High on high tech

Thank you for showing Rotary’s use of technology and the Internet [In Focus, April]. It is great to see the computer applications that Rotary International is already using, and it is encouraging to think where they can take us as an organization. I am researching how to have a meeting with a club in another part of the world via Webcam, which will open us up to international Rotarians’ views on service and may even enhance our meetings and local projects. Every club should be adding an online component to attract potential members. Hopefully, we can expand our appeal to the YouTube and MySpace crowds, who use technology for much more than work.

James Champlin
Phoenix, Ariz., USA

Thanks for writing

Your staff did the most amazing job of capturing the essence and spirit of the Safe Blood Africa project in your April issue. You cannot imagine how many e-mails and phone calls have been pouring in from all over the world acknowledging the beautiful job that you did. The entire Safe Blood Africa staff from Nigeria and the United States thanks you for your commitment to excellent journalism and furthering the Rotary vision of world peace and understanding.

Warren Kaufman
Carmel Valley, Calif., USA

Update meeting policy

I strongly recommend that RI review the policy that requires all clubs to meet every week. The requirement weakens attendance because many members do not have time or cannot afford to go to each meeting. This affects the club’s ability to communicate to all members and attract speakers. It also discourages new members from joining, especially women in the workforce and young professionals, and puts Rotary clubs at a disadvantage when competing with service organizations that do not meet weekly. I recommend that attendance requirements be determined by each club.

John Katzenstein
Somers, N.Y., USA

Editor’s note: T he RI Board of Directors is very committed to attracting new members, including young, family-oriented professionals, both male and female. The Board’s six-year Meeting Frequency pilot project includes 200 clubs in more than 30 countries that determine their own meeting schedules. (Most have elected to meet twice a month.) The Board will review the clubs’ membership statistics, support of The Rotary Foundation, service projects, and other key factors to decide whether to propose changes to attendance requirements at the 2013 Council on Legislation. Rotarians are currently required to attend or make up at least 50 percent of club meetings in each half of the Rotary year, an enactment adopted by the 2007 Council.

Funding Rotary’s US$100 Million Challenge

In “Let the Match Begin” [April], 2007-08 Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Robert S. Scott discusses how Rotary should meet the deadline of matching the extraordinary donation of $100 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation toward eradicating polio. Obtaining $1,000 annually for three years from each of our roughly 33,000 clubs sounds reasonable, but it is unrealistic to expect a club with 30 members to contribute the same annually as one with 500 members. Though Rotary has traditionally avoided financially assessing individuals, we must match this grant. To do it as fairly as possible, our more than 1.2 million members must contribute their own share, which would amount to a total of no more than $100 per person.

George E. Kuhn
Fruitland Park, Fla., USA

Global warming debatable?

Wilfrid J. Wilkinson, 2007-08 RI president, made a statement in the April issue that I believe to be politically motivated and tied to an agenda. The position the United Nations has taken on the effect of humans on our world’s ever-changing climate is widely known. Even though many believe this stance to be greatly flawed, the notion still remains that there is a clear scientific consensus concerning human-induced global warming. Unless you ignore the facts available to the contrary, the debate remains. I hope we can choose to keep Rotary as neutral as possible. I would also hope that our leaders would not take a political stance on behalf of our organization that does not represent the membership as a whole.

Dan Martens
Hudson, Wis., USA

Keep Rotary neutral

I was concerned when I read Past RI President Wilkinson’s message on the “crisis” of climate change. Though I share his pride in Rotary’s political neutrality, I worry that a Rotary focus on global warming will be divisive because the issue is highly controversial and scientifically debatable. Clean water, world understanding, and the eradication of polio are not open to debate, and Rotary should continue its clear focus on these unambiguous issues.

Bennet K. Langlotz
Genoa, Nev., USA

Take on global warming

Past RI President Wilkinson cautioned Rotarians about crises brought about by our warming climate. What he did not say is that there is more scientific evidence than ever to show that human activities have caused this climate change. Rotarians should apply The Four-Way Test to global warming. Is it the truth? If not convinced, find out more. Is it fair to all concerned? Developed countries have caused the present situation, and those suffering most will be people in developing countries. Will it build goodwill and better friendships? If something is not done, the result will be agricultural and economic failure. Will it be beneficial to all concerned? It is in the world’s interest to prevent catastrophes.

The six district governors in Finland have signed a proposal asking that Rotary International adopt a new program focused on climate change. If anyone can have an impact on this important environmental and health issue affecting the lives of our children and grandchildren, it is Rotarians.

Governors of RI districts 1380-1430 (Finland)

Editor’s note: RI policy dictates that until polio is eradicated, no new corporate program will be considered. But through Preserve Planet Earth, a Board-recommended service opportunity, Rotarians are encouraged to increase the number and diversity of club projects focused on the environment and to raise awareness of the critical environmental issues affecting their communities and the planet .

A hot-button issue

I very much appreciated Past RI President Wilkinson’s remarks regarding global climate change. I believe that for Rotary to continue to be relevant and viable, an honest assessment of the world’s issues is critical. Wilkinson’s message challenged all Rotarians to examine their roles as business and professional leaders and engage in solving this problem. Many different schools of thought, organizations, and disciplines are discovering that we have converging interests. I appreciate Wilkinson’s leadership and am hopeful that Rotary can continue to be a model of cooperative behavior during the difficult days ahead.

Bill Hamilton
St. Augustine, Fla., USA

Fighting illiteracy in Alabama

Jeff Cade’s article “When Words Fail” [March] should be a wake-up call to Rotarians everywhere. Illiteracy is not just a concern in some distant land. In our university city, Tuscaloosa, Ala., its disguised presence right on our doorstep was a surprising discovery. Our club collaborated with the local chamber of commerce and hosted the Tuscaloosa-West Alabama Literacy Initiative’s summit on 27 March to raise awareness of the issue. The sessions brought together nearly 400 people, including speakers John Corcoran, the author of The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read featured in Cade’s article, and U.S. Representative Artur Davis. Functional illiteracy, we found, is a handicap in our small city, but we are determined to embrace the challenge to address it.

Frank Deaver
Northport, Ala., USA

Make Dreams Real

Thank you so much for covering the breadth of the ABCs of Rotary seminar in the April issue [Up Front]. We will be combining our training workshops with the fellowship and fun of a district conference in the fall. Many Rotarians in our district asked that we find a way to be more efficient in how we use their time, and this is our response. We will let you know how our experiment fares. RI President D.K. Lee has asked us to be creative, and we are on our way!

Pam Kerr
Wilmette, Ill., USA

Corrections

A February feature on District 2450 should have included Turkish among the district’s official club languages. If there’s a downside to communication by e-mail alone, this is it: In “High Hopes for High Tech” [April], we mistakenly identified Madhumita Bishnu, of the Rotary Club of Calcutta Uptown, India, as a “he” – we send her our apologies. A photograph of the prosthetic SACH foot was mistakenly used in a May item on the Jaipur foot [Up Front].