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     Rotary District 5400
     43 Clubs       1900 members
 
Uniting Leaders to exchange
ideas and take action
to improve communities everywhere
 
May 29, 2016
 
 
Happy Memorial Day!
BLOGGING FROM SEOUL
There are a number of Rotarians at the Rotary International Convention in Seoul, Korea - there are enjoying themselves even as we speak! We can look forward to reports. You might check on our FaceBook page or the R.I. page.  I've enjoyed reading the blog post by Beth Markley (Boise Downtown). She and Mike (Boise Southwest) and the two boys are enjoying exploring Korea before the conventional begins. Check it out here. You can see Mike's post from Day One here. Scott Swan from Boise Metro is there and Jim Hogge from Boise Sunrise.
DEADLINES FOR FOUNDATION YEAR END GIVING
Deadlines for gifts to be credited to The Foundation for the Rotary year ending 30 June 2016 are as follows:
CHECKS:
  • Must be postmarked on or before Thursday, 30 June 2016.
  • Must be dated no later than 30 June 2016.
  • Must be received at The Foundation by Wednesday, 6 July 2016.
  • Contributions postmarked after 30 June 2016 or received after 7 July 2016, will be considered July 2016 gifts. Visit Rotary.org to learn more information about check contributions.
If you or others in your club or district are planning on contributing early in the 2015-16 year, please do not send in checks until Friday, 1 July 2016.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS
  • Via Rotary.org – must be authorized by midnight on Thursday, 30 June 2016.
  • Via fax (847-328-5260), phone (866-976-8279), or mail to World Headquarters – must be received prior to close of business on 30 June 2016.
  • Credit card contributions by mail are less secure and slower than contributing online. For security purposes, please do not send credit card contributions electronically.
 
WIRE TRANSFERS, SECURITIES and SPECIAL GIFTS:
  • Wire Transfers must be initiated prior to Thursday, 30 June 2016 and received byTuesday, 5 July 2016
  • Securities must be received prior to Thursday, 30 June 2016. Learn more about donating stocks, mutual funds, or other securities.
  • For donation instructions for Charitable Gift Annuities and Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, contact plannedgiving@rotary.org or call +1-847-866-3100
 
EMMETT FUNDRAISER ROCKS!
The Rotary Club of Emmett Youth Benefit Auction and Dinner celebrated 44 years in May.  The committee, comprised of Emmett Rotarians, met monthly beginning in June of 2015, to plan the event.  Based on the success of last year’s theme of Flip Flops and Flamingos, we kept that brand and added, presents Superhero’s and Villains.  Each committee person chaired a portion of the event and all Rotarians were invited to help.  Our corporate sponsors paid $500 for a table which included dinner for six, two free drink tickets for each of their guests, free raffle tickets and free bucket draw tickets.  In addition, a special drawing was held at the beginning of dinner where only names of the corporate sponsors were entered. The winner received $600 in cash!  

We outgrew the Emmett High School commons last year, so we moved to a huge tent in the City Park.  It was a special evening out which was very obvious in the candlelight table centerpieces and linens.  Each of the 26 groups who applied and were approved for funding, decorated a banner (provided by Coca Cola) depicting their groups Superhero or Villain.  These were hung around the tent for all to see.
 
A delicious steak and chicken dinner was catered by yet another Emmett Rotarian, Candi Coltrin and her husband.  Our professional auctioneers donated their time and talents to further our cause.
 
We could not have been so successful without the merchants of Gem County!  Each Emmett Rotarian was given a list of Gem County merchants and asked to secure donations of merchandise or cash.  Each youth group benefitting from the auction also donated a basket or an item for the auction.  Some items came through other means – a visitor to our club meeting one day donated two 3-day passes to the Mtn Home Country Music Festival; yet another decided to become a corporate sponsor the day he visited and so much more.  Contacts with places many of us go for short vacations also responded with free nights in their resorts (Pendleton, Oregon and Reno, Nevada); a hunting or photographic Safari were secured (and sold!); a pheasant hunting trip; a jet boat trip; a laptop computer and the list goes on and on.  Needless to say, without this kind of support  from our town merchants and others we would not have had such a successful evening.
Our preliminary numbers are at about $75,000 gross with the actual profit near $60,000.  The 26 youth groups requested nearly $26,000 for the next year.  The balance will be held in our Foundation as a means to help other youth throughout the year  fund various trips to state and national competitions.
 
