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Posted by Ken Howell DG
on Oct 31, 2015
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.jpg) As my club visits wind down, the rest of the Rotary year is starting to come into focus. While we’ve already held foundation meetings and a few “Rotary 101” meetings, I’m already looking forward to our mid-Winter assemblies. Shortly after that will be the rush of PETS, District Conference and then the Rotary International Conference in Seoul, Korea.
There are many other events yet to occur; I’m looking forward to visiting a few of the Rotary Christmas parties that clubs have invited me to attend. Next weekend we conduct interviews for the selection of our outbound exchange students. It seems that there is always a Rotary function taking place during the week, or on the weekends.
At a past Zone Institute I attended in Austin, Texas, one of the speakers talked about the importance of having a few “Rotary Free” days a month. So many of us are so close to our club meetings and projects, or are heavily involved in RYLA or the Rotary Youth Exchange program. Being so involved in these projects it is easy for us to sometimes lose sight of the breadth and strength of Rotary. Taking a few days away from Rotary gives us the chance to reflect on what Rotary does bring to our lives when we are engaged in club meetings and projects, and the many other things we do in and for Rotary.
As winter comes upon us, and we turn to the holiday season, I hope that you can find a few “Rotary Free” days to enjoy with your families. As you do, I also hope that you will find some time to reflect on how much Rotary brings to you and your community. Each of us, at one time or another, gets far further into volunteer service (including Rotary!) than we had planned on….sometimes to the point that it seems we’re the only one working on a particular project (a lament I commonly hear from my visits with Rotary club board members). Having a “breather” allows us some perspective on why we got involved in the first place, and how much enjoyment we derive from our work.
There are other ways to reflect on our Rotary work besides outright taking time “off.” Our mid-Winter assemblies will allow us to take stock of our goals this year, and plan our final push to complete them by year-end in 2016. Club Presidents and Vice Presidents will attend PETS and be able to consider what they want to accomplish as leaders in their clubs. District Conference will celebrate all that we do in Rotary, and will provide inspiration from our Youth Exchange students, our outstanding speakers, and our informative programs.
While our Rotary year is not half over yet, we’ll soon be past the holiday seasons, and the rest of the year will be suddenly upon us. I hope you take the time now to plan on attending the upcoming events for the rest of the year; mid-Winter; PETS and District Conference. This year, you should seriously consider attendance at Rotary International Conference in Seoul; if you haven’t taken the time to see a preview on www.rotary.org, you should spend a few minutes looking it up!
I continue to be inspired and uplifted by seeing all the good our Rotary clubs (you!) are doing in our district. I’m proud of all of your work, and I look forward to helping you through the rest of the Rotary year. |
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Posted by Marianne Barker, Foundation Chair
on Nov 01, 2015
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 The last of our three regional Rotary Foundation seminars for 2015-16, will be held Nov. 21 in Boise, in the basement conference room of the Empire Building. PLEASE preregister for the event by Nov. 17, to help us plan for lunch. If you are not paying online, please bring a check from your club to cover the cost of attendance, $25/person. We have lots to cover: district grant reporting requirements & guidelines for improving grant applications, club qualification for global grants, the end game of PolioPlus, ideas for stimulating Annual Fund giving. The training will be specific, and you will leave knowing more than when you arrived. Who should attend? Foundation chairs, incoming leaders, grants managers, club treasurers, and any Rotarian interested in learning more about our Foundation. Don’t let your club be left behind because no one attended one of our training sessions. Register and prepay now at www.rotary5400.org. |
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Posted
on Nov 01, 2015
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In case you missed it - a replay of the 10/23/15 World Polio Day Live-Stream is available at www.endpolio.org
https://youtu.be/XofHgcfe1Os?t=18
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Posted by John Biggs
on Nov 01, 2015
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 The District has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Rotary5400/?fref=ts but we need many more Rotarians throughout the District to post to it. This might be club or district activities and events, membership recruitment opportunities, news from RYLA, Youth Exchange, use your imagination! We already get posts from RI and our Zone 27 but we need more local stuff. If you're a FB junkie and interested in joining our team of Facebook editors, please contact Will Duke at Ketchum/Sun Valley, our Facebook Editor-in-Chief. <will.duke@rotary5400.org. And be sure to "like" our page!
