Please see below for some wonderful news and events from our District's Rotary Clubs! Does YOUR Rotary Club have a special event planned, or did your Club have a special meeting or fundraising event? We want to hear about it!

Please send your article and any photos to District Administrator Ingrid Nova at rotary6360@gmail.com. The deadline is the 1st of the month, but please be sure to send anything time sensitive and we will get the news out to the District!

Thank you!

One Summit

Saturday, Oct. 28, Air Zoo!

Explore “Create Hope in the World” at this year’s District 6360 One Summit.

One Summit will be held on Saturday, October 28 at the Air Zoo!

Registration starts at 9:30 AM, Program starts at 10 AM

There is NO COST to attend!

Free-will donations will be accepted at the door

One Summit is designed for all members of Rotary – new and experienced – to come together and share discussion about service opportunities and the relationship of Membership, Public Image, and The Rotary Foundation.

As a participant you will…

● Be excited to Create Hope in the World or your own Community.

● Gain new insights about the impact of Membership & Public Image & The Rotary Foundation working together (M + PI + TRF = Impact).

● Be ready to apply those insights and to go from planning to action.

● Take home an “Action Toolkit” to share ideas with your club.

MEMBERSHIP GOAL FOR 2023-24: By 6/30/24 = 55 More by 2024!

We had 1,993 members as of 6/30/23; 55 more by 2024 = 2,048 Members.

GOAL OF ONE SUMMIT ATTENDANCE:

Every Club is represented by 2-4 members.

Public Image Quick Tip

The updated Brand Center recently celebrated its first anniversary with newer assets and guidelines added for your use, including the new Do's and Don'ts for using Rotary logos.

Empowering Girls and Women:

Student Personal Supplies

Harbor Country Rotary appears to be in an affluent area of Michigan. We are located in communities on Lake Michigan. Take a ride along our lakeshore roads and you will see mansions that look like they could house multiple families. Our harbors are filled with expensive boats and yachts. We are a summer destination for thousands of people from Illinois and Indiana. This influx provides seasonal jobs but not full-time employment. The reality is that 40-50% of our school students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. The gap between many local people and visitors and second homeowners is enormous.

Our Club has worked to provide goods and services to families in the area. We work with the schools on providing basic supplies to students in need. About five years ago, we met with the school administration and discussed student needs. We were rather taken aback by hearing that students needed warm clothing, deodorant, feminine products, and toothbrushes. Our club members got busy and helped to paint a room in the school to house these supplies. Since the school mascot is a Mustang, the room was named the Corral.

We also decided that we wanted to provide feminine hygiene products to the girls directly in the bathroom. Our member, Darlene Heemstra purchased carts for the bathrooms, and they were loaded with products that the students needed. This made it unnecessary for girls to make an embarrassing trip to the school office to ask for what they needed. We purchased pads and tampons, and the school counselor replenished the cart