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CELEBRATE ROTARY ON THE SHORELINE

Join us for the 2016 District Conference!
Muskegon, Michigan
April 22, 23 & 24, 2016

On-site registration opens at noon on Friday April 22
Friday 3:00 to 5:00 Rotary Foundation Grant Management Seminar
Friday 6:30 pm Celebrate Rotary Foundation Dinner
Saturday 9:30 am Conference Sessions Begin
Sunday 11:00 am Conference Adjourns
 
 
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2016 Events and Deadlines

Things are heating up on the District Calendar. Grant Management Workshops . . . Youth Exchange Conferences . . . Rotary Leadership Institute . . . District Conference . . . 

Be sure to save the dates! Keep reading for all the details.

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April is Maternal and Child Health Month

 
When thinking about April being Maternal and Child Health month I decided to review some of the projects in Rotary Showcase and Rotary Ideas. What a privilege to join in life transforming projects by giving to The Rotary Foundation. Take some time to read the projects below and then peruse these sites to find scores of other worthy projects.
  • A horse show in Nevada raising funds for a Nevada Children’s Cancer Foundation
  • A multi-specialty health camp in India for pediatric and dental care.
  • Workshop in the Philippines for parents raising children in this technological era.
  • Colombia hospital project for obtaining biomedical equipment to provide care for neonatal and pediatric patients.
  • A maternal healthcare project in Uganda to purchase ultrasound machines for HIV screening and program testing.
  • Adopt a hydrocephalus baby project in the Philippines.
  • In Nigeria there is a project to provide basic health care services and medications to women and children.
  • Turkey awareness program to inform and decrease childhood marriages called “Still Child”.
  • Smile, Siberia is a project providing free surgeries for Siberian kids having cleft lip and palate.
As I hear my grandchildren play in a nearby room, I am thankful for their good health but reminded of the tens of thousands of children around the world who cannot hear, speak or walk. Children who are in need of medical attention that only Rotarians will provide. Also, we are to be reminded of an untold number of women who need the care of medical personnel or medicine.
 
What can we do? Look for opportunities to financially support Maternal and Child Health projects on My Rotary and give through The Rotary Foundation. Or if possible take a visit to a country of need and look for ways to assist people who need assistance. Thank you for making a difference in being a gift to the world! 

Everyday Leadership

Have you thought of leadership as being an everyday occurrence? It is living life by taking time to care about other people. It is sharing life one conversation at a time. The impact on changing the world is realizing that it happens through simple actions of daily living.
 
Recently I watched and listened to a Ted Talk by Drew Dudley. I had never heard of him before but his message is clear. He believes that “leadership is not a characteristic reserved for the extraordinary”. Intentionally he delivers the message for people to discover the “leader within themselves”.
 
I challenge you to take six minutes and 10 seconds to watch this Drew Dudley Ted Talk. Then in the following days choose to listen, be genuine in making a difference and be a gift to the world in your everyday leadership.
 

OPEN NEW DOORS FOR YOUTH IN YOUR COMMUNITY

  • 150+ of our District's most talented youth leaders
  • 4 days of Life Changing Experiences 
  • Expertly Crafted Curriculum Designed by and for Youth Leaders
  • Perfect opportunity for Interact and Youth Exchange leaders
It's not too late!!  The Rotary District 6290 Life Leadership Conference takes place June 15-18, 2016 at Kettunen Center, Tustin Michigan.
 
RECRUIT, INTERVIEW, AND GET YOUR APPLICATIONS TO OUR DISTRICT OFFICE BY MAY 15
 
For immediate assistance, please contact John Noling, LLC District Chair at 231 670 3740 or johnnoling65@gmail.com

JOIN ROTARIANS IN AFRICA

Nine Rotary clubs in District 6290, including Spring Lake, Lowell, Cadillac, Charlevoix, Sault Ste. Marie -Ontario, Kentwood, Grand Haven Montague-Whitehall, and Holland have good reason to celebrate. Their global grant for $172,000 has been approved by The Rotary Foundation. As a result of this grant, 24 villages in the Apac District of Uganda will have clean water. No more walking miles to fill a jerry can, no more sickness from dirty water.
 
