May is Youth Service month in Rotary. The elephant in the room is that COVID-19 has significantly disrupted many Rotary youth programs. School closures have shut down Interact clubs. Rotaract clubs have been affected by university closures. The Rotary Adventure in Citizenship and Rotary Adventure in Human Rights programs were cancelled. This year’s Rotary Youth Exchange students are 75% returned home. And 100% of next year’s exchange students are wondering whether they’ll be able to go. The health and safety of program participants is our paramount concern, so these decisions were difficult but necessary.
As you would expect, Rotary’s values have shone through during this process...
One example is the great care youth exchange host clubs have shown, making student return decisions that took into account individual circumstances like student health conditions, travel conditions, the prevalence of COVID-19 back home, etc. A terrific example of the thoughtful and caring service Rotarians are known for.
Another example is the number of clubs who responded to the Rotary Club of Ottawa’s request to donate refunds back to help them run their programs, including future Adventures in Citizenship. The recognition of that program’s longstanding value and the willingness to respond despite our own difficulties was admirable.
As People of Action, Rotarians think about what we can be doing right now. Recently, Rotary International President-Elect Holger Knaack sent an email to district RYE leaders around the world. In it, he urged Rotarians to work together to explore flexible options to continue youth programs and to use down time to strengthen our programs. This guidance is spot-on and there are no shortage of things we can do right now:
Just like Rotary clubs, the Interact clubs that still want to meet could benefit from the Zoom accounts clubs are using. Contact your Interact club teacher liaison to see if this is something they could use now.
District 7820 is beginning to work with District 7810 to move toward shared committees and aligned policies and procedures in support of our Youth Service programs. (This is to prepare for redistricting, proposed for July 2022.) If you are interested in working on this project starting in May/June, please contact Michael Craig.
The Rotary Clubs of Dartmouth East, Dartmouth and St. John’s Northwest are working on a project to enable their exchange student from Venezuela to attend university in Canada this fall. They are seeking Rotarian enthusiasm/expertise and financial support. If you are interested in this project, please contact Kevin Connors (Dart. East) or Sharon Barnes (SJ’s NW).
Youth Service is one of our many vital areas of service as Rotarians. Together we can overcome even the greatest challenges and emerge stronger than ever.
Trivia Question: What district are we working with to align youth policies?
It’s tough. Keeping People of Action physically distanced from others – and their projects! So what is an enthusiastic Rotarian to do? We are seeing lots of action – from making masks and delivering food baskets – to creating new fundraising projects. And we are seeing great use of the five Zoom licenses that the District has purchased – that is great. Speakers are presenting wonderful programs – and your district leadership team is available to you if you want a speaker on Zoom Best Practices, ClubRunner, Foundation, Polio, International Services, Strategic Planning, Youth, Membership and Club models – just ask! As always, we are ready to support you in any way that we can – invite us! We’ll be there. Send an email to Louisa with your request – rotarylouisa@gmail.com
What else? Here is a list of ideas that Doug Logan shared at the recent TLC...
Take advantage of the opportunity of time that you’ve been given. Learn something new – Rotary Learning Center has wonderful modules on many topics.
Look after your people. Don’t text, email, etc. Call them. Don’t let them go dark.
Don’t easily accept their “I’m fine.” It’s what we say to be polite. Call them again.
Crisis affects us all in different ways. Just because they sound strong doesn’t mean that’s how they feel inside. Call again.
Look after your people. Listen. Help older members connect. Can they use technology?
Focus on the brand. Put it front and center in what you do. Use the new imaging. Critically assess your social media and webpage and look for ways to make it more appealing to potential Rotary participants.
Re-discover your purpose. Engage your members in understanding why you serve. Why fund raise? It isn’t about the money. It’s about a need -- environment, seniors, indigenous, youth, literacy, homeless, food impoverished, disabled, etc. Talk to each other to understand what it is that most resonates with you and build responses based on that.
Look for partners. Leverage your brand. Rotaract, Interact, other clubs, other service organizations, not-for-profits, businesses. Your community is full of opportunities to create new allies and allegiances.
Create new opportunities to serve and connect.
Support a local artist to put on a virtual show for virtual tips: Musicians can perform, Artists can draw, Poets can recite, Writers can write and all of them can give lessons.
Host virtual theme parties
Students can show you how to game online, or use technology, social media platforms, etc.
