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Rotary District 5400
Idaho, USA
     42 Clubs       1800 members
 
Uniting Leaders to exchange
ideas and take action
to improve communities everywhere
 
November 6, 2016
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
Sage
GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE - THE ENGINE OF ROTARY
Carla and I are just about done with our Club visits.  It is bitter sweet ending.  We have driven about 12,000 miles since July 1.  I am happy to stop driving, but the experience visiting all the clubs is truly wonderful and difficult to describe.  We have met 100’s of Rotarians each month that anyone would be proud to call their friend.  We have been warmly welcomed in every location.  We have learned more about Idaho and all of its communities.  I am amazed at all the things that each club does to support their community and make it a better place for everyone.  Thank you for the wonderful experience and I will always remember your kindness to me and to all those in your towns that need help.
 
November is Foundation Month.  This is the time when we reflect on all the good the Rotary Foundation has done.  We are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Foundation this year and it will culminate with a celebration at the Atlanta Convention in June. 
 
Foundation giving has grown over the years and I want to make certain that I thank all of you who give generously to the Foundation.  Much of the growth in giving has come from a smaller and smaller group of Rotarians as membership has declined in our District.  When we look at the Foundation, we must all consider the need for more members to help with the giving.  So the Foundation and Membership are tied together.  One of the necessary things we must do to grow membership is to increase our Public Image efforts.  The more people know about Rotary, the more members we will have and the more members we have, benefits the Foundation.  This is my convoluted way of demonstrating that Membership and Public Image are all important and directly impact the Foundation.  Please support the Rotary Foundation—the engine of Rotary!!!
TWENTY OF US ATTEND ZONE
The Rotary Zone Institute held last week in Salt Lake City was a blast! Here are some photos to show the highlights.
 
WHAT IS "ZONE" ANYWAY?
Last week about 20 of our District 5400 leaders attended the annual Rotary International Zone Institute in Salt Lake City, convened by our friend Greg Podd, former RI Vice President and Director. The theme was "Rotary at the Crossroads". You may have heard Rotarians talk about "Zone", but what is it? The Rotary world is divided into 34 "Zones". Our District 5400 is one of 22 Districts (1100 clubs) in the combined Zones 21b and 27. The geographic territory is 11 states in the intermountain west from Montana to Texas, and east including Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The purpose of each Zone is to training District leaders, particularly District Governors, DG Elects and DG Nominees (and their spouses). In recent years, additional groups have been convened: Foundation Chairs, Membership Chairs, Trainers, Public Image Coordinators and Emerging Leaders. In all, there are about 500 Rotarians and spouses at this year's conference. Past DGs also meet as their "reunion" classes. There are programs for Rotaractors and Young Professionals as well. A long list of great speakers!
Read more...
TWIN FALLS AFTER HOURS DELIVERS TRIKES
On October 29th our club Rotary After Hours-Twin Falls completed the first stage of our grant project for this year.  We assembled and delivered 4 tricycles to local children with disabilities.  Without this project these children may have never been able to feel the freedom to ride a bike of their very own.  Each bike was specifically designed for each child to allow them to ride it on their own. While they are using the bike it also helps to exercise their extremities that they do not have use of.  It is a fun and therapeutic bike that gives them mobility they have never had before.  The smiles on their faces were priceless.  We will be holding a fundraiser February 17th 2017 our 5th annual Martini Masquerade Ball and all funds from the fundraiser will be used to acquire more tricycles.
 
 
YOUTH EXCHANGE NEEDS YOUR HELP
The Rotary Youth Exchange Program can only operate when our Rotary clubs step up and host inbound students and sponsor outbound students.  We normally have around 17 clubs who are willing to host the inbounds.  We hope for 20.
 
To date I only have 12 confirmed hosting clubs for the 2017-18 academic year.  I am still waiting for positive responses from four of last years clubs for continued support but 3 have already decided to forego hosting next year as they wish to do every-other-year instead. 
 
