March 2021 Newsletter
Meeting the Pandemic Challenge!!! – It’s time to Pass the Hat!
 
Our clubs, you – have been nothing short of amazing this year!  Each and every day you do more and more to serve our Arizona communities.  Thank you!  
 
And thanks to your generosity and giving we are close to our goals, but more is still needed.  Despite the current challenges, we are $375,000 short of our normal giving!  I know that seems like a lot, but it’s actually only $172 per person.  What would happen if we met this goal?
  • We will be able to have the same funds in three years for you to do your community service projects with District Grants and Global Grants!
  • We will meet our annual giving goal in our fight to eradicate polio!
  • We can continue to meet the demand of Vocational Scholarships to Arizonans that need a fresh start in their education and career goals!
  • We can send our mobility devices to Kenya and our team of Interactors to Kenya and Mexico!
The Rotary Foundation – Last year, Rotarians in D5495 gave $359,034 to the Annual Fund.  This year, we are projected to give $221,280 – which means our giving is down $137,754 or 38.3%. I know our clubs have given so much to our communities in need… and I truly thank you!  However, if you have been financially blessed this past year, would you consider giving more?  In three years, we won’t be able to fund our District and Global grants in the same way.  https://my.rotary.org/en/donate
 
 

In Covid-19 world, Rotary President Knaack takes stock of global polio situation

In a special interview, PolioNews (PN) talks to Holger Knaack (HK), President of Rotary International.

PN:  President Knaack, thank you for taking the time to speak to us.  A little more than a year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, what is your take on the current situation, also with a view of the global effort to eradicate polio?

Holger Knaack, 2020-2021 Rotary International president. © Rotary International

HK:  There are many interesting lessons we learned over the past 12 months.  The first is the value of strong health systems, which perhaps in countries like mine – Germany – we have over the past decades taken for granted. But we have seen how important strong health systems are to a functional society, and how fragile that society is if those systems are at risk of collapse.  In terms of PolioPlus, of course, the reality is that it is precisely children who live in areas with poor health systems who are most at risk of contracting diseases such as polio.  So everything must be done to strengthen health systems systematically, everywhere, to help prevent any disease.

The second lesson is the value of scientific knowledge.  COVID-19 is of course a new pathogen affecting the world, and there remain many unanswered questions.  How does it really transmit?  Who and where are the primary transmittors?  How significant and widespread are asymptomatic (meaning undetected) infections and what role do they play in the pandemic?  And most importantly, how best to protect our populations, with a minimum impact on everyday life?  These are precisely the same questions that were posed about polio in the 1950s.  People felt the same fear back then about polio, as we do now about COVID.  Polio would indiscriminately hit communities, seemingly without rhyme or reason. Parents would send their children to school in the morning, and they would be stricken by polio later that same day.  Lack of knowledge is what is so terrifying about the COVID-19 pandemic.  It also means we are to a large degree unable to really target strategies in the most effective way.  What polio has shown us is the true value of scientific knowledge.  We know how polio transmits, where it is circulating, who is most at risk, and most importantly, we have the tools and the knowledge to protect our populations.  This knowledge enables us to target our eradication strategies in the most effective manner, and the result is that the disease has been beaten back over the past few decades to just two endemic countries worldwide.  Most recently,  Africa was certified as free of all wild polioviruses, a tremendous achievement which could not have been possible without scientific knowledge guiding us.  So while we grapple for answers with COVID, for polio eradication, we must now focus entirely on operational implementation. If we optimize implementation, success will follow.

And the third lesson is perhaps the most important:  we cannot indefinitely sustain the effort to eradicate polio.  We have been on the ‘final stretch’ for several years now.  Tantalizingly close to global eradication, but still falling one percent short.  In 2020, we saw tremendous disruptions to our operations due to COVID-19.  We never know when the next COVID-19 will  come along, to again disrupt everything.  Last year, the polio program came away with a very serious black eye, so to speak.  But we have the opportunity to come back stronger.  We must now capitalize on it.  We know what we need to do to finish polio.  We must now finish the job.  We must all recommit and redouble our efforts.  If we do that, we will give the world one less infectious disease to worry about once and for all.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Rotary Club of Boa Vista-Cacari (D4720) deliver bleach to a shelter for Venezuelan refugees in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil. © Rotary International

 

 

3 ways to create a harassment-free zone at Rotary

Posted on 

Katey Halliday

By Katey Halliday

We have no place for harassment in Rotary. People won’t join or stay if they are exposed to harassment.

