RI Convention New Orleans 2011

On Saturday I embark on my first ever Rotary Convention and I am soooo stoked!!!  I can't wait to get to New Orleans and meet Rotarians from around the world that believe that when you start with Rotary good things happen!  This will also be my first visit to the "Big Easy".  I've always wanted to go to New Orleans so what better way to experience with a few thousand fellow Rotarians lol :)  I hope to meet someone from Anniston Alabama which is the club that we got the idea of our major fundraiser Dancing With Our Stars from and a member from the club we are partnering with in India to help provide clean water to schools in India.  I can't think of any other opportunity that I could meet both of these folks at the same time. I can't wait!!!  I hope to make a lot of new friends and connections with the folks at the convention.  I promise to be good and represent my club & district well :) .... Sunday we will be going on a River Boat Brunch with others from district 7120, not sure if we will be docked or going out on the Mississippi as it's supposed to be cresting on Sunday, we'll have to wait and see!  Stay tuned for updates while I am there and pics! 

President Elect Training

I just got back from spending all day Friday and half the day today at what is know in Rotary as PETS (President Elects Training Seminar).  It's multi districts so there were I am guessing around 200 or so incoming presidents for club's all around NYS.  I am really happy that I went to PETS, I am even more excited about what our club already has accomplished and can do in the future.  Met some wonderful people too !!

My mind has been going 10,000 miles a minute these last few days with ideas, concerns, are we doing things right?, am I going to do a good job?, what can we do better?, ...... I think the greatest thing about PETS was meeting other PE (President Elects) and hearing that for the most part they are thinking the sames things. 

What made me feel really good was that most of the things that our club should be doing, we already are :)  so kudos to the ERC (ElmiraRotaryClub) for being at the forefront. 

There is still a lot of planning to do and I am very grateful that I have an inspiring, excited and active board and committee chairs that want to see our club move to the next level too!  Without these folks, I couldn't even imagine accomplishing what we have already and what we hope to do in the future.  :)

Rotary's theme for the 2011-2012 year is "Reach Within to Embrace Humanity" The biggest thing I took from Kalyan Banerjee, RI President-elect theme speech was when he said "In this life, you will find we may not always be able to do great things. But we can always do small things, with great love." and he also talked about change being one of the 3 focuses for this year... " So, let’s look at the things that we can do better, things that we should be changing, and things that we haven’t started working on yet. I believe we must have the wisdom and courage to see these and identify them and engage ourselves in them. Indeed, I believe we are in Rotary to change the world, for why else would we be Rotarians? We believe our future will be better than the past. I’m so fond of quoting Mahatma Gandhi, who said:  “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And so, our third emphasis in 2011-12 will be change, and we start by being the change we wish to see in the world ourselves. If we wish for peace, we start by living in peace ourselves, in our homes and in our communities. If we wish environmental degradation to stop, if we wish to reduce child mortality or to prevent hunger, we must be the instrument of that change — and recognize that it must start within us, with each of us."

Here is a link to part of his speech 2011-2012 RI Theme Speeach "Reach Within to Embrace Humanity"

A Worldly Reach

A Worldly Reach - I just recently befriended a Rotaractor from Ghana on Facebook.  She is 18 and in her words in a message to me "I want to become one of the best Rotarian in the nearest future."  This is great that at 18 she is so involved with Rotary and believes in it's mission.  Growing up, I was never priveleged enough to be exposed to other cultures from around the world.  Sure, you learned about other cultures in school but you never really got the interact with kids from different parts of the country.  One of the cool things about Rotary is that it has such a wordly reach.  Since I have been in our club, every year we have gotten the chance to meet future District Govenors from around the world; and we have an exchange student every year.  Connecting with other Rotarians around the world thru Social Media is just one more way we can connect with each other and I am looking forward to making many more friends around the world!

There are 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. As signified by the motto Service Above Self, Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.http://rotary.org/en/AboutUs/RotaryInternational/Pages/ridefault.aspx

Inspiring Things

Love this Poem !! I bought this in a framed print to hang in my office....

Blog Blog Blog - you say?

So I thought to myself - Self .. now might be a good time to become a blogger - yeah am I crazy or what lol, like I don't have enough going on but hey what's one more thing lol :)  Looking back at  my childhood, I never had a diary or journal so I thought hey I'm now 34 so why not?  To be honest I thought that this would be a great way to document my year as President of the ERC.  I don't take reign until July and I feel very privileged to be chosen as our next President.  I'm looking forward to a great year and I hope this will also help me connect to our members and prospective members.