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The Semi-Annual, Half-Yearly Report President Brian Evison and all of the other 31,500 Rotary Club presidents are required to submit a half-yearly report outlining the club’s progress toward completing parts of the Presidential Citation. Here is his report: Your Vocation The Vocational Service Committee is presently involved with Hopelink in assisting them in their job search efforts for a program they have for people with minimal job skills. Members of the BBRC provide resources that assist them to be more effective in the work environment including the necessary writing skills in drafting a resume and helping with the interview process by role playing and subsequent discussion. These classes are in conjunction with a nine-month internship program at Hopelink. The objective is to place the participants in full-time positions. The Career Development Committee is in the process of arranging mini-career fairs for students at the schools we support on the Eastside. These schools include Sammamish High School, Bellevue Christian High School and Eastside Catholic High School. The objective is to demonstrate a more realistic picture to the students of career paths available and what each one offers. As an example, speakers from the banking and legal profession recently spoke to the seniors at Sammamish High School. We honor students of the month from each school noted above at our regular meetings. We also recognize and provide scholarships for certain students that are about to embark on college at the end of the school year. We are also sponsoring an at-risk student who graduated from Eastside Academy last year and is currently enrolled at Highline Community College. This student was previously a drop-out from regular school but was given a second chance at Eastside. He is now enrolled in the Arts program at Highline and the BBRC will pay for the winter and spring quarters to ensure he completes his first year. We are in the process of arranging a business ethics program which will be scheduled in the spring. Your Community The Community Service Committee’s objective is to identify ways in which the club can improve the quality of life for many needy people within our community. Projects have included and continue to include Christmas in April; Tree House; YMCA family village; Preserve Planet Earth; house painting work parties and giving Thanksgiving baskets of food for the needy on the Eastside. Furthermore, we have distributed hundreds of ESL books to the Bellevue School District and the Kindering Center in support of Rotary’s Literacy project. The Thanksgiving Basket project assisted 35 low-income Eastside families with a brighter holiday as they received food baskets. The Christmas Giving Tree supplied 100 gifts to needy children from low-income families just prior to Christmas. We continue to be involved in Rotary First Harvest in the form of funding annually and hands-on support at monthly work parties. We were involved in the Preserve Planet Earth hands-on project with tree planting and removing blackberry bushes along the Sammamish River. A second work part in the spring at Marymoor Park will continue to improve the habitat in the river for migrating salmon. A new project that commenced this year is the recycling of used, but operational mobile/cell telephones for the women at the Eastside Domestic Violence Center. Your Club While membership recruitment continues, it has not been as successful as one would expect. We have gained give new members this fall and unless we receive and accept many more potential new members, we are unlikely to achieve a 3% net membership growth. We are implementing a new program aimed at bringing in a large number of younger members in the next few months. Emphasis has been directed at all members that they are responsible for initiating recruitment of new members rather than relying solely on the membership recruitment committee. We continue to ensure that our club is diverse in terms of ethnicity, age and gender while ensuring that the club character remains. The Membership Retention Committee has been effective in improving attendance and in slowing membership decline. However, it should be noted that just prior to the commencement of our annual fund raiser, there is the annual reduction of a few members that decide to leave the club. We have continued with the relationship building in extension activities with the formation of the new Rotary Club of Duvall. Many of our members have been involved in the early meetings and encouraging potential members in that area to join the new club. Charter President Chuck Burke has made several visits to our club to create a new and lasting relationship. We are expecting the new club to charter on February 23, 2004 in celebration of the 99th Anniversary of Rotary International. Our World We are seeking a matching grant for our project in Guatemala in conjunction with Agros and the Guatemala City Las Americas Rotary Club. It is interesting to note that Agros won the United Nations award for the most sustainable poverty-breaking project last year. We are also involved in the Cambodia Project with Sally Mackle as this project is focused on educating girls and women in population issues. The Prosthetics Outreach Foundation has been a recipient of our funds. The funds support amputees in many countries in Africa. We completed the initial work on a project in Kingston, Jamaica this year which funded and set-up a medical/dental clinic. There is support for on-going management of this new practice with a missionary church in Kingston and relationships with various Jamaican Rotary clubs. Family of Rotary The Family of Rotary Committee has been established and is operating regularly to support club members and family members of the BBRC. As an example, the committee was closely involved with Hellen Hemphill during her husband’s decline in health and subsequent death and we continue to be involved with family members. We are now investigating ways in which to reach out to members are experiencing job-related difficulties, health concerns and other issues that impact lives. Family members of the BBRC are routinely invited to social events and work parties throughout the year. This committee maintains close contact on attendance and follows up with members who have missed more than two consecutive meetings. In addition, they periodically contact members who are on leave of absence to ensure they continue to feel connected to the club. Gift subscriptions to the “Rotarian” have been forwarded to each surviving spouse of our deceased members. New members are routinely invited to serve as chairs for club projects and social events, such as the Anniversary Dinner, Rotating the Wheels, Thanksgiving baskets and Preserve Planet Earth tree planting. Members are always invited to bring family members to any club meeting and these invitations are reinforced in our weekly newsletter “Reveille.” Formal orientations for new members have been a part of this club for at least the past eight years. They are routinely completed prior to induction so that the new members are fully conversant of the expectations and privileges of membership. In addition, new members are assigned mentors and introduced to two directors as a part of the formal induction process. The new member committee is instrumental in make sure that the new members continue to receive education relating to Rotary throughout their initial membership year. | ||||||||||||
IN THIS ISSUE: Valentine Dine-Around Countdown Bellevue Timeline Book: Rotary Goes International in Support of Children Student of the Month: Tad Williams | ||||||||||||
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