Or, if you don't want to be an editor, just send your info to Will and he'll post it!
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Posted
on Nov 01, 2015
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 Zach Tilton, 27, of Rexburg has been selected by The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International as a 2016 Rotary Peace Fellow to study for his master’s degree at the University of Bradford in England. His application to the program was submitted by Rotary District 5400. His 15-month course of study at Bradford will introduce him to different approaches for understanding, preventing and resolving conflict, and to critical reflection on different practices of peace intervention. A maximum of 50 peace fellows are chosen each year, and Zach is the first candidate from our district to be selected.
Zach was born in Florida. In 2009, after serving a two-year LDS mission in Las Vegas, he moved to Rexburg to study at BYU-Idaho. There he met his future wife, the former Julie Hawke of Rexburg. Halfway through his studies, Zach and Julie transferred to BYU-Hawaii where he pursued his Bachelor of Science degree in Peacebuilding and Business Management.
After graduation in 2012, Zach and Julie served for 27 months in the Peace Corps as Youth and Community Development volunteers in Morocco, utilizing the skills and knowledge they gained during their undergraduate programs to positively engage youth through various capacity building and service-learning initiatives. At the conclusion of his Peace Corps assignment, Zach interned in Washington, DC at the international peacebuilding organization, Search for Common Ground.
When asked about his future, Zach says, "My goal is to assist communities in their conflict transformation efforts, making a difference in the lives of those most affected by violence."
The Rotary Peace Fellowship award covers tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses.
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Posted by Todd Fischer
on Nov 01, 2015
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Rotary International has completed the technical review of the Masori Sierra Leone Global Grant Application. This is a big milestone in getting the grant approved. Before the grant's final approved, the budget and financing need to be finalized. The budget proposal is ready and the partnerships for financing are in the works. District 5400 has agreed to match from District Designated Funds (DDF) money raised in our district as a 1:1 match up to $50,000. If you have attended one of the district's Foundation training workshops you know all about DDF!
With the project portion of the grant application being accepted, we are now focusing on the funding side. We need to raise $50,000 within our district and also find a partner district due to the scope of the project. Once the partner district has signed off, the grant application will be submitted for final approval.
The clock is ticking. The project is to start a commercial cassava business, harvesting the cassava tubers and producing a dried, roasted, granular product called gari. Gari is widely sold in West Africa. The business will pay high salaries and will carry out community projects in the nine-village, 2200-person project area. Our implementation partner, Village Hope Inc. (www.villagehopeinc.org), has been in the project area for several years, developing relationships and doing needs assessments. A current goodwill project of 250 acres of cassava tubers have been planted and the 1500 tons of cassava is ready to harvest. This crop will be a great shake down to make sure the cassava processing equipment functions as expected. The challenge is the tubers need to be processed by May to minimize spoilage.
This project demonstrates a new approach to community development in sub-Saharan Africa. It uses modern business methods, provides comprehensive support to the community, and is both sustainable and scalable. The total project cost is $350,000 (much of it raised by our partner Village Hope), and to fulfill the grant fund raising, we only need the final $20-30,000. If you or your club are willing to help us get this last bit of funding, please contact me using the information below.
Todd Fischer, Boise Downtown World Service Chair, (208) 409-7007, todd.fischer@ridgerun.com
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Posted by Tom Rosenthal, YE Chair
on Nov 02, 2015
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 This weekend (07Nov) we will be holding our interviews for those students wishing to become our outbound students for the 2016-17 academic year. Currently we have only 14 confirmed hosting slots among our District 5400 clubs. We still hope for at least 16 to 18. We will be interviewing 21 prospective students on Saturday in Buhl and we know that more than 14 of them will be acceptable candidates.
We have sent out repeated requests for your clubs to host. If you are not already hosting, please reconsider hosting an inbound student so that we will be able to send more of our students - we are a true exchange. We cannot send our kids unless we in turn accept them.
