Or should I say, what is your ROTARY story? And who are you telling it to? We all have a reason why we chose to join Rotary and it must be compelling because you are here. If you missed the email from RI regarding this very topic, please dig through your email or follow the link below to register for a great Storytelling Webinar and take your story from interesting to IRRESISTABLE!
If we want to grow Rotary, we need to share our stories and share this link. Let’s all improve our storytelling and make the TRUTH about Rotary shine a bright beacon of light in the direction of our future Rotarians.
It’s contribution time! Have you made your contribution to the Rotary Foundation? Your contribution enables us to implement projects locally and around the world. Please consider giving before June 30.
IT IS PEACE SCHOLAR APPLICATION TIME
The Rotary Peace Fellowship application for fully funded 2025 fellowships is now available for both our master’s degree programs and our professional development certificate programs. The application deadline is May 15. Candidates can learn more and start an application:https://my.rotary.org/en/peace-fellowship-application.
Let us have our District sponsor an applicant. You can contact Bill Hunter at wdh3@lehigh.edu
Our Rotary Foundation Dollars at work – International Projects:
Did you ever hear of the country Burkina Faso? Burkina Faso is in the Sahel region of West Africa. The Sahel region ranks among the lowest on the United Nations Development Program Human Development Index (HDI). For the first time, our District is supporting a global grant in this country under the leadership of Kate Hoath from the Souderton-Telford Club. The grant is helping over 200 (and more in the future) students in a middle school by providing: equipment/materials and installation of water for toilet blocks, including hand-washing stations with sinks, equipment/materials and installation of solar panels/batteries for the middle school, and books/desks for basic education. The project had been delayed for quite a while due to country conflict. We are now very excited that the work has begun. Way to go Souderton-Telford!
Our Rotary Foundation Dollars at work – Local Projects
Mental Health issues are being addressed by our Easton Club with “Mindfulness Matters.”
This is a project being implemented in conjunction with the Local YMCA to address mental health needs for children as well as seniors.
When you send an email through ClubRunner, do you check your stats, to see how many of your club members are receiving and opening your emails? This is an important, even crucial, part of your public image work. What’s the point of taking hours putting together a bulletin or organizing an email campaign to your members if fewer than 2/3 of your email list will be reading your emails? (See image below for a stats report)
Within the last few months, ClubRunner has begun putting a warning on the home page of your website when you are logged in, after you click “Member Area,” letting you know that there are unresolved mailing errors. It looks like this:
Attention Needed: There are blocked emails that require your attention. As a result, some recipients may not be receiving emails. Review the Blocked Email list here.
It also appears on the District’s home page, so that I can see there are 42 pages of members in our district whose email addresses are blocked from receiving mail through ClubRunner. Some of those addresses have been blocked since 2016.
Some of the reasons for emails being blocked include names not being recognized by a business, probably because the member has changed jobs but did not update the email address. Many have marked Rotary email as spam. Several have spelling errors somewhere in the address.
It would be a huge help to your club and your district if you cleaned up your club’s email list. During a meeting, ask your members to look at their profiles on CR and check their emails. If they have downloaded the CR mobile app, it shouldn’t take more than four minutes to complete. If they have listed Rotary email as spam, you may want to have another kind of discussion with the member; do they know they did that? Did they feel they get too many emails from your club?
At the district level, we do try to keep the emails you receive to a minimum. If you are reading this, thank you. Your email is clear!
PACU Assistant: Mike Scott - Souderton – Telford RD
Children’s Activity Director: Andy Johanson: Blue Bell RC
Patient Transport: Leonard Walter – Fleetwood RC
Ever wonder what happens on a Rotaplast Mission? You can follow the mission on the Rotaplast website. Here is the LINK to the most recent mission in Cebu City, Philippines.
Don’t forget to come visit us at the District Conference in the House of Inspiration!
Want to help? We will be collecting teenie Beanies at the HOI to take on the mission to hand out to the kids
YEA! YEA! It’s time to Register for STEM YEA 2024!
Registration for STEM YEA 2024, our District-wide STEM event for rising seventh graders, has begun. The deadline for registration is May 1, 2024. Tuition for your sponsored student is $375.
The event is being held from July 11-14 at Kutztown University. The theme is “Astrobiology: The Search for Life on Mars.”
Students are nominated by their schools and sponsored by their local Rotary Clubs. The nominated students should be:
Motivated to learn in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Likely to enjoy and succeed in an overnight academy
If you were at MAPETS in February, you were fortunate enough to witness Jason Browne’s “Uncheck the Box” presentation. It was a fun and engaging presentation that helped all of us see what practices we do in our meetings that may or may not make people feel welcome in our circles without making people feel bad.
On Saturday, April 6, from 10 a.m. – Noon, our two zones (28 and 32) will host a Train the Trainer for anyone interested in welcoming outsiders and helping us to grow our membership. We hope you can join us.
