August 11th update

Rotarian friends. It has been a couple of weeks since I added to the Blog, so I thought I would share with you a few of the things that have happen since then. Firstly, it has been great to see the response from 7020 to our President Membership Seminar August 25th in Ft. Lauderdale. We have 52 registered from 7020. The only district with more attendees is the host District (6990) of south Florida. I look forward to being with you there.

Here is a quote from RI President Wilf Wilkinson taken from The Rotary Club of St. Thomas II “The Tattler” thank you St. Thomas II!

"The current recruitment practices of clubs can't continue," Wilkinson said. "What needs to happen is for every Rotarian in every club to bring in one qualified new member every year."
Inviting new club members is one way Rotarians can live up to this year's theme of Rotary Shares, said Wilkinson at the conference. The conference is one of a series of seven events to be held in July and August in Canada and the United States. In July the conferences were held in Philadelphia; Nashville; and South Bend, Indiana. In August, the conferences will be held in Denver; Vancouver, B.C.; San Jose, California; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. If those events prove successful, similar ones may be organized in other parts of the world.

The two-day conferences include plenary sessions, panel discussions, and workshops on topics such as generational differences, demographic changes, potential new members, and the challenges of service organizations.

Wilkinson cited RI research showing that only 18 percent of Rotarians in a given club ever bring in a new member. But inviting qualified, active members is "the single most important thing that you can do for your club and community," he said. To survive and continue to meet communities' increasing needs, Wilkinson stressed, "Rotary needs to grow."

The goal of the presidential conferences was for Rotarians to come away with plans for finding and keeping club members. Wilkinson noted, however, that there's no one-size-fits-all solution for Rotary clubs.

"Rotary Shares," he said, "and each one of us must take it upon ourselves individually to share the gift of Rotary membership with one new person - this year, and every year to come."

Some thoughts published in the Rotary Club of East Nassau eAxis
Find your competitive spirit

There's nothing like a little friendly competition to motivate people. In 1995-96, clubs in District 6580 (Indiana, USA) used football as an inspiration to increase membership. The clubs divided their members into teams of 10, and each team was charged with nominating potential members. Teams received one point for nominating a candidate and six points if the candidate was inducted. Just like in the National Football League, teams with the most points advanced through a playoff cycle until one was named champion. The district ended the year with a net gain of nearly 150 new club members.

Nassau’s New Providence Club
The New Providence Rotary Club is inducting its first female on Monday evening and we are very excited about it. The club leadership has worked aggressively since the beginning of their Rotary year on membership and I am confidant that the results will be easily seen at award time.
Presidents remember that your club must have a net gain of one AND the president must personally sponsor someone into the club. An example of leadership by example!

My Family
On the family side things have been a little hectic of late. Carla broke two toes and a bone in her foot early last week when she slipped in water at the base of the steps going to our office in the house. With the schedule we keep and the things we need to do, it would appear that the timing could not be worse. Carla being the amazing person she is, is back at it with cast and all. As a matter of fact she is at work this afternoon while I am writing this.

Our children are fine, Ellissa our 30 year old daughter runs our Day Spa at Caves and oversees the other2 in our absence. Pictured below

Meghen our youngest (28) is working in the Exumas at the Normans Cay Beach Club. She is back for a few days so we are enjoying it. When she goes back on Monday, it may be 2 months before we see her again due to our travel schedule Here is a look at an Exuma sand bar off the back of the boat.

Great things are happening on the Training Front, we have an RLI set for November 3rd and 4th in Montego Bay Jamaica. Please check the RLI web site to register. http://www.rlitraining.org/ A special Thank You to Diana for taking training to new heights in the District. Go to http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/7020/NewsBulletin/1046/2007Summer.pdf to see the Training Tattle. Good ideas and information

I was very proud to see the response to the tragedy in Sint Maarten when the “I Can Foundation” Orphanage burned down which housed 22 children. Many clubs have helped or offered to. Thank you!

The District Conference in May 2008 is coming along very well. We are hoping to have approximately 1000 Rotarians for the joint conference portion. Please sign up early. You can register on line at a link from the District site http://www.7020.org/


From Kitty Bucsko published in the Rotary Club of Anguilla’s weekly “Rotary Rap”
One of the colourful traditions of many Rotary clubs is the exchange of small banners, flags or pennants. Rotarians traveling to distant locations often take banners to exchange at “make-up” meetings as a token of friendship. Many clubs use the decorative banners they have received for attractive displays at club meetings and district events.

