Randy Seelye and the Magical Rotary Mystery Tour
Randy Seelye, our Foundation Chair, gave us a “Magical Rotary Mystery Tour” through Rotary’s long involvement in promoting worldwide peace, including some information about the history of Rotary’s efforts towards that goal.
Rotary International has long worked for international peace. Our own club’s international projects, including SRKSEP, Sabalos, and our other eyeglass projects, demonstrate our dedication to developing peace through international involvement. Rotary International itself was instrumental in helping start the United Nations. Back in 1942, Rotary was one of the prime instigators of UNESCO, a precursor of the United Nations. Rotary and UNESCO continue sharing a common goal; the furtherance of peace through education, science and culture. We have been partners with UNESCO since the end of World War II in the development of international scholarships awarded by Rotary and managed by UNESCO.
Our Peace Scholar program has resulted in 100 peace scholarships, with 6 peace centers worldwide. The goal is to develop scholars with critical conflict resolution skills. At one time a Peace Center was located in Berkeley. In fact, our member, Del Raby, was involved in the program when it had an office in Berkeley.
Two years ago the Rotary Foundation was named the best charity in the world. The Foundation has six specific goals: promoting peace, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, growing local communities, and fighting disease. The Foundation is largely driven by fundraising by local Rotary clubs. Our own club has donated a total of $423,103 since our inception. 91% of donations to the Foundation are spent directly on its programs.
The Foundation’s main funding vehicle is the Annual Fund. Annual Fund donations go to the Foundation. Three years later 50% of our club’s donations come back to our District and are typically given back to the clubs and used again by the clubs in the form of donations and service projects. Our club has benefited from this ‘refund’ by recently funding musical instruments and a goat barn for Elsie Allen.
Our contribution goal this year is $13,000. We are almost ½ of the way to meeting this goal. Randy acknowledged the contributions made by Peter Hoberg (our designated Polio Rider), in generating these contributions through sponsorships for his riding. Randy also outlined the various categories of Foundation donations, including benefactors, bequest society, major donors ($10,000) and Paul Harris Society members ($1,000 annually).
Thank you, Randy, for this Magical Journey. Your work as Foundation Chair, and your long involvement in Foundation projects is much appreciated!