Protecting the Environment – it’s one of Rotary’s areas of focus. Rotarians are committed to supporting activities that conserve and protect natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment.
This is Environment Month in Rotary. In District 7430, we’re celebrating our focus on the environment by once again holding the Rotary Day of Service on April 20. On that day and throughout the month Rotarians across our 5-county District will be cleaning up their neighborhoods (streets, streams, parks, and trails), planting trees for the next generation, starting pollinator gardens to help increase our pollinating insect populations, and recycling single use plastics so they don’t end up in landfills.
At the District Assembly, the Environmental Sustainability Team will be presenting a breakout session on successful projects carried out by our District Clubs. Come to learn about projects that make a difference. We’ll talk about how to get started with your own pollinator and community gardens, tree plantings, stream restoration, and plastics recycling. And, you’ll hear how Rotarians are helping kids recycle food in schools so it stays out of landfills.
If you can’t make it to the conference, feel free to give me a call to discuss how you can get started with your club’s next environmental project. (Terry Reed 610-743-0818)
Do you garden with wildlife in mind? Here are some tips from Kay Greenawalt of the Hamburg Rotary Club:
By providing the basic elements of habitat – food, water, and cover, you can easily attract birds, butterflies, and bees to your garden. One way to reduce reliance on chemical fertilizers is to plant native plants. Native plants thrive with little water. Using native plants helps to support 90 percent of butterflies and moths and up to 60 percent of native bees in a specific ecoregion. Bees are currently declining due to habitat loss and pesticide poisoning and are in need our help.
To learn more about supporting wildlife, you are invited to join the Hamburg National Wildlife Habitat Committee’s ANNUAL GARDEN TOUR, Saturday, June 22, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $6 on the day of the tour and $5 presale. Self-guided tour guide and tickets can be picked up at Our Town Foundation, 320 State Street, Hamburg, PA. Any questions, please call Kay 610-562-4329 or 610-562-3106. Rain or shine. Light refreshments and door prizes will be available.
The Big-Ticket Reverse Raffle is on April 13, 2024, at the Indian Valley Country Club. All net proceeds go to the Rotary District 7430 STEM Youth Explorer Academy.
Join us for a night that includes dinner, dancing, a photo booth, prizes, gorgeous baskets and a caricaturist.
Dr. Laura McBride is the keynote speaker. She will share highlights of her STEM journey from Methacton High School to being an internationally recognized specialist in climate science.
For tickets contact Al Engel (alengel007@aol.com) or Darlene Scott (dscott8956@gmail.com).
Catch up with other STEM YEA enthusiasts at this event!
The 2024 Camp Neidig registration is officially underway. We currently have 29 clubs registered with 94 camper spots reserved. The Camp Neidig program needs 113 students to break even at our current $325 camper fee. The Camp Neidig Committee is requesting help with two things.
Clubs that have not registered should register by clicking this link Club Registration 2024. There is no finanacial obligation until you register students. The second thing is to get campers registered by May 15. The packets with all the information is posted on our website:http://www.campneidig.com/forms--registration.html. If you missed the Camp Neidig training, please contact Wendy Body wgbody@yahoo.com and she can set up an individual training session.
The Camp Neidig Program is an incredible opportunity for students who have completed their junior year and will be starting their senior year in the autumn. Your club can help to alter the course of a young person’s life by sponsoring them. We appreciate your support of our camp.
Look for the exchange students to bring some youthfulness to the District Conference on April 27. If your club hasn’t hosted a student in the past or sent a student abroad for a year, please take some time during the conference to ask these youth how it has impacted their life so far. You will be amazed by their answers. The new experiences have included everything from a new after school sport, trying new foods (someone ate chicken feet during our trip to NYC!), meeting new people (at school and through Rotary) and even going axe throwing! Do you remember the first time you experienced snow? We have two students who can tell you their stories from a few weeks back when the snow descended upon us.
How can you help shape the lives of our future leaders?
The RYE committee is looking for a few volunteers to help with the 2024-25 program. You must be able to pass the PA State background checks and have a willingness to support high-school-aged students as they embark on a year of new experiences. It could be anything from being a chaperone at an event, providing rides to group outings or being a shoulder to cry on when they feel homesick or to celebrate with them when they get their report card with good grades. Maybe you'll teach them how to make your favorite meal, or open your vacation home to the group for the weekend, or share your season passes to a museum, a sporting event or the theatre. There’s so much to share and allow these students to enjoy during their time in the United States and, particularly, in PA. Our volunteers give the time they are able with the skills and passions they are willing to share with these students. Reach out to one of our committee members to learn more.https://www.rotary7430yep.org/page/committee-members
We can do more when we have more. We’d also like to give a shout out to all the current committee members who have dedicated their time this year to support these outstanding students. We look forward to more good times in the future.
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