world-wide for the last ten years has remained stagnant at around 1.2 million. It is important for the success of Rotary to grow in numbers if it is to continue to be a powerful avenue for service in the future. One challenge I want to address with our club this year is to think outside the box in order to discover some new ways to attract members. As part of this goal, I would like for us to develop a consistent message when we tell someone what Rotary is. I learned at one session that for every ten people in the world, 4 have never heard of Rotary, 4 have heard of it in name only, and only 2 have some familiarity with Rotary. I have found in my own personal experiences with people that very few really know what Rotary is and does. In an effort to help our club members communicate the Rotary message effectively, I already have a date on our calendar for us to develop our own elevator speeches when it comes to telling people what Rotary is all about. I believe that if we continue to light up Rotary by attracting new members, we can ensure Rotary’s continued positive impact on the world.Another goal I have is that we continue our efforts with clean water, but particularly with regards to sanitation efforts. We take clean water for granted, but when one considers the serious health implications related to contaminated water, it is clear that work in the area of sanitation must continue. Thanks to our own Rotarian, Woody Alexander, for his work on the grant for the toilet blocks in the school in India. (Let’s give Woody a/another round of applause for his efforts.)The necessity of this was brought to light by one of the speakers at the conference, Jack Sim. In 2001, he founded the World Toilet Organization, and this year, the United Nations voted to make World Toilet Day on November 19. Of Course, as Sim pointed out, people don’t want to talk about toilets, and with good reason. Sim pointed out in his speech that when Rotarians do water and sanitation projects, the majority focus on clean water. But you can’t have clean water if sanitation issues are not improved. You can’t improve the quality of life and health if people are sick and dying from contaminated water because of lack of sanitation. According to Sim, you can achieve anything if you don’t mind who gets the credit. How true for Rotarians!Let’s light up Rotary by continuing to raise awareness in this area.A third goal I have this year is to promote our club by looking around us in our own community and honoring those volunteers who may not be as well-known as some of the pillars of our community. There are so many people who do good works on a daily basis without recognition, and I think awarding them with a Paul Harris fellow would provide them with an honor long overdue and well deserved. As such, I would like to use one of our meetings in the spring to recognize these volunteers. A committee to help uncover those individuals will soon be established. This will be another opportunity for us to spread a positive message about who we are and what we do and will definitely “light up Rotary” in our Richardson community. In closing, I would like to thank Bill Walker and the previous Board for all of its many accomplishments, both in our community and world-wide. I hope that I can continue that positive spirit as our new board exemplifies the theme of lighting up Rotary. I look forward to working with this strong team of dedicated Rotarians. Thank you very much for the honor to serve you as President of Richardson East Rotary.
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Read more...
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 Meet Rotary's new president -- Gary C.K. Huang
Gary C.K. Huang, a member of the Rotary Club of Taipei, Taiwan, is asking Rotary members to Light Up Rotary in 2014-15. In a profile for the July issue of The Rotarian magazine, Huang shows us the meaning behind the family of Rotary.
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The RERC installation banquet for the Rotary year 2014-2015 was a fun event at the Richardson Woman's Club.
Kathy Higgins, the RERC President for 2014-2015 and her officers got inducted according to practice by DG Ean Sullivan.
In the picture from left to right Past President Bill Walker, Incoming President Kathy Higgins, District Governor Elect Bill Dendy and District Governor Ean Sullivan.
For more pictures see the photo albums.
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 Top 10 things you should know about the new Rotary Foundation funding model
Ian Riseley, Rotary Foundation Trustee and chair of the Foundation Finance Committee, responds to some of the questions that have been raised about the Foundation's new funding model. The model was developed because our ability to continue “doing good in the world” depends heavily on the Foundation having long-term financial stability.
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Some of Rotary’s best work has been done in India, notably on Ending Polio and Water & Sanitation projects. About eight years ago, our Club worked with a District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to provide improved schoolrooms for the kids there. Our main contact was District Governor (DG) Purushothaman, who goes by Puru. Since that successful collaboration, we’ve been saving some Casino Night money each year in a bucket called Water Project and it has built up to $8,000 with some additional proceeds from this year’s successful evening. Ken Schwartz, our Foundation Treasurer, recently got an email from Puru to help on another project.
This project, glamorously entitled Girls School Toilet Block, would provide water and sanitation for girls schools in Puru’s District. That District has started an application for a Global Grant with Richardson East as its partner. Woody Alexander, as International Services Chair, is working with the Indian team along with Ken and David Loughridge, who has been to Puru’s home in India. We thought we could only do seven girls schools until DG Ean Sullivan and PDG Sandy Forster stepped up the District contribution to fund a total of twelve girls schools.
The Project is moving fast with work scheduled to start and end in 2014. After it is finished, Sandy says she will go inspect and bring some pictures of (vacant) toilets so Casino Night participants can see where there money is going….into toilet blocks!
Below is a picture of urinals built at another school.
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 Do you know who your Rotary buddy is? It is listed at the bottom of your eBulletin.
The purpose of the buddy system is to call and check on your buddy when they are not at Rotary.
Please ask somebody on the board if you have questions.
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8 tips for getting young people interest in your club