The project has begun and two villages now have water, hygiene education and a village community development committee. With water and health, the villages can begin to develop into sustainable, productive communities.
 
Continue reading to learn more about the project timeline and how you can develop your own water project in Uganda.
 
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New tools for the membership tool belt

Looking to enhance your club membership experience? Do you want to find opportunities for growth in your club? Club leaders now have a set of updated Membership Assessment Tools (formerly Club Assessment Tools) to help them strengthen club membership and add value to your club membership experience, so that more people will join and fewer members will leave.
 
For your convenience, you can download the entire publication, or just the individual assessments that are most relevant to your club.
 
The individual assessments, which walk users through evaluation and development of an action plan, include:
  1. Representing Your Community’s Professions: A Classification Assessment
  2. Diversifying Your Club: A Member Diversity Assessment
  3. Finding New Club Members: A Prospective Member Exercise
  4. Improving Your Member Retention: A Retention Assessment and Analysis
  5. Enhancing the Club Experience: Member Satisfaction Survey
  6. Understanding Why Members Resign: Exit Survey

6290 Clubs on Facebook

Did you know that 50 of our 60 District 6290 Clubs have a Facebook presence?
 
At the District level, we don't have access to the club-level Facebook "Insights" that report the specifics of performance. We can, however, monitor the club pages and track the number of 'Likes' relative to the number of club members. And guess what . . . we have been doing just that!
 
Some clubs have pages that have risen from the ashes--pages that were created years ago and fell silent, until the club found someone willing to serve as the administrator. Other clubs have created a page in the last couple years and have been working diligently to publish regular and interesting posts. 
 
We want to recognize the clubs that, in the past 12 months, have landed on our 'Top 20' list of clubs with the highest percentage of 'Likes' vs. Members.
  • Allendale
  • Grandville-Jenison
  • Kalkaska
  • Sault Ste. Marie, MI
  • Stanton
Also want to give a big 'Most Improved' shout out to Grand Rapids East. On February 22nd their club Facebook page came alive with daily posts after having been silent since August 2015. Keep up the great work!!
 
Interested in seeing the complete Top 20 list?
Read more...

Rotary Foundation Special Match Program Opportunity

As you know, our gifts to The Rotary Foundation provide us the opportunity as Rotarians to fulfill our mission of “Doing Good in the World” and make a difference in the lives of others, it is truly Service Above Self! 
 
Our District 6290 Rotary Foundation Committee has approved a special match program for a limited time only, April 1, 2016 through May 15, 2016.  On a first come, first serve basis, Rotarians in our District who make a new gift to the Annual Fund of The Rotary Foundation in the amount of $500 will receive a $500 match in recognition points from District 6290 to name a Paul Harris Fellow. Please see the attachment below for details and instructions.
 
Any questions?  Please contact Chris Etienne at 231-838-2031 or cetienne@bayharbor.comcetienne@bayharbor.com.  Don’t miss out on this special opportunity!
 
Thank you for your support of Our Rotary Foundation!
 

How Rotary Set Its Wheel In Motion

 
The emblem — known as the Rotary wheel or gearwheel — has been around nearly as long as Rotary itself, yet it did most of its evolving during Rotary's first 15 years. 
 
The initial design emerged from the desk of engraver and Rotary Club of Chicago member Montague "Monty" Bear in 1905, shortly after the formation of the first Rotary club. Inspired to create an insignia that symbolized his club, Bear sketched a wagon wheel with 13 spokes, which was met with approval by Paul P. Harris and the rest of the founding members.
 
Because wheels rotate, the wagon wheel insignia seemed a natural choice for a group calling itself the Rotary Club. And with the automobile still in its infancy in 1905, the buggy wheel was a sign of the times.
 
Soon, fellow club members began to complain that the design was static and lifeless, so Bear went to work again. This time, he found inspiration in the heavens. He added a graphic that appeared to make the wheel ride on a bed of clouds. But some club members didn't see the addition in the same way. To them, the clouds looked like dust. Furthermore, if that were the case, the club's emblem did not appear to abide by the basic laws of physics: there were dust clouds on both sides of the wheel. "Not even Rotary could raise dust before and aft of a wheel," Rotarian "Long" Tom Phillips said of the ill-fated design. "Which way are we going anyhow?" 
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Community Service - Club Resources

There is a wealth of information available at Rotary.org to help clubs research and identify potential service projects. Regardless of whether you have a Community Service Committee Chair with a wealth of experience, or if you have someone new coming on board, these resources offer some great tips!
 
