ROTARY.ORG
Herb Knudsen 1941-2020

Herb Knudsen 1941-2020

by | May 11, 2020 | MOJO Blog

In our lives we may never know if we have made an impression on others.  We might not realize the impact our friendship has meant to others.  We may not understand the importance of our counsel or advice to others.  We won’t add up all the little acts of kindness that have been so important to others.  These are the moral components that bind us as Rotarians.

 

On April 18, we lost a friend, a true humanitarian, a Rotarian.  Herb Knudsen was more than a member of the Ogallala Rotary Club.  Herb was the heart of the Ogallala Rotary Club.  Herb celebrated 30 years in February, and rarely missed a meeting.  Herb’s love of Rotary was in the Rotary Youth programs.  Herb was a Rotary Youth Exchange champion.  Exchange students over the past 23 years to Ogallala have remembered Herb in the video above.  Herb stayed young and vibrant by connecting with kids.  Herb was at RYLA so many times over the past 30 years and was a counselor to countless Rylarians.  Mostly Herb changed lives.

We will truly miss Herb’s smile, his engagement, but mostly the future RYE, RYLA students will miss Herb’s participation.  Our prayers are with his wife Karen and children Peter, Debbie, Karl and Mark.  

LIVE Streaming Event COVID-19 Telethon

LIVE Streaming Event COVID-19 Telethon

by | Apr 25, 2020 | Governor Messages, MOJO Blog

LIVE Streaming Event COVID-19 Telethon

I am excited to invite you to participate in a COVID-19 #RotaryResponds one-hour Telethon to raise critical funds for disaster response. This Facebook Live event will be simulcast on the Rotary Facebook page. The goal is to raise more than $1 million dollars.

Rotary’s 1.2 million members across the globe have taken swift action to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than $3.4 million in Rotary Disaster Response Grants have already been put into action on the frontlines to battle COVID-19.  And while we await approval of District 5630’s COVID Disaster Aid Grant application, millions of more dollars have been raised by Rotary’s #PeopleofAction.  They have responded quickly and are truly saving lives. Now, we need to do more and the need for additional funding is a priority.

On Saturday, May 2, you can join the “LIVE STREAMING” event to hear stories of hope, inspiration, and gratitude from Rotarians, Rotaractors, and friends of Rotary from across the globe as they share what they are doing to help their communities. The telethon will also showcase how our polio eradication infrastructure is helping to combat COVID-19.

How can you participate:
  1. Participate in the telethon on Facebook Live on 2 May at Rotary International’s Facebook Page (facebook.com/rotary). The live stream will be simulcast in eight languages.
  2. Share this event & spread the word through your social media channels.
  3. Invite friends, family, and members of your community to watch and see first-hand what Rotary’s People of Action are doing to combat COVID-19.
  4. Post on social media during the broadcast and on the day of the event using the hashtag #RotaryResponds.
  5. Donate as an individual or as a club at http://on.rotary.org/drf
  6. Encourage your Rotary District to donate District Designated Funds (DDF) at https://on.rotary.org/ddf-donate. (Note: DDF received between April 22nd and May 3rd will be considered part of the telethon fundraising total.)

Thank you for all of your assistance in creating awareness about this opportunity to do more Good in the World

District 5630 “New Normal” Operations

District 5630 “New Normal” Operations

by | Apr 7, 2020 | Governor Messages

District 5630 “New Normal” Operations

As Rotarians across central and western Nebraska learn to adapt with varying degrees of how the NOVEL CORONAVIRUS is affecting our personal lives, I ask you to think about our 2019-2020 Rotary International theme, “Rotary Connects to World.”  Who would have imagined that RI President Mark Daniel Maloney would be so visionary?

As we practice Social Distancing in our communities, I have asked clubs to be proactive, find creative ways to connect with each other and to continue to connect in service in our communities. Each of our communities needs will be unique and may change daily, just remember our motto “Service Above Self” and be flexible, be creative.

Hopefully over the next weeks as this comes to a conclusion and we can resume our normal activities, try to stay engaged with your Rotary family.  Continue to have your club meetings via ZOOM conference.  Share the archive meetings with those that could not join you during your “LIVE” meeting.  Bookmark the District calendar for other ZOOM conference opportunities.  Develop an action plan so when this is over you can easily resume your club’s activities, projects, fundraisers, or identify a future District Grant project.  Above all, brainstorm how can you help club members whose business and lives have been severely impacted?

Just as your club operations have been altered the same is true for our district-sponsored events. We will be rescheduling the District Conference at a later date in the fall.  The district leadership team has canceled all face-to-face events, and will continue ZOOM meetings through May/June.

