The Rotary Club of Franklin is holding its very first virtual event, so this means anyone around the globe can participate. The event is called Say It With Art: A Valentine Date Night & Live Virtual Fine Art Auction. All purchased art will be framed and be shipped to your home address - free shipping within the U.S.

Our top stories are: December's 'Jingle & Mingle' Party Highlghts; Connect with Rotary's Service and Project Partners; and, Upcoming Club Events. 

To read the entire January newsletter, click here.

This is a slightly edited version of a December 29, 2020 article on MySouthborough.com:

This year, the Rotary Club of Southborough had big plans. In addition to supporting annual traditions, the Southborough chapter was looking forward to celebrating its 60th year. Then COVID-19 reared its ugly head.

Rotarians and Rotaractors worldwide unite in service to improve communities near and far. Together, we: promote peace; provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; support education; fight disease; save mothers and children; grow local economies; protect the environment; provide disaster relief; and eradicate polio. This work takes commitment, knowledge, leadership, and above all, determination to take action.

Please purchase your Christmas trees this year in Weston, to support scholarships, food-security projects and other charitable initiatives of the Rotary Club of Weston and Wayland.

Over the years, Acton Boy Scouts of America Troop 284 has picked up holiday trees as a fundraiser to support local troop activities. This year, Troop 284 is joining forces with Troop 1, also from Acton, to expand the fundraiser to better support scouting in Acton and our community. This event allows the scouts to give back to the community by helping families with holiday-tree removal.

In these interesting times, it is great to know that your local community members have got your back! The Rotary Club of Neponset Valley Sunrise was out a couple weekend ago, dropping bucks for gift cards from Salem Food Market, El Centro, La Taquria, Midway, Blue Ribbon BBQ, Big Bear Cafe, Brickhouse Cafe, Pizzadoro’s, Cathay Kitchen, Harrow’s, and Risers - all, in Dedham.

The Rotary Cub of Brookline helped support and encourage many families gather virtually to celebrate the holiday this year as well as provide Thanksgiving dinners for clients of the Brookline Food Pantry. The Brookline club also orchestrated a drive-by pick up on Noveember 25 of pre-purchased, traditional Thanksgiving dinners.   From 11:00Am to 5:00PM a parade of cars lined up for curbside pick-up of about 200 pre-purchased, traditional Thanksgiving dinners at Vine Ripe Grill, 1281 West Roxbury Pkwy, Chestnut Hill.  

Registration is open for District 7910’s RLI NEA's Seminar on January 23, 2021. Rotary Leadership (and Learning) Institute is delivering The Best Training about Rotary for Rotarians for only $25 - and, virtually via Zoom, making attending more convenient than ever! 

Save the date to bid early - and often - to benefit two worthy local causes! Join the Rotary Club of Acton-Boxborough for our virtual silent auction, Bid for Brighter Futures, from February 11 through February 27, 2021.

New videos have been added to Rotary International's Public Service Announcement campaign.

For more than 40 years, Rotary Youth Exchange has been one of Rotary’s best-known programs. As an official program, it dates to 1975 — but, by that time, Rotary clubs had already been sending students abroad for decades with the aim of promoting international understanding and friendship.

A Rotary DIversity, Equity, Inclusion Webinar is set for this November 12 at 4:00 p.m. (ET) The free webinar focuses on The Power of Connection with Diverse Communities, with moderator Beth Keck, practitioner-in-residence for China Studies at The Johns Hopkins University SAIS.

Vice President, Director at Worthy Village, Amanda Lanigan has worked as an educator in various capacities for nearly a decade. A Rotary Peace Fellow, sponsored by district is 7950, she is currently currently studying for her Masters in Conflict and Resolution as a Rotary Foundation Peace Scholar, abroad in Sweden.  Amanda holds a BA degree in History, with minors in Political Science and Secondary Education from Bridgewater State University. She has worked on education and cultural exchange programs in Mexico, Guatemala, and Cape Verde.

Amanda was involved with volunteer work in Guatemala and was deeply touched by the passion, work ethic, and community of all those involved. Upon returning home, she immediately began making an effort to bring opportunity into the organization, and continues to work on a daily basis to build Worthy Village. Through her efforts, our programs and methods were featured in the United Nations’ Youth Science-Policy Interface Publication on Disaster Risk Reduction. Amanda is deeply passionate about fostering cultural exchange and service learning opportunities for young people and adults.

Amanda hopes to explore the intersection of climate change and conflict, specifically regarding migration and food security. She is also interested in researching how peacebuilding methods can be utilized to empower marginalized groups.

Amanda has ten years of experience in the education and non-profit sectors. As an educator, Amanda aided in the development of programs designed to foster leadership, inclusivity, community service, and global citizenship. In the non-profit sector, she has worked with community leaders to develop programs focused on education, economic empowerment, and social services for underserved populations. She has also worked to enhance sustainability and cross-cultural communication in the non-profit sector. 

Over the summer, Amanda conducted research for International IDEA for her Applied Field Experience. There she conducted research on the impact of COVID on elections and Special Voting Arrangements. 

