In Syria, where a civil war has been raging since 2011, more than 6,000 people flee the country every day. As of September, more than 4.1 million people have become refugees, and 7.6 million more have been internally displaced.
“The plight of Syria’s refugees is a litmus test for the world's compassion,” says Rotary International General Secretary John Hewko. “Rotary members worldwide are profoundly disheartened by the refugee crisis now unfolding in Syria and other parts of the world,” which the United Nations has described as the worst in decades.
“Rotary is following the situation closely...
RI President K.R. Ravindran officially declared Ian H.S. Riseley Rotary International’s president-nominee on 1 October.
The nominating Committee for President of RI selected Riseley, of the Rotary club of Sandringham, Victoria, Australia, in August. He will be formally elected at the 2016 RI Convention in Seoul, Korea, and will become president on 1 July 2017.
Read more about Riseley
Find new and innovative ways to improve your community by attending one of five presidential conferences this year, hosted by RI President K.R. Ravindran and Foundation Trustee Chair Ray Klinginsmith. The conferences, to be held around the world between January and March, will highlight Rotary’s areas of focus. Use these links to learn about each of the programs and to register to attend:
Peace and Conflict Resolution, 15-16 January in Ontario, California, USA
Disease Prevention and Treatment, 19-20 February in Cannes, France
Economic Development, 27 February in Cape Town, South Africa...
Rotary and ONE, an international advocacy organization, joined other event partners in downtown Chicago on 24 September to demonstrate a commitment to ending extreme poverty and inequality and to promoting action on climate change on the eve of the United Nations launch of its Sustainable Development Goals.
The 17 ambitious goals constitute a road map for finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, and dovetail with Rotary members’ work to create positive change in their communities and around the world. As dusk fell over Chicago, participants in the Under One Sky event held up...
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on 25 September that Nigeria is now polio-free and has been officially removed from the list of countries where polio is endemic. It’s been 14 months since any cases of polio caused by the wild virus have been detected there.
With Nigeria’s historic achievement, polio remains endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. That means transmission of the virus has never been stopped there.
Nigeria was the last country in Africa where polio was endemic. The continent celebrated its own first full year without the disease on 11 August. Once...
There are still a few members who have not stepped up to the plate. Please do so at your earliest convenience so that the club can meet its obligations to the District and Rotary International.
The 2015-16 membership dues are due. An electronic invoice was emailed on July 21, 2015. The due date is August 31, 2015.
You can pay online from the link in the invoice or you can always open and click the link in the My Billing Account Balance link in the My ClubRunner box on the Admin page after login.
If you wish to pay by cash or cheque, give the $225.00 to Diana Parker at your earliest convenience.
Membership fee in the club covers District dues, CN$80.00 annually and Rotary International dues, US$55.00 semi annually or US$110.00 annually.
Karen Good from YESS gave a good presentation on Tuesday. She gave us a good idea of what some of the challenges they face helping the youth in our city. 445 teens and young adults were eachhelped last year. Many are homeless or between houses. 2/3 boys has been an ongoing stat since starting up in 1982 when 16 was the top age allowed. Now rather than instant welfare, the youths are now 15-21 years old in the resident program and up to 24 for day programs.
A common thread includes fetal alcohol syndrome and extreme poverty. The bus ticket program has helped in many ways including having a bus ticket rather than being ticketed and going to court and having a record for spending money on food rather than the bus ticket.
A 7 million dollar budget is covered 30% by governments and the fund raising is getting tougher in these tough times, which produce more family instability and fall out including the children.
Helping by providing mental health, nutrition and positive reinforcement, as well as water and things like bus tickets and job opportunities has been their way of turning these young people into valuable members of society.
A tough road, but YESS is making it smoother thanks to dedicated, thoughtful staff.
Rotary Interact Club of J. Percy Page High School (JPP) requires transportation by the Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona members to the following special event:
Thursday, October 22nd. Serving dinner at RMH.
Pick up at JPP at 3:30 pm (1530). Deliver to RMH, Return from RMH at 7:00 pm (1900) to JPP.
Rotarians are welcome to attend the events, or just provide rides. Please advise how many passengers you can take.
Here is how you can indicate your participation:
Click on the brown [Members] button.
Click [Register Me]
IMPORTANT: in the 'Comments' box, indicate how many passengers you have seatbelts for in your vehicle.
Also, in the 'Comments' box, please indicate if you are able to drive all the runs for this particular event.
Click [Confirm]
...and you're done! you should receive email confirmations within minutes.
As a guitarist, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.
There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this homeless man.
And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my guitar and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, “I never seen nothin’ like that before and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.” Apparently, I’m still lost
The life blood of our Rotary Club and Rotary International heading into the future is the successful recruitment and retention of new Rotary Club members. As time marches on, it is imperative that we are all actively identifying prospective new Rotary Club members, and inviting them out to our weekly club meetings.
Part of our recruiting initiative over the last couple of years, has been to have special lunch meetings devoted to inviting prospective new members to introduce them to our club, and to provide some insight into the benefits of joining Rotary. We have been holding these traditionally in the spring and the fall, with good results.
We are excited to announce our next Prospective New Members luncheon will be held on Tuesday November 3, 2015, and will coincide with our annual visit by our Rotary District Governor. Our District Governor this year is Tim Schilds, who is a dynamic speaker and is very good at highlighting the great work that Rotary is doing locally and internationally. We think this would be a great way to introduce prospective new members to Rotary.
I challenge all of our active Rotary Club members to invite a friend, colleague, family member or just someone you may know who would appreciate Rotary. The lunch cost for any prospective member will be picked up by our Rotary Club.
In fact we would like to extend our offer of a free lunch to any prospective member for any regular Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona lunch meeting, until further notice, to encourage the attendance of prospective new members throughout the year. We have attached an invitation letter for you to send out to anyone who may be interested in Rotary. Please RSVP to myself directly with the names of any prospective members who will be joining us for our lunch meeting on November 3rd.
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