Message from DG Roger Bose
District Governor Roger Bose
DEAR FELLOW ROTARIANS,
The new Rotary year has begun and the feeling of excitement is overwhelming.
The upcoming year is full of special celebrations, landmark events, experimentation with recent Council of Legislation (COL) changes, and a renewed focus on membership that begins with each of us as individual Rotarians.
As we know, the Rotary Foundation would be celebrating 100 years of “Doing good in the world” in 2017 and I have asked all Clubs to initiate and execute a Signature Project to commemorate this during the year. This can take the form of a brand new idea, or the extension or expansion of an already successful and ongoing Club project. The idea is for it to be “Signature “ - impactful, Value adding, resourceful and sustainable. I look forward to supporting, advising on and eventually visiting these Signature projects during the Rotary year.
January 2017 brings another major landmark event in our District. The RI Board has approved the amalgamation of the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) into District 7030!! As such, we will add 4 Clubs and approximately 200 new Rotarians!! This is the culmination of a process in train for the past several years and an integration team now being put in place will ensure the process is both smooth and timely. I expect you would join me in welcoming these Clubs into our District as the date draws closer.
The COL has instituted several changes which has triggered a lot of questions and some debate about the next steps to be taken. Clubs may choose to enact or stick to traditional requirements in most cases. The intention is to give Clubs more flexibility to encourage growth and to strengthen our Clubs. Club Boards should carefully consider whether instituting any of these changes would have a positive effect on their Clubs and their membership.
RI President John wants to see “Rotary Serving Humanity” in a bigger and more sustainable way. But how can we as individual Rotarians contribute to this seemingly out of reach ideal? What should we do differently? Isn’t that the responsibility of the President of my Club? Or the Board? Or of some Committee? We often feel as individuals that our contribution would hardly make any difference. The more I think about Rotary’s accomplishments to date, the more I am convinced we do not yet recognize the vastness of our still untapped potential. So the focal point of my message to all Rotarians this year is to be continually conscious of the VALUE you are bringing as you attend meetings, get involved in projects, participate in training and have fellowship. If we ask ourselves, “What have I really done for my Club lately”? How can I add more value to all my Rotary activities? Only then we can unlock that potential that would make our Clubs the talk of the town, be the preferred entity Sponsors want to give their money to, and the Service organization everyone wants to join.
I look forward to meeting you all on my visits through the District.
Yours in Rotary,
Roger