President Dibble Outlines the Year to Come
At his first meeting of the 2013-2014 Rotary year, Exeter Club President, Burt Dibble shared some of the most impactful moments from the Rotary International Convention in Lisbon as well as outlined his focus in the year to come.
Burt and Mae stayed just outside of Lisbon in accommodations arranged by the Flying Rotarian fellowship group. Just as Rotarians are diverse in experience and skill sets so they are also in hobbies they fill their "spare" time with. Being an accomplished pilot himself, it is no surprise that our President is linked with other Flying Rotarians. Burt pointed out the colorful Rotary themed shirt he was wearing and noted that this is just one example of some of the amazing and impactful projects other Clubs run within their own communities. His shirt was made by a group of woman in Livingstone, Zambia who have been trained and given the resources to create and sell these shirts versus the alternative in many cases of working in the sex trade in order to support their families. To learn more about this project or to purchase your own shirt please click here.
Burt went on give the club a brief outline of new RI President, Ron Burton. Ron brings a great deal of experience in growing both membership and funding from his professional life and will be able to put those skills to good use in growing sustained membership in clubs and growing the coffers of the Rotary Foundation. While new membership continues to be strong there is a widespread issue of membership retention. Clubs will be working to discover ways of engaging members so that they will continue to be committed to ideals of Rotary- which we all know, changes lives. Hence this year's theme, Engage Rotary, Change Lives. Burt looks forward to our own club's visioning process which should help the Exeter club find new ways to attract members and keep them fully engaged. One of the examples Burt gave as evidence that Rotary truly changes lives is the story of Craig Kielburger and the organization he started when he was 12, Free the Children. Craig was inspired by the story of a young boy from South Asia that had been sold into slavery at age four. This boy caught the world's attention when he spoke out in defense of children's rights and ultimately lost his life in doing so. Craig picked up where this boy left off and with the help of Rotary has built Free the Children into an international charity and educational partner that involves over 1.7 million youth in 45 countries. Rotary helped get him there, Rotary changes lives. To learn more about Craig and Free the Children please click here.
Burt went on to describe his hopes that the Exeter Club will soon be able to boast that it is a Club with 100% Participation when it comes to supporting The Rotary International Foundation. He has challenged the membership to evaluate their personal budgets and look to a level that would be most appropriate for them to participate individually. All levels will count as participation.
The 2013-2014 Rotary year is sure to be an exciting one for many reasons and we have much to look forward on the local level!