Rotary’s policy on maintaining a harassment-free environment at meetings, events, and activities makes it clear that harassment will not be tolerated. It even stipulates that all Rotary leaders, including club presidents, shall be provided with annual training on Rotary International’s policies on the topic.

But is it just up to leaders to ensure that Rotary is a harassment-free zone? Of course not. It takes each one of us to create and maintain a culture that does not condone, ignore, or excuse harassment. 

  1. Educate yourself

Harassment is broadly defined as any conduct, verbal or physical, that denigrates, insults, or offends a person or group based on any characteristic (age, ethnicity, race, colour, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientations, or gender identity). (Rotary Code of Policies 26.120)

There is nothing in this definition about intention. None of us are immune to unwittingly engaging in behaviour which could be viewed as harassment. The fact that it might have been ‘just a joke’ is no excuse.

It is not the job of victims of harassment to educate us, we must educate ourselves. The more aware we are about the diversity of the communities we serve, the less likely we are to inadvertently offend someone.

And if we do get called out, we must not get defensive, but reflect, learn and change our behaviour. 

The deadline for 2021-22 District Grant applications is less than three months away.  You'll find most all of your questions are answered in the District Grants Guidelines document found on the 5495 website in the Foundation section.
 
At least two members from each club are required to attend a Grants Management Training session in order to apply for grants.  There are four to choose from and all are online. Registration is available on the District Grants page of rotary5495.org
 
Training dates are March 20, March 27, April 7, and April 17.  Each will last 2 hours.
 
Final reports for your 2020-21 District Grants are due April 30.  The report form is contained in the same document as the application form. Clubs must be up-to-date on reporting in order to be awarded a new District Grant, so you'll want to be sure your club's is in.
 
Please address questions to Rebecca Wilks, rebecca@skylineimages.net
WORLD FUND WEBINAR

Dear Rotary leader,

Earlier this month, The Rotary Foundation announced major changes to the TRF Funding Model, effective 1 July 2021. To help you understand these changes more fully, you are invited to join TRF trustees and Rotary International senior staff for an informational webinar where we’ll discuss the updates in more detail and answer your questions.

Registration is required at least 10 days prior to the webinar. In order to ensure we answer as many questions as possible, we encourage you to submit up to three questions when you register. 

The webinar is intended for district and regional Rotary leaders, but is open to all Rotarians on a first-come, first-serve basis. It will begin promptly, so please login to early. The webinar will also be recorded.

Meeting Details:
Date                   17 March 2021
Time                  1300 UTC
Registration:   https://rotary-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5RtR6jTGQkat8K_OYhG-1A
Meeting ID:     917 6586 3913

After you register, you’ll receive an email with your individualized link to join the meeting. Save that email with your link so you can easily join the meeting later.

If you do not have a computer or tablet you can also join the meeting by phone:
Enter the Webinar ID:  917 6586 3913#, then again (no participant ID)
Find your local number:  https://rotary-org.zoom.us/u/abJ3MDxM4

If you are having trouble connecting on the day of the meeting, please contact Rotary’s Support Center:  RotarySupportCenter@rotary.org or +1-847-866-3000.
 

 

February 23 was Rotary’s 116th Birthday. That day is also called World Understanding and Peace Day. On February 23, 1905, little did Paul Harris and his three friends realize what they were starting when they met in room 711 of the Unity Building in Chicago. We have come a long way, since then, but we still have a long way to go to achieve goodwill, peace, and understanding.

The first gathering, on Thursday evening, February 23, 1905 in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. was initiated by attorney Paul P. Harris. Young Harris, fresh from a wild five years as a reporter, actor, cowboy, seaman,granite salesman, fruit picker and hotel clerk and five years building a successful law practice, had an idea. It was regarding observations of success and respect which could come from organizing professional acquaintances.

He had given this much thought by the time he and Silvester Schiele (a coal merchant) walked over to Gus Loehr's (a mining engineer) office, in Room 711 in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street that cold winter night in 1905, almost nine years from his arrival in Chicago. In addition, a fourth man, Hiram E,Shorey (a tailor) attended this first meeting. Several weeks later, Schiele was elected the first president of Rotary when the meeting was held in his office.