Community sing along (one club in Alaska is doing this in partnership with a local radio station)
Karaoke night
Cooking lessons and/or with multicultural flavour
Members can host a travelogue
Host a book review club, movie review club
Virtual prom – many clubs in North America are celebrating their high school graduates with various events or with photos on street banners etc.
Create new systems and processes. Use this opportunity to examine and evaluate how the club operates.
Meetings? Where? When? How? Why? Too often we’ve fallen into the habit of meeting to meet not for a purpose.
Find new ways to inject energy and creativity.
Fees? Dues? What are people doing with the meal $ they’re saving?
Survey your members!
Look at your risk management plan
New club models. Passport clubs, single issue/cause-based clubs, corporate, etc.
Look after your people
Contact Doug for help with membership questions
Another great idea we heard about was a pop-up drive-in movie idea to celebrate “release” when we are no longer physically distancing. Some clubs elsewhere are planning such an event with food trucks etc. and renting equipment to show a movie on the side of a building! What a great way to welcome a community back after the long stay at home.
Do you have other ideas? Share them with us and we’ll share them with others.
I am happy to be sending out a greeting to you for the first time. I look forward to continuing corresponding with everyone over the next year as District Governor.
Our Rotary year is moving along and I count 60 more days before the Rotary world has its changing of the guard. The world as we knew it has been upended with the advent of the pandemic resulting from the Coronavirus. Rotary has been given a wake up call to acknowledge that we live in a different world that’s going to be with us for a long time.
As District Governor Elect, I had the privilege of attending the International Assembly in San Diego in late January. During the week we were introduced to our Rotary International President Elect, Holger Knaack and were the first group to hear his theme for 2020-21, “ Rotary opens opportunities”. After a week of learning, listening and networking with Rotarians from around the world, we felt quite prepared to continue our preparations for the next Rotary year. After a productive face to face District Learning session in Halifax in February I felt I was ready for July 1st.
That was 2 months ago and times have changed dramatically for most of us with the pandemic. This has meant no District Conference, no traditional Rotary fundraisers throughout the District to support our projects and monetary contributions and no face to face Rotary experiences. During this time period our leadership team under the innovative guidance of Louisa Horne has persevered in trying to keep Rotary relevant and vibrant.
On a personal level, I had been trying to find a way to contribute to my community in a positive way. I have been a long time blood donor and unfortunately we no longer have blood donor clinics in Sydney. I had to travel to Halifax and coincidently a mobile clinic
was being held in Truro, a community along the way - a Halifax appointment would have been at least a month away. It turns out that my donation was significant as this was the day before the tragic events that occurred around Truro. I truly hope that I helped in a small way by stopping in and donating. As Rotarians we want to help our neighbours in whatever way we can, whether it be by reaching out and offering a helping hand or a small act of kindness.
Remember to keep safe and look out for your neighbour.
After making deliveries of food to Beacon House (part of Feed Nova Scotia), Rosie spent the good part of the day sorting clothing donations for the Homeless at Beacon House. Here she is taking a quick rest before getting back to work.
You can find the Google doc on our District Facebook page. Have you liked that Facebook page?
Lots of great info there. In the meantime, here is the link.
And if you’re having a Zoom meeting, the District Leadership Team has speakers just waiting to be invited… Foundation? Polio? Strategic Planning? What’s new in Rotary? Membership and Club models? Louisa and others are just waiting to be invited!
Trivia Question: Name one upcoming meeting listed in the Google doc.
In partnership with the Valley Regional Hospital Foundation, The Rotary Club of Kentville donated $5,000 towards supplies and is helping with production and distribution of more than 1500 non-medical mask kits and masks to the hospital and other community health groups with a need to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
The Rotary Club of Middleton would like to thank all the generous and talented volunteers who have stepped up to participate in our goal to distribute face masks to health care workers in the Annapolis Valley. We have welcomed the donation of a new sewing machine, metres of cotton fabric, elastic, thread, and most of all, the caring effort of dozens of sewers who have constructed over 250 face masks so far. Volunteers have come from Port George, Prince Albert, Melvern Square, Kingston, Nictaux and Middleton. Thank you to the Salvation Army Thrift Stores in Middleton, Bridgetown and Digby for the donations of fabric and elastic! If you would like to also help, call Dianne McDonald at 902 825 8034
Bob Moffatt, Rotary Club of Charlottetown presenting a cheque to Ronnie McIntosh, Coordinator of Souris Food Bank, Souris, PEI, April 26, 2020. Monies were raised from Rotary Radio Bingo which operates from tip to tip on Prince Edward Island.
