Membership development

The new Rotary year has only just started and I am sure you have checked that all clubs have a Membership Chair who has made plans for activities and set goals for membership development in the club. I truly believe in the saying: "What gets measured gets done."

There will be a Rotary Coordinator seminar in Alborg, Denmark on October 7, where membership is one important issue that will be discussed. Most districts struggle with membership decrease. How can be turn it into increase?

I recommend that you sign up for this seminar now if you have not done so. It will bring you valuable experience from the training leaders and the other participants. The success of a seminar of this kind always depands on the engagement of the participants, so please prepare yourself to take active part.


Christina Bredin, Assistant to the RC for Membership issues

NEW GENERATIONS SERVICE

A historical decision was taken at the Council on Legislation April 28, 2010 in Chicago

The decision to establish a FIFTH AVENUE, NEW GENERATIONS, was accepted with happy applauses.

This means that our clubs and district need to start a new committee/project group in addition to those already in existence. The FIVE AVENUES all clubs will
work with are:

CLUB SERVICE
VOCATIONAL SERVICE
COMMUNITY SERVICE
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE
NEW GENERATIONS SERVICE

The idea with the new service in our clubs and for us Rotarians is to deepen the work and engagement for Rotary´s Programs for the young generation. How can we contribute to this? We need to think how we can involve and invite the young ones in leadership programs, the younger ones to be exchange students or/and participate in our service projects.

To be able to prepare ourselves in the best way for this exciting challenge we invite you to participate in a seminar to develop and expand this new avenue that is so important for Rotary’s growth and future.

We are looking forward to meeting participants from each of the districts in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. Please make sure that your district and club is represented at this important seminar.

Please, look at the invitation to the seminar The Future of Rotary at the website of Rotary Zone Institute in Aalborg. This Seminar takes place on Thursday October 7:th.

Best wishes

Britta Wallgren
Assistant RC Zone 15
britta.wallgren@tele2.se

August messages

August is the month of membership in Rotary. According to the statistics of June 30 2010 in Zone 15 we had 237 Rotarians less than in July 1 2009. Districts 1410, 1430, 2220, 2370 and 2400 together had 119 members more at the end of Rotary year as compared to the begining of the year but other districts had a substantial membership decrease. None of our districts reached their membership goals.
Let's share the best ideas, how to make our work and fellowship more attractive to the present and new members! We can do this by presenting examples through this blog. Please, send your ideas to me or to ARCs Britta Wallgren (britta.wallgren@tele2.se), Christina Bredin (christina@bredin.pp.se) or Risto Muinonen (risto@martinex.fi). If your club has a creative approach to attracting a diverse membership, the Leadership Education and Training Division is also interested to learn and publish your best practicies. Please, send the information in that case at leadership.training@rotary.org as well.

RI Service Above Self Award

Dear Rotarians:
Each day, Rotarians around the world generously give their time
and effort to serve others, often without recognition. Since
1992, the RI Service Above Self Award has honored Rotarians who
demonstrate exemplary humanitarian service and embody our motto
of Service Above Self. This award recognizes Rotarians for their
humanitarian service, rather than their service to Rotary, and
offers a means of honoring those who might otherwise go
unrecognized.

In November 2009, the Board amended the recipient award criteria
to make all past RI directors, past RI presidents, and past
Foundation trustees ineligible for consideration. The Service
Above Self Award nomination form includes detailed information
about the selection criteria for award recipients.

The nomination form is available on the RI website,
www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/award_sas.pdf. The electronic
form contains fields that will allow you to type directly in the
space provided. Once the form has been saved, it can be sent via
email, regular mail or fax to RI World Headquarters no later than
1 September 2010. Please send completed nomination forms to:

Programs & Presidential Initiatives (PD210)
Rotary International
Fax: (847) 556-2179
E-mail: riawards@rotary.org
1560 Sherman Ave
Evanston, IL 60201-3698, USA

Ideas for the leadership education

Leadership D e v e l o p m e n t,
Your Guide to Starting a Program is produced by the Leadership Education and Training Division of Rotary International.

It can be held as a full-day seminar or as a series of shorter meetings throughout the year, and it can be conducted in person, online, or as a combination of the two. Clubs and districts that use the program should structure it to meet their participants’ needs.
This booklet gives an overview of 10 recommended leadership topics for the program:

Communication skills
Leadership styles
Leading and motivating volunteers
Mentoring
Time management
Goal setting and accountability
Strategic planning
Ethics and The Four-Way Test
Building consensus
Teamwork

This booklet is available at the address: http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/250.pdf

Zone 15 RC MATTI HONKALA

Matti works in Raahe District Hospital as chief of internal medicine since 1993.

Matti is a member of Pietari Brahe RC since 1987. He served as the president of his club in 1995-1996 and was elected to serve as district 1400 governor in 2001-2002. Matti was a GSE team leader to D7570 Virginia/ Tennessee, USA in 2005 and served as RI President´s representative to D 2300, Norway in 2008. He is currently the Rotary Foundation Committee Chair of D1400 since 2006 and has served as COL representative in 2010.

Matti is married to Virpi, chief surgeon and medical director of Raahe District Hospital, since 1976.

Virpi is a member of Raahe RC and currently serves as DG D 1400. They have two daughters and one granddaughter.

Matti and Virpi have both participated in many Rotary Conventions, Zone and International Institutes since 2000. They are Major Donors.

Both share keen interest in local and area politics. Matti was the chair of City Council of Raahe in 1997-2000. Travelling and golfing are their hobbies and they are lifelong members of Golfing Rotarians Fellowship.