May 13th, Past District Governor Jim Hunt shared an update on the District’s Initiative Fast for Hope program. It is all about empowering a community to do more for itself. It is not a quick fix; it is a sustainable effort.
Service Above Self
e-Club meetings Wednesdays at noon and Thursdays at 7 pm.
JOIN our e-Club Meetings on Zoom
JOIN our e-Club Meetings on Zoom
161 13th Ave SW
Rochester, MN 55902
United States of America
Rochester, MN 55902
United States of America
Phone:
(507) 271-0010
District Site
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Bulletins
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Venue Map
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Doug Herdahl
GRR President 2019-2020
Hello Rotarians and friends.
Pop in for our e-Club Zoom meeting on May 20th at noon.
Program: How are schools helping the students during the pandemic? Two educators will share their experiences of how their school is operating during this difficult time.
Presenters: Jody Peterson, Riverside Family Liaison and Melissa Mogen, Assistant principal Alternative Learning Center High School
There will be time for questions. It will be great to see members and guests. All are welcomed.
Use this link to join us for all of our e-Club meetings.
Thursday's e-Club Zoom at 7 pm meeting will be a relaxed time to get to know other Rotarians. A recorded presentation of Wednesday's meeting topic will be shown.
For recordings of our past e-Club Rotary Meetings, please visit our YouTube page here.
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DISTRICT 5960’S SHARK TANK LIVE...VIRTUALLY!
MAY 20 AT 4:00 PM via ZOOM
Click here to register
Originally scheduled as a breakout session at our District Conference of Clubs, we are moving forward with our District’s first-ever version of Shark Tank for Rotary Foundation Grants!
What the heck are we talking about? We asked clubs that hadn’t sponsored a grant in at least three years to come forward with proposals…and three clubs did! These clubs will present their grant proposals to “sharks” from four clubs who are willing to provide contributions as partners for their grants, and will announce their contributions before the end of Shark Tank Live…Virtually.
Come join the fun as we highlight some great projects being done by our clubs, reveal how the grant process works, and showcase the value of The Rotary Foundation!
CLICK HERE to reserve your spot in the audience today!
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The Rotary Holiday Classic Steering Team, consisting of Rotarians from all 3 Rochester clubs and several community members, will begin meeting this Monday, May 18, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm on Zoom. If you are interested in serving on this team, which plans and oversees the Rotary Holiday Classic basketball showcase, please reply to this email to receive an invitation for the meeting. The Classic will take place this year on December 29 & 30. Additional team meetings will take place 11:30 am - 12:30 pm on the following dates:
- June 22
- July 27
- August 24
- September 28
- October 26
- November 16
Please contact Elizabeth Karsell at romnrotary@gmail.com for more information and to receive the meeting details and invite.
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Hello from your Rotary District 5960 Ethics Team!
We invite all club members interested in stimulating discussions of the Four-Way Test within their clubs and elevating it to the community level to Zoom-in, Tuesday, May 19, at 7 pm. We see this as a time to share what clubs are doing as it relates to the Four-Way Test and a time to consider District activities that will help clubs elevate their use of the Four-Way Test, The session will last no more than an hour. The invitation is below.
We invite all club members interested in stimulating discussions of the Four-Way Test within their clubs and elevating it to the community level to Zoom-in, Tuesday, May 19, at 7 pm. We see this as a time to share what clubs are doing as it relates to the Four-Way Test and a time to consider District activities that will help clubs elevate their use of the Four-Way Test, The session will last no more than an hour. The invitation is below.
Topic: Ethics Team
Time: May 19, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 890 0866 4350
Password: 009742
Dial by your location (312) 626-6799
Meeting ID: 890 0866 4350
Password: 009742
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If you have comments or questions, please contact me via phone or text at 507-271-0010 or dougherdahl@gmail.com.
This is a message from Dun Supalla, fellow Rotarian in Rochester.
