IN THIS BULLETIN...
We discuss the Rotary meeting last Friday, February 7th. At this meeting, the District Governor for 7080, Sohail Naseer, spoke to our club about the District's four-pillar action plan.
President Martin began the meeting with a toast and the singing of the National Anthem. He then opened the floor to announcements from the club.
Terrie Jarvis made an announcement about the Rotaract Gala on March 7th. If you're available that night, make sure to come and support our young Rotarians! You can find more details about the event in the story below.
Marva Wisdom reminded everyone that she and Crista Renner will be attending the Rotary Peace Summit in Istanbul. Marva is encouraging everyone to think of questions that you'd like her to find answers to. The summit is a wonderful opportunity to explore avenues for peace in a world that feels more precarious.
Carolyn Weatherson, speaking as the Chair of the Environment Committee, gave an update about our solar panel project with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat has decided to change the build from apartments to town homes in the hopes of making the spaces more liveable for families in need. Our collaboration with habitat for humanity will create the largest affordable housing solar panel project in Canada's history.
Mahmud Hassain spoke about a 12 year-old boy, Aaron Mendes, from Ontario, who won an International Masters contest against competitors from across North America. What an astounding feat! You can read more about Aaron's achievement in the story below.
Faz Ashkar discussed the threat of tariffs and how we as Canadians will win.
Helmuth announced our guests and then discussed how he fixed our Fine Box. While fixing it, he discovered that it is, in fact, a musical box. When he opened the lid for the club, it played a beautiful melody to the shock of everyone, He then discussed how the music box was a gift from a Rotary club in Japan.
Helmuth also discussed how he has won 4 curling matches in a row as well as how the curling clubs in Guelph made over $216,000 from the international curling championship that took place in Guelph several weeks ago.
After club announcements, a Super Bowl themed lunch was served.
Tracey Curtis then introduced our guest speaker and District Governor, Sohail Naseer. Sohail joined the Milton club in 2010. Two years later, "like a true leader," he became the President of the club. Professionally, Sohail is a civil engineer. In 2014 he became involved in district activities as the Assistant District Governor for North Halton. Sohail has volunteered on many projects and been a member of countless committees. Most notably he worked on the Pan Am Games and fundraised for the Velodrome in Milton.
Tracey then welcome District Governor Sohail to the podium. Sohail began by thanking Tracey and our club for having him. He discussed how he has worked with Tracey at the district level in the past when she was the Assistant District Governor.
He then went into his prepared remarks. This year's theme is the Magic of Rotary. At the district level, a Rotary Action Plan was created in 2019 and has been slowly implemented since.
It consists of four pillars: impact, reach, engagement and adaptability. Sohail made sure to emphasize the importance of visibility and member engagement within everything that we do.
The first pillar, impact, is concerned with the affect that our Rotary projects have on our community and their potential outcomes. When we take on a new Rotary project we need to consider what impact it will have down the line.
The second pillar, reach is about how we, and other clubs, can engage with the community and bring in new members. Since COVID, many clubs have lost a substantial amount of members. This is due to a variety of factors including age, burnout, economic conditions, etc. This trend, however, has stopped. Over the course of this year, our district has had a net gain of 70 members and two new clubs. This is the first year of growth since 2020.
The third pillar is engagement. This pillar is tied closely with the second pillar. When we have successfully outreached to the community and brought in new members we need to ensure that we engage them right away. It is far too easy for an individual to join a Rotary club and then, within a year or two, quit. We must ensure that we are actively engaging new members and bringing them into the fold.
The last pillar is adaptability. This is the idea that each of our clubs must adapt to new circumstances. This requirement was highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and our need to move meetings, events, and fundraisers online. We must take the lessons we learned during COVID and continue to apply them to new circumstances.
After discussing the four pillars, Sohail spoke about the importance of goal setting. Club's need to set goals for themselves to ensure that they have a direction and can plan accordingly on how to meet them.
After Sohail's remarks, he was asked questions from our club.
Tracey asked how he manages his time and family life while serving as District Governor. For Sohail, it's easy, his passion for Rotary makes the work enjoyable. His wife being a member of Rotary and the President Elect of the Milton club, also means that he has strong support from home.
Marva Wisdom asked Sohail what the hardest parts of being a District Governor are. Sohail said, for him, there aren't many hard parts. He ensures he's available to assist district members every hour of the day, which can lead to late nights, but he is happy to do so.
Lawrie Jones asked what the average club size is in our district. Sohail said, off the top of his head, around 20-40 members. There are only 2-3 clubs that are above 80 members.
President Martin then thanked Sohail for speaking to our club. As there was nothing more for the good of Rotary, he called the meeting to a close.
Notes taken by Otter.ai., edited and transcribed by Aidan Harris.
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