 

February 2021Ideas for strengthening membership
Achieve your professional development goals in the new year
 
Become a more effective presenter, communicator, and leader by taking a series of courses developed exclusively for Rotary by the experts at Toastmasters International. These courses in Rotary’s Learning Center will help you grow professionally and personally. They include: 
•    Develop a Speech, on developing content based on your topic, audience, and goals 

•    Deliver a Speech, on the basics of giving a speech 

•    Inspirational Speech, on how to engage, persuade, or inspire an audience 

•    Interpersonal Communication and Networking, on building and maintaining professional relationships and networks

•    Leadership Basics, on topics like motivating others, integrity, and team inclusiveness

•    Leading a Team, on creating a positive environment, setting goals, and delegating

•    Collaboration, on understanding and developing leadership and collaboration skills 

•    Building Consensus, on developing the skills needed for effective and inclusive leadership 

Expand your opportunities by building your skills!
Sunup Rotary of Prescott has enjoyed a very close relationship with Prescott Area Shelter Services (PASS) since 2016, providing a hot, ready-to-eat dinner for the shelter residents on a regularly scheduled date every month. Additionally, Sunup members usually volunteer for additional meals to help cover open dates for the shelter.
 
The primary goal of PASS is to alleviate Yavapai County's growing need for an emergency shelter for homeless women and children. PASS helps homeless women to gain the skills, resources and support to transition out of homelessness during their 90 days at the shelter. The Shelter provides the following services year-round: food, shelter, clothing, resources, and case management. Above all, they strive to ensure that every woman and child at the shelter feels safe and supported.
 
In addition to providing meals, Sunup has assisted PASS in a variety of means, such as sanding/painting their outside picnic tables, furnishing their new building additions, delivering over 1000 medical-grade protective masks, and even providing mini-shelters for their beloved pet cats. 
 
Please visit the PASS website where you can find many ways to help homeless women, families and veterans on their path to permanent housing at 
 
PLEASE PROMOTE ROTARY PEACE FELLOWSHIPS 
 
 APPLICATIONS ARE CURRENTLY BEING ACCEPTED 
 
Each year, Rotary awards up to 130 fully funded fellowships for dedicated leaders from around the world to study at one of our 8 peace centers.  The application process is February 1 – May 15.  There is no cost to the applicant, nor the Rotary club or District
 
Since the program began in 2002, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,400 fellows who now work in more than 115 countries. Many serve as leaders in education, business, trade, research, law, journalism, governments, NGOs, the military, education, police and law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank.
 
Hopefully, you know someone personally, or through your network you know others who may know others interested in applying for the Rotary Peace Fellowship. Applicants can be working here in Arizona, or anywhere else in the USA, or the world.
 
Visit the D5495 Website and click on “Resources” tab. Then click on the “Peacebuilding Resources” tab and you will see 6 helpful links under “Peace Fellowships/Peace Centers.” Contact details are there for any questions or assistance you may need.  We will be glad to help!
 
A Power Point Presentation is available to all D5495 Rotary Clubs and is less than 10 minutes duration.  Three members of the D5495 Peace Fellowships committee will be glad to make this presentation to your club via Zoom. 
 
 
Tony Cerato                                   Mary Zongolowicz                          Zarrin Caldwell
D5495 Peace Fellowship Chair     Rotary Club of Sun City                  Rotary Peace Fellow 2011
tcerato@aol.com                           mary.zongolowicz@gmail.com      zarrin15@yahool.com 
 
On March 6 the Arizona Braver Angels organization will be hosting a zoom meeting/online webinar called Depolarizing Within.
 
BRAVER ANGELS ARIZONA
 
Saturday, March 6th | 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
 
DEPOLARIZING WITHIN:
BECOMING A BRAVER ANGEL IN YOUR OWN CLUB AND COMMUNITY
 
A Braver Angels Workshop for Rotarians in District 5495
 
Much of today’s epidemic of toxic polarization is driven by how we talk with like-minded people about those on the other side. Too often we stereotype, dismiss, or ridicule our fellow citizens who support the other political party, its leaders, and its policies. We are finding this cropping up in our clubs and gatherings. Although political polarization in some form has always been around, it was less problematic when people interacted more outside their own silos. 
 
Nowadays, people on the other side have become not just strangers but enemies.
Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well.

            I am excited to say we had a very successful Interact District Conference. After weeks of planning and preparation, it was very satisfying to see the whole thing come together. For the conference, we had two speakers, Ben Lutz and DG Elizabeth Mahoney; three Interact clubs presenting what they did during the year; and two breakout sessions where the Assistant Governors and attendees would discuss the presentations they just watched. Ben Lutz talked about his work at Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI) and how his involvement in Interact got him interested in peace-building and conflict resolution. His message for the attendees for the conference was, “Don’t be afraid to fail.” Letting go of the fear of failure makes it easier to try new things because you aren’t dependent on the success of the new thing you tried. The easiest way to learn something is to make mistakes, and while failure may not feel great when it happens, in the long run, it is beneficial. 

