Leadership in Action Pictured L-R around the table: Becky Morgenthal, PDG Kevin Cogan, PDG Dick Brown, Vlad Beaufils, Bill Hartman, Courtney Piccolo, DG Paul Thompson, Marty Helman, Glenn Miller, Kathleen Stoup, Josh Olewiler, DGE Mary Brunski, Tom McCracken, PDG Ben Hoover, Lynne Morrison, John Bailey, PDG Dennis Zubler. The July Rotary theme of Leadership was demonstrated this week during two major Rotary Club activities relevant to education and the study of Peace. On Wednesday, July 17, our District leadership, and several District Committee Chairs, joined the Rotary Club of York’s President, Courtney Piccolo, and Club Foundation Committee Chair Bill Hartman along with several Foundation Committee Members to meet with Rotary Foundation Trustee Marty Helman and discuss fundraising and fund spending. Marty stopped by the Rotary Club of York for a few hours at the personal invitation of Club President Courtney Piccolo to emphasize the Mission of the Rotary Foundation: that of enabling Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The ‘enabling’ wording in the above sentence constitutes the operative language for what makes the Foundation viable. Clearly one convincing way to increase fundraising is to demonstrate the many good things that come about because of those funds, and we had the rare opportunity to talk to a key Trustee about that. During the meeting, Marty fielded several questions about the District’s newly achieved status as a Peacebuilder District, something we all, (with then Governor Fred Gellert’s leadership) reached through sufficient funding ($25K) on June 29, and then awarded the Certificate to us. Pictured L-R: PDG Dennis Zubler, DGE Mary Brunski, Marty Helman, DG Paul Thompson, Kathleen Stoup, Vlad Beaufils, PDG Kevin Cogan She suggested one visible way of showing Rotary’s commitment to Peace is to have the District and Clubs erect peace poles, each with a QR code providing access to information about Rotary Peace efforts. Think about a location where your Club might erect a peace pole: https://worldpeace.org/2023/05/rotary-international-h Marty also spoke in detail about the District’s efforts to compete for the Program of Scale concerning a project called Operation Braveheart in the Philippines. If successful, the Program would result in a $2 Million dollar grant from the Foundation, enabling the project to be taken to the Philippine national level. Our District application will go forward next year as we continue to seek investment partners. Marty then had lunch with the entire York Club during which she shared her thoughts about the future of Peace and the role of Rotary in creating as many Peace advocates as possible through education. Our sincere thanks to President Courtney and the members of the Rotary Club of York for graciously hosting this event and welcoming us. A triumphant bookend to the week’s emphasis on Peace and the many ways Rotary is showing leadership in Peace initiatives occurred on Thursday at the Carlisle Rotary Club, where we heard from this year’s District Global Grant Scholarship recipient, Dickinson grad Sally Aldrich, as she prepared to leave for her Rotary-sponsored year of graduate studies in Leiden, Holland. Led by President Travis Soprano, many Carlisle Club members expressed very moving sentiment about the role of Rotary in Peace studies and the highly inspiring remarks of Sally, who plans to join our global studies Rotaract Club, sponsored by the Carlisle Club. Global grant students study one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus. Sally’s topic for her studies: PEACE. Pictured L-R: Travis Soprano, Sally Aldrich |
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