I would like to thank those clubs who have already stepped up to participate:
Pocatello
Boise East / Boise Centennial
Boise Sunrise
Idaho Falls
Boise Metro
Boise Downtown
McCall
Boise Southwest
Emmett
Buhl
Western Treasure Valley
Eagle / Garden City
Please contact me if you are able to assist us with this. My cell is 208.863.4242 - please leave a message. My email is rye5400@gmail.com .
Tom Rosenthal
Chairman RYE
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Posted by John Biggs, PIC
on Nov 01, 2015
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 As part of a continuing effort to help clubs (and Districts throughout the Rotary world) to improve their "internet presence" we've formed a working committee, chaired by Jane Gordon of Boise Centennial, to apply an "internet assessment tool" to each club. We'll look at each club and ask questions like: Does a Google search find the club? Do they have a website? Is it current and attractive? Do they have a Facebook page? And so on. When the survey is completed a club may request the results. We'll then apply this tool a year from now to see if we've made some progress.
We often talk about the challenges of new membership growth and retention. We all know, at least intuitively, that social media and an on-line presence is an important part of the puzzle. We're here to help!
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Posted by Dennis Robinson
on Nov 01, 2015
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On September 12th over 500 Rotary members and guests attended the successful Lobsterfest dinner auction held at the Quest Arena, hosted by Boise Southwest and Sunrise Rotary clubs. The menu for this event featured a dinner with lobster flown directly from New England and cooked on site. In addition to an enjoyable meal, entertainment by Boise Straight Ahead Jazz Big Band, attendees bid on numerous silent auction items including services from local businesses, outings hosted by Rotary members, vacation opportunities, craft items as well as homemade desserts from members and spouses. A live auction featured opportunities for vacations in various resort locations, dinners cooked and hosted by members, as well as a flat screen TV. A “Paddle-up auction” was also held, giving attendees an opportunity to contribute to the Hope House “Grocery Fund” (which raised $12,000) or the “Treasure Valley YMCA Swimming Program”.
The event grossed over $100,000! Proceeds from this event will be used to fund the various programs supported by both Sunrise and Southwest Rotary Clubs. Thanks to all who supported this fun filled and successful evening.
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Posted by Nancy Thompson
on Nov 01, 2015
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The Rotary Club of Elmore County presented 5 Chrome Notebooks to William Goodman, Director of Technology of the Mountain Home School District.
Providing the computers is a part of our school supplies civic program. Since August 15th we have provided over $1600 in school supplies to 6 different public schools.
On October 31st, the club will work in conjunction with the Parks & Recreation Department to provide a safe Halloween event for the children of Mountain Home .
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Posted by Kathy Buck
on Oct 31, 2015
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After having our Mayor Proclaiming October 17 as World Polio Day in Emmett, our 2nd annual PINS 4 POLIO was a great success - lots of fun, laughter and even some good bowling!
Congratulations to Emily Fleming, Ted Fleming, Tim Fleming and John Buck for bowling a perfect 7 pin, No Tap, game!!! We had over 50 bowlers and 19 lane sponsors. KT's Lanes did an excellent job of hosting all of us and the silent auction went well. We are waiting for the final dollars to be collected and will report the total as soon as we know. Our Interact kids collected money at the home high school game on October 9 while passing the "Pumpkins for Polio" which added to our total. Several also bowled with us - including our Rotary exchange student from Austria, Michael.
We had our first ever raffle this year and raised $79 additional dollars and held a silent auction. All in all a wonderful opportunity to bring the eradication of polio into the limelight in our community in a fun way. District 5400 Assistant Governor, Mike Sieler, joined us again this year and brought two teams from Eagle to help us raise funds to eradicate polio! Thanks, Mike!
(Photo - Doc Stone shows the correct form)
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Posted by Terry Ziegler, District 5890
on Nov 01, 2015
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No New Wild Polio cases reported this week!
What is that Polio Picture? It's a photo of Rukhsar, from Howrak, West Bengal, India - the last known child who was infected by the Wild Polio Virus in India - on 1/13/11. My hope is that we will soon be reaching the last case in Pakistan and Afghanistan - the last two Polio Endemic countries in the world. Could 2015-16 be the year of the final Polio case?
