Founded in 1922, the Rotary Club of Framingham has been serving the Framingham Community for over 96 years. The Club has announced that May 12th will be Service to Framingham Day with specific community needs addressed by the 40+ members, their families and the Interact Club students of the Fuller Middle School!!
Projects will include the clean-up of Simpson Park, planting trees, writing greeting cards for veterans, clean-up of the cemetery sites of veterans in anticipation of Memorial Day, conducting a Bingo game at Waterview Resident Care, landscaping at the YMCA and others still being added. Volunteers will gather at 8:30 at the Framingham YMCA for briefing and assignments. They will reconvene around 12:30-1:00 for fellowship and pizza.
The Watertown Rotary Club is hosting a Dancing With The Stars event May 11th.
The event will feature eight local “stars” and will be MC’d by our Town Council Chairman Mark Sideris. The event will take place at the Helenic Center in Watertown. Cocktail hour is at 6PM and the dancing starts at 7PM. Food will be free to those attending, and there will be drinks available for purchase. We will be raising funds for our club and for the local schools in our town. We would love to see our fellow Rotarians from other clubs!
Tickets can be bought at bit.ly/DWTWS2018 General admission tickets are $40 and VIP tickets are $60. Hellenic Cultural Center
Beyond Borders/the Newsletter of Zones 24 & 32/May 2018/page 3
For about a decade, the Bath Sunrise Rotary Club in District 7780 was “stuck” at a hard-core 11 members, who met regularly, did great service, but couldn’t seem to increase in number.
Club president Bob Reed says change began back in 2012 when, as District Governor, I challenged the club to reinvent themselves. “You’re small,” I pointed out in my “official” visit. “You don’t have a bunch of old-timers telling you what you can’t do. And you’re not afraid of work. So go out and make the changes you want to become the club you want. Who’s to stop you?”
What I said slowly took root, and the club decided to go through the strategic Visioning process. Unfortunately—and erroneously—the club was told that it needed to field 30 members in order to qualify for Visioning. Seemingly rebuffed, in 2014-15 the club created its own strategic planning process, under the guidance of then-president Erika Helgerson Bensen.
The Sturbridge Rotary Club has donated $5,000 to Literacy Volunteers of South Central MA located in Southbridge. This agency covers the six-town area of Southbridge, Sturbridge, Charlton, Webster, Dudley and Oxford. For more than 40 years, LVSCM has helped residents to open new doors of opportunity by teaching them to read, write and speak English. “In 2017, we provided instruction to over 150 adults with plans to grow that number in 2018. We rely on grant monies and support of community organizations, such as Sturbridge Rotary, to enable us to carry on our mission,” says Holly Christo, Executive Director.
Photo Caption: PDG Klaus Hachfeld and Holly Christo, Executive Director of Literacy Volunteers.
Savvas Fotiadis 17 Years in Rotary Paul Harris Fellow +5
Testimonial of Club President, Joe Sullivan/Service Impact
Savvas Fotiadis is always helping other people without expecting anything back. Over the last four years, inspired by his high school teacher and mentor - Mr. K, Savvas has raised about $40,000 to help orphans in Uganda at the GOSSAGE Orphanage in Golomolo village, and the Trio Primary School in the town of Mityana, both in Mukono District, 50 miles west of Kampala.
Through the "Friends of Uganda Orphans" they have supported the construction of a dining hall at the Gossage Orphanage and equipped the kitchen which provides free food to 131 kids at the cost of $600 per month.
Rotary District 7910 partnering with Liberty NY Rotary club and Moca, Puerto Rico Rotary club is providing relief from the devastating hurricanes of 2017. We have made a big impact on the wellbeing of the citizens of Moca and the Northwest corner of the island. We’re almost finished completing this reconstruction and we couldn’t have done it without your donations! Many clubs from District 7910 have made generous and significant donations and YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN PUERTO RICO!
So far, we have engaged in two missions to the island where Rotarians have managed the vaccination of over one thousand people, provided gifts to kids who missed their Christmas holiday, participated in the reconstruction of destroyed homes and replaced mold and insect infested mattresses for families. We have also purchased refrigerators and washing machines to help maintain sanitary conditions for the residents.
Testimonial of Club President, James Hohman /Service Impact
Jon traveled to Africa for a month 4 times a year of his own accord, did the community assessment, ordered all materials, acted as project manager and kept track of all the finances for the grant. Doing a grant in Africa from Massachusetts would not have been possible without Jon. The RC of Gbarnga was 1 year oldwhen we began, they had no resources and Ebola was spreading rampantly in Liberia. Jon worked collaboratively with them and us.
He also made numerous contacts in the community of Deanville, where the project took place. When we needed someone in charge of maintaining the wells for the community, Jon was able to find that person because he had embedded himself in their culture and worked well with the Liberians. This was true on all levels of the grant. Jon traveled to Africa at his own expense 4 times a year for a month each, away from his family, to manage the construction.
Everyone is raving about this year's District Assembly. Clubs from all over the District sent over 100 Rotarians to exchange ideas and learn best practices.
Facilitated discussions were held on membership, service, foundation, and public relations.
Club treasurers and secretaries learned tips and tricks to making their tasks easier, and newer Rotarians had a roundtable discussion with our District Governors.
District Governor Elect Steve Sager and District Governor Nominee Pam Anastasi are already making plans to expand and improve the workshops for next year.
Make sure to ask the members you sent to share what they learned with your entire club.
The Multi-District Rotary Addiction Prevention Task Force has had two recent meetings. It is clear that Rotarians in Massachusetts, New England and around the world are aware of the addiction crisis facing our nation, and they want to help.
To recap, there are 4 segments of addiction assistance: Prevention, Education/Awareness, Treatment and Recovery. While Rotary clubs can play a part in all 4 phases, the task force has decided to focus most of its work on prevention and education initiatives. There is plenty of opportunity to provide funding for treatment and recovery facilities, and that is highly encouraged. But we can provide greater service by focusing “upstream” to help prevent people from becoming addicted in the first place.
Rotary Donates to Literacy Volunteers
Rotary District 7910 partnering with Liberty NY Rotary club and Moca, Puerto Rico Rotary club is providing relief from the devastating hurricanes of 2017. We have made a big impact on the wellbeing of the citizens of Moca and the Northwest corner of the island. We’re almost finished completing this reconstruction and we couldn’t have done it without your donations! Many clubs from District 7910 have made generous and significant donations and YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN PUERTO RICO!
Jon Rossman
The Multi-District Rotary Addiction Prevention Task Force has had two recent meetings. It is clear that Rotarians in Massachusetts, New England and around the world are aware of the addiction crisis facing our nation, and they want to help..jpg){kind=logo}
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