Rotary Magazine 2013 - TownNews.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4 • Lake Arrowhead Rotary Club, 2013 RIM HIGH INTERACT ACTIVE IN FUND-RAISING Rim of the World High School Interact Club participated in delivering Yellow Books to mountain residents in all communities from Arrowbear to Crestline. This is their biggest fundraiser. Interact "shared the wealth" by asking other Rim High clubs to participate in this fundraising project including Rim Mountain Bike Club, National Honor Society and a few others. Yellow Book paid Mike And Carol Chilcoat's business to get the books delivered, and in turn the Chilcoats made a donation to Interact for the work they did. Left to right: Eric Dahlquest, Norman Li, Karen Chilcoat, Rosie Trenholm, Lizzie Trenholm and Rim High Interact advisor Connie Rigney. ROTARY SUPPORTS YOUTH LITERACY For 18 years, Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead has donated books to elementary school libraries. Currently, the club spends $2000 annually on books worth twice that for Lake Arrowhead and Grandview Elementary Schools. Members hold a regular club meeting at each school and read one of the new books to classrooms. Teachers receive a brief description of each new book so they can determine which books might fit into the curriculum. More than 3000 hard cover books have been donated over nearly two decades. Instead of gifts to speakers at club meetings, books are presented to school libraries in the name of the speaker. Bookplates with Rotary’s The Four-Way Test are put into each book. After speakers write an inspirational comment about reading in the book, the books are given to district schools. Several years ago, with help from a Rotary District 5330 grant, the Lake Arrowhead club spent $7000 on books for Mountain High School and The Academy. Those donated books increased leisure reading enjoyment so much at Mountain High School that Lake Arrowhead Rotary continues buy new books each year to keep Mountain High School’s collection updated. Grandview Elementary School asked for help in motivating and rewarding parents who attend school-based adult literacy workshops. Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead responded by donating approximately 600 children’s literature books to reward parents for making the time, and sometimes mustering the courage, to attend training sessions and special literacy events. With other mountain Rotary clubs and Soroptimists, Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead bought dictionaries for all third graders and thesauruses for all fifth graders in Rim of the World School District. These resources now belong to the students and are sure to help them comprehend their reading and increase their writing skills throughout their education and beyond. WHY I JOINED ROTARY By Rick Ray, Membership Chair You don't have to be a social scientist to be aware of the multitudes who are ill housed, ill fed, idle or underutilized, which is perhaps the cruelest burden of all. Hope comes to these people from various directions. Any list of organizations that exist to help others must have Rotary near its top. It is the world's oldest, biggest and certainly most dedicated charitable organization. Consider Rotary's creed—"Service Above Self"— and the fact that some 1,200,000 members are devoted to just that. Our club, the Lake Arrowhead Rotary Club, is involved in local community, regional, national and international activities; in doing this we reflect the actions of Rotary chapters everywhere. I first joined Rotary knowing almost nothing of the organization, but wanting to be part of the community and meet people. Within several weeks I realized what a wonderful decision I had made. The reach and generosity of our chapter astounded me—a remarkable group of really nice people doing really nice and supportive things, in most cases for people and groups they did not know. It was all judged by need and limited only by our ability to help. So I became a convert and remain deeply enthusiastic and moved by the way the organization works. To my delight I was elected to the board and subsequently Membership Chair. It is the dream of all sales people; I get to sell a product I profoundly believe in, which is really as good as I think it is. I never was a "joiner" and you don't have to be one to be a Rotarian. All you have to do is want to help and to care and be sensitive to all those that need help. I would be happy to speak to any reader who would like to know more.