The Rotary Club of Middleton has always sought the opportunity to partner with local organizations such as with the Town by developing parks and recreational facilities, a local school by acting as their Trustee for fundraising at their Big Chill Snowshoe marathon, etc. Our latest partnership is with the Social Media Team at a local automotive dealership which graciously offered to look after our social media campaigns. The team at Bruce Auto Group certainly knows its stuff as evidenced by the reach and engagement numbers shown in the attached screenshot of one of our Facebook posts this week.
Pictured here are Heather Baxter of Heather's Independent Grocer in Middleton and Jamie Peppard, Principal of Lawrencetown Education Centre (LEC), a Corporate Member of the Rotary Club of Middleton, preparing food boxes for support of LEC students through these difficult COVID-19 times. The initiative is partially funded by the LEC's Big Chill Snowshoe Marathon, of which the Rotary Club Of Middleton is the Trustee.
During these changing and challenging times, one thing remains constant—the commitment of Rotarians to their community. The Sydney-Sunrise Rotary Club has not been able to meet for their weekly breakfast meetings at Boston Pizza so they have decided to donate the meal costs from mid-March to April 30th to Loaves and Fishes and the Glace Bay Food Bank. A cheque for $933.75 was provided to each organization. Pictured here are Marco Amati, Executive Director of Loaves and Fishes and Michelle Kalbhenn, Coordinator of the Glace Bay Food Bank. We do meet virtually though, and will continue to find ways to give back to our community during this difficult time.
On April 29, 2020 the Rotary club in Middleton, Heather’s Independent Grocer and her suppliers (Weston Bakeries, Pepsi and Frito lay), and Kingston Atlantic Superstore supplied the staff at Heart of the Valley nursing home with supplies for a barbecue. Michael Fairn (Rotary Club Secretary) said “We hope that this gesture might bring a smile to your staff members’ faces and remind them that their hard and challenging work is very much appreciated. We cannot imagine how difficult it is for your staff to work in such restrictive and potentially hazardous conditions”.
A phrase I often hear these days is some version of “when we get back to normal.” I think I know what it means – a time when we don’t need to keep 6 feet between us; when we can use the parks and the trails; when we can meet one another, shake hands and share hugs without fear; when children can play with friends, people return to work, worshipers gather together. That’s a normal I think many would recognize.
But there are some parts of normal I wish we could banish, leave behind on the other side of March 15 (or whenever lockdown started in your community). We hear the voices calling for a “restart” to the economy. They aren’t as loud as south of the border, but they’re there. In the daily briefing a couple of days ago, a reporter asked the Premier, “Since the majority of COVID cases are localized in seniors’ facilities and particular communities, why can’t the rest of us get back to normal?” The response was a quite powerful reminder that the province entered this together, will go through this together, and will emerge together. But the sentiment is out there. People have published the calculations suggesting that the death and sickness rates are acceptable if things can go back to “normal”—meaning buying and selling. A number of provinces have (or have promised to) roll out their plans for spinning up the economy.
So, what’s on your list of “normal” that you want to work at and pray about and form community to resist? Here are some of mine, in no particular order...
An unintended consequence of the economic slowdown seems to have been a degree of recovery for the rest of Creation. I imagine you’ve seen the photos of suddenly clear skylines or repopulated waterways and so on. I hope those aren’t all photo-shopped! While some level of revived economic and industrial activity is unavoidable, perhaps – having seen the dramatic effect lowering those levels can have – we can see that it is possible to make a difference and the Creation can be helped to heal;
We have seen the significant leadership being given by calm, thoughtful and courageous women, both a number of global national leaders and public health officials in Canada and abroad. I hope that demonstrated competence will affect a change in some knee-jerk reactions about who has the qualities to lead and a deeper degree of considered evaluation of all who are willing to offer leadership gifts;
I hope that what we have seen, both courageous and tragic, will help us continue to push back the privilege of the arrogant white male. Whether it has been reporters calling out politicians distorting facts in press briefings or our response to the shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, we’re seeing some “normal” or “excused” behaviours questioned. Why are we not calling it an act of terrorism, when it’s a white male at the centre of a historically awful swath of violence? Do we imagine, for a moment, that if the perpetrator were of another skin colour that the language of “domestic terrorism” would not be employed? Or, if we want to reserve the “terrorism” language for acts that are clearly ideologically motivated, why do so many insist on mental health language as opposed to acknowledging that this is one foreseeable consequence of society celebrating certain traits and ways of interacting?