On the 12th of November we have our outbound interview gathering in Buhl to determine who we send next year.  We have 21 candidates who are already pre-screened and most will be selected to go but only if we have hosting clubs.  They will be ranked and at this time I can only send the top 12.
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NAMPA COLLECTS COATS FOR KIDS
The Coats For Kids Drive efforts by Rotary Club of Nampa raised more than $455 and collected more than 13 coats for kids in the area.  Several drop off bins were set up at the Canyon Creek Restaurant and Lounge and other locations.
POKY INTERACT CLUB HARVESTS GARDEN
The Idaho foodbank has been the recipient of over 4000 pounds of vegetables in the past two years due to the hard work of the Century High School Interact club under the leadership of members of the Rotary Club of Pocatello. 
 
It all began with a brainstorming session in the fall of 2014 during a monthly meeting of Rotarians and Century Interact club members.  The discussion was primarily centered on a volunteer project collecting food for the less fortunate during the holidays.  One of the comments was that fresh produce, though much tastier than canned, is so much more expensive.  Discussion around the table at that point brought about the Idea of growing vegetables for the foodbank.  It was decided it would be a tremendous volunteer project for the Interactors.
 
 
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BOISE HIGH'S ADDIE WHITE AWARDED DISTRICT SCHOLARSHIP
Addie White was chosen as the recipient of the 2016-2017 District 5400 Scholarship. She will receive $500 in the form of a reimbursement for tuition and books for both the Fall 2016 semester and the Spring 2017 semester and will continue to be eligible to receive this amount during her 4-year tenure as a college student as long as she maintains the requirements outlined in the scholarship. Addie is a freshman attending the University of Idaho with a Major in Political Science/Statistics with a minor in German. 
 
Some application highlights that elevated Addie to the top for the scholarship selection committee (comprised of 8 Rotarians throughout the district) in this competition include:
 
 
  • 4.054 GPA
  • International goals including international lawyer
  • Good work history
  • Rotary Youth Exchange experience in Germany
  • Attending University of Idaho with a major in Political Science/Statistics with a minor in German
  • Application carefully and thoughtfully completed and free of errors.
Addie has this to say about receiving this award: "Thank you so much for awarding me this scholarship, it really means a lot to me, and please extend my gratitude to the rest of the Rotary District 5400 Scholarship Committee!" --Addie White
SIERRA LEONE VILLAGE HOPE UPDATE
International projects have a flow of their own, from project conception to project completion. The Village Hope Sierra Leone economic development gari factory global grant was fully funded and approved in March 2016. This is another project made possible by your generous support of the Rotary Foundation. The three tractors have been delivered immediately being put to use plowing and preparing the fields for planting. The tractors are used both in Village Hope fields as well as being contracted to plow other farmer’s fields. The tractors provide jobs for the drivers and a profit stream for the community. The gari factory has been operating with 40 full time workers and rotating 200 part time workers. The gari production rate is too low to be profitable so the factory staff is analyzing the production process to see what changes are necessary.
 
The four motorcycles have been delivered and are being used mainly as trucks – hauling people and supplies. The motorcycles are much cheaper to operate and do well on the rough roads. The pickup truck has been paid for, but is waiting for licensing and registration before being delivered. The last two remaining items in the global grant are the two community training courses. The first course will take place in the next month or two and then a year later the final training will be done. Overall the project is behind schedule, due largely to the ebola crisis, and on track with the anticipated challenges of operating and maintaining a factory in a country with a weak infrastructure being the focus for success.
 
ABERDEEN ROTARY IMPROVES SPORTSMAN'S PARK
Aberdeen Rotary Club Dedicates Informational Marker at Sportsman’s Park     
                                            
On October 31, 2016, a ceremony was held at Aberdeen, Idaho’s Sportsman’s Park to present an historical information marker dedicated to the pioneers of Sportsman’s Park.  Primarily through the efforts of Cliff Wride, the first mayor of Aberdeen, and Cal Moser, the work to create the park along the shore of the American Falls Reservoir was started.  Cliff used his bulldozer to create the boat ramp and grade the shoreline, and Bingham County helped build the road to the park.  Since then, the park has been a popular recreation area for local residents as well as visitors. Over the years it has been modernized and currently consists of a large campground for recreational vehicles, a nature trail, picnic facilities, and newly refurbished boat launching and docking facilities.
Read more...
WHO HAS YOUR CLUB'S PASSWORDS?
Social Media Profiles can fall into disrepair quickly when left alone. Everyone has had that one person in their group who started an account, was doing a bang-up job and then moved on without forwarding the passwords. Apps like Facebook and Twitter will not let you retrieve account information without them.  So before we begin delving into the social media audit of our club, we need to begin with the most important step. Gather all of your social media accounts; Facebook, Twitter, Website…etc. into one spot. I recommend this information stay with Social Media Chair, Secretary and current Club President.  This information needs to be updated/scrubbed on an annual basis.
 
