Great News on Our Water Project

I have some very exciting news to share with you on our collaborative water project, that we announced at the District Conference.
As you know, at our Assembly , the Presidents decided to partner with Pure Water for the World to raise money to provide clean water to families in Honduras. Our goal was to raise $100,000 , so that over 1,500 families would have clean, safe drinking water.

In August, Hurricane Katrina hit. Rotarians and clubs responded incredibly. Almost $100,000 was collected, with $50,000 earmarked to help Rotarians in the affected areas.
As a result, the money collected for the water project fell short of our goal. More importantly, we heard feedback from clubs that they wanted to receive foundation recognition credit ( Paul Harris) for their contributions.

This project has been a priority throughout the year for both myself and the Pure Water committee, led by Bruce Whear and Heidi Sawyer. Together, district rotarians and clubs have donated almost $40,000 to this project. With the assistance of Foundation Chair Keith Harris and Treasurer Bob Wood, we will be asking the Rotary Foundation to support a Major Grant, the first in our District in many years, so that we can reach our goal of $100,000.

As Governor, I have District Designated funds, which are based on clubs Annual Program Fund contributions, at my disposal. I have committed $30,000 or these funds to this project. This represents the single largest commitment to any project this year. The total project will be over $100,000, if approved by the Rotary Foundation. This will allow us to meet our goals, provide clean water for almost 1,500 families and provide foundation credits to your club for donations.

Working with Pure Water, we expect that the first batch of filters will be installed very soon after grant approval. Since it will span more than one Rotary year, both Governor Elect Donna and Governor Nominee Julia have pledged their full support.

Congratulations to all Rotarians and clubs who contributed to make this vision a reality this year.

Dave

Mel Gibson Donates $1 million to Rotary Foundation.

Mel Gibson gives Rotary $1 million for Mexico disaster recovery
By Vanessa Glavinksas and Vukoni Lupa-LasagaRotary International News
11 April 2006

While scouting locations for his film Apocalypto, Mel Gibson came upon a near — apocalyptic situation in southern Mexico: the aftermath of Hurricane Stan. The storm ripped through the states of Chiapas and Veracruz in October, killing 15 people and displacing 370,000, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Gibson met with Mexican President Vicente Fox and told him he would donate US$1 million to help families rebuild, with one condition: He would make the donation through The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International.

The Hollywood actor and director learned of Rotary from several of his relatives who had traveled with members of the Rotary Club of Tarzana Encino, California, USA, on medical missions to Central America. Gibson and his wife, Robyn, were impressed that The Rotary foundation had matched their family members' donation to participate. "The key in their minds [to] the money coming [through] Rotary is that they felt it would be responsibly handled," says Clare Short, of the Tarzana Encino club.

Following the Gibsons' donation, the Foundation has set up a hurricane disaster recovery committee, along the lines of similar national committees appointed after the South Asia tsunami, to oversee rebuilding efforts. Foundation Trustee Chair Frank J. Devlyn heads the committee, and Past RI Director Francisco Creo is serving as an adviser. Rotary clubs closest to the affected areas will help the committee identify people most in need of assistance.

Devlyn is in talks with a nongovernmental organization specializing in low-cost housing about help with rebuilding efforts. Through a cosponsorship, the Gibsons' funds could be matched and homes for disaster survivors built at nearly half the normal cost.

"The Mexican government is giving the land and the services, such as electricity and drainage, in this unique [collaboration]," says Devlyn. The government will also provide a new school and clinic near the planned homes. To give them a true feeling of ownership, beneficiaries of the low-cost homes will be asked to contribute a small amount, about 10 percent, of the commercial value of the homes.

Rotary's Public Image - from the Boston Globe

As we all know, public image is one of the key emphases of the Rotary year.

For all the great work that Rotary does, in every community around the world, so few people know about what we really do. Several months ago, I was talking about Rotary at a business networking meeting at the Ritz Ballroom. I talked about our work with Polio, Water and Literacy and I got the usual blank look. As I looked outside, I saw a Rotary sign for the Boston club meeting. When I pointed to the sign, they all said " Oh Yeah...I've seen those signs before".

Building awareness of the of the great work that we do as Rotarians is one of the foundations of growing our membership and ultimately, Service Above Self. Last evening, my daughter's Mom called me and told me that she saw something about Rotary in the Globe. As luck would have it, yesterday was recycling day and the paper was already gone. After a few stops this morning, I was able to track one down...it was worth the effort.

Rarely does Rotary get mentioned in the Globe...well, congratulations to President Paul Swanfeldt and the Burlington Rotary Club for a great effort in building Rotary awareness.

http://www.boston.com/sports/other_sports/boxing/articles/2006/03/23/burlington_singing_its_fight_song/

Click on the link to view the article.

Best

Dave

Who's the Best Service Above Self Tour Update

Thanks to all of you who responded to my challenge!

Here are the new tour dates so far:

Saugus - March 31st - Community Art Show - Evening
Swampscott - April 1st - Youth Leadership Workshop - All Day
Gloucester - April 1st - Senior Supper - Evening
Rockport - April 22nd - Highway Clean Up
West Roxbury - May 1st - Challenger Baseball League
Lynn - May 3rd Special Games 8:30AM
Lawrence - May 4th - Teacher of the Year Awards - Evening
Stoneham - May 16th - Senior Lunch 12:00

These are the Tour Dates Completed

Burlington - February 26th Senior Citizens Dinner Dance
Boston - March 1st - Lunch Rosies Place

I am still waiting to hear from more clubs….Don't let me off easy!

If you have a project..please invite me. If you don’t, come up with a new one!

Hope to see you all soon!

