Rotary District 7910 Newsletter - January 18, 2016
Jim Fusco
If you have any special events you would like me to attend or any inductions or presentations you would like me to make, just let me know.
For complete list of District/Club Events, click here
If your event does not show on that list, let me know.
DG Jim
District Events
Monday, January 18-Monday, February 22
RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) Chairs Prep
PETS Prep
Specifically, we will spend 90 minutes learning about how to:
- Encourage giving to Annual Fund, PolioPlus, and the Endowment Fund
- Set goals for giving on Rotary Club Central
- Access and understand information from key Foundation reports in MyRotary
A detailed Webinar Agenda and a registration notice will be e-mailed to you after January 4, so please stay tuned. And again, thank you very much for your survey responses. Nearly 40 surveys were received and many topics were ranked. We are also planning three to four more webinars based on your responses in the areas of building strong Rotary Foundation committees and training club chairs, grant management, and Global Grant development and implementation. Please look out for these future offerings.
Ron Smith, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator for Zone 32, may be reached at rsmith.rotary@gmail.com.
- Disease Prevention and Treatment, February 19-20 in Cannes, France
- Economic Development, February 27 in Cape Town, South Africa
- Literacy and WASH in Schools, March 11-13 in Kolkata, India
- WASH in Schools, March 18-19 in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines
- Paula Carlson, Westborough
- James Romano, Milford
Save The Dates! May 20, 21 and 22
Nashoba Valley’s Annual ‘Power Of Change’ To Honor Lowell’s Acre Family Child Care On January 26
Why do Rotary name tags include a member's occupation? Why does it matter what your occupation is? What does that have to do with Rotary? Jason Kauppi (shown, left) a member of the Rotary Club of Ayer, answered these questions and more as the keynote speaker at the club’s first meeting of 2016.
As Rotary's handbook, Introduction to Vocational Service, explains, "Each Rotary Club's membership represents a cross-section of its community's business and professional population, which ensures diversity in experiences and perspectives. Classification and vocational service go hand in hand. Just as Rotarians represent their vocations in Rotary, so do they represent Rotary in their vocations."
One of the objects of Rotary is to use professional skills to serve a community. Jason pointed to one Ayer Rotarian’s skills as a builder on the wheelchair-ramp projects as an example.
Another example Jason used was his own vocation, broadly defined as public relations. In order to explain what he does, and how it benefits a community, he shared a personal example of vocational service.
When Jason first joined Rotary, in 2007, he got a phone call from an acquaintance, who was on the board of an adoption agency. The agency had been the victim of embezzlement of $750,000 by its bookkeeper. She had stolen the money over a 10-year period. The acquaintance asked Jason if he could help handle the crisis communications - for free. Although he is not in the habit of working for free, Jason knew this was an opportunity to help.
The theft threatened the very existence of the agency. Would adoptive parents trust the agency? Would the state yank its license?
Jason gathered the facts and sat down with the agency's leadership to lay out a strategy to protect the agency's reputation and manage the potential damage in the news media. He developed key messages around a central theme: the agency had been more concerned with families than finances, which created an opportunity for a criminal to steal. As part of the strategy and key messages, it was pointed out that no adoption was impacted by the crime and that the agency aggressively sought an investigation by the federal authorities.
Talking points were prepared, interviews were practiced, statements prepared and press releases were written for the media, the adoptive families and regulators. In addition, social media was used to help the agency take control of the story. The story that emerged was that the agency had been the victim of a crime and was fighting for justice.
The bookkeeper went to prison for a year. While the agency recovered little of its money, it remained open and still had families using it for adoptions. Jason's firm was so successful in helping the agency maintain its reputation that families who had adopted through the agency sent in donations to help restore some of what had been stolen!
Jason was able to use his skills as a public-relations professional to help, at no charge, a non-profit agency. As he does for all clients, he developed a message, decided on the audience, figured out the right ways to deliver the message and then assessed the aftermath.
"So that's my vocation and how I've used it in service," Jason concluded. "I hope someday to hear about yours."
Several Ayer Rotarians mentioned that they enjoyed hearing about a member's vocation. It was suggested that when members do not have a speaker for their scheduled date, perhaps they could use the time to share information and stories about their profession - and how they've used their skills in service.
District 7910’s ESSEX (Eastern States Student Exchange) Committee is seeking a Rotary club to be an outbound sponsor for Julia Cashman, who will be a senior this fall at Holy Name Junior Senior High School in Worcester. She wants to spend the 2016-2017 school year studying in a Spanish-speaking country. Based on our preliminary interviews with Julie, we believe she will be an excellent ambassador. The deadline to respond is January 31. Read more
Membership Corner: Attracting and Vetting New Members to Rotary
RYLA Alert: Change of Venue
We and all of you have embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. We have attended the Rotary International Training Session in San Diego, so we are ready to help all of you become well-prepared club presidents in 2016-2017. Read more
Peace Fellowships: Application Deadline Is May 31