Over The Transom # 2

Over the Transom #2

Greetings and Salutations from your road weary, but thoroughly pumped, District Governor. District 6910 covers about 24,000 square miles in the northern third of Georgia and I am getting to see a lot of it. Don’t feel sorry for me though, the scenery is beautiful and the reception that I receive at each and every club I visit is nothing short of amazing. If you don’t take the opportunity to visit other clubs from time to time you are missing out on a real blessing. The 33,000 clubs world-wide each have their own DNA and if you ever find two alike, check your calendar because you must have already been there.

There are many things that stand out about our clubs, but the most consistent thing is the tremendous impact that you have in your communities. Here again there is no cookie cutter example of what a Rotary club’s impact is in its own area. Some of the smallest clubs have the same types of impacts in their smaller communities that huge clubs have in theirs. No city or town that I have visited would be the same if the Rotary Club was not there to help make it a better place. My hat is off to all of you, keep up the good work and keep running that great race of life.

I am really gratified by the consistent positive response I am getting to Rotary Family Vacation. All District Conferences are exciting, but this one is going to be special.

This second issue of Rotations is packed with information and interesting reading from PDG (6920) Dick Hyer’s simple but effective Literacy Program in conjunction with UGA, to our Rotary Peace Scholar guest at next years Rotary Family Vacation, and important news you need about key training events, CART, the Governor’s Citation and much more. Take a few minutes with your 2^nd cup of coffee and give it a read. After today you will find it easily displayed on the world’s best District Website: http://www.rotarydistrict6910.org/ (Thanks & Kudos to Leo Lawrenson!).

Let’s Go Do Rotary,

Don Martin

District Governor, 2019-2020

Rotary -UGA Literacy Project

Rotary-UGA Literacy Pilot Project

The University of Georgia and Rotary District 6910 are coordinating a pilot project to provide books for elementary and secondary students. The activities are being coordinated by Richard E Hyer who is a Rotary 6920 PDG and UGA graduate. Hyer currently serves on the UGA College of Education Alumni Board. He has spearheaded several literacy projects with Mercer University in Macon, the National Accreditation Council for agencies serving the visually handicapped,and the Council of Executives serving residential schools for the disabled.
The purpose of the project is to honor Rotary club program presenters with a book donated in their honor to libraries and schools throughout District 6910. If successful, the program will be extended to districts 6900 and 6920 which will cover the state. Each volume will display a book plate with the speakers name, date of presentation, and indicate Rotary and the UGA College of Education as sponsors. Initially the books will be presented by club presidents to speakers at weekly meetings and then given to Georgia PINES library or local schools. The 2019-20 Rotary year could yield as many as 3500 volumes, later years could provide over 10,000 books annually to Georgia students. Coming years could expand reading materials across subject lines or pleasure reading for educationally challenged students or Chapter l funded classrooms. It is also hoped that the presentations will cause collaboration between business leaders and educators throughout Georgia. Creating taxpayers through literacy will be a central theme.
Please encourage your club leadership to participate and supplement educational opportunities for elementary and secondary learners. Contact Richard E. Hyer at Richardhyer44@gmail.com or 478.361.2772 for further information. Club Presidents...one way to make your club and this project successful is to appoint a member coordinator for the year as an avenue of service leader. Literate students make better employees, taxpayers, and enhance America.

Coins for Alzheimer's Research - CART

What is CART?

CART is Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, an organization founded by Rotarians and operated by Rotarians. One hundred percent (100%) of donated funds go to cutting edge Alzheimer’s disease research. As of May 2018, the CART Fund has awarded $8.2 million dollars in 50 grants to recognized US research institutions.

The CART Fund is dedicated to raising funds to provide “seed” money for cutting edge, high impact research in hopes of finding a cure/prevention for Alzheimer’s disease.

The goal of the Fund is to encourage exploratory and developmental AD research projects within the United States. This is accomplished by providing financial support for the early and conceptual plans of those projects that may not yet be supported by extensive preliminary data but have the potential to substantially advance biomedical research. These projects should be distinct from those designed to increase knowledge in a well-established area unless they intend to extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications.

Starting in one SC Rotary club and by one Rotarian (Roger Ackerman) in district 7770 in 1995, CART has been adopted to date by 22 Rotary districts in the United States. Assistance from the American Federation of Aging Research was invaluable in validating CART as a legitimate funding source for Alzheimer’s research.

The CART Fund Board of Directors is made up of representatives from the sponsoring Rotary Districts, where both the district governor nominee and the district CART Chair are voting members. The Executive committee, chaired by the CART Board president, provides the leadership for the organization.

CART is currently supported by Rotarians in Rotary Districts: 6900, 6910, 6920, 6930, 6940, 6960, 6970, 6980, 6990, 7570, 7670, 7680, 7690, 7710, 7720, 7730, 7750 and 7770 within the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Florida. Individual Rotary clubs across North America have chosen to support The CART Fund as a one-time project as well as an ongoing project.