Pakistan - No new Polio cases reported in Pakistan this week. Thirty-eight Polio cases have been reported in 2015 compared to 219 at this time last year.
Afghanistan - No new Polio cases reported in Afghanistan this week. One new Polio-positive environmental sample was collected this week. National Immunization Days to take place Nov. 1-3 using trivalent OPV.
The Final Two Endemic Countries:
Pakistan - Thirty-eight Polio cases reported in 2015 with 306 cases recorded in 2014 The most recent case was reported on 09/16/15 from Peshawar.
Afghanistan - Thirteen Polio cases reported in 2015 with 28 cases recorded in 2014. The most recent case was reported on 09/06/15 from the Nangarhar Province.
Post Endemic - Nigeria - Zero Polio cases reported in 2015 with 6 cases recorded in 2014. The most recent case was reported on 7/24/14.
2014 Importation Countries:
Ethiopia (1 case in 2014), Cameroon (5 cases in 2014), Somalia (5 cases in 2014), Iraq (2 cases in 2014), Syria (1 case in 2014), & Equatorial Guinea (5 cases in 2014) - all report no Polio cases in 2015.
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Posted by John Biggs
on Oct 13, 2015
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We have called them our newsletter editors, social committee, club secretary, or public relations chair. Rotary now classifies the activities of public relations as PUBLIC IMAGE! Activities associated with Public Image is all about membership and retention. Each club should have a member dedicated to getting the word out of your activities. This includes an attractive and current website, active social media platforms like FaceBook, a periodic bulletin and successful contact with your local media outlets; passing club news up to the district level for inclusion in District publications. We need to get out more!!
I am the designated Public Image Coordinator for District 5400 and I am eager to help you in any way I can.
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Posted
on Nov 01, 2015
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| Montpelier |
10-Nov-15 |
12:00 |
| Jerome |
17-Nov-15 |
12:00 |
| Pocatello-Gate City |
24-Nov-15 |
12:00 |
| Ketchum Sun Valley |
1-Dec-15 |
12:00 |
| Nampa |
8-Dec-15 |
12:00 |
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Join Rotarians from all over the country on a bike ride in Tucson, AZ, on November 21, to raise funds for End Polio Now. The El Tour de Tucson is one of the country's premier bike rides for the past 33 years. Since 2009, the ride has benefited Polio Plus, raising over $10 million. Mary Reiman and Jeff Larsen of Boise Metro Rotary is leading a group from our District to participate. Rotary homestays can be arranged and your bike can be transported for you (so you can fly). There are rides of 40, 60, 80 or 110 miles. There's a 5 mile "fun ride" or you can participate at home or at your club on your stationary bike!
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Posted by Rick Phillips, Pocatello, PDG
on Sep 27, 2015
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 Your District 5400 Leadership Council is in search of nominations for District Governor to serve in Rotary Year 2018-19.
To be district governor, the Rotary International Bylaws require that a Rotarian must: (1) have served one full term as club president (or partial term in the case of a charter president); (2) be a member in good standing of a functioning club in the district; and (3) demonstrate the willingness, commitment and ability, and otherwise, to fulfill the duties and responsibilities of the office of governor as provided by the RI Bylaws section 15.090.
Note that Rotary International Bylaws strictly prohibit a Rotarian from engaging in campaigning or canvassing for elective office (i.e., you can’t campaign for the DGN position).
It is beneficial, though not required, that candidates have served the district in a leadership capacity, as a member of the District Leadership Council, as Assistant Governor, or as chair of a district committee or significant subcommittee.
Nominations are made by clubs; the nominations are in the form of a resolution adopted at a regular meeting of the club naming the suggested candidate. The resolution must be certified by the club secretary, and a club may suggest only one of its own members as a candidate for governor-nominee.
Please send your recommendations to the Chair of the District Governor Nominating Committee, PDG Rick Phillips, via email at Rick.Phillips@simplot.com before November 30, 2015. Feel free to call or email PDG Rick if you have questions.
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