I've reached out to several organizations (School District, United Way, Family Service, etc.) regarding volunteer opportunities. Here's the latest from Brooke at Family Services. If any of our club members looking for opportunities might want to check out the United Way site. Here is the response:
- Through United Way's Get Connected site at https://www.uwolmsted.org/211, we have built a private (organization only) inter-agency exchange program to ensure the staffing needs of those organizations providing essential services in the community can continue to be met. Organizations can post either their needs or their willingness to redeploy staff to help at organizations with needs. United Way is also revamping the public-facing page to ensure volunteers get connected to the most urgent needs. We continue to discuss this in more detail and I can give Rotary a more concrete direction about how to best help. There will be many ways!
Brooke, Nonprofit Consortium Strategist
I hope everyone & their families are safe & healthy.Here’s details Steph shared for a potential Honkers Fundraiser. I was looking for details on this before all this virus stuff started, and now that we’re in the middle of this, the timing to do this event for August might be good as people will want to get out and live “normal” lives again, especially baseball fans which are going to get a late start to the season.We reserved the 8th as a Rotary date. We would earn 50% of all 500 tickets we sell, plus provides a PR opportunity for us.
Here are the details of the Honkers Fundraiser:
- Saturday August 8th – 6:05pm
- Vs. Waterloo Bucks
- Fireworks Game
- 500 tickets to sell
- $10/ticket includes hot dog, soda and entrance to the game
- Possible profit $2500
Action Items:
- When/how/where to sell tickets
- GRR Table at the game
- First Pitch Representative
- Radio Broadcast opportunity
- Nation Anthem performer (if we want)
What are your ideas?
The three Rochester Rotary Clubs do a fantastic job of collaborating on big projects. An example is the Ethics Day Seminar held in November at Cascade Meadows.
You heard a verbal report after the event. Now you can see the final update. It is a wonderful program with good results. After you view the Powerpoint on the next page, you may want to know how to help.
Easy : Volunteer for the next Ethics Day. We will need table hosts, panelists
Donate. The costs include, consultant, location, food, scholarships
Working with Rotary to Eradicate Polio
4 Questions with Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
1. What made you decide to work on polio eradication?
In 1952, three years before I was born, the U.S. experienced one of the worst polio epidemics in its history. Thousands died and even more were paralyzed. I was born a few months after the first polio vaccine became available. Growing up, I had no idea how lucky I was.
Later in life through the work of our foundation, I began to see firsthand the impact that polio was having on kids. The U.S. had seen its last case of polio in 1979 thanks to polio vaccines, but even 25 years later in 2004, more than 1,000 children in Asia and Africa were paralyzed by polio simply because of where they were born.
Before our foundation joined the fight to end polio in 2007, I had spent months talking to experts and analyzing the history of eradication. While global progress against polio had stalled, I believed that eradication was possible because the world had done it before, with smallpox in 1980.
Rotary played an important role in inspiring the foundation to become involved in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, an incredible global partnership committed to fighting the disease. We knew that Rotarians would be passionate, committed allies in the push for eradication.
Polio eradication in Pakistan: Rotary members will finish the job
Pakistan is one of two countries that continues to report cases of polio caused by the wild poliovirus. Aziz Memon, an incoming Rotary Foundation trustee and chair of the Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee, explains what motivates Rotarians in Pakistan to finish the task of polio eradication.
Aziz Memon, incoming Rotary Foundation Trustee and chair of the Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee explains why he’s determined to finish the task of polio eradication.
“Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She was a true embodiment of pain and fatigue. She had huddled to her chest an eleven-year-old boy whose thin legs were hanging down, hampering her while she walked. I was stunned by the scene and stopped. I was curious to ask the woman what had happened to the child she was carrying. The poor woman wiped her tears to reply to me and revealed that out of her six children, three were suffering polio paralysis.”
Aziz Memon narrates his first encounter with a child suffering from polio. The experience proved life-changing. Over 22 years, he has risen to become one of the most influential philanthropists working to end polio in Pakistan.