         
 
The Rotary Club of Scottsdale welcomed representatives from The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) to a recent Club Hybrid Zoom and onsite luncheon held at The Scottsdale McCormick.  Speaking were Ida Jones, Group Sales Coordinator at the MIM and Meg Sheehan, Corporate and Major Gifts Officer at the MIM.
 
The MIM, completed in 2010 at a cost of $250 million, was founded by Robert J. Ulrich, former CEO and Chairman of Target Corporation, who was a collector of African Art and a world museum enthusiast.   The MIM’s contemporary building, located in North Phoenix, covers approximately 200,000 square feet, with two floors of galleries, Café (due to COVID-19 is currently closed) and Museum Store.  Over the past 10 years, the MIM’s 299-seat concert theater has held close to 2,000 concerts representing 70 countries with close to ½ million concert attendees. 
 
Ms. Jones presented interesting museum facts, noting that museums in general are positive community economic engines that provide over 726,000 jobs, annually contribute over $50 billion to U. S. economy, and provide considerable amount of tax/tourism revenue.  The MIM, with over 2.7 million visitors during its 10 year history, has earned “TripAdvisor’s” tourism ratings as Phoenix’s #1 attraction and #15 of all U.S. museums. 
 
 

THE “POOP” ON THE SANITATION LADDER

A delightful picture book by Taro Gomi, Everyone Poops, gives straight talk to children for all things “number two.” An elephant makes a big poop, a mouse makes a tiny poop. Everyone eats, so of course, everyone poops! What you ask does “pooping” have to do with Rotary?  Well, the very fact that everybody poops—all 7.8 million of us world-wide, creates a “waste management” problem and Rotary believes that when people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regular- ly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families.

The fact is, not everyone has the needed access.  An interesting article from the January issue of Rotary “One Step at a Time” deals with something that most of us have never heard of and likely would not have thought about had we not read this article—the sanitation ladder, a graphic representation of levels of sanitation service that might exist in a community. Obviously, our community is at the top of the ladder—Safely Managed, but other places are far down on the rungs, even at the bottom—Open Defecation. This chart summarizes the five rungs on the ladder discussed in the article and the impact that sanitation at that level has on the health and wellbeing of indi- viduals as well as the percentage of people at that particular rung. It also shows the gradual steps that communi- ties will likely need to take in improving their facilities, because as the article points out, you can’t leap from one rung to the other without taking into consideration the cultural appropriateness of the particular rung. Best to read from the bottom to the top of the ladder.

Members of Rotary Club of Scottsdale recently added paver bricks at Scottsdale's Rotary Park to honor past club presidents. The Rotary Club of
Scottsdale founded in 1954, is proud of its past club presidents, as well as, its support for youth in our area, community and international service
projects, Scottsdale's and Papago Rotary Parks, and for the quality of its weekly luncheon speakers/programs.

The Rotary Club of Scottsdale extends an invitation to you to join its members in saying thank you to someone you admire, has inspired you, you
want to memorialize or has gone above and beyond during this Pandemic. Consider purchasing a brick with a message (one or two lines of 15
characters).  The bricks are $100 each and if you purchase five bricks, the sixth is free.  All monies are directed to the Club's Foundation and directed towards Club community service/international projects and/or scholarships. See the Club's website www.scottsdalerotary.org
<http://www.scottsdalerotary.org>  homepage for details on how to order bricks. 

 
 
 
 
Attention Rotary Friends,
 
It has come to my attention that many Rotarians are receiving scam emails.  
 
I want everyone to be safe, so I am sending some helpful tips to remember:
 
  • Always check the sender's email address to see if it matches the name.  If it is not an email address you recognize, it often times is a scam.  Please do not click on any links or respond.
  • Scam emails can contain poor grammar and misspellings.  If it doesn't "sound" like the person you know, it is a red flag.
  • Never purchase giftcards or send money electronically.  This is a nationwide scam - often times taking $$$$ thousands from nice and kind individuals.
  • IRS and the Social Security Administration will not contact you directly via phone or email.  If you are worried, hang up and call them directly using the numbers provided on ssa.gov or irs.gov.
  • Do not click on links to update your password or payment information through email.  Scammers are very sophisticated, and will take you to a site that looks like the real one.  Emails look like they are through Amazon, Paypal, etc - but they won't contact you to update payment information via email.  Only update items when you are being proactive and have logged in to your personal account directly.  
  • When in doubt - do not respond or reply to the email.  Call the person who you think it's from and verify it is an accurate email.
 
Thank you all.  It's unfortunate that scamming and phishing emails are so prevelant.  Stay on guard!  
 
Thank you,
 
Elizabeth Mahoney
District Governor, Rotary International District 5495
Rotary Club of Sun City