I hope that, having seen it in action, we do not forget how possible it is for our country and provinces to move resources into caring for the most vulnerable. The speed with which so many levels of government, business and not-for-profit made funds available is genuinely breath-taking. Programs that previously would have taken months if not years to see the light of day, came out the doors in hours. Certainly, they were imperfect and needed tweaking. But the attitude clearly was – there is a need, we need to act, we can fine tune later. When the need for greater fiscal probity reasserts itself how can we continue to remind governments and one another of what is possible, particularly for the marginalized, when the will exists? The various forms of relief and support rolled out amount to a de facto guaranteed annual income. Having had the experiment, can we continue this as a means of fundamental economic justice?
We call them heroes now – I hope we remember those who we are feting in this moment who generally labour at impossibly low wages, cobbling together a variety of part-time underpaid positions, simply to eke out a living at or below a subsistence wage. Can we find the way to narrow the often-obscene gap between the pay to the CEO and the front-line employees? Can we continue to maintain the pressure on provincial regulatory bodies so that reasonable salaries and numbers of employees are available to care for the frailest of our brothers and sisters? Can we begin to shift our profit-fixation, that inevitably restrains or reduces the participation of front-line workers in the revenue generated by corporations? In a weird way I am grateful to those who have the courage to express the conviction that a few deaths are worth it to turn the economy back up. Not because I agree with them! But because they are declaring the operative prejudice of so much of our economy: the people exist to work and produce, rather than healthy, safe, meaningful and fulfilling work being one expression of human living. I hope we have learned that there truly is more to life than the jobs we do (when we have them) and we have a counter-narrative to those for whom the economic measures related to profit are the be all and end all.
So, what are some aspects of “normal” that you would like to change? I believe that an unanticipated benefit of COVID 19 is the opportunity to do a genuine reset on some of our behaviours and attitudes. Here are some questions to help you reflect. Maybe you want to employ them with others to create coalitions for change where you live and work.
What do you not miss? Are there aspects of your previous pace of life that you want to change? For instance: travel, endless meetings; time away from family?
What have you noticed in yourself with the changed pace: more creativity, more peace, deeper connection or re-connection with people?
Is your organization really conducive to the well-being of those who work in it? What needs to change to achieve that?
How do we alter the conversation?
Here are some other change methods, based simply on altering the questions we pose:
o What do I need to control? ➔ What can I unleash?
o Who can make this work? ➔ What interactions will make this work?
o How do I avoid resistance? ➔ How do I welcome resistance?
o How do I influence individual actions? ➔ How do I influence the field (or culture)?
o How can I create change? ➔ How can I transform the energy that already exists in the system?*
We have the time to dream and pray about a new way of being. What are you praying for?
May is Youth Service month in Rotary. The elephant in the room is that COVID-19 has significantly disrupted many Rotary youth programs. School closures have shut down Interact clubs. Rotaract clubs have been affected by university closures. The Rotary Adventure in Citizenship and Rotary Adventure in Human Rights programs were cancelled. This year’s Rotary Youth Exchange students are 75% returned home. And 100% of next year’s exchange students are wondering whether they’ll be able to go. The health and safety of program participants is our paramount concern, so these decisions were difficult but necessary.
I am happy to be sending out a greeting to you for the first time. I look forward to continuing corresponding with everyone over the next year as District Governor.
After making deliveries of food to Beacon House (part of Feed Nova Scotia), Rosie spent the good part of the day sorting clothing donations for the Homeless at Beacon House. Here she is taking a quick rest before getting back to work.
In partnership with the Valley Regional Hospital Foundation, The Rotary Club of Kentville donated $5,000 towards supplies and is helping with production and distribution of more than 1500 non-medical mask kits and masks to the hospital and other community health groups with a need to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
Bob Moffatt, Rotary Club of Charlottetown presenting a cheque to Ronnie McIntosh, Coordinator of Souris Food Bank, Souris, PEI, April 26, 2020. Monies were raised from Rotary Radio Bingo which operates from tip to tip on Prince Edward Island.
Pictured here are Heather Baxter of Heather's Independent Grocer in Middleton and Jamie Peppard, Principal of Lawrencetown Education Centre (LEC), a Corporate Member of the Rotary Club of Middleton, preparing food boxes for support of LEC students through these difficult COVID-19 times. The initiative is partially funded by the LEC's Big Chill Snowshoe Marathon, of which the Rotary Club Of Middleton is the Trustee.
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