The Rotary International board recognized the growing popularity of the banner exchange back in 1959 and suggested that those clubs which participate in such exchanges give careful thought to the design of their banners in order they be distinctive and expressive of the community and country of which the club is a part. It is recommended that banners include pictures, slogans or designs which portray the territorial area of the club.

Please share your club bulletins with other clubs and send copies to Karen Biker, our Public Image chair so whe can add your news to the monthly District bulletin. Her e-mail is karenbiker@tcrealty.com

We have had a number of recipes come in for the Cook Book, but not nearly enough. Please focus on that project to make it a success.

Here is a brief look at our travel schedule for the next few months. I will be updating while on the road to keep you abreast of what we are doing and seeing that may be of interest.
Florida August 24th to 26th
Virginia August 26th 29th
Home August 30th, September 2nd
Haiti September 3rd,to September 14th
Home September 15th to 17th
Jamaica September 19th to 26th
Home September 27th to 30th
Zone Institute North Myrtle Beach October 1st to 7th
Home October 8th to 10th
US/B VI October 11th to 21st
Home October 22nd to 31st

I'm going to miss this!

Give a man a fish,

Feed him for a day.

Teach a man to Fish

Feed him for a lifetime.

Have a great day.
DG Dick

Haiti PETS Trip

What an interesting country and what great challenges and opportunities Rotary has.
Population 8.3 Million
Life Expectancy 53 years
Literacy Rate 52.9%
Infant Mortality 71.65 deaths/1,000 live births
Highest Infant Mortality rate in the world,
Highest Maternal Mortality rate in the world.
More than 2/3rds of the Labour Force do not have formal jobs
80% of the population lives below the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty.
We began with the usual travel challenges. Our flight from Miami to Port Au Prince was originally delayed for mechanical reasons. After sitting on board the plane for a half hour a man who had shown signs of mental illness while we were waiting on the flight at the gate flipped out. Clearly an anxiety attack of some kind. The police were called on to the plane and 5 of them after 1 hour were able to restrain him and take him off after climbing over seats and dragging him out to the isle. All the while, we were all on the plane and in true fashion a group of passengers had formed around the excitement and in the local “Caribbean Way” verbally and emotionally were getting involved. Needless to say the option of getting off and trying again later was being considered. We arrived in Haiti 2 hours late.
We were met by ADG’ Nessim Izmery in the customs area. Rotary has the respect to still be able to do this in the Caribbean. We went through the gauntlet of waiting locals who wanted to carry our bags and get some sort of contribution. We arrived at the Hotel Montana and were greeted by ADG Robert Leger, PDG Amos Derosier, Haitian Ambassador to the Bahamas Joseph, and PP of the Petion-Ville Club Claude Surena
Once Carla and I settled in we met the group in the lobby area to discuss PETS of the next day and briefly the plans for the meeting Sunday morning of the Haiti Task Force and the Water Symposium. ADG Caleb Lucien joined us for that meeting. From there we had dinner with Caleb and retired for the night.
PETS was held at Dr Guy Theadore’s medical facility. There were approximately 50 expected, but the final count was 13 Presidents, The same number of Secretaries, and a balance of 9 people who were Treasurers or other for a total of 35.
I did a theme and opening session in English using French slides and Caleb interpreted for me. It was great and we were OUI !, OUI !, OUI ! (Yes, Yes, Yes) through the whole thing.
The balance of the sessions were done in separate sessions, Presidents in one, Secretaries and Treasurers in another with a joint lunch and a joint closing. Super job done by the ADG’s. Clearly they are all very capable of Leading and Training their teams.
For the record, the ADG’s areas are as follows:
Nessim Izmery Central Haiti
Caleb Lucien North East
Robert Leger South
Yves Martial North West
A special Thank You again to the Haiti team of ADG’s for putting this on, Guy Theodore for hosting the event, Diana for helping set this up and to all who attended.
On Saturday night we attended a joint meeting of the clubs in Nessim’s area where they were doing the changeover. A wonderful event at a wonderful venue. They asked me to day a few words and since mostly everybody spoke French I said just a few. A Grook from Peit Hein says “If no thought your mind doth visit, make your speech not too explicit” I had the privilege of bestowing a Paul Harris on one of the hard working Rotarian ladies from the Rotary Club of Petion-Ville.
The next morning we had a breakfast at the picturesque Hotel restaurant and then went on to meet with the Haiti Task Force (4 ADG’s and Chaired by Guy Theodore) Charles Adams, Advisor to the Pure Water for the World, and Roman Cipus, the Haiti manager for the Pure Water for the World, and Dr. Claude Surena, the Chair of the Water Symposium to be held in Haiti in December 14th and 15th 2007.
The meeting achieved 2 great things. It was agreed among all present that any further advancement of any program involving Rotarians in Haiti would be channeled through the Task Force and their input and involvement would be integral to the planning of the projects. The Pure Water for the World project is one that demands thinking beyond the project by club thinking. The intension is to roll out the Pure Water program in the same way the Polio Eradication Program rolled out. In Haiti the specific resources are the Faith Based constituencies. Pure Water has done a study of the demand by each of those sectors. It was agreed by all that the plan forward was for Pure Water for the World to provide the Task Force and myself with a copy of the document which clearly defines the scope of the project, the resources they expect to be involved, the research data and the execution plan. We as a District should be very excited about this project for many reasons. Updates will follow.
We then went to lunch at the Petion-Ville Club with ADG Nessim. IT was a wonderful experience at a great private club. Off to the Airport. American Airlines, flight delayed 2 hours, arrived at the hotel 11:30 PM in Ft. Lauderdale.
The following are pictures from Haiti. A typical bus, a group picture of PETS, over-crowding in the hills of P. A. P., a typical street, vendors that sell everything and anything and the White House.