CART is a 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID # is 31-1466051. For information on how your Rotary Club or you as an individual can join the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, please contact the District 6910 CART Chair, Gene Windham, at ghwindham@windstream.net or 706/781-8176.

Credits: CART Website (www.cartfund.org)

10 Million Meal Challenge

Tips on Training

ROTARY DISTRICT 6910 TRAINING TIPS

AUGUST 2019 NEWSLETTER

Now that the new Rotary Year has started, here are a few TRAINING TIPS to help continue to Build Your Team!

PROVIDING CONTINUING EDUCATION?

Make sure your club members have the tools, resources, and information they

need to achieve the goals of your club and of Rotary. A designated club trainer can help members with topics including new member orientation, youth protection, and leadership development. Have your club trainer work closely with club and district leaders to develop programs and activities that are relevant and

informative! Members can take courses in the Learning Center to improve their Rotary knowledge. Encourage new and long-time members to explore the courses available for all members.

TIP: Have a new member provide a “Rotary Minute” on a topic of the month!

KEEPING MEMBERS MOTIVATED

Common motivators for members include:

• Belief that goals will benefit their community and club

• Provide Social opportunities to connect with other volunteers

• Create career networking opportunities

• Report milestones showing progress

• Recognition members for their efforts

Tip: Be Energetic and Enthusiastic in recognition of club accomplishments!

TRAINING DATES

• RLI – Calhoun, GA on Saturday, October 5, 2019
• President-elects Training Seminar (PETS) - February 28-March 2, 2020 at the Atlanta Airport Renaissance Hotel
• RLI – Athens, GA on Saturday, March 28, 2020
• District Assembly – Saturday, May 16, 2020 at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, GA

Governor's Citation and Points

Governor’s Citation and Points 2019-20

The Governor’s Citation and Points is not a top down mandated set of requirements for clubs. It is designed to provide assistance to club presidents to successfully lead effective clubs. The points system is a tool that guides clubs in a number of areas of club business that will enhance the club’s effectiveness during the Rotary Year. Yes, there are bronze, silver and gold awards presented at the District Conference to those clubs that accomplish the most points, but each club’s president and other leaders need to study the points spreadsheet and determine what recommendations they want to accomplish.

It is important to get started early in the Rotary Year. In past years, when the Points deadline approached, many clubs had difficulty going back through the Rotary Year in their minds to recapture their club’s activities and not knowing what points they achieved. In fact, many clubs found it too hard to know what points they achieved and decided not to make a submission at all. This past year, too many clubs did not submit because they waited too long!

Here are some tips to get started early and to update the Points Spreadsheet throughout the Rotary Year:

• Your Club Trainer is a good member to update the club points throughout the year. Besides reminding club members of upcoming District and RLI training dates and recruiting appropriate members to attend these trainings, the Club Trainer can be the point person to update club points.

• Your President Elect is another good person to keep track of activities and update club points. This would provide great knowledge of the points system for their upcoming year as President. And because, there are several points available in the last half of the President Elect’s Rotary Year for club members attending PETS and District Assembly, the President Elect is now on the clock for points available for their year as President prior to the start of their year as President.

• Since the Governor’s Citation and Points is divided up into categories that represent activities within your club committees, your Committee Chairs are another good option to update the club points within their committee activities. This also provides a good built in agenda for reports from each Committee Chair for each of your monthly Board Meetings.

The Governor’s Citation and Points can be found at www.rotarydistrict6910.org. Click on the AG and President’s tab at the top and scroll down to 2019-20 Club Points/Objectives Worksheet. And remember, before sending in the final submission, please be sure to read the directions at the top and make sure that your club’s name is entered at the top so we will know which submission belongs to what club.

Here’s hoping your club’s Rotary Year is effective and successful!

Why is Education So Important?

(This Article is from a Blog Post by My Linh Vo who is a Rotary Peace Scholar and will be our guest for the entire Rotary Family Vacation in April.)

A few weeks ago, I went to a barbershop. The girl who washed my hair is just 14 years old. She is the oldest one in the family of five children. Her father is a house painter and her mother is a housewife. I asked if the barber girl wanted to go back to school so that I could find a way to help. She shook her head. She was happy with the job. She could make money to support her family. Going to school would not help her at the moment. And of course, I could not force someone to go to school if he or she did not want to.

Twenty years ago, I was just a normal girl like her. My dream at that time was just as simple as any woman in my village. I wanted to grow up, get a husband then settle down.

Unfortunately, life did not wait for me to grow up. When I was 6, my family went bankrupt, my father went from the richest man in the village to a bomb sawyer, which almost killed him in a bomb accident. Later, he immigrated to the South to start a new life. He took my mother, my older brother and my younger sister with him, but not me. I was considered the smartest kid in the family and there was no future for me in the new area which did not even have a primary school.