Rotary Ideas Searchable database of club projects that are available for funding, volunteer and partnership opportunities.
Rotary Showcase Searchable database of completed projects--a great resource for stimulating ideas.
Rotary's Area of Focus guide (UPDATED) Downloadable PDF that reviews each of the six areas of focus, summarizing some key successes and providing tips for engagement.
Rotary's Areas of Focus presentations Link to Rotary's Learning Center which includes many courses, including a collection of downloadable presentations on each of the areas of focus.
Communities in Action Downloadable PDF that outlines the lifecycle of an effective service project through the stages of project selection, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Includes a checklist of key concepts and best practices for a new service project.
Community Assessment Tools (UPDATED) Downloadable PDF that outlines several approaches for conducting a community assessment to help identify a high-value relevant service project.
 

Montague-Whitehall Interact Club Supports Flint

Montague-Whitehall Rotary member Tom Moore gives instruction as Interact Club members load a truck full of collected water. The water was delivered to Art Van Furniture in Muskegon on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Art Van served as a collection site and deliverer for donated water to be given to Flint.
With a water crisis happening in Flint, Whitehall and Montague students from the recently reorganized White Lake Rotary Interact Club held a bottle water drive for the residents there. 

The club held the drive the week of Feb. 1-5 and also took donations at both the Whitehall and Montague schools. Students in the districts were asked to donate $1 at their schools in order to receive a special day.

Whitehall middle and elementary school students were allowed to wear their “All-In” t-shirt to school while students at the high school had a hat day. At Montague students who donated a dollar were allowed to wear hats in class.

The Whitehall District Schools collected 60 cases of water to be donated. At Montague, students in kindergarten through fifth grade raised $675.
 

Service Above Self

 
This friendly face in a crowd didn't go unnoticed by us -- Chris Etienne. She is our Past District Governor . . . but did you know she is also our current Rotary Foundation Chair, and in March she assisted at Great Lakes Rotary P.E.T.S. and at Empire Rotary Multi-District P.E.T.S., and the photo above is from the R4-day Rotary Leadership Training Institute because on top of everything else, she is also Zone 29 Regional Rotary Coordinator (RRC). It's exhausting, isn't it?
 
Thank you Chris for all you do! District 6290 is proud to call you our own.

Access Rotary's Video Library

Looking for videos to share on social media?

Need an emergency club program?

Getting frustrated searching using Google, YouTube and Vimeo?

Check out the video library found directly at Rotary.org.

If you want to browse to it, go to MyRotary and you will find it in the News & Media section.

You can browse through the major category headers shown above or, within "Our Causes' you can find tune using the list to the right.

 

Optimizing your ClubRunner Usage

Have you ever wondered why some of your members don't get your club email communications?

A member has the option, in their ClubRunner profile, to unsubscribe themselves from Club and/or District communications. While we certainly hope our Rotary members won't do that, it is their personal choice and we have to accept that.

However, there are also times when email may have been marked as spam and automatically routed to a junk mail folder, or an inbox might be full.

To help manage that, there is a function within ClubRunner that allows your administrator to see who has blocked emails and, as appropriate, they can take action to remedy.

Learn More

Building a solid membership foundation

Research shows that new Rotary club members often end up leaving because they are not immediately engaged in their club or not fully educated about Rotary after they join. We also know that a longer initiation period, comprehensive information presented before someone joins, and new member orientation all increase the likelihood that clubs will retain their new members.
Here are three ways to keep new members engaged:
  • Assign a mentor
  • Explain club culture
  • Give them a role
How you welcome new members into your club? Read how one club is using Rotary's New Member Welcome Kits to enhance their welcome and orientation.
 
Are you interested in hearing how other clubs are addressing membership topics? Join the Membership Best Practices Discussion Group at Rotary.org.