BOISE CENTENNIAL WINS TOP AWARD
Congratulations to Boise Centennial Rotary Club! At District Conference they were awarded the Humanity in Motion Award as the club in the District which made a major impact on their community and the ideals of Rotary. Most significantly, they increased their membership by a whopping net +25% during the three quarters of the Rotary year ending March 31.  The award comes with a check from the District for $1,000. This relatively new club (2007) just completed its major fundraiser for the year, Winter Wine'd Up, which was a huge success. President Jim Martin's club also has a tradition of collecting donations for a different non-profit every month. And, they joined the ClubRunner family last month with a brand new website (visit here).
DISTRICT GRANT DEADLINE IS JUNE 1ST
Has your club applied for a district grant from The Rotary Foundation?  The deadline for signed applications is June 1, 2016.  The Terms and Conditions for Rotary Foundation Grants and the instructions for making an application are available in the grants folder at the district website, www.rotary5400.org.  Clubs apply for grants online at www.matchinggrants.org  as described in the instructions.  Once received, club projects will be reviewed by the District 5400 grants committee at their meeting on June 24, with approved projects to be incorporated into the district block grant application for submission to The Rotary Foundation after July 1.  You cannot incur any costs of your project before we receive the nod from The Rotary Foundation on our block grant application. 
ROTARY OFFERS HUGE DISCOUNT FOR ATLANTA 2017
Many of us are already talking about attending the 2017 International Convention In Atlanta. - June 10-14, 2017. Rotary has just announced an incredible discount for early registration, but you have to act NOW! Like Next week!!
 

 

Pay just $265 when you register between 28 May and 6 June 2016! (Rotaractors pay $70). Payment must be received by 6 June to receive this special rate.

Sign up for the Rotary Convention newsletter to receive information about this and other convention happenings.

An email confirmation is sent for all registrations, including faxed and mailed registrations. 

Important deadlines

6 June 2016: Last day for special centennial discount ($265 Rotarians/$70 Rotaractors) 
15 December 2016: Last day for early-registration discount ($340 Rotarians/$70 Rotaractors) 
31 March 2017: Last day for preregistration discount ($415 Rotarians/$100 Rotaractors) 
14 June 2017: Last day for online registration ($490 Rotarians/$130 Rotaractors)

(Looks like non-Rotarian spouses/friends pay the same amount)

IDAHO FALLS SENDS HEALTH KITS TO HAITI
 
Local community members and volunteers joined together to help lower the infant mortality rate in Haiti by assembling special newborn kits to be sent to the Love A Child, Inc. Medical Center in Fond Parisien, Haiti. 
 
On Tuesday, May 17th, members of the Idaho Falls Rotary Club, volunteers from the Idaho Falls Area Humanitarian Center and local Boy Scout troops – led by three Eagle Scout candidates –assembled the kits at the Idaho Falls Area Humanitarian Center.
 
The Love A Child, Inc. Medical Center provides a series of educational classes for expectant mothers in Haiti that teaches the importance of child vaccinations and nutrition, preparation of safe drinking water, breast feeding, and how to prepare for child birth. As an incentive, attendees are given a special newborn kit at the conclusion of all the required classes. These kits include a receiving blanket, onesie, four diapers with pins, socks, hat, face cloths, shampoo, body wash, powder, lotion, waterproof pants, and a razor blade and dental floss for umbilical cord care. 
 
“Last year, the Idaho Falls Rotary Club raised the funds through local sponsors and organized more than 250 volunteers who packaged and shipped 100,000 meals and 400,000 servings of potato products donated by Idahoan Foods to Haiti. We also sent some school supplies, hygiene and infant kits”, said Greg A. Weitzel, Chairman of the Rotary Club International Service Committee. 
 
Read more...
INTERNET REPORT CARD COMPLETED
Our committee has completed its review of our District’s clubs “internet presence”. Our goal was to assess the degree to which our clubs meet the definition of a searchable, informative, attractive and up to date internet presence, either through a website or Facebook page, or both. We also wanted to determine the degree to which our clubs use ClubRunner and if they are using it to its fullest advantage.
 
An effective presence on the internet or social media platforms is essential to membership development, both in recruiting and retention.  Websites should be designed primarily to provide information to visitors, whether a Rotarian looking for a make-up or a potential member. Ideally, a Google search must result in finding a link for every club in its community. For example, a search of “Boise Rotary” should give results for all seven clubs in the Treasure Valley.
 
Websites are not an appropriate tool for communicating with a club’s members. You can’t “make” a person look at a website. For communicating with a club’s membership, a periodic bulletin is a much preferred method, either as an e-mail or a ClubRunner bulletin. ClubRunner also has the “friends” feature which is a fantastic recruiting tool. (We did not have access to club bulletins).
 
