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Club News
HARRISBURG: The Harrisburg Club conducted a membership drive during October. Club members were divided into teams and points were awarded for perfect attendance during the month, inviting guests, wearing Rotary pins, giving a Rotary fact at the meeting, getting a new member, and attending the tailgate party. The winning team was awarded a special prize at the end of the drive.
MARION: The Marion Club distributed 450 dictionaries to 3rd graders at Marion Elementary as part of it's annual literacy program. Several individual members have also volunteered to tutor adult literacy students one-on-one through the county's literacy program.
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Greetings!
This month is Rotary Foundation month and as I thought about what to write, my thoughts drifted back to the foundations that existed when I was a kid. The 700 or so citizens of Weiner, the community where I grew up, often banded together to provide assistance when needed. One such incident involved a fourth-grade classmate of mine named Jim. Recently at a high school reunion (I won't say which one) Jim recounted the story. His mom and stepdad each had several children, so the family was large. They moved to Weiner because his stepdad believed it was a good place to raise kids. They moved into an old two-story wooden house near the cemetery and immediately began to fix it up in the evenings after work. One winter evening as the kids were upstairs sleeping, his mom spilled some gasoline and the house caught on fire . . .
Ray Keller, District Governor 2008-09 Rotary International District 6150 |
The Rotary Foundation's Beginning
Some magnificent projects grow from very small seeds. The Rotary Foundation had that sort of modest beginning. In 1917 R.I. President Arch Klumph told the delegates to the Atlanta Convention that "it seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world." The response was polite and favorable, but the fund was slow to materialize. A year later the "Rotary Endowment Fund," as it was first labeled, received its first contribution of $26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, which was the balance of the Kansas City Convention account following the 1918 annual meeting. Additional small amounts were annually contributed, but after six years it is reported that the endowment fund had only reached $700. A decade later, The Rotary Foundation was formally established at the 1928 Minneapolis Convention. In the next four years the Foundation fund grew to $50,000.
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 RI General Secretary Addresses Impact of U.S. Financial Crisis
Dear Rotarians,
Given the troubling news from Wall Street over the past several weeks, we have received many inquiries about the impact these events will have on Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
Although our investments have lost value in the short term, we believe they will recover when the financial markets stabilize. In addition, Rotary maintains a diversified portfolio that includes investments outside of the markets that were adversely impacted by recent events. Rotary's investment policies have proven to be sound through past down markets. This prudent management should allow our programs and projects to continue as planned.
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 Rotary News from Around the World
KENYA: A project begun by Rotarian David Maupin of Redlands, California, to honor the memory of his friend is now helping Kenyan orphans who've lost their parents to AIDS.
PERU: For the past 25 years, the Rotary Club of Monterrico-Surco has been hosting what it calls an annual "happiness caravan" for low-income seniors in the Lima area, serving up food, music, and dancing as well as tending to the seniors' medical and personal needs.
FRANCE: Collecting donated computer equipment for budget-strapped middle schools in and around northern Tarn, France, has become a central cause for the forward-looking Rotary Club of Carmaux, which is providing students with the tools needed to keep pace with fast-moving technology.
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Ray Keller, District Governor 2008-09
Rotary International District 6150 | |
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