Governor Dave

School Crossing Project in St Kitts

From President Paul Swanfeldt of the Burlington Rotary Club

The Rotary Club of Burlington and the Rotary Club of Liamuiga,St.Kitts applied for a matching grant from The Rotary Foundation for a project to provide an install crosswalks and school crossing signs at all thirty six schools on the island. The application denied by The Foundation because the amount of the project was not high enough to meet the new guidelines of a minimum of $15,000.00 on matching grants.

The Burlington club was committed to seeing the project through to the end. To raise the additional $4,627 we decided to run a raffle with the winner receiving a one week trip to St. Kitts for two including airfare. With this raffle we where able to raise the additional monies needed and on March 10, 2006 President Paul Swanfeldt of the Rotary Club of Burlington Presented a check in the amount of $8627.00 to Cameron Wilkinson President of the Rotary Club of Liamuiga.

Sometime in May or July of this year members of The Burlington Rotary Club will be going to St. Kitts to help the Liamuiga Rotarians install the signs and paint the crosswalks to complete the project.

Pictured from left to right are Mitch Gumbs assistant community service director Liamuiga Rotary Club, Patrick Welcome Chief education officer of St.Kitts, Russell Williams Community service director Liamuiga Rotary, Paul Swanfeldt President Burlington Rotary Club, Cameron Wilkinson President Liamuiga Rotary Club, Roy Swanfeldt Director Burlington Rotary Club.

Great Job Paul and the Burlington Rotarians!

Dave

Early Act - Making a Difference

We decided that we would offer tickets to the recent World Understanding and Peace Dinner to Interact, Rotaract and Early Act Students and their Advisors. My goal was to expose these children to the work of our foundation and create new ideas of how to better serve.

Today, I received this letter from the Early Act Chapter at the Phoenix School in Salem:

Thank you for inviting us to the World Peace Dinner. It was inspiring to talk to people who were also for peace....The best part of the dinner was listening to the presentation about ( microcredit) banks being built around the world. We like the idea because...it gives the families the money to do something they are interested in and to raise their own money. ...This inspired us to start our own bank . The goal of EarlyAct this year is to work more closely with Rotary and this might be a great opportunity to work together.

The letter was signed by the President and Vice President of the EarlyAct club.

Thank you, Phoenix School EarlyAct club for making my day!

Dave

Our Newest Interact Club - Manchester Essex!

Along with Interact Chair Kevin McKelvey, I am so pleased to announce our newest Interact Club - Manchester Essex!

Paul Sullivan, President and Debbie Marcus, were instrumental in getting this new club off the ground so quickly. To make sure that the club will be successful, four Rotarians have agreed to be be advisors to the club: PP Chris Costello, Denise Gluckert, Dave Peterson, and Debbie.

The kickoff was a great event, where Rotarians shared information about Interact, Rotary, Leadership and the Future. According to Debbie, their enthusiasm is high, and they are a great group!

They have started with almost 30 members and their officers are: President: Eric Aldrich, Vice President: Ethan Tieger, Secretary: Naomi Delphin, Treasurer: Jordan Evans, Directors at Large: Max Baun, Caroline Round. The club also has the following Committee Chairs which also sit on the Board: School Service, Community Service, Club Service, and International Service.

The advisors have made sure that they hit the ground running. They recently participated in the club's Chocolate and Jazz Concert event on 3/3/06 by helping with set-up , selling tickets, selling refreshments at intermission (as an Interact fundraiser), and by providing tours of the M-E World Peace & Understanding Library Collection in the high school during the pre-concert Chocolate Tasting.

Next, their first independent service project is an ambitious one. They are going to perform a School Service project - painting the high school gym. Truly, it needs it! They are quite excited about doing this, and it should be just the kind of high visibility & fun project to raise their profile in the high school.

If your club doesn't have an Interact Club consider starting one today. Drop an e mail to Interact Chair Kevin McKelvey (Kevin.B.McKelvey AT usace.army.mil ) He will be more than happy to help out!

Dave

Who's The Best?

One of the goals that our club Presidents set for themselves , consistent with our theme and motto for this year of Service Above Self, was to have 12 community service projects over this year, or an average of one per month.

After finishing my club visits in January, I decided to spend my remaining time as Governor months participating in 48 Service Projects, one for every club, between now and the end of June.

I am asking every Rotarian to please invite me to help out and participate. Based on the projects that I attend, I will be presenting a special award for the Best Service Project at our Conference and Celebration at the Cape Codder on May 19 - 21. To invite me, please send an e mail to rotary at candeos.com ( I spelled out the e mail to fool spammers replace "at" with the @ sign)

As I share in these clubs spirit of service, I'll share these projects with you:

Burlington - years, Burlington has held a Senior Citizens Dinner Dance. The club gathers over 200 area seniors and provides them a full turkey dinner, prepared by club members, with all of the fixings , ( including Roy's famous pickled beets). Every club member helps out with either setting up, greeting the guests, serving, dancing, or cleaning up. The Burlington High Interact club, as well as children of several of the Rotarians also pitch in. Congratulations Burlington on a great project.





Boston - Last week, Boston Rotarians went to Rosie's Place to cook and service lunch. Rosie’s Place, a sanctuary for poor and homeless women, offers both emergency and long-term assistance to women who have nowhere else to turn. Established in 1974, Rosie’s Place is committed to welcoming each guest with respect and unconditional love. We served soup, tuna casserole and vegetables and saw a lot of smiles and happy faces on a very cold day.



Congratulations to Boston and Burlington for leading the way. I'm looking forward to joining every one of the 46 remaining clubs and sharing their spirit of Service Above Self.