For example:
 
 
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at tina.therp@Rotary5400.org
 
 
 
BLUE LAKES PANCAKES IN KIMBERLY
The Blue Lakes Rotary Club hosted a very successful Pancake Breakfast Oct. 1, at Kimberly Elementary School. This annual fundraiser has been helping area schools purchase everything from computers to playground equipment for many years. This year’s event raised just under $5,000 to help KES purchase adaptive playground equipment so that students with mobility challenges have the same opportunity to play and learn at recess. In addition, because of the publicity surrounding the Rotary event, additional donors stepped up and contributed another $3,000 to KES for this project. That means the school only has to raise another $2,000 to reach their goal.
 
BLR thanks it's outstanding community partners who donated all the supplies needed for the breakfast, Standard Printing, Treasure Valley Coffee, Heritage and Woodstone Assisted Living, Gem State Paper, Falls Brand, Con Agra Foods, Fairfield Inn, Barry Rental, Brookdale Senior Living, Syringa Place Senior Living, Bridgeview Estates, McDonalds, and St. Luke's.
METRO HOSTS RUSSIANS
The Boise Metro Rotary Club participated in the Open World Program in October, hosting a group of 8 Russians from Tomsk, Siberia. Open World is a US State Department program than started in 1999 as a way to promote exchange with the countries of the former Soviet Union in Eastern Europe. It is not a Rotary program, per se, but RI encourages clubs to participate. Our visitors were professionals who were affiliated with the Siberian State Medical University. Their emphasis was on adaptive technologies for people with disabilities and distance learning (the connection is that Russia doesn't have the ADA to help disabled citizens). Rotarians hosted the Russians in their homes and provided a week's schedule related to their interests, and some fun activities, too. Metro Rotarian and Project Coordinator, Cornelia Sprung, said, "this was a wonderful experience for our members and we now have good friends in Russia we can stay in touch with through FaceBook!".
BOISE EAST BEER AND BRATS SUCCESS!
Rotary Club of Boise East would like to thank everyone for their contribution and participation in The Annual Beer and Brat Fundraiser held October 18th at the Powder Haus Brewing Company.  Everyone had a great evening enjoying music by Spencer Batt, food prepared by Big Mike's Tids & Bits, and hand-crafted beer, wine, and soda.  Proceeds will benefit local community projects throughout the Boise area.  Rotary Club of Boise East would like to extend special gratitude to Powder Haus Brewing Company, Big Mike's Catering, Bier-Thirty, and The Refuge to donating facilities, time, music, and product.
CHECK OUT ROTARY GLOBAL REWARDS
Since the launch of Rotary Global Rewards on 1 July 2015, over 100,000 members have visited the site! See http://www.rotary.org/globalreward.  You can get all kinds of discounts on a variety of products, including travel, hotel and airline discounts. (ed note: I tried it and it works. I got a 15% discount on a hotel room!) And, checkout some really good restaurant discounts. For example, pay $10 for a $25 coupon.
 
Another cool feature is that you can set up a discount program for your own company for the benefit of your fellow Rotarians.
 
