Last week we had an interesting program on politics. Carl Jarvis gave the program and if you want to find out more about him his website is: http://carljjarvis.com.
This week we are in for a treat. Karin Bowman, our exchange student we are hosting from Sweden will tell us about her country and experiences. I know everyone will want to be here for this one.
We still have some room left for the All Club meeting Thursday. The RI president will be there and we need to have our club well represented. If you are interested, get with me.
As Ken has mentioned, we will be embarking on a planning process to identify our club's focus, aspirations, passion and direction for the future. Once we identify what we want the club to focus on in the future we will identify a plan on how to accomplish the club's focus. We need 20 volunteers for 4 hours on a Saturday in October or November. Please respond with your availability if you are interested in participating. The President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer participation is mandatory.
There are at least 3 measures of success for clubs that complete Vision Training:
An immediate measure of progress will be the members’ pledge and willingness to move the planning processes from a nice-to-do concept to meaningful growth programs for the club, its members, and its community.
The second is that the output from this session is woven into the annual plans of the incoming and succeeding presidents. It will be reflected in the continuity and consistency of programming and leadership in your Club.
Finally, the long-term mark of accomplishment will be at the end of 5 years when your club advances from where it is to where it wants to be.
I look forward to working with all those that volunteer to move our club to the next level.
I would like to give a summary on what we are attempting to accomplish with the Visioning Process.
Before I starting to serve as president, I asked to meet with Lisa, David, Scott, and Rod. I discussed with them some of the goals I wanted to achieve in my year as president. One of the more ambitious goals was to consider, approve, and implement a long term local project.
By long term we are talking over the period of three to four years. By local we are talking about the possibility of involving municipalities, industry, etc by forming an alliance with them to help them solve some of their issues as well.
What this might end up being is still up for discussion. This is why we want and need the involvement of 25+ club members.
At the meeting we were in agreement in trying to accomplish this. So this is something I want to do to as well as the next two presidents. Plus, David Nicks, our treasurer, is also in favor (as well as Lisa).
Where this may end up is anyone’s guess. This is why we need club participation and buy in.
Just so you may understand what type and size of project we are considering, David (and others, but David is the Visioning Chair) and I have thrown around the possibility of building a facility where we can conduct out meetings and have a facility to help other local nonprofits and/or industry. As you can quickly determine, this is a large project that could end up needing millions of dollars.
I mention these things so each of us can see the importance of being involved with David. We need your input. And look at the skill set we have in our club - bankers, builders, architects, project managers, industry reps, and so much more. If we get behind something we ALL believe in we can accomplish great things. GREAT things!
I will end by stating we are in a healthy position financially. Of course, we do not have millions sitting in the bank but we can leverage the assets, cash and otherwise, in our club to move mountains.
I need your buy in. Get with David and tell him you will be there.
On October 24 , members of Rotary clubs around the world – including over 34,000 clubs throughout the world – will celebrate World Polio Day. Polio eradication has been Rotary International’s top priority since 1985. World Polio Day is an opportunity to celebrate the 99% of countries that have eliminated polio, and also to reaffirm our commitment to seeing the last 1% of cases eliminated.
It's that time of year again… RYLA application season has started. Please see the attached application and pass this along to your interact club, interact advisors, school counselors, etc. Any sophomore or junior, that has not attended a RYLA camp before, is eligible to apply.
PLEASE NOTE:
- we are limiting the camp to 150 participants
- please be aware of the "RYLA Transportation Policy"
- $225 per student RYLA scholarship
DEADLINES:
- Deadline for students to submit to the Rotary Club: November 15th, 2014
- Deadline for Rotary Club to submit to the RYLA committee: December 5, 2014
- Payment deadline by the Club: December 5, 2014 (with the applications)
- Acceptance letters mailed by the RYLA committee: December 10, 2014
NOTE: Last day of school before Christmas Break is December 19th. We ask for your cooperation in sticking to the above deadlines, it will be REALLY important to stick to these dates so that we can insure proper training of coaches and offer students ample time to respond to the RYLA acceptance letter.
PLEASE MAIL CHECKS: RYLA Treasuer, ATTN: Carmen Cuneo, 2618 Wichita, Houston TX 77004
PLEASE MAIL APPLICATIONS: RYLA COMMITEE, ATTN: Nathalie Cras, 8564 Katy Freeway, Suite 134, Houston TX 77024
