Home Page | Rotary District 7910

Charles River Rotary at Natick Days!

The Rotary Club of Charles River was recently out in the community of Natick at Natick Days with their fundraiser food-concession booth. Members grilled hot dogs, made fresh popcorn, and served drinks. Natick Days is an annual festival that provides opportunity for youth and non-profits to increase visibility for the great work they do. The event helps fund the service work Charles River does in Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley. Charles River sponsors a dictionary project in the Framingham Public Schools, scholarships for high school seniors pursuing a career in the trades, Spark Kindness and their “Resilient Parent, Resilient Child” speaker series, a special-needs young-adult social event, and much more.

The Rotary Club of Charles River meets Thursday mornings at 7:15 at The Hampton Inn in Natick. Visit www.crrclub.org for more information.

Does Your Club Need Help With Its Public Image?

Posted on Sep 01, 2019

Our Public Image Resource Team is here to help! We are a group of Rotarians who have lots of experience in social media, working with Clubrunner as users and webmasters, and Rotary.org and website development/content. Our goal is to help YOU understand the tools that are available so you can make your club’s outreach more effective.

Here’s what we can help you with and/or coach you on:

Using your Clubrunner-based website (entering membership data, articles, events, images, documents, creating reports and getting information out … Pretty much anything!)
Using social media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram
Understanding the difference between Clubrunner, Club Central, and Rotary.org
Designing and implementing your website or social media accounts/pages
Resolving technical problems with your Clubrunner-based website
Entering goals and service projects, and/or getting reports from Club Central
Creating brochures and flyers using Rotary.org templates and/or Microsoft Publisher
Locating the Public Image resources that are available for free from Rotary International
Finding information and resources on branding (logos, correct colors and typefaces, images, etc.)

There is a LOT of resources and information for clubs out there, and we’re here to help you navigate it – or help you create something new. We won’t do the work for you. Instead, we’ll teach you - and be there to support you when you need it.

If you want more info, or have something you need some help with, click CLICK HERE, to contact Sue Peghiny - and she’ll connect you with the right person!

Visioning: Keeping What’s Great and Adding What’s Missing

Summer is almost over and clubs across the district are working to finalize and implement their goals. This is a great time to consider a Visioning Workshop.

A Visioning Workshop can help ensure that your club’s goals are reflective of the values of your members, and that the goals have strong buy-in from the people in your club who will be carrying out these goals. If you are finding that your club’s goals are generating only a lukewarm response or that members aren’t stepping up to implement them, a Visioning Workshop could help get your club moving forward.

Many of you have heard of Visioning or may have already participated in a workshop. It is not uncommon for clubs that have done Visioning to report that the experience itself was valuable as a team building exercise but struggle to point to specific changes to the club’s activities or organization that were a result of the workshop. These clubs point out that typical day-to-day workloads quickly diluted whatever resolve there was from the workshop.

A Great Night at the Spinners!

Posted on Aug 11, 2019

Members of District 7910 had a great time at the Lowell Spinners game on Friday! Even though the team lost, it was a gorgeous night and everyone enjoyed themselves. And the best part? We raise money to eradicate polio!

PDG Karin Gaffney, DG Pam Anastasia & PI Chair Sue Peghiny

Members of the Lowell Club enjoying the outing. Thanks for organizing it!

Members of the Newton Club enjoying the beautiful evening.

DG Pam Welcome

Posted by Pamela Anastasi on Jul 06, 2019

Hello everyone and Happy Summer! I am excited and honored to have the privilege of working with all of you over the next year! My two primary areas of focus are Membership and Public Image. We do a great job attracting people to be Rotarians, but we need to make sure that we keep then active and engaged. Also, I believe that Rotary is still somewhat unknown in many communities; people have heard of it but they don't know who we are or what we do. I would like us to do a better job of letting people know what we do and using social media to get the word out. I think that if every club sat down and made a list of all the projects that they supported in their local communities; people would be surprised and amazed at all we've done. Every club is active and engaged in their community; we just need to do a better job telling our story.

On a side note, we are in the process of finalizing the district directory; so please review the club officers that are listed for 2019-20 and ensure that they are accurate and that all positions have a contact listed. We want to ensure that all the information is up to date as the directories have definitely proven to be a very valuable resource for the clubs.

Also, please mark your calendars for Friday, August 9th. This will be the first District Event of the year at the Lowell Spinner's Baseball Game. For each ticket purchased that night by a Rotary Club - $3 will be donated towards the End Polio Now Campaign. This is a great way to make a huge impact with little effort and enjoy a great baseball game with your fellow Rotarians. More information to follow!

Looking ahead, I am excited to work with all of you on retaining and engaging our existing members as well as attracting new members. By focusing on Public Image and getting the word out about the great things that Rotarians do both locally and internationally; this will help people to know our motto of "Service Above Self" and that together, we can make a difference!

