Copy for Nov. 12 bulletin
Today, November 12, 2007: Charlotte Swann will visit the Howell Rotary to fill us in on Challenge Day.
There will be a Board Meeting today following the regular meeting.
Next week, Lacasa will share with us their work in Belize.
The Howell Rotary is holding a canned food drive the next two weeks and collected canned goods will be donated to Gleaners in time for Thanksgiving.
The Howell Holiday Raffle Continues, and each member is being asked to sell 10 tickets or volunteer time to sell tickets at other Rotary Club Meetings or at community events such as the annual Fantasy of Lights Parade.
Howell Rotarians will once again help the Salvation Army by manning the Holiday Kettles in front of Walmart on December 8th so please plan to spend an hour or two and sign up.
The Rotary calendar: A framework for training
Rotarian Jean Constant, club trainer for the Rotary Club of Santa Fe Centro, New Mexico, USA, is responsible for educating fellow club members about Rotary. How does he do it? Constant found a new use for the Rotary calendar - it's the basis for all of his training efforts.
"Why reinvent the wheel when it already turns?" Constant says, explaining that he wanted to create a simple, straightforward plan for training. Constant describes the calendar as a gate that opens the door to more information about what Rotary does.
For example, September is New Generations Month. To create a training plan, Constant visited www.rotary.org to get information on youth programs, such as Interact, Rotaract, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), and Youth Exchange. Constant knew a club member who was active with RYLA, so he involved the member in the discussion. He also asked all members to bring a guest relevant to the topic, for example, a member of the local Rotaract club, and now does this regularly.
"[Rotarians] all know about Rotary, some just don't know that they know," says Constant. "By empowering members, I create a dynamic club environment. Members feel good about themselves and other members, and then they will jump on the next training session."
Constant joined Rotary in 1999. He served as club president and secretary of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, New Mexico, before joinint the Santa Fe Centro club, and has been the district community service chair.
View his training templates on the Santa Fe Centro Web site or click here to visit section of www.rotary.org for club trainers.
And finally, here's a scene from the Howell Rotary Wine Tasting Event put on by our fundraising committee last month:
Photo by Catherine Ray Dunning