Greetings Fellow Rotarians. Welcome to January 2021!
It has been some time since the turning of the calendar has felt so good! Goodbye 2020!
January is Vocational Service month on the Rotary calendar. Vocational service can be hard to define, but it is easy to describe: It is simply the point where our Rotary lives and our professional lives Intersect. When we put our Rotary ideals to work through our work, that is vocational service.
As I have traveled on my Rotary journey, I am again and again reminded of how often our work and Rotary intersect. Here in La Crosse, a few Rotary leaders had an interesting thought: If I asked area organizations what they would do with $250,000… what would their answer be? The results of this simple question, asked of the many incredibly talented and well meaning charitable causes around the Coulee Region, resulted in some truly remarkable ideas. From those discussions emerged an idea – to collaborate with the St. Claire Health Mission, Gundersen Health Systems, Mayo Clinic Health Systems, the La Crosse County Health Department and the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration to support a Mobile Medical Clinic that can travel throughout the region. The vehicle will provide family practice clinical services, preventative care, flu vaccine clinics, youth sports physicals, lab draws, mental health and pharmacy services to adults and children without health insurance. My work in finance puts me in a unique position to have an impact. I knew I could turn my professional path to good and help make this project a success and improve health care for those not covered by our systems throughout our district.
I am pleased to announce the formation of a new Rotary Club in our zone-pair - The Rotary Club of Network for Empowering Women! The members of this e-club come from Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. In addition to being diverse in geographical area, the members are also diverse in gender, race, age, profession and religious belief.
Rotary International President Holger Knaack and our own Director Suzi Howe will be presiding over the club's chartering. Please join in the celebration! REGISTER HERE for the event which will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2021, at 10:00 AM CDT.
For the 13th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the United States.
Only 1 percent of the organizations Charity Navigator evaluates have received 13 consecutive 4-Star evaluations focused around Finanicanal, Accountability and Transparency measures. The President and CEO of Charity Navigator, Michael Thatcher, reiterated that the achievement “This exceptional designation sets the Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness.”
The public testified to the trustworthiness of TRF at the culmination of a joint Global project spearheaded by seven Rotary International Districts (RID) in Japan and one in the Philippines. These districts applied for TRF Global Grant dubbed “Rotary Face Shield Project Against COVID-19.” TRF approved $189,000 USD for procurement of 144,000 face shields. The face shields were distributed to front line personnel in 42 government hospitals in the cities of metro Manila, Luzon, Calabarzon and Visayas.
Josh Mansee
La Crosse Rotary - After Hours, President-Elect 2020-2021
Chronic childhood malnutrition is a problem all over Guatemala. Almost 50% of children aged 5 and under are malnourished. In the highland villages of Tecpan, however, the number is as high as 95%.
In 2019, Madison South Rotary wrote a Global Grant for a Water and Sanitation Project in two villages in the highlands of Tecpan, Guatemala. We partnered with ABPD (Association Behrhorst Partners for Development), the Antigua RC in Antigua, Guatemala, District 7750 in South Carolina and clubs in Florida and Maine. At the same time, Deb Walters from District 7790 (Maine and Quebec) wrote a Global Grant for Maternal and Child Health for one of the same villages plus one other that had been assessed to need this type of help. The “ask” comes from the village leaders themselves then a detailed assessment is done by ABPD.
Service is the heart of Rotary. Rotarians know how to make our world a better place, one project at a time. The Rotary Foundation and District 6250 offer grant opportunities to achieve the goals set by you and your Rotary Club. When you attend a District 6250 Grants Management Seminar this winter, your club is eligible to apply for District and Global grants. Any member can represent their Club. Register today for one of three virtual Grant Management Seminars offered this year.
Virtual sessions will be held on:
Saturday, January 16: 9 a.m. – Noon (Registration Open)
Wednesday, March 17: 530 – 8:30 p.m. (Registration Open)
Member Growth Success: Lake Mills +8, Sun Prairie +7, Mayville +5, Beaver Dam +4
LEARNING in 2021
As I thought about entering 2021, after the wild ride that 2020 took most of us on (good or bad)…I was thinking about resolutions and LEARNING.
