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To the Rotary Club of Botany East Tamaki (Inc)

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

District Governors Visit

Our Rotary International Presidents theme this year is ‘Be The Inspiration’ and our District Governor Ingrid Waugh is wearing this theme on her sleeve. A charter member of the Rotary Club of Parnell, Ingrid is also well known to many of us through various District Committees and her role as Rotary Leadership Institute Chair for the District.

Having the advantage of having hear RI President Barry Rassin deliver his vision first hand at Convention in Toronto, it was very interesting from the Editors viewpoint to here how Ingrid was leveraging this along with her own goals to take our District a further step forward.

Goal One is about growing future leaders within our Clubs, District and the World. Something that Ingrid is passionate about and believes mentoring within and across our clubs is a key tool to growing our people. We also have a number of seminars coming up and Rotary International is also developing new training tools. Our Presidential Citation also is designed to as a key tool to assist our goal setting to achieve a successful outcome.

New Rotary Strategic Plan

Rotary’s strategic plan provides the framework for our future, ensuring that we continue to be known as a respected, dynamic organization that advances communities worldwide.

The strategic plan evolves with the aspirations of Rotarians. It is shaped by regular input from members through surveys, focus groups, committees, and meetings, so it can continue to help us achieve our goals.

In June, Rotary’s Board of Directors and Trustees approved a new vision statement for the organization:

“Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”

The new vision statement helps us set a future course so that Rotary can thrive in the years ahead. It reflects the impact Rotary aspires to have on the world and our members.

To get an unbiased perspective while we developed the vision statement, we worked with Grant Thornton, a consulting agency that specializes in planning and change management.

Rotary's Glass Ceiling

The following is the final few paragraphs of an article “Could you be the next RI President’ copied from The Rotarian magazine. Author Vanessa Glavinskas

MYTH: Women aren’t welcome.

After the 2018-19 Board was announced, The Rotarian magazine received a spike in letters expressing concern about the lack of women directors and wondering when Rotary will elect its first woman president. Rotarian Monica Smith wrote, “It pains me to see how little concrete action appears to be taken at many other clubs locally, nationally, and internationally to recruit, support, and promote women members, not to mention officers.” Texas Rotarian Sarah Carriker wrote, “If the leaders of Rotary really wanted more women in Rotary, there would be more women in leadership roles.”

Past RI President Riseley says the lack of women on the Board is unfortunate: “It indicates to the world and Rotary that there’s no place for women in Rotary – and that’s completely incorrect.”

Smith, a member of the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C., says her club’s strategies to diversify its membership could serve as a model for the organization. The club has attracted young professionals by enacting programs such as its “Rule of 35,” which offers discounted membership fees for new members under age 35. It also relaxed attendance requirements and moved club meetings to evenings to accommodate young professionals who can’t meet for lunch. “Making a program indicates you’re trying,” she says. Over the past few years, she says, club members have also made an effort to invite more women. That effort has paid off as those new members invite their friends. Now the club is about 40 percent women, and it has members from 30 countries.

Rotary International Convention

Recently I was lucky to have attended my 5th Rotary International Convention in Toronto Canada. Or as the locals call it Tronto!

Attached you will find the slides from my presentation this week in PDF form. This unfortunately gives you a small sample of the full activity set that took place. All this also before Leanne and with our kids then headed on to Orlando and then Seattle. I returned to work whilst Leanne and the kids then went on to Vancouver Island for another week.

Some 24,000 from 175 countries attended this years RI Convention. As always with these events, there is a great mix of subjects covered, a great many break out sessions and lots of opportunity to meet new people from around the world. So much that it makes it hard to pull out just a few highlights. But here are a few: Speakers included Helen Clarke and Canadian Prime Minister Justing Trudeau. We caught up with RYIE student Jason Pole who stayed with the Searles and we also can't forget that Stuart and Vivien Searle were inducted into the Arch Klumph Society

Crossing Borders

By I.J. Carido, a member of the Rotary Club of Smpaguita Grace Park, and the Rotaract Club of University of the East Caloocan, Philippines

During the summer when the weather is ever shifting, I joined members of the Rotary Club of Sampaguita Grace Park and the Rotaract clubs of University of the East Caloocan and University of Caloocan City to visit a majestic sight. The journey took us to Wawa Dam, a natural gem located two hours from the bustling streets and towering buildings of Makati and Manila. It was my first time to see a dam up-close and personal and as an aspiring engineer, the structure was a wonderful sight to me. However, what we were seeking lies far beyond the water reservoir.