We're in Haiti

We're here! Haiti is an extremely intense country. They never slow down. There are people on the streets selling their wares early in the morning until late into the night, even thru the Tropical Wave that we brought with us. The art work and crafts are everywhere. Beautiful furniture being made on the side of the street. Amazing. The hospitality and enthusiasm of the Rotary exceeds the intensity of the country. PETS was great!! A huge thank you to Haiti Task Force and Water Chair Guy and the AGs for all the work in organizing PETS, the translation, chauffeuring etc. We greatly appreciate it. Last year 6 out of 16 clubs in Haiti contributed to the Rotary Foundation, the Presidents, Secretaries and Treasurers have given their personal commitment that every single club in Haiti will contribute something to the Foundation this year. Yes! Yes! Yes! Oui! Oui! Oui! We meet with Charles Adams of Pure Water today along with the Haiti Task Force (the group that coordinates inbound joint projects to Haiti) and then off to fight with American Airlines. That's a whole other story, but I'm not sure there are enough *&^(*&% on the keyboard for it. More of Hait with pictures to follow. Blog at you soon. Carla

The year has started!

The Rotary year has started for me with a communication challenge. The mail server at Coralwave Bahamas has had serious problems over the last 6 weeks, culminating in a total collapse over the last two weeks. I have lost many e-mails or they have bounced back or remain in cyber space. The problem seems to have been rectified in the last two or three days and I am now in catch up mode, currently 169 e-mails to clear. I should get most of them cleared over the next few days.
I am away on business next week, Monday to Thursday, back in Nassau Thursday night and off to Haiti for PETS on Friday the 20th. I am looking forward to the visit there. I will appraise you of the travel as soon as I return.
Beginning now, I will post weekly the Rotary activities that may be of interest to some for the fun of it and also to keep some kind of a historical journal of the year.
I will e-mail the blog site to all District Rotarian's today which should prove helpful as a tool to communicate.
Yours in Rotary
DG Dick

This is the 52 Chevy. We called it Blus but given what happened the other night we may change it to

"Moody Blues"

Show Time

Rotarians of District 7020, the new Rotary year has started. I hope that all Rotarians and their Clubs have an enjoyable and successful year. I enjoyed the joint changeover meetings of the Rotary Clubs of Nassau, Nassau Sunrise and New Providence on Friday night as a prelude to the Southeast Changeover Saturday night. All went well and were memorable events. I had hoped to attend our RID Barry Rassins birthdat Saturday night after our club changeover, however my 1952 Chevy Truck broke down on the way, so I spent the special momment where I actually became the District Governor sitting in a tow truck on a ride home. Things happen.

I plan to provide a regular cronicle of my days as District Governor and hope it will prove interesting and enjoyable for those that choose to look at it.

Lets have a great year and in the process make the lives of many a little better.

DG Dick

Off to Sat Lake City

Carla and I are off to Canada for a short visit with the family and then on to Salt Lake City. we look forward to seeing all the 7020 Rotarians while we are there. Travel safe and see you soon.
Dick