I had the opportunity in mid-May to attend a meeting of District 5790, hosted by the Rotary Club of Cross Timbers in which RI President Mark Maloney shared how Rotary is adapting during the current worldwide pandemic. He stressed, that we should reach out to those members that we haven't seen at our online meetings. President Maloney (above) was excited to share more about the Virtual International Convention (see related article) and when asked, he said that the pandemic will set back our PolioPlus program, but, ground team are ready to go once the okay is given. He also mentioned an initiative called Rotary Connect which was rolled out in Chicago and Houston. We will hear more about this when he visits with our District on 6 June. District 5790 Governor Peter Scott shared with Mark how a Global Grant was completed in a record-setting twelve days from start to finish in the amount of USD $155,000 to help in COVID-19 relief efforts!
The next day, I attended a joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of Orange Park and Flagler County, FL. PRIP Barry Rassin was the featured speaker of this meeting, He shared how the Bahamas are still dealing with the after affects of Hurricane Dorian-a Category 5 super storm of late August-early September that absolutely devastated the island nation. It is the worst natural disaster in the country's history. And, now the pandemic has affected the rebuilding of the Bahamas. The country is quarantined from the rest of the world and each island is quarantined from each other, so supply systems are diminished. Barry said that "when the US gets a cold, the Bahamas get pneumonia." The pandemic has been hard, to say the least, on Bahamians. Lockdowns are in affect each weekend. There have been 96 COVID cases with eleven deaths and there aren't any test kits in country.
Barry talked about a reverse osmosis water system that was installed in Freeport as part of a Rotary sponsored project about a decade ago to be used specifically in times of disasters. This has proved to be very beneficial. A much needed similar system is being installed in Abaco that will provide 10,000 gallons of water each day. In country, Rotary has arranged for $200,000 designated to help Rotarians rebuild their own homes.
All in-person RI Board and Board Committee Meetings have been cancelled. The funds as a result of the cost savings have been transferred to grant funding. $4.3 million out of the disaster fund has gone towards COVID relief. The telethon that was held in early May raised USD $507,000 in one hour. Barry also shared that efforts of the new relationship with Toastmasters should be announced soon. Lastly he told us that RI has started a task force on what RI should do differently in the future as a result of the pandemic.
It was a wonderful opportunity to hear both of these leaders of Rotary talk about how our organization has adapted and evolved. Another example of how Rotarians are People of Action.