Did you know that only approximately 8% of resolutions are successful out of the nearly 45% of American’s who make them?
That’s a staggering difference!
A resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something”. According to History.com resolutions have been around for nearly 4,000 years. They started out as promises and prayers to God, and deity’s for a fruitful year ahead. Today, most resolutions are made internally, to ourselves, which might be a reason that the success rate is so low.
With that information I thought, “could I make a commitment to LEARNING in 2021?”, instead of making a resolution?
LEARNING is “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience taught”. When I read this, I thought immediately of Rotary. By simply showing up to my local club or by visiting other Rotarians I am succeeding in this commitment to LEARN.
BUT why stop there? “Continuous learning is your self-motivated persistence in acquiring knowledge and competencies in order to expand your skill set and develop future opportunities”. What a perfect blend of resolutions and learning!
Amit Nagpal – Wholistic Leadership Enabler wrote an article on why CONTINUOUS LEARNING is so important. He outlined benefits and reasons that learning is essential to our existence. And I would argue, this is a large component in what draws us in as Rotarians. His reasons are outlined below with a spin on how I see these in Rotary.
Remain relevant – membership and engagement with our current members
Prepare for the unexpected – adaptable and always developing new skills to use in our communities
Boost your profile – connection and networking, meeting new, unique people, organically
Competence leads to confidence – accomplishments for our local area, region or nation
Sparks new ideas – fellowship, and projects to better our environment
Change your perspective – “the only constant is change”, being open to opportunities
Pay it forward – It’s not just about you, pass on your knowledge!
OK, so we have the WHY, know how do you do it!? In a time of year where we are excited about opportunity:
Make a schedule for yourself to read
Take time to connect with your go-to network of experts to talk things out and ask questions
Reconnect with your Rotary club or seek out a new opportunity to connect to likeminded people
Feel like connecting, or would you like to LEARN together? Please reach out to Kaylynn on LinkedIn – Kaylynn Stahlbusch!
Welcome Your New District Public Image Chair, Patty Hernandez!
Patty is a member of the Janesville Noon Rotary Club and joined the newly formed District PI team earlier this year. Her vision as an education and community leader is to inspire a passion for the community in which you live and work. Patty's passion and vision will help lead the PI team as we continue to strengthen and support clubs in our District. Welcome and thank you Patty!
Happy New Year to you and your Rotary Clubs! We've overcome a year of twists, turns and changes to what we have known as the "norm" for Youth Activities in Rotary. While we say goodbye to 2020, we still aren't certain what 2021 will bring for Youth in Rotary. We do know that Rotary International has put exchanges on hold until July, and we will learn what Central State's decision is on exchange around February 1st.
We hope you stay involved in Youth Activities, if your club was already participating in them. If you weren't, now is a great opportunity to learn about what impact Youth could have for your club. Speaking from experience, our club learned a lot from the Exchange Students we've hosted and sent out, the Interact Clubs that we've helped succeed in our area and the amazing experience you can gain by sending students to RYLA and being a Rotarian Leader weekend. If your club is looking for ideas, please reach out and we can brainstorm.
January is Vocational Service month, and our District membership is filled with a wide range of skills and talents that can be shared with the Youth in your area. Look at the diversity in the Vocations in your club and see if there's a way for you to work with local high schools and share information about different careers. What a great way to bridge the gap and start to foster or strengthen the relationships that you have with those students.
Presidents Elect Training Seminar (PETS) is an annual event to which we all look forward. Presidents, AGs and District leaders enjoy PETS fellowship, inspiration and idea-sharing to ramp up for a great year. Our 2021 PETS is no exception - and full of exceptions! Please note:
Our PETS (Midwest PETS) has combined with Great Lakes PETS for MEGA PETS. It's all virtual.
The collaboration created a shift in dates. Please make a special note! Note also that MEGA PETS packs a lot in on Friday and ends on Saturday afternoon.
The schedule is attached. Everyone's done their best to firm this up - please be patient if slight changes come.
You will receive a registration link that is unique to you. This will be available in mid- to late-January. There is no general registration link.
The cost is $150 for PEs and $50 for all others. (Your club has already paid $300 for you. We'll settle up, and will let you know when as soon as we can.)