District Grant training will be conducted via ZOOM in May/June for clubs wishing to apply for 2020-21 District Grants.  The Rotary International Convention in Honolulu has also been canceled. If you had made plans to go to Hawaii, full refunds are being offered from RI.  Please be sure to cancel your airline tickets and hotel accommodations.

Your District leadership team is working to formulate content that can be delivered electronically to the membership. Logistics is also an issue that needs to be addressed. Our continued goal is to provide relevant material over all the available platforms.

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay CONNECTED!

Restocking Your Community Pantry: COVID-19 response

Restocking Your Community Pantry: COVID-19 response

by | Apr 6, 2020 | Club Communities, MOJO Blog

Restocking Your Community Pantry: COVID-19 response

In the aftermath of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, and with so many people unable to work and provide for themselves and their families, community food banks and pantries have seen their inventory decimated and the need for services expand exponentially.  This seems to be a common problem across our Rotary District as well.

You can help.

District 5630 has filed with The Rotary Foundation for a COVID-19 Disaster Relief Grant.  These is YOUR donations!  Send in a grant request before April 13 to provide food for your local food bank to DG.2019@5630mail.org. Include the name of the Food Bank or Pantry, dollar amount requested, how many people will this impact and the name of your club.

…but don’t just present a check* and call it goodwill.

 

Consider using a multiplier effect in your club and community, for example:

  • Ask your club members to make food donations or a cash contribution towards the efforts.
  • Take the total collected plus the grant funds (ie: $1500) and purchase groceries from your local grocer (supporting your local economy).
  • Ask the grocer if they might even provide a small discount to make the funds go a little further.
  • Engage several healthy Rotarians to make a Grocery run.  The shopping spree would be a lot of FUN!  Don’t forget personal hygiene items, paper products, and cleaning items.
  • Donate all the paper products, cleaning supplies, and groceries to the Food Panty.

The net effect is that you accomplished the same ends but were able to provide much more than just giving someone money.  Take some pictures of your shopping spree and share on social media account.  Contact the local media, and explain this is a Rotary project to support COVID-19 response.

*The Rotary Foundation does NOT allow for funds to be used as a pass-through directly to another charitable organization.  In other words, you cannot request funds and then just hand them over to the local pantry. 

April | Maternal & Child Health Care

April | Maternal & Child Health Care

by | Apr 1, 2020 | MOJO Blog, Monthly Messages from RI President Maloney

April 2020

 

I spend a lot of time thinking of family, not just my own or the extended family of Rotary, but also the families we are helping in the communities we serve. In many parts of the world, mothers and children face challenges to survive that most of us will never comprehend. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of a woman in a low-income country dying during pregnancy or childbirth, or from related causes, is about 120 times higher than that of a woman living in a high-income country. It is encouraging that infant mortality rates are declining globally, yet 4 million babies annually still die within the first year of life.

In April, Rotary turns its attention to maternal and child health. And when we think of what we can do to help, we can look to clubs like the Rotaract Club of Calabar South-CB, Nigeria, for inspiration.  It teamed up with the Rotaract

Club of Canaan City (CB) in a program focused on educating mothers on best practices to prevent infant mortality and promote postnatal health for themselves and their babies. In Bangladesh, the Rotary Club of Dhaka North provides free surgeries and medicine to pregnant women who cannot afford the hospital costs associated with giving birth. I encourage you and your club to go to ideas.rotary.org to find projects like these that are helping to save mothers and children.

We also have witnessed how millions of people — families and entire communities — have been ripped away from their homes because of conflict, poverty, and disasters during the past decade. But Rotary has not stood idly by during the global refugee crisis.

During Rotary Day at the United Nations last November, we honored a Rotary Peace Fellow and five Rotarians who are taking action to help refugee communities. Among them was Ilge Karancak-Splane of the Rotary Club of Monterey Cannery Row, California. After visiting several tent camps in Turkey, she led a Rotary project that collected 1,000 pairs of children’s shoes and socks for families in the camps and, later, led a global grant project to help educate refugee children. In March, Gay and I had the privilege of visiting a tent camp in Torbalı and seeing firsthand the good work that Rotarians from Turkey and California were accomplishing with Syrian refugees.

The challenges faced by mothers, their children, and refugee communities around the world are daunting. But when we remember our greatest strength — how Rotary Connects the World — we can begin to find solutions. Through our creativity, our resources, our dedication, and our networks, Rotary can and will open opportunities to face these challenges.