Major funds released to eradicate polio

Rotary has released $35 million in new grants to support the global effort to eradicate polio. The funds will build on last year’s historic achievement of stopping transmission of the wild poliovirus in Nigeria and all of Africa. Just two countries reported wild polio cases in 2015, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rotary’s funds will go toward efforts to end the disease in those countries and seven others.
 
The United States Congress approved a total of $228 million for the 2016 federal budget to support the global effort to eradicate polio. The funding represents a $10 million increase over the level of funding approved in fiscal year 2015. Rotary’s Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force for the United States leads our efforts to inform the U.S. government and other funding sources of the urgency and benefits of supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
 

Global Polio Eradication At-A-Glance

important developments

  • An innovative new product has been developed by a collaboration of Australian researchers. The Nanopatch may one day enable unprecedented levels of antigen sparing. Read more here.
  • There are three weeks to go until the globally synchronized switch from the trivalent to bivalent oral polio vaccine. Learn more about the switch through this series of videos.

KEEP READING FOR AN Endemic Country Summary (as of 3/27/2016)

Read more...

News Around The District

Traverse Bay Twilight Rotarians working hard at the Library packaging books for their signature service project - Born to Read.
Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie ON donated $80,000 for the purchase of inclusive and accessible playground equipment at Bellevue Park. The new equipment will promote physical, cognitive and social skills to enrich play experiences for all children.
From Holland Rotary -- the Rotary Interact Club presented a check for the Flint Rotary as part of the Flint Water Shortage project. Pictured are Cecelia Kromemeyer, Dov Emerson, Robyn Emde (Holland High School Counselor) and Rotary members David Meyer and Carol Swart.
The Grand Rapids East Rotary Club and Forest Hills Northern Interact Club raised over $200 at the FH Community Expo from donations given to the Purple Pinkie campaign to promote awareness to end Polio.
 Benzie Central Middle School Interact Club delivered a group presentation about what they learned during Chemical Bank's six week program that introduced the Interactor's to the business world. The students learned some of the basics about producers, retailers, and consumers, how to prepare mission statements and business plans, and the importance of identifying funding sources. The Interactor's will apply the life skills they learn in the 6 week program to the operation of the middle school store.
Grand Valley State Rotaract Club members had a lot of fun preparing and serving a meal at the Renucci Hospitality House this past weekend! Big thanks to Allendale Rotary Club for helping make this happen!!
District 6290 Rotarians and members of Muskegon Baker College Rotaract Club traveled to Honduras for a water and sanitation project - installing/inspecting filters and building latrines.
Rotary Club of Little Traverse Bay Sunset provide hands-on service at MANNA restacking pallets of food from the freeze box and filling a pallet with backpacks bound for area schools.
Big Rapids Rotary awarded Miriam Andrus, of the Big Rapids Public Library, a donation to purchase equipment designed to enhance and support the literacy room inside of the library. 
Allendale Rotary was thrilled to present Allendale Public Schools with a $3,000 check for the Amazing Reading Bus! Thank you to everyone who helped support the Reading Bus by attending our annual spaghetti dinner & auction.
This year Cadillac Rotaract Club is giving books to 6 classrooms that have 108 students in them. That is AMAZING! So now we are looking even further into the future and are having a year round book drive. The way it works is every time you want to purchase a book for a child you love you just click the link below and buy it from us. Then in return Usborne gives us money to purchase our books for the classrooms. Or if you are just interested in giving cash donations that is always welcome as well. Thank You so much for an INCREDIBLE Book Drive!
https://p4600.myubam.com/
 

District 6290 Membership and Foundation Giving

 
* All numbers reported through March 31, 2016

Monthly Newsletter Deadlines

Our goal is to release the District newsletter at the start of each month. If you have a contribution, we appreciate receiving the materials no later than one week prior to the first of the month. If you have an example of a 'best practice' or have other great news to share, please complete our 'Club News' submission form (found at www.ridistrict6290.org under Public Image. Electronic photos are encouraged. Please try to limit your submission to 300 words or less.

District Office
Kathy Hegedus Administrative Assistant
PO Box 381
Grand Haven, MI. 49417
616-935-9559
616-638-8769 (cell)

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