DG Pam

District Grant Projects 2018-19

Posted by Victor T. Tom on Jun 01, 2019

District 7910 Rotary Clubs were active this year utilizing Rotary Foundation funds that came back to our District in the form of District Grants. 21 District Grants were funded this year and executed by the clubs to better our communities. The service projects broadly fell into four (4) of the Rotary Foundation's six (6) areas of focus. Clubs made an impact in Disease Prevention, Treatment and Health, Maternal and Child Health, Basic Education and Literacy, and in Economic and Community Development.

In addition, we implemented 2 Global Grants - one was our District Service Project that built stoves in Guatemala in order to reduce respiratory illness in the community. Ten (10) Rotarians travelled down to work with Rotarians from the host club. The other Global Grant that was approved this year involved the Rotary Club of Concord's egg farm project in Haiti!

Read the continuation of this article for more details on the District Grant Projects.

Membership Update

Posted by Ron Bott on Jun 04, 2019

This past Rotary year, the District 7910 Membership Committee introduced several initiatives to help clubs attract and engage membership. These initiatives will continue and new ones will be introduced in 2019-2020.

New Member Orientation Events were held this past Fall and Spring with 60 total attendees. These events introduce newer (2 years or less) and prospective members to the various facets of Rotary in a fun and interactive way. Clubs are encouraged to send their newer and prospective members to these events. Feedback indicates that attending these events significantly improves member retention. The next events are scheduled for 10/3/19 and 4/4/20 (at District Assembly).

Volunteer at RYLA This Year!

Posted by Christine Pinney on Jun 01, 2019

RYLA needs you to Volunteer June 28-30!

1. Watch this 2 minute "Volunteer at RYLA" video <CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO>:

2. Signup today! <CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP>

3. Learn more about RYLA <CLICK HERE>

Follow the article continuation to learn more!

A Week of Service with NECHV

Posted by Karin Gaffney on Jun 01, 2019

A Week of Rotary – Rotary Club members from D 7910 and D 7930 joined together last week to cover a week’s worth of meal shifts at the New England Center and Home for Veterans (NECHV) in Boston in honor of Memorial Day. 10 meals were served by the following clubs: Rotary Governors, Billerica, Wellesley, Nashoba Valley, Tewksbury, Newton, Winchester, Brookline, Charles River and Lowell. NECHV supports and offers services to Veterans who are facing or are at-risk of homelessness with the tools for economic self-sufficiency and a path to achieve successful and dignified independent living. Rotary members who served described the experience as “wonderful” – especially because they got a chance to talk with some of the Veterans. Participating clubs were proud to have the opportunity to provide service to those who have served our country.

Framingham Rotary's Random Acts of Kindness

Posted by Bob Schecter on Jun 05, 2019

Random Acts of Kindness is quickly helping expand the influence of the Framingham Rotary Club! Recently the Club engaged in 2 separate acts to help solve an Iraqi immigrant mother's transportation problem, and to help repair housing for an elderly couple.

Needed Home Repairs

Framingham’s Jim Goodreau and his wife, Christine, were in dire need of a helping hand, and quickly. Jim is recovering from cardiac arrest— Christine gave him CPR until the EMTs arrived—and couldn’t risk the exertion needed to repair the un-lockable front door or the damaged storm door in their Landseer Avenue home; moreover, the dishwasher wouldn’t work. Unfortunately, the couple couldn’t pay for the needed repairs because Christine had just lost her job. So, with limited

Bedford's 7th Annual Meals for Kids

Posted by Victor T. Tom on Jun 03, 2019

18 Rotarians from Rotary Clubs of Bedford, Tyngsboro/Dunstable, MIT Rotaract, Burlington, Burlington Breakfast, and Kobleskill NY, representing three districts, joined over 200 volunteers from the local community and corporations BAE Systems and Anika Therapeutics to package over 40,000 meals. Rise Against Hunger will distribute these meals to school meal programs in developing countries. This brought our 7-year total to over 400,000 meals.

2019 Morley Scholarship Awarded!!

Posted by Tory De Fazio on Apr 29, 2019

Rotary District 7910 is pleased to announce that O'Mara Taylor of Wayland is the recipient of the $ 35K, 2019 David & Eleanor Morley Endowed Global Grant Scholarship. Sponsored by Framingham Rotary, O'Mara is a graduate of Vassar College. She plans to spend the 2019-2020 academic year in graduate studies at the Saïd Business School of Oxford University. Her Rotary Area of Focus is Maternal & Child Health.

O'Mara is excited to be selected for this year's scholarship: “I am thrilled and very grateful to have been awarded the Morley Endowed Global Grant Scholarship. I am eager to begin my studies, and look forward to cultivating a strong relationship with Rotary both here and abroad. Thank you for your generous support!” We have no doubt that O'Mara will make a huge impact on the world when she completes her studies. She will be hosted by a Rotary club in Oxford, England.