My relatives looked after me. They were poor though and taking me into their families was like taking a bag of weed which just caused them trouble. I wanted to get out of that situation and I knew that the only way was through education. Over the years, I was always the best student in the school in my hometown.

When I was 14, I moved to the South to reunite with my family. I soon found out that my parents were not in a good relationship. I suffered from depression. I stopped talking to my father as I hated the way he treated my mother. I hated my mother too because she became a coward and depended so much on my father. I asked my teacher to help me settle in a dorm, where I could be away from my parents to focus on my study. School became my friend, my home, and my hiding place.

When I graduated from college and got a good job, I returned home and told my mother that I could take responsibility for her if she wanted to divorce. She said no. I then decided to quit my job to travel the world, to enjoy a life that I had never experienced. I was moved to do things that women in my country didn’t normally do. Travel gave me a chance to see many countries, learn about different cultures, encounter many types of people and to ultimately understand the world that I was living in.

The first time I applied for this fellowship, I failed. I had not known why I had wanted to go back to college until one day I sat among my backpacker fellows hearing them talking about boy and girl stuff and I questioned myself: “Is that all about life?”. No, I did not want to live a life that is boring. I did not want to live a life that is all crazy either. I wanted to live a life that is meaningful so that other young people can look up on me and know how to change theirs. That was when I decided to apply for the scholarship again. And now I want to express my sincere thanks to Rotary. Thank you for failing me the first time to teach me the lesson of being persistent and helping me find my true passion. Thank you for accepting me the second time to make me believe that hard work always pays off in the end. Especially thanks to Lyn Kenny and David Warren, the two amazing Rotarians who never gave up on me during the last two years. And thank you to my great mentor — Roger for guiding me and having been together with me through thick and thin.

During my last Tet holiday, I traveled back to my hometown to visit my relatives. My aunt was making food to serve my uncle and his friends. I was the only woman who was invited to sit at the table with the men. My uncle was proud of me, and he wanted to introduce me to others. He did not know for sure what I am going to study. But he knew about America, the country he fought against in the past and now the country he wishes to live in.

I put my cup of beer down, walked to the kitchen and told my aunt to stop making food to come and join us. She said that she did not drink, she did not know what to say with other men, so she refused to join. She did not realize that I did not need her to drink or talk. All I needed from her was to get out of the kitchen, to prove that women do not belong to it, to tell men that women also have the right to sit at the same table with them.

Some said that I should stop studying and start doing my own business because schools do not help much. But blaming schools for not teaching you well is just like blaming life for not being easy. I do not think life should be easy. In contrast, life should give you lemons to teach you how to fight the good fight to truly live in it. And therefore, it is not school’s job to make me successful. It is my job to take the advantage of what school gives me to create my own opportunities. And I know that I am going to prove it during the next two years at Duke University.

Jasper Rotary Appreciates Pickens County School System Employees

Short Takes #2

Short Takes

New Rotary Alumni Chair – We are pleased to announce that GRSP Alumnus, long time Rotary Club of Canton Honorary Rotarian, and brand spanking new Rotarian, Francisco Lozano has accepted the position as District Rotary Alumni Chair. We can expect a quantum leap in our understanding of and communication with the Alumni in our District.

New Rotaract Club – The Rotary Club of Dawson County has launched a brand-new community based Rotaract Club -400N ROTARACT. They are having a meeting Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at the Mellow Mushroom in Cumming. SEND PROSPECTS. Flyer at this link.

New Rotary Means Business Fellowship – The new Rotary Means Business – Northeast Georgia kicks off Monday Night, August 19, 2019, at 6:00 PM at the Brenau Incubator in Gainesville. Flyer at this link.

Leap Into Membership – That intrepid duo of Scott Yochum and Pepper Pettit – now your Zone Assistant Rotary Coordinators – have announced a Zone 34 wide initiative to recruit members on February 29^th next year. Stay Tuned for more details.

District Grant Funding – Great news. The Rotary Foundation has approved the District proposed distribution of over $145,000 of the donations that YOU made to The Rotary Foundation in 2016-2017. The Foundation Team did a great job in training club officers and processing the grant requests for a record amount of Grant Funding. Expect to hear from the Grant Team in the next few days.

District Awards – I know its early, but it is never too early to start thinking about whom your club will nominate for the District’s top club nominated awards: The Robert S. Stubbs II “Guardian of Ethics Award” and the W. Lee Arrendale Award for Vocational Excellence. Every club should have someone nominated for these distinguished annual awards.

Rotary International Conference – June 6-10, 2020 in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii. About 24 Rotarians from 6910 have registered so far. Come on, you know you want to go. Here is the link to Register: https://www.riconvention.org/en/honolulu/register

What Do You Want to Read About in Rotations? If there is a subject that you would like to see covered in Rotations, please drop a note to don@therotarymartins.com