The Coffee Corner series of online meetings continued last month with visits from Mike McGovern, Chair of Rotary International's Polio Plus Campaign; Mark Maloney, President of Rotary International and John Hewko, Rotary International General Secretary.
Mike (lower left) joined our event from his home on the coast of Maine. He has also served as Rotary Vice President in 2007-2008. He shared that "19 million people are walking on Earth today because of the efforts of eradicating polio." This is from a CDC study done recently. If not for the vaccine, 1.5 million people would have died. Come September of this year, Nigeria will not have had a case of wild polio virus in four years. This is an amazing accomplishment. Mike noted that all of the world's countries except one support the plan to eradicate polio. There have been rumors of soldiers posing as aide workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is unfortunate. However, on a positive note, because of the infrastructure in place, several years ago, the Ebola virus was contained.
Currently, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 38 countries are on hold as far as door-to-door visits. Planning is underway in endemic countries with Pakistan being the hot spot in the world. Rotary has been working on this since 1985. The vaccine is administered in two ways: oral and intramuscular. The trend is to move only to two doses via the injection (IPV) route. It should be noted that the vaccine actually helps with other diseases as well.
There was a conversation about the funding of the Campaign. Many countries support it with federal dollars. When asked if we should contact our federal representatives to encourage the continued support, PRIVP Dean Rohrs cautioned that we should keep this to a minimum as there are people on the Task Force that do this already. We don't want to overwhelm the electeds. Mike told us that former Washington State Secretary of State Ralph Munro is on the Task Force.
RI President Mark Maloney and his wife, Gay, joined us from the stage of the International Convention. We got a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for what is hoped to be the largest Rotary Convention ever. Mark shared that "Rotarians have responded (to the pandemic) and pivoted." He was talking about how Clubs have carried on with their meetings, service projects and supporting their communities.
On the matter of our members, Mark said that the "greatest service we can provide now is to engage our members." He added "Reach out to those members who aren't showing up to the meetings." And, "Get Rotarians of Clubs that aren't meeting to visit the Clubs that are meeting." He noted that "Clubs will probably change how meetings will operate post pandemic." There could be a combination of in-person and online formats. This will open up the infinite possibility of programmes and speakers from around the world. Further, "we can use these virtual tools to attract younger members."
He encouraged everyone to register for the Convention. There will be a House of Friendship and many breakout sessions that will continue into July [See related article below.] Someone wondered why the Convention is free. Mark wants everyone to attend. The underlying costs of putting on the Convention are coming from the costs of the Hawaii Convention.
Mark was asked if future Conventions will have a virtual component. He enthusiastically said that there would be. He was asked why there wasn't a session in the main Convention on diversity and inclusion, but, there is one in the Rotaract Convention. "Does this mean that younger Rotarians are more in tune with issues facing the world?" Mark answered that "Rotary is making great strides." He added that members of the RI Board will be going through diversity training.
Mark was asked if the 2021 Convention would still happen in Taipei because of the proximity to mainland China. He said that the chances were pretty good, at this time. However, the chances of anyone attending from the United States were slim.
Doug Wickers shared that Clubs are in anguish over suspending the Youth Exchange Program. Mark answered that the RI Board would be discussing in a few days.
DGE Carol Tichelman shared that she "has been impressed by the support of RI and the Directors for Districts and Clubs."
Bill Butler asked if there is a list of Clubs, worldwide, that are meeting virtually. [There is! See article below!]
Brian Wormald commented that he is "stunned at how nimble the organisation is at adapting. His Club (Port Moody) will be simulcasting meetings online once in-person meetings resume."
Governor Brad shared with President Mark that our District is 134% above goal for PolioPlus this year.
General Secretary John Hewko was the last Coffee Corner guest last month. He said that operationally, Rotary International is working at 100%. He created a Task force in January to look at how RI would operate during the pandemic should it come to nations looking at isolation and distancing protocols. By mid-March the RI Staff of 800 were working from home.
In a conversation about membership, John said that there's a PhD Statistician on staff who is analyzing 115 years of membership. Over that time, only one year saw a significant drop (5%) in membership. He asked "What is the product that Rotary offers?" "Experience" is our product he said. Meetings, social events, activities are all vital to the Rotary experience. But, how do we do that during the pandemic?
In 2019 150,000 people joined Rotary International. However, 150,000 people left Rotary. The analysis shows that most people that leave do so during the second or third year after joining. What can we do to get people past this time?
He added that a 1% drop in membership equates to a loss of USD $800,000 in revenue. Fortunately, RI has adequate reserve funds to weather the financial hits that will be caused by the pandemic.
In regards to the worldwide COVID-19 response, Rotary initially committed USD $3 million and then added $2 million. 320 grant proposals were received on dealing with the pandemic response.
While door-to-door polio vaccinations have been suspended, surveillance continues. He noted that because of the infrastructure in place for polio, this has helped with the pandemic response. Speaking of polio, the Gates Foundation 2:1 matching grant is still active. The deadline is 31 December 2020 and the goal is USD $50 million.
When asked about RI's statement on racism, John shared that further statements on action items will be forthcoming. He was asked about some strategies on diversification. RI's goal is to have 30% of the membership be women. We must recognize that we have a problem and target diverse people in our communities.
Someone asked about the status of Rotaractors as members. Currently, they are not Rotarians, though Rotaract Clubs are counted as Clubs of Rotary. Plus, Rotaractors can hold District level positions. Following up on the question posed to Mark Maloney regarding Youth Exchange, John said that the programme will start up again 1 Jan 2021 on a limited basis. Lastly, what about Peace Scholarships. John said that this is a work in progress and will be driven by local conditions.
He left us with several Calls to Action:
- Rotaract- only 5% of Rotaractors become Rotarians. We need to do better on bridging the gap.
- Rotary will come out of the current crisis stronger; again the key is getting members past the second and third years.
- Projects- how do we continue to do these?
- Fundraising- currently mostly in-person events; we will have to adapt for the near term
- Focus on Clubs that aren't meeting
"For Rotary, the sky is not falling. The world needs Rotary now more than ever. We were built for this."