|
District 5340 Foundation Seminar
On Saturday, November 14, Rotarians from around the district converged on the California Center for the Arts, Escondido for the annual District Rotary Foundation Seminar. This seminar is designed to showcase the exciting things that clubs in our district do with funds obtained by using district grants and global grants from the Rotary Foundation.
The magic of the way funding for the projects is handled by District 5340 and the Rotary Foundation is that clubs can collaborate to donate funds at whatever level is appropriate for that club. When those fund are tallied up and then matched by the district of the clubs involved, the total funds raised by the clubs is effectively doubled. The next step in the process involves having the club that is the grant initiator submit a request to Rotary International Foundation for a global grant. Once approved the funds are again doubled. For example, if clubs working together contribute $10,000 toward a project, thier districts matche each club's contribution. This makes a project that is now funded at $20,000. Once the global grant from the Rotary Foundaton is approved, the total funding for the project becomse $40,000. Rotary is unique in using this model. For eight years in a row, the Rotary Foundation has won the top rating in reviews by Charity Navigator. To expenses for fundraising and administration are less that 10 percent of the funds donated.
At the seminar on Saturday, those in attendance heard stories about the projects our district clubs are doing. Our own Paul Gorman was a presenter. He made a brief presentation about the way that we were able to gather all of the funding necessary to donate to Fresh Start so that they coud purchase their own surgical laser. Paul also encouraged other clubs to contact him or Rob Weinberg about the way that they can get assistance for projects. Many clubs fail to participate in service projects because they don't know how to navigate the grant writing and request paperwork. Our club is a beacon for being a resource for other clubs to utilize to do their owh grant project or partner with another club in a project.
The most awe inspiring presentation of the morning was the presentation by 2 women who had been victims of the sex trafficing trade and have escaped. Both are now deeply involved in activities with law inforcement, the courts and social service organization to provide education about how the victims of sex trafficing are recruited and basically enslaved. The people who are the principles in this trade know how to entice vulnerable young women, gain their confidence and then exploit them. This problem is not a problem in just low income communities. It exists in all socio economic levels. The two women were very effective in opening the eyes of the seminar attendees to the reality of this problem. Both are now effectively living a changed life and are committed to helping other victims.
After the seminar, there was a party in the patio of the Conference Center. There was street tacos, rice, tortilla chips and beer. Margaritas were also available for purchase.
Your editor has been to numerous foundation seminars over the last 15 years. In all cases, everyone who attends a Rotary Foundation Seminar takes away the realization of the myriad ways that Rotary is business of changing lives. Plan to attend a Rotary Foundation Seminar in the future so that you too can experience the impact that the stories about Rotary's impact in the world changes lives.
Rancho Bernardo Thanksgiving Luncheon
Our club will go dark on November 24, 2015 so that our club members can attend the annual Thanksgiving Luncheon at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. Beside getting a great Thanksgiving meal, attendees will hear about the awards to the community for this year by the Rancho Bernardo Community Foundation. This is a time each year that all of the charitable organzations gather in support of the foundation and its work in Rancho Bernardo. This is always a fun event, so if you can possible attend this event, sign up at the meeting tomorrow to be included.
December Events
We have some club events on the horizon for December, First of all, on December 5, we will again help the PTA at Valley Elementary School on Bowron Road in Poway with the Holiday Gift Fair. This event was premiered during the presidency of Al Watson in December 2010. This will be our sixth year for this event. In the past members of our sister club, Club Rotario Tijuana Millenia Minarete came to participate. Because so many of the children who are helped in this event are Hispanic, we appreciate their participation. You will be hearing more about this soon.
On Sunday, December 6 we will have our annual holiday party at the home of our president, Alison Farrin, in Ramona. This is a potluck affair so the cost is minimal. As usual there will be a silent and open auction gift items after our dinner. For those who haven't been to a holiday party before, the rules and gift suggestions will be explained by our holiday party auctioneer, Mike Moffat. Don't miss this event. It is a great way to kick off the holiday season!
Housekeeping notes
If you hosted a Rotational Breakfast on Oct 20, please email the list of attendees to Jim Dunny at: jdunny1@me.com. The lack of information is making it impossible for me to close the attendance record for our October meetings. Also, if you attend a makeup meeting or participate in an online makeup at an eclub, please send that information to me, so that I can credit you with that makeup.
As always, if you have information for a story or a report from a committee, I need to hear about it so that I can publicize it either on our club website or in the SunRiser. Just because you know about it doesn't mean that anyone else knows about it. Share the information so that our website can reflect the diverse thins our club does that impact our community. Don't worry about writing the story. I can write the story if I get the right information.
|