22 years, 200,000 vaccine carriers, and millions raised to end polio
Aziz Memon is a good person to speak to for insight into Rotary’s work in Pakistan. Chair of the Pakistan National PolioPlus Committee, Aziz is also a member of the International PolioPlus Committee. He has won multiple awards for his work to defeat the virus, and in October he became the first incoming Rotary Foundation Trustee appointed from Pakistan.
Cradle to Career Community Voice Event
As you may remember, C2C committed to providing an update to the community twice/year. The first for 2020 will be coming up on Tuesday, March 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. at John Marshall High School. Attached are two items. One is an invitation to attend the event. The second is a call for volunteers to help provide assistance at the event.
Please distribute these broadly to our Rotarian members with our thanks for their support and encouragement!
Invitation/Registration: https
Link to volunteer: You can access the electronic sign up here.
Thank you so much!
Elaine Case
"Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development." Kofi Annan
Our New Collaboration with Toastmasters
Rotary is proud to be working with Toastmasters International, a leading international educational organization that helps its members become more effective speakers, communicators, and leaders. This new collaboration is designed to enhance your membership experience, as well as help you expand your network, develop your leadership and communication skills, and make an even bigger impact in your community.
Check out the ways our GRR club can get involved with the Toastmasters collaboration. Who would be interested in finding a local Toastmasters club and arrange a visit, or invite a Toastmasters member to one of your club service activities or social events? You can see a listing of the local Toastmasters here.
RI expects that interest in joining Rotary may be sparked by this new alliance and urge district and club leaders to quickly follow up with any prospective members.
Click here to read more about our collaboration.
Great News! The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation just announced the extension of our fundraising partnership. The Gates Foundation will continue matching donations to Rotary’s PolioPlus program 2-1, up to $50 million every year. View the full announcement with this link.
Vaccinators track a population in motion
Mobile phones and simple text messaging may be the keys to victory in the world’s largest public health initiative: the eradication of polio.
As the disease retreats from the global stage, thriving in only a few remote areas in three countries, it’s up to health workers to deliver vaccines and share information with speed and accuracy. Health workers in Pakistan are receiving cellphone and e-monitoring training at the Rotary Resource Center in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are strengthening the lines of communication by giving cellphones to health workers in Pakistan and Nigeria, where a single text message could save a life.
In Pakistan, Rotary has been working to replace traditional paper-based reporting of maternal and child health information, including polio immunization data, with mobile phone and e-monitoring technology.
Community health workers across the nation have received more than 800 phones through a partnership with Rotary, the Pakistani government; Telenor, the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider; and Eycon, a data monitoring, and evaluation specialist. Organizers plan to distribute a total of 5,000 cellphones by the end of 2018.
Health workers can use the phones to send data via text message to a central server. If they see a potential polio case, they can immediately alert officials at Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Center. They also can note any children who didn’t receive the vaccine or parental refusals – and record successful immunizations. In Pakistan, the polio eradication effort aims to reach the nation’s 35 million children under age five.
Keep Your Eyes Open for Prospective Rotarians
Prospective members can include any of the following:
• A qualified person proposed by one of your club’s members (see Proposing New Members)
• Someone who approached your club (perhaps having found it through Club Finder)
• Someone identified by your club (see Finding New Members: A Prospective Member Exercise)
• A candidate who expressed interest through Rotary.org’s Join page*
• A former Rotarian who is interested in rejoining*
• A current Rotarian who wants to change clubs*
• A qualified person referred by a Rotarian from another club*
*You’ll learn about some prospective members through online membership leads. You can track these leads by updating their status on the Manage Membership Leads page.
However you learn about prospective members, it’s important to take the time to meet with them so you can get to know them and determine whether they are a good fit for your club. Meeting with them also allows you to introduce them to your club so they can decide whether it offers what they are looking for. Because people can become members of a Rotary club only if invited, the process of admitting new members involves thoughtful planning and deliberation, but also timely response and tact. Whether or not prospects become members of your club, their experience of Rotary should be positive. You can offer a positive experience to all prospective members by following the tips in this guide.
Rotary International President-elect Holger Knaack has selected Rotary Opens Opportunities as his theme for 2020-21.
For additional information, go to the my.rotary.org website.
