Denim & Diamonds

Dust off your Cowboy Boots: Denim & Diamonds is coming November 7

Howdy partners, we are going to have a hot time at the Rotary Foundation Gala on Saturday, November 7 at the Escondido Center for the Arts.  This year’s Gala will have a Country/Western Theme—so you can dress it up or dress it down…but come to have fun!  Tickets are $70 which includes a $25  donation to PolioPlus--this will help your Club reach its PolioPlus goal for the Gates Challenge Grant  this year.  You can register online: http://www.rotary5340.org/registration/celebration0911.html   Let’s kick up our heels and have some REAL fun and help Stomp out Polio!!

 

LEAD Camp “Leads the Way” at Camp Palomar

 

 

District 5340 held its Inaugural LEAD (Leadership, Ethics and Determination) at Camp Palomar (near the Palomar Observatory) the last weekend of September.  Eighty-nine 8^th grade students from all over the District, including 8 students from the Imperial Valley, enjoyed an amazing weekend of activities including workshops in Goal Setting, Ethics discussions based on the 4 Way Test, and a Nature Walk with an area naturalist.  Plenary Sessions included group activities like “Captain Calling” and Rotary Olympics.  A dedicated staff led by Paul Pierce, Encinitas Rotary Club, along with facilitators from many clubs throughout the district made the weekend memorable for these students.  They are now looking forward to joining Interact Clubs when they get to high school and being selected for RYLA in their junior year of high schools.  A HUGE thanks to the folks who made this camp a remarkable experience for these students.

 

Great New Beginnings in October:  Regional Council Meetings

 

Following survey results we received from previous Club Presidents, your District leadership has instituted a whole new way of doing District Council meetings—they are now called Regional Council meetings and five are scheduled around the District in October.  You can register online and attend as many as you are interested in.

• Tuesday, October 5—North County Coastal—Hilton Garden Inn--SOLD OUT. The Clubs of the North County will host the local mayors and the Commandant of Camp Pendleton for a Panel Discussion on how Rotary can play a role in their communities. 
• Wednesday, October 6—East County—Cuyamaca College Water Conservation Garden—Registration closed
• Thursday, October 15—Metro Region—Tom Ham’s Lighthouse—Registration open.  Hear singer/comedian Glen Erath entertain Rotarians—not to be missed—Registration  open
• Saturday, October 24—North County Inland Region—Brunch at the Elk’s Lodge in Escondido—Hear Dr. Richard Coutts speak on Polio Eradication—Registration  open
• Wednesday, October 28—South Bay Region—Lunch at the Hotel del Coronado—Hear former Assembly member Steve Peace speak.  Registration open.

 

World Polio Day will be observed on October 24

Through Rotary International, the fight against this crippling disease has been largely volunteer-driven. Never before has the influence of the private sector played such a critical role in a global public health effort.   “When Rotary International launched PolioPlus in 1985, more than 125 countries were still polio endemic, and at least a thousand children were paralyzed every day,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at Rotary’s 2009 Convention. 

“Since then, [Rotary has] led the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, side by side with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. More than two billion children have been immunized. More than five million children who otherwise would have been paralyzed are walking. There are now only four countries that are still polio endemic. Rotary's vision of a polio-free world is in sharp focus.”

Overall, great progress has been made in the effort to end polio. In the two decades since Rotary and its global partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, cases worldwide have decreased by 99 percent. The disease remains endemic in just four countries -- Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- although other countries remain at risk for imported cases.

In the coming months, hundreds of Rotary club members from the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and Korea will join thousands of their fellow Rotary members and millions of other volunteers and health workers to immunize children against polio in India, as well as Nigeria and several other African nations.  If you are interested in joining a National Immunization Day (NID) Team going to West Africa in November, contact Howard Tours , a Rotary owned tour company: (http://www.howardtours.net/west_africa_project_fair_and_nid1.htm)   If you are interested in going to India in February 2010 with PDG Elias Thomas from Maine, you may contact him at: ethomas@metrocast.net

 

New Rotary Clubs in the making

• The North County New Generations Club is now meeting weekly on Tuesday evenings at 5:30 PM at 333 Pacific in Oceanside.  Their food costs are only $10. and they are already involved in doing service projects monthly.  Contact Dominic Myers, their President, for more information (dominic.myers@lpl.com)
• Mission Valley Evening Rotary Club will hold its first organizational meeting on Wednesday, October 28, at 5:30 PM at the All American Grill in Hazard Center (formerly Trophys).  For more information contact AG Bob James, Jr. (bobjamesjr@mac.com)

 

Volunteer Opportunities will be Available at the International Assembly in January

International Festival Night Talent Show Act 2009

 

• Host Hospitality is Alive and Well and Will Occur on Sunday, January 17, 2010.  Due to a change in training schedules for District Governor-Elects this coming year, Host Hospitality for incoming District Governor-Elects and their spouses/partners will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2010 in the afternoon.  District Administrator Dale Bailey can give you more information and connect you with DGEs for your Club to entertain.
• Airport Greeters will be needed to welcome our visitors from all over the Rotary World to San Diego for the International Assembly.  PDG Jim O’Meara will head up these efforts again and will put a sign up list on the website for volunteer sign ups in the coming months.
• Volunteers will be invited to the Volunteer Reception on the evening of Friday, January 22.  You will meet RI President-Elect Ray Klinginsmith and get to see the fabulous International Talent Festival featuring our own DGE Dave Breeding and his fellow DGEs from the West Coast—so don’t miss “Dave & the Generators”—volunteer to be part of International Assembly.

 

RI President John Kenny has given us NEW Membership Goals:

 

Clubs can earn a special certificate signed by RI President John Kenny by meeting his membership goals for 2009-10. The top 10 clubs and top 10 districts, as determined by RI, will also be acknowledged onstage at the 2010 convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada. 

To meet Kenny's membership goals, clubs need to achieve the following:

• A minimum net increase of one member
• A minimum retention rate of 80 percent and two of the items below:
• Increased percentage of qualified women
• Increased percentage of qualified younger professionals (under age 50)
• Induction of at least one RI or Rotary Foundation program alumna/alumnus
• Increased diversity of membership (e.g., classification, gender, age, ethnicity) 

Achievement of club goals will be certified by the district governor. Kenny's goals for districts are:

• A minimum net increase of one member in each existing club
• A minimum retention rate of 80 percent in each existing club
• A minimum of one or two new clubs organized

Clubs should submit their results to their district governor by May 1, 2010.  All clubs and districts that reach these membership goals will receive a certificate signed by Kenny. From this pool, RI will determine the top 10 clubs and top 10 districts (not more than one club or one district per zone) showing the highest percentage net increase in membership, to be acknowledged onstage at the Montréal convention.  

What to do with the Speaker who wants to sell something or promote their organization at your meeting? (From the Rotary Club of Watsonville, CA)

We have a few general rules we ask speakers to observe. In extending an invitation, we expect that our speakers will speak to topics of general interest in order to inform the public as represented in our club, and not blatantly promote specific products
or solicit the club for funds. It is permissible to put printed informational materials out at the head table and discreetly refer to them in the talk. If the speaker has written a book, it is permissible to bring copies for sale and make one brief and discreet reference to their presence near the end of the talk.  If they are selling a book, you might ask for half of the proceeds to go to the Rotary Foundation.

For representatives of volunteer or nonprofit groups, it is permissible to make a brief general appeal to club members as individuals, along the lines of, “If any of you would like to know more about us or get involved in what we do, please come up and talk with me after the meeting.”