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RI representatives to global organizations increase Rotary’s impact
Schoolchildren in Ecuador are improving their reading, and their teachers are receiving additional professional development through a collaboration between Rotary and the Organization of American States (OAS).
The effort began three years ago when Richard Carson, RI representative to the OAS, and other Rotary members met with staff at the agency to discuss a set of literacy requirements for schools. They briefed the ministers of education of Central and South American countries on an approach to improve reading skills. Ecuador adopted the plan.
“We flew to Ecuador and met with the vice…
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Member interview: Colombian club's support for hospital spans decades
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
The Rotary Club of Cartagena, Colombia, has worked to bring health care to poor children for almost seven decades. Most recently, with support from a Rotary Foundation Global Grant and Rotarians around the world, the club has obtained more than $200,000 to provide pediatric cardiac care. Past club president German Spicker rounded up funds from Switzerland to Japan to help make it all happen.
THE ROTARIAN: Tell us about your city.
SPICKER: Cartagena is a city of contrasts. You find beautiful places that look like Miami Beach. But much of our…
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Member spotlight: A shed of one's own
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
Left with a deep emotional void after the loss of his wife four years ago, Ron Bowden discovered the perfect respite, a place filled with the whirring of buzz saws, the clanking of wrenches, and the listening ears of a band of brothers: his local men’s shed. An Australian phenomenon, the sheds are communal buildings equipped for light carpentry and other woodworking, bicycle repairs, or leatherwork, where men (women are welcome too) gather to tinker and socialize. Bowden, now a member of the Rotary Club of Toowoomba East, Australia, initially…
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Indian hospital project is eye-opening
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
When Camilla McGill planned her first visit to India about 10 years ago, she couldn’t have known how quickly – nor how painfully – she’d learn one of the trip’s most important lessons.
“I was alone in a hotel, and I had a nightmare,” she says. “I jumped out of bed, caught my foot in the sheet, fell to the floor, and hit my head.” In the morning, she found herself dizzy and disoriented, with a blossoming black eye, but she was determined to keep her first appointment: assisting with a National Immunization Day event with Rotarians at a nearby…
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Culture: Is self-publishing wishful inking?
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
Several years ago, I got an idea for a book, one so strange that I naturally became obsessed with it. The manuscript would consist of 30 one-page essays on the craft of writing, and 30 one-page stories. I had a title all picked out: This Won’t Take But a Minute, Honey.
I was terribly excited about Minute, Honey, which I fancied as a kind of Strunk and White for the post-modern set. And thus I set about pitching it to editors at various New York publishing houses. To call their reaction negative would be overstating the case. They were simply…
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Convention: Seoul’s artistic side
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
The neighborhoods of Seoul pulse with distinct personalities. Myeong-dong is for shopping. Hongdae is for partying. Gangnam is for people watching. And the charming neighborhood of Insa-dong will be a great place to delight over handmade crafts and antiques while you’re in Seoul for the 2016 Rotary International Convention from 28 May to 1 June.
Insa-dong’s reputation as a tourist destination began after the Korean War, but its roots as an artist’s haven go back more than 500 years, when it was home to a government painting school.
The neighborhood…
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Clubs: Mentor new members
From the November 2015 issue of The Rotarian
When Anna Harry relocated to Evergreen, Colo., she knew no one. But her father, George Harry, a member of the Rotary Club of Cary-Page, N.C., had a plan. While he was in town to help her move, he took her along to a make-up meeting at the Rotary Club of Evergreen. Three weeks later, she was a member.
But after her father had gone back home to North Carolina, Harry was nervous about attending a meeting on her own. Would people talk to her? Would she be able to make friends and get involved? What she didn’t know was that the Evergreen club has had an…
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Weakness in global economy lowers Rotary’s investment returns
At the October meeting of the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation, the Investment Committee advised of weaker-than-expected returns on Rotary’s investments, primarily due to negative returns in commodities and emerging-market assets.
During fiscal year 2015, which ended 30 June, the Annual Fund, excluding the operating reserve, recorded a loss of 0.2 percent; The RI General Fund was down 2.8 percent. Both the PolioPlus Fund and the Endowment Fund were up, but had minimal gains of 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
For the most recent quarter, Rotary anticipates negative returns for the…
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Help propel Miles to End Polio across finish line with district funds
Your district could earn a visit from Rotary International President-elect John Germ by contributing district designated funds (DDFs) to support the Miles to End Polio fundraising goal.
On 21 November, Rotary General Secretary John Hewko and eight Rotary staff members will ride in El Tour de Tucson, an annual bicycle race in Arizona, USA, to raise funds for PolioPlus. The team’s goal is $3.4 million, which will be tripled by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for a total of more than $10 million.
Last year’s team raised over $7 million, and DDF contributions from districts were a big…