Service

David Green

October 7, 2024

OCTOBER IS COMMUNITY ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT MONTH

October is the month in which Rotary celebrates Community Economic Development as one of its seven areas of focus.  What exactly is Community Economic Development, and why is it so important to Rotary members?

Simply put, Community Economic Development involves two key things:

1. supporting the creation of sustainable businesses locally; and

2. creating or enhancing sustainable jobs that go with those businesses. 

Rotary and Rotaract clubs focus on several different types of Community Economic Development projects. These include:

• Village savings groups (self-managed groups that meet to save their money and access small loans from those savings)

• Microfinance

• Vocational training and professional development

• Graduate scholarships related to Community Economic Development

• Agricultural development/training

• Mentorship and support for business owners

• Community youth/leadership development

• Enterprise incubation/development

• Community-based basic emergency preparedness

• Community resilience and adaptation

What can you and your fellow club members do? 

• Invite a speaker to talk about some aspect of community economic development. 

• Get members of your club’s leadership to talk with other local leaders in your community about economic development. What are the key economic development needs in your community? Does your community develop and support community-based emergency preparedness services to assist in improving economic resilience?  How could your Rotary or Rotaract club play an important role in addressing those?

September 2, 2024

SEPTEMBER IS ROTARY'S "BASIC EDUATION & LITERACY MONTH"

The focus for the month of September is to raise awareness of Rotary's involvement with literacy and education and pursue solutions to illiteracy and gaps in education in our communities and internationally.  Literacy is the foundation for people to acquire broader knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behavior to foster a culture of lasting peace around the world. Per UNESCO in 2022 one out of seven adults aged 15 and above (765 million) lacked basic literacy skills. Additionally, millions of children struggled to acquire minimum levels of proficiency in reading, writing and numeracy, while 250 million children 6-18 years old were out of school.  Sunday, September 8th is recognized as International Literacy Day. 

DISTRICT WIDE COAT DRIVE "WARMING HUDSON VALLEY"

With the changing of seasons, as fall approaches it's time to plan our annual community coat drive in our Rotary clubs. An email was recently sent out to all club presidents and club community service chairs with a guide to assist planning a successful coat drive project. The district will once again provide signs (maximum of 4 per club) for those Rotary clubs that need to replace old signs. Clubs should retain the signs from the previous year and the district will provide labels to update the information on your signs. If your club needs to order new signs or labels, your club president or club community service chair can send an email to dgreen1056@aol.com with the club name and quantity needed by Friday, September 13th. 

August 19, 2024

Rotary is all about partnerships as a method to engage your members and even attract new members  Many of our clubs in the 8 regions have experience and may be active with their local food bank.

District 7210 has partnered with the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.  They are close to completing a 50,000-square-foot distribution center in Montgomery which is in the heart of our district.  The center will service 6 Hudson Valley counties- Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam, Ulster, Orange, and Sullivan, and will provide 32 million pounds of food to residents in those communities annually.  Greene and Columbia counties will continue to be served by the Latham Distribution Center.

The Food Bank of the Hudson Valley's footprint is identical to ours in the counties they serve.  For instance, there are 17 food pantries in Columbia County, 51 in Dutchess, 15 in Green, 61 in Orange, 15 in Putham, 43 in Rockland 23 in Sullivan, and 46 in Ulster County.  Collectively, they provide food for 271 pantries in the Hudson Valley.  These are the same counties where we have 55 Rotary Clubs and approximately 1560 members. 

This is a perfect opportunity for a Rotary Club seeking a service project to engage their local food pantry or regional food warehouse, and for the food pantries to reach out to our clubs for volunteers and potential funding.

We encourage you and your club to partner with other clubs that are close to your in this endeavor.  We are happy to help coordinate your efforts if you have any questions.  The leadership and staff of the Food Bank of the Hudson Vally stand ready to support our efforts and community with your clubs about this great service project.  

If you have any questions, please contact your AG Team or Community Service Chair David Green or Membership Chair, Tony Marmo.

Celebrate Community Week- September 8-14

Collaboration with other organizations is a great way to expand our reach in our communities and raise awareness of Rotary in service. For the fourth year Rotary International, Kiwanis, Lions International and Optimist International are working to celebrate and give back to our communities with a week-long service event during the week of September 8-14, 2024. Work with local service organizations or government officials to learn what your community needs and how to plan an effective project that will have a long-term impact. Post your joint service project on social media with #CelebrateCommunity. If your club is doing a joint project during Community Week with another organization, please email a short description and a picture to dgreen1056@aol.com.  

Service Project Center

The new hub for Rotary service projects has arrived! The Rotary Showcase has now been replaced by the Service Project Center. Rotary clubs are encouraged to post information on their service projects on the Project Center as other clubs around the world might be interested in replicating similar projects in their community. The Service Project Center is being rolled out in phases. Currently Rotarians can search for projects in Rotary's seven areas of focus, Ending Polio or by Rotary's recognized campaigns that include Community Action for Fresh Water, Prioritizing Mental Health, the Crisis in Ukraine and Empowering Girls. Check out the Service Project Center at Service Project Center .

July 15,  2024

Congratulations to the start of a new Rotary year, the Magic of Rotary. The District Community Service Committee is here as a resource to assist your club as it plans and organize service projects in the community. The first step for every club should be the appointment of a Club Community Service Chair and a committee. It is important to add the name of your Community Service Chair as well as all club committee chairs to the list of officers in Clubrunner so that important communications can be sent during the course of the Rotary year. The role of the Club Community Service includes setting community service goals for the year. Goals should be realistic, achievable, and measurable. Consider maximizing the impact of your project by working with other organizations, volunteers, and other Rotary Clubs. Effective service projects in the community increases club visibility, engages Rotarians, maximizes member retention and increases club membership growth. 

The District Service Committee is looking to expand its membership to all regions of our district. Club Rotarians interested in participating on the district level in community service can contact me at dgreen1056@aol.com. Our meetings are quarterly and as needed when engaged with a service project using Zoom. We welcome your input to further our support to the Rotary clubs in the district. 

On May 18th the Rotary clubs through the nine regions of our district were engaged in the Rotary Day of Service, supporting an array of community service projects.  Two videos were created from the pictures that were sent to the Community Service Committee.