The Morley Scholarship is unique to D7910. Established in 2002 by a generous WPI graduate and Rotarian, the Scholarship is awarded to qualified candidates residing in one of the 117 cities and towns inside Rotary District 7910. The Scholarship is awarded by the Rotary District 7910 Rotary Foundation Committee, and the endowment is managed by The Rotary Foundation Permanent Fund O'Mara is the 7th recipient of the Morley Scholarship. Generally the scholarship is awarded every other year, depending on performance of the endowed fund and the qualifications of the applicants.

Our sincerest congratulations and best wishes to O'Mara Taylor!

Rotarian of the Year - Jim Fusco

Posted by Steven Sager on May 03, 2019

PDG Jim Fusco was awarded the 2018-19 Rotarian of the Year Award at the District Conference by DG Steve! Everyone knows the tireless effort Jim makes to help the clubs and the district, and this year he went above and beyond the call of duty. Among other things, Jim stepped into the role of Interim Treasurer for the District, chaired the District Resolutions Committee, was instrumental in guiding the DG, DGE, DGN and DGND in ways to help our clubs and promote Rotary, and has been involved in initiatives to connect Rotary clubs with local chambers and their leadership programs. Please join me in congratulating Jim Fusco!

Ed Hall Foundation Award Goes To Jorge Yarzebski

Posted by Steven Sager on May 03, 2019

Congratulations to Westborough Rotarian Jorge Yarzebski, the 2018-19 recipient of the Ed Hall Outstanding Foundation Achievement Award! Jorge was recognized at the District Conference for the numerous efforts to better the world through the Rotary Foundation. Jorge has been involved with at least seven (7) Global Grants or their predecessor Matching Grants, including being one of the founders of the Global Emergency Medicine Initiative ("GEMINI"). The GEMINI project trains doctors and first responders in basic emergency medicine techniques, cardiac life support, advanced cardiac life support, and disaster training using a "train the trainer" model. The project started in Guatemala but has expanded to six (6) other countries and resulted in an ongoing partnership between UMass Medical School and the medical school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala! Jorge was also instrumental in obtaining the Global Grant to install stoves in Guatemala this year and managing the project! The Ed Hall Outstanding Foundation Achievement Award, named in honor of Past District Governor Ed Hall, is given to a District 7910 Rotarian who has shared unselfishly of his time, talent, and treasure, through the Rotary Foundation, to make the world a better place of all humanity. Jorge is only the second recipient of this award in D7910 history!

Contribute to The Rotary Foundation Today!

Posted by Steven Levitsky on May 09, 2019

We are rapidly approaching the end of the year for our Rotary Foundation Annual Fund contributions.

I know that many of you intend to make a gift and have a consistent history of contributing annually, but perhaps you just haven’t gotten around to it yet! The end of this Rotary year is right around the corner, and I urge you to consider making a gift to the Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund. I am confident that you know how we change lives with projects we do, both locally and internationally. Remember the gift that you make to the Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund eventually comes back and helps us fund Club projects with Global and District Grants that continue to promote good will and outstanding results.

As Rotarians, we are all probably aware that people generally give to non-profit charities for a few simple reasons. We give because we are passionate and believe in the cause. We donate because we can end up seeing the positive impact our gifts produce. And we give because we can and also because we are asked to contribute! So please consider making your contribution to the Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund by the end of June. Actually you don’t need to wait - do it now while you are thinking about it!

You can also short cut the process and make sure you and your club are credited with your contributions immediately by donating through Rotary Direct. CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH ROTARY DIRECT!

Thank you.

.

Rotary Basics Course Online Now

Posted on Apr 23, 2019

Want to test your Rotary knowledge? Need a resource for new member orientation? Rotary Basics is now an online course that introduces Rotary in an interactive, multimedia format.

In this new Learning Center course, you can read about members around the world, learn about our values and causes, watch videos, and deepen your understanding of Rotary. You can also take a quiz to test your Rotary knowledge.

The course was designed for new members, but it’s also a great refresher for other members or even an overview for nonmembers who want to know what Rotary is all about.

Rotary World Peace Conference 2020

Rotary World Peace Conference 2020 will be held in Ontario, California, USA on January 17 and 18, 2020. Rotary International President Elect Mark Maloney will be opening the conference.

The mission of the Rotary World Peace Conference 2020 is to bring together experts with solutions to major issues that are occurring in our personal lives, homes, schools, businesses, and communities around the world. Leaders from health care, academia, government, public safety, religions, business, and communities are invited to meet together and to share the solutions presented by experts. The format will allow for action plans to be developed such that real and measurable actions can be undertaken when attendees return home. In addition, the conference will showcase learning and positive change that have occurred in the four years, since the Rotary World Peace Conference 2016.