By Rotary International

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards participants take part in an outdoor challenge course designed to teach leadership and problem-solving. Photo courtesy District 7780

By Sheila Rollins, governor of District 7780, parts of Maine and New Hampshire, USA

Changeover ceremonies, in which Rotary leaders transition to their new positions, are often formal events. I knew I wanted our district’s ceremony to be different. I wanted an event that would positively reflect the ideals of Rotary, that would be family-oriented and cost-conscious, and that would not take place in a hotel ballroom. I considered combining the district changeover with a service project, but I decided to create something even more unique: I planned the changeover to coincide with our annual Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA).

Our RYLA takes place each June at Camp Hinds, a Boy Scout camp on a lake in southern Maine, which has a full Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience (COPE) course. The course activities —including group initiative games, trust events, and low-ropes and high-ropes courses — are designed to teach participants leadership and problem-solving skills.

I also thought combining the changeover with RYLA would encourage more Rotary members to visit this amazing youth leadership program we run. Before long, a Changeover at Camp, complete …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

Jane Goodall joins the Rotarian Action Group for Endangered Species’ “Say No!” campaign to promote animal conservation. Photo courtesy of RAGES

By Philip Merritt, vice chair of the Rotarian Action Group for Endangered Species and a member of the Rotary Club of Mabalacat Clark, Pampanga, Philippines

About three years ago, Rotary member John Glassford sent a message to the Rotarians on the Internet (ROTI) Fellowship’s discussion list asking if anyone had any ideas on how we could help stop the poaching of elephants. I responded: “Why don’t we start a Rotarian Action Group (RAG)?”, and from that point forward, it was a long journey to finally get the Rotarian Action Group for Endangered Species (RAGES) recognized by the RI Board in January.

The action group’s purpose is to mobilize Rotary members, spouses, Rotaractors, Interactors, and Rotary alumni to take action to preserve and protect endangered species and the communities that depend on them. The group is working with the Rotary Club of Coolamon, New South Wales, Australia, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program on an education program to conserve elephants in the Oloimugi Maasai village in Kenya.

In a way, it is not surprising that this came to fruition, …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Evan Burrell, a member of the Rotary Club of Turramurra, New South Wales, Australia, and a regular contributor to this blog

It’s another new Rotary year, and with it come more decisions, responsibilities, and — more important — some inspiration.

A new Rotary year is a great time to make a fresh start. So how do you get off to a good start? That’s a question many Rotary members ask themselves when 1 July rolls around. Some dive straight in and make a big SPLASH! Others ease into it a little more gently.

If you can identify with some of these New Year’s resolutions, you should be good to go for 2015-16.

Keeping your club in shape

People often make New Year’s resolutions to live a better life. They might want to eat more healthfully or exercise more often to shed a few extra pounds.

You can make resolutions for your club for the same reason — to help it stay in tip-top shape for the coming year.

So ask yourself some important questions. Has your club grown? How did your fundraising efforts compare with those of the previous year? Is your club PR getting better? Are you meeting your club goals in Rotary …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Kiran Singh Sirah, a 2011-13 Rotary Peace Fellow and president of the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee, USA.

I recently had a chance to reconnect with my fellow Rotary Peace Fellows at a Rotary Peace Symposium in São Paulo. I was in the company of many talented friends and colleagues, including representatives from organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations, as well as global peace consultants and specialists in health, government, peace, security, and education. It was an incredible group of some 80 interdisciplinary peace advocates and Rotary members from all over the world.

Of course, I approached our conversations through the lens of story. I was there not just as a Rotary Peace Fellow but also as a representative of storytelling and the International Storytelling Center (ISC). (I even led a workshop on using storytelling as a tool in collaborations.) As I moved around the conference, talking with other Rotary members, I shared ISC’s vision of building a better world through storytelling. But as a folklorist, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to collect stories, too. What I found was that everyone had a story to tell about what originally inspired them to work for peace.

Cafe …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

By Rotary Voices staff

From the time he took office, RI President Gary C.K. Huang invited Rotary clubs and districts to hold a special Rotary Day during 2014-15 to introduce community members to Rotary. He also encouraged them to submit short videos of these events for a chance to receive special recognition. Congratulations to District 2430 (Turkey), whose video — included here — was the winning entry. Twelve other videos were chosen as finalists.

…read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog

By Rotary International

David Postic, left, and other members of the Rotaract and Interact Committee had fun posing for this photo in December at Rotary’s headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA. Rotary International/Alyce Henson

By David Postic, a member of the Rotaract and Interact Committee and a past president of the Rotaract Club of Norman, Oklahoma, USA

We all know and love The Four-Way Test. In many ways, it’s an improvement on the age-old golden rule that you should treat others the way you wish to be treated. It’s a guide for living, a tool for decision making, a moral code. While Rotary has been served well by these four questions, they may not be enough in an era in which Rotary is trying to appeal to more people and have a broader impact.

There is another crucial question that we as Rotary members must always ask ourselves, and it is this: Is it fun? This is the question I ask myself with everything I do. If it isn’t fun, I don’t do it. Some people may scoff at that mentality, but in my mind, life is too short to waste on things I don’t enjoy. There are a hundred other organizations I could be …read more

Source:: Rotary International Blog