Every Rotarian Every Year

Jim Edholm is the Rotary District 7930 representative of the EREY:Every Rotarian Every Year. His purpose in coming to our club is to talk about RI Foundation and giving. Our ultimate goal is to get every Rotarian to give every year at whatever level they can afford. Jim is a past president of the Lawrence club, currently the foundation chair, and has been in Rotary for 20 years.

April 22, 2008

Let's get the international side of the club going even more: do you have a country to which you are partial or which really interests you? How about you do a little research and tell us about what RI is doing in that country? You could tell us at a club meeting, or write an item for this newsletter. For example, today, looking through some old "Rotary World" newsletters inherited from Past Presidents in "the box," I learned that after a Kabul, Afghanistan Club started in 1968, RI had no club active in Afghanistan from 1979 until 2002.  Really interesting to me is the fact that one of the sponsors of the Kabul club that restarted in 2002 was the Rotary Club of Hayward Sunset, California, which was almost entirely made up of Afghan immigrants! That's a whole other story...

But, I wondered, what's happened since then? So I tried searching for the Hayward Sunset Club. The club may still be active, but their website seems to have died in 2003.  Then I found another club, Sebatopol, that seems to be active in Afghanistan now, and also has some kind of ties to the Hayward Sunset Club. So where's Sebastopol? California! Though my whole immediate family was born in CA and I've lived there and been there a few times, I've never heard of either. It turns out Sebastopol is north of San Francisco, between Santa Rosa and the Pacific Ocean. I think I have family from there! And it turns out Hayward Sunset is the early evening Rotary Club of Hayward, CA, near Oakland. Jack Del Rio and Kristi Yamaguchi are supposedly from Hayward.

Anyway, the Sebastol Club is active with Afghanistan, most recently tracking a shipment of sewing machines, pizza ovens, generators and medical equipment to a school near or in Kabul that serves over 200 widows. And it turns out a woman in the Duxbury, MA Rotary Club (17 members?!) is leading her club towards building a school for women near Kabul. They have raised over $100,000 so far! Apparently security is an ongoing issue for the Kabul Club, but they are working towards establishing another club in Afghanistan, so they must be doing all right.

Rotary is truly amazing, largely because its members are amazing. What's your passion to "make dreams real?" As some of you know, my passion seems to be South Africa. More in another issue about what our club did there and what's happened since...

Fines are beginning to be imposed on those who have not yet contributed items totaling $150.00 to our annual auction. This is our most important fund raiser of the year and everyone's support is needed. We are requesting that you deliver auction items by May 2nd. Download a PDF copy of the auction form or you may pick one up at Thursday's meeting.

Bill & Rosemary Klueber were awarded with this year's Distinguished Citizen' award by the Yankee Clipper Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Pictured above are past recipients of the award. Notably among the past recipients are Rotarians: Don Laing 1989, Tom Faulkner 2002, Rabbi Ira Korinow 2005, Rev. David Thomas 2002, King Davis 1991, Scott Cote 2007 and Joe Cleary 2004.

Keep up with what's happening in Rotary District 7930.
You may download a copy of the February/March Newsletter or visit the web site:http://www.rotary7930.org

Rotary Club of Haverhill is part of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, whose mission is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards, and to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders. Each year, the Rotary Club of Haverhill raises and distributes more than $50,000.00 annually to local community charities that work to make our community a better place in which to live. Rotary Club of Haverhill places a high emphasis on serving the needs in the community of Haverhill. The application deadline is June 1st of each year. If you know somebody who would like to apply for a grant download the form and return it to one of the club's officers.

As Rotarians we try to make every event we support the best it can be. Planning is an important part of having a successful evening serving community meals. We need people to bring desserts, help serve and help clean up. Please contact Bernie Clohisy and let him know if you plan to help. Thank you

Diane Franz, Sr. Director, United Way - Proposed by John Cuneo

April 24 - Jim Edholm, Every Rotarian Every Year District 7930
May 1 - Bob Carr, Manager of Government Affairs for Comcast's North Region
May 8 - Masaru Komura, Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan, studying at the JFK School of Govt., Harvard University Project.
We are looking for a club member willing to pick Masaru up in Cambridge the morning of May 8th and a club member to return him after the meeting.
May 15 - Brendan Neagle and Andrew Reed, Borrego Solar Systems, Inc.
June 5 - Reverend Paul H. Dionne, Atkinson Congregational Church
June 12 - Colonel Jackson "Randy" Dobbins, USAF Commander of the 66th Medical Group
June 19 - Stanley Usovicz, Verizon Regional Director of External Relations
See John Cuneo if you have an interesting speaker for our meetings.