Check it out!
INCREASE MEMBERSHIP VIA FACEBOOK
Invite your Rotarian friends to see the great things that are happening on their district level! Let's see if we can get to 1000 'likes' for Rotary District 5400. Do these two easy steps to invite your friends:

1) Go to the District 5400 Facebook page. Click the 'More' tab, click 'Invite Friends'
2) Choose the friends you want to invite, then click 'Close'
 
 
NEXT CLUB RUNNER USERS GROUP
The next GoToMeeting session for our ClubRunner User's Group will be Thursday, November 10 from 7:00 to 8:00PM. We'll do an overview of the club bulletin module. Club bulletins are an important tool for communication among members and recruiting new members. Clubs who have ClubRunner, but are only using the admin functions, should strongly encourage a member to take on the bulletin responsibility. Its a great tool! If you're not already on the CR User's Group list, let me know!  biggs81@gmail.com
NAMPA AWARDS GRANTS TO 3 NON-PROFITS
Three local non-profit organizations received funds Nov. 1 from the Nampa Rotary Community Fund.  
Recipients and programs include:
  • Salvation Army Nampa Family Shelter – $1,000 for services for homeless families.
  • Boys and Girls Club of Nampa -- $1,000 for transportation for children participating in after-school programs.
  • Nampa Library Foundation $400 for two children’s programs to be presented by Treasure Valley Institute for Children's Arts (TRICA) at the Nampa Library.

Since creating the fund six years ago, the club has raised $34,000 and distributed $13,500 to numerous organizations, including WITCO, Canyon County immunizations and the Mentoring Network.
SEMILLA NUEVA EVENT  NOV 30TH

Save the Date for Semilla Nueva's Annual Planting the Future Celebration!

WHEN: NOVEMBER 30TH, 2016
TIME: 6:00 - 8:00 PM
WHERE: ZIONS BANK, 8TH & MAIN BUILDING, BOISE, IDAHO

Thanks to you, last year's event was a huge success, and we cannot wait for you to participate with us again this year. Join us to continue creating lasting solutions to malnutrition in Guatemala!

 

100TH LOGO REVEALED
As you know, next year we'll celebrate "One Hundred Years of Rotary in Idaho", starting with the Boise downtown club in June. A special logo for the year's celebration has been unveiled. It was designed by Jeff Leedy of the Boise club. Many of us are familiar with Jeff's comedic artwork known as http://artthatmakesyoulaugh.com/. Thanks, Jeff, for capturing the essence of our celebration!
POKY CENTENNIAL INSTALLS COMPUTER LAB
The mobile computer lab (30 computers plus cart with charge connections) for Gate City Elementary was put into service last week. This was paid with cost sharing by the Gate City school PTO and contributing businesses, Centennial Rotary Club along with a matching grant from Rotary District 5400. Pictured here are Ryan Robinson, Treasurer and Ron Gallegos, President of Centennial Rotary who have put Rotary stickers on the computers. Students have had an introductory lesson and are shown individually and with their teacher in learning activities.
 
POLIO UPDATE
World Polio Day - Was last Monday - Watch the replay of the live stream event any time at http://www.endpolionow.org and encourage your Club Members to donate to Polio Eradication this week! 
 
The World Bank recently committed $125 million for Polio eradication in Nigeria. About half of these resources will fund oral polio vaccines and other operational requirements, while the other half will help fund routine immunizations.
 
Billionaires Pony Up More Funds in Fight to Eradicate Polio - According to this article in the 10/24/16 Wall Street Journal http://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaires-pony-up-more-funds-in-fight-to-eradicate-polio-1477310401  several philanthropists are working to funds needed to reach our goal of a Polio-free world.  Bill Gates has convinced Michael Bloomberg, Ray Dalio and others to contribute a total of $70 million in new donations.  "Just from an investment perspective, eradication makes sense.  It will eliminate future financial burden, and unlock doors to economic productivity around the world" said a representative of Mr Dalio's Foundation which gave $50 million to the cause in 2013. 
Read more...
TUCSON RIDE FOR POLIO
The annual Rotary Ride for Polio in Tucson will take place on November 19th. This event, which began in 1999, has raised over $25 million for Polio Plus! This year's goal is $10 million. Mary Reiman, from Boise Metro, is leading a group to Tucson and is seeking pledges which will be matched 3 to 1. If you can't go to Tucson, you can ride a stationary bike! check out the details here: Good luck Mary and team! http://ridetoendpolio.org/
ATLANTA 2017 CALLING!
 
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Editor  John Biggs, Boise Metro, District 5400 and Zone 27 Public Image Coordinator   john.biggs@rotary5400.org