Facebook has become an essential communication tool, particularly for younger members, or potential members.  (Older folks, such as myself, have a love/hate relationship with Facebook and would not rely on it for club communication). Nevertheless, an active Facebook account could be an important tool for disseminating all kinds of Rotary information to lots of people.
Read more...
POLIO UPDATE
One Polio Case reported this week.
 
Could 2016 be the year of the final Polio case? . 
 
Pakistan May Be Polio Free Within Months?  
 
Pakistan's WHO Rep. Dr. Michel Thieren, in a 5/17/16 article in the International News, indicated that Pakistan has the opportunity to become Polio-Free within the next several months.  Over 70,000 health workers have 12 million doses of Polio vaccine ready to immunize as many as 10 million children in a national vaccination campaign which started this past Monday.  Security of the immunizers will be a critical component of this week's campaign.  We wish them all safety and good success! 
 
The Final Two Endemic Countries:
 
Pakistan - One Polio case reported this week.  Ten Polio cases reported in 2016 with 54 cases recorded in 2015  The most recent case, with the onset of paralysis on 04/23/16 was from the Bannu district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  No new Polio positive environmental samples reported this week.  National Immunization Days are underway.
    
Afghanistan - No Polio cases reported this week.  Five Polio cases reported in 2016 with 20 cases recorded in 2015. The most recent case was reported on 04/04/16 from the Shahwalikot district of Kandahar. No new Polio-positive environmental samples collected this week.    National Immunization Days are underway.  
 
Post Endemic - Nigeria - No Polio cases reported in 2016 with 0 cases recorded in 2015.  The most recent case was reported on 7/24/14.  
 
Importation Countries - Ethiopia (0-2015, 1-2014), Cameroon (0-2015, 5-2014), Somalia (0-2015, 5-2014), Iraq (0-2015, 2- 2014), Syria (0-2015,1-2014), & Equatorial Guinea (0-2015, 5-2014). 
   
Click here to see a fascinating article in National Geographic about using cell phones to track immunizations in Pakistan!
PUBLICITY TIP - SHOW YOUR ROTARY GEAR!
Every club should have a banner and every member should have at least a Rotary T-shirt! Anytime you have the opportunity to "get some press" be sure to stage it - put your banner in the background and make sure your interviewee is wearing some Rotary gear (shirt, hat, etc)!
 
Here's an example of what I mean. I won't name the club, but they recently "scored" a bit on the local TV news about a fundraiser they were doing. There was nothing in the shot to indicate it was a Rotary event; the member being interviewed was not wearing Rotary gear and the interviewer referred to him as the "event organizer". So, opportunity lost!.
 
 
BOISE SUNRISE MEETS GOAL AT THE ZOO
On May 4th over 240 Rotarians, friends and family enjoyed a spectacular evening at Idaho's most popular attraction, Zoo Boise. In addition to providing a wonderful evening of fun and fellowship, the event also raised over $6,800 towards the Global Grant for improving medical services to the people living around Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. Zoo Boise's staff made this a special event by allowing participants to feed the giraffes, walk with the wallabies and ride on the carousel as part of the evening. Zoo Director Steve Burns gave an insightful presentation on Zoo Boise's pioneering work in raising money for conservation projects around the world and Idaho's multifaceted partnerships seeking to reestablish Gorongosa as one of the premier showcases of African wildlife and improving the economy and opportunities for the communities near the Park. The wonderful support from Rotarians, the Boise High Interact club, generous donations from sponsors and the Zoo's staff made this a night to remember.
 
 
LETS RIDE TUCSON TO END POLIO NOV 19th
Be part of something big. In 7 years, the Ride to End Polio has raised more than $25 million including matches from the Gates Foundation. The ride combines fitness, fund raising, fellowship and fun. What more could you want? If you are coming from out of town, we promise to make it easy for you. (note: a group from Boise Metro, spearheaded by Mary Reiman, sent a group of cyclist last year and had a blast - they're planning to do it again!) Here's the link to the registration form.
Read more...
IDAHO FALLS AWARDS SHOLARSHIPS
CLUBRUNNER USERS GROUP
One of the conclusions that our "Internet Presence Report Card" produced was that our district has 19 clubs using ClubRunner but, in many cases, it was not being used effectively. ClubRunner is introducing new and "better" versions of the e-bulletin designer and website designer all the time; its hard to keep up! Our Public Image Committee would like to set up a "ClubRunner Users Group", concentrating on websites and bulletins, where we can provide training and share our best practices. Training can be arranged in person, one-on-one, small groups, or GoToMeeting. We can show you how to create attractive banners and formats, create stories, list events, speakers, all kinds of things! We would like all of those 19 clubs to suggest a member to join the Users Group. We already have some members, but we need many more. Contact John Biggs if you're interested in joining!
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