Lake Arrowhead Rotary Club, 2013 • 5 ROTARY BUILDS YOUTH LEADERS Rotarians worldwide are committed to helping others learn the value of following ethical principles in business and personal lives. One way they reach out to youth with this message is through leadership conferences fully funded by Rotary clubs. RYLA Seventeen local high school juniors will head to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) three day conference April 12-14, joining 330 other students from all over Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Originated by Rotary International in 1971, RYLAs are designed to help young adults develop skills needed to be leaders in their communities, careers, and everyday life. RYLA programs are found all over the world. In Switzerland, Swaziland, or Southern California, all RYLA programs share the following objectives: • To demonstrate further Rotary respect and concern for youth • To encourage and assist selected youth leaders and potential leaders in responsible, ethical, and effective voluntary youth leadership by providing them with training • To encourage continued and stronger leadership of youth by youth • To publicly recognize the high qualities of many young people who serve their communities as youth leaders Rotary clubs pay all expenses for this potentially life-changing experience. This year, Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead and Mountain Sunrise Rotary Club send six students each and Crestline – Lake Gregory Club will sponsor four teens. PRYDE Local seventh graders also have a chance to develop leadership skills through Rotary District 5330’s weekend Personal Rotary Youth Development Experience (PRYDE). Following in the footsteps of enormously successful RYLA, PRYDE’s main goals are to build leadership skills and a commitment to service, but the focus is on leading oneself rather than leading others. PRYDE participants work together to learn skills that will lead to individual success such as • Developing the courage to step out of their comfort zones to take healthy risks without worrying how other teens might judge them • Resisting peer pressure • Appreciating themselves and others for their inner strengths rather than their outer appearance • Setting personal goals and creating ethical steps to reach those goals Almost 200 12-year-olds from Indio to Fontana and Temecula to Big Bear will attend this year’s PRYDE May 4-5. Local Rotary clubs will sponsor 19 youth. Like RYLA, trained Rotarians facilitate small discussion groups to help these preteens apply skills they learn to their own lives as high school mentors run many of the activities. Most participants leave PRYDE exhausted but with heightened confidence, sense of purpose, and personal commitment to serve others. ROTARY COMMITMENT TO VOCATIONAL SERVICE One of the first areas of service established in Rotary was service through one’s business or profession. Rotarians are expected to use their unique skills to benefit people and organizations in their communities. Vocational service also requires ethical practices in business and personal relationships as guided by principles in Rotary’s The Four-Way Test. Any project that prepares youth and adults for careers, guides them to behave ethically, or recognizes individuals and organizations for vocational excellence and upstanding character fits into the Vocational Service arena. Rotary Club of Lake Arrowhead kicks off its focus on vocational service by recognizing Rim of the World Unified School District’s new teachers and administrators with an invitation to lunch and a “Welcome New Teacher” goody bag of items donated by local Rotarians and businesses. Other annual vocational service project descriptions can be found in separate articles in this special publication: RYLA and PRYDE leadership training, multiple literacy projects, and scholarships to help local graduates continue education beyond high school. Rotarians in Lake Arrowhead club also Participate in Rotarians-At-Work Day, a time when Rotarians take a break from their normal jobs and donate a day to community improvement projects. Since Rebuilding Together Day falls during that time, Rotarians will again volunteer at the “Rebuilding” home we sponsor. With many Rotary clubs around the country, we encourage high school students to develop public speaking skills and think about ethical issues by holding Four-Way Test Speech Contests. Selecting any topic of their choice, students apply The Four-Way Test to it to create a 5 – 8 minute speech presented to Rotarians. Participants win monetary awards and have a chance to move on to regional rounds of competition. Interested students can contact Rim High teacher Amanda Bates, Rim High’s debate coach Julie Scorziell, or Rotarian Aylene Popka for details on next month’s club competitions.
Page 1 and 2: ROTARY INTERNATIONAL CELEBRATES 108
Page 3: WHAT IS NEW IN ROTARY Lake Arrowhea
Page 7 and 8: Lake Arrowhead Rotary Club, 2013
Page 9 and 10: By Mary-Justine Lanyon STUDENT MUSI
Page 11 and 12: DELIVERING HELP SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Rotary Magazine 2013 - TownNews.com

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?