Currently, she is interning at Uppsala University with the Policing and Political Violence Project, and conducting research for the Dallaire Center of Excellence in Toronto on climate change and conflict. 

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On September 30, District 7910 held its second District Rotaract Zoom Meeting since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic last winter. This was the first meeting since colleges resumed their Fall 2020 schedule.

In many parts of the world, Rotary is a very prestigious institution that you must be invited to join and, as you know, costs a lot to belong to - especially, in developing countries. The result is that, in much of the world, Rotary is something to aspire to.  While at the Rotary International Convention in Seoul, South Korea, I discovered the Rotary Community Corps concept. A Rotary Community Corps is a way for members of the local community to participate in Rotary without membership costs. It's also a way for aspiring Rotarians to show their commitment to service above self.

We need your ideas to create the best RYLA ever. Yes, things are different now. The young people of District 7910 - our future leaders - need us more than ever. They need us to encourage and coach them, and to share our passion for service and our knowledge of all things Rotary. In the spirit of the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, in this time of COVID-19, we will mentor with compassion and creativity, we will put our diverse heads and hearts together to innovate to create opportunities for learning and connections. 

All children need a bed to sleep in. That is the mission of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a national non-profit that works to build thousands of beds for children so that no child anywhere across the nation will be sleeping on the floor. Getting thousands of children off the floor was the goal of SHP’s Build Day on September 26, called “Bunks Across America 2020,” during which local chapters built as many beds as possible on this one day. That may be 20 or more beds being built per chapter, and together across the nation with all the other chapters combined efforts, it amounted to thousands of beds being built in one single day.

Members of the Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley have been delivering masks to organizations in the Bolton, Lancaster and Stow area, including public-safety offices and nursing homes, as part of the Rotary Million Mask Challenge Tour. Several hundred masks have been delivered with plans to deliver at least another 500 more. More masks will ship in early October. If you or your organization needs masks, contact info@nashobarotary.org.

• August 2020

District 7910 has formed a Social Equity Task Force. This group will address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion within our clubs and our communities.

Invest one hour of your time on Wednesday, September 16 starting at 5:30 p.m. and it could dramatically change your Rotary club’s membership trajectory. Take part in a fast-paced, interactive session with Don Wilson, renowned sales educator, featured TedX speaker, and author of What’s Your Woobie? – Simple Strategies on Your Uncomfortable Path to New Opportunities.

Binish Desai (shown on the right) began working on an eco-friendly brick made out of recycling and waste, when he was 11. The former Rotary Youth Exchange student, inventor, and entrepreneur credits Rotary with giving him the support to pursue his dreams. Now he’s giving back through a new Rotary club.

The Rotary Club of Westborough has awarded scholarships to five local seniors. The scholarship program recognizes students who are contributing to the Rotary vision of a world where people unite and take action, creating lasting change in our communities and across the globe.

As the newly inducted president of the Rotary Club of Westborough, I am dedicated to “strengthening the club’s mission of providing service to others in our town." As such, we are reaching out to the community for suggestions to help with local projects that serve Westborough and the Worcester County community.

Your parents told you to be nice to people. Guess what? They were right. Here’s why. Doing good doesn’t only benefit other people. It helps us, too.

Your parents told you to be nice to people. Guess what? They were right. Here’s why. Doing good doesn’t only benefit other people. It helps us, too.

Greetings, fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors!I am so honored to serve as your president this year. We have important work ahead of us at Rotary, and we are going to have a lot of fun as we do it.

Last year, we launched our five-year Action Plan to build a stronger future for Rotary. We are working to increase our impact, expand our reach, enhance participant engagement, and increase our ability to adapt. The last several months have shown that we — as Rotarians and Rotaractors — can realize these goals as we forge a new path for the future.

You are invited to attend the Sturbridge Rotary Club’s Zoom program, 5 PM, Tuesday August 4^th, when Professor Patrick  Kirst will give us the scoop about movie music scoring. Zoom details below.

In Rotary year 2000-2001, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Patrick Kirst from Germany was host-counseled by the Sturbridge Rotary Club, while he studied at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.  He studied further at New York City University until “9/11” impacted him deeply; he lived just 10 blocks from Ground Zero!  He subsequently continued studies at the University of Southern California in LA, under distinguished composers such as Academy Award nominee David Raksin, Golden Globe nominee Christopher Young, Jack Smalley and Grammy Award winner Joe Harnell. 

• Celebrating accomplishments and acknowledging service. 
• Installation of the District Governor, Assistant Governors, and more
• Celebration of all Club Presidents for Rotary year 2020-2021 
• Looking forward to the year ahead, when Rotary opens new opportunities for all.
• Sharing fellowship. 
• Fun surprises.  

You are invited to join 2019-2020 District Governor Pam Anastasi and 2020-2021 District Governor Diana Nestorova for an evening of celebration, and be part of history in the making. Come join us in #District7910's first-ever - and hopefully our last - Online Celebration.

We are moving forward from our experiences with “Rotary Connects the World” into our new year, as we take action to create lasting change by “Rotary Opening Opportunities”. Invite your family to celebrate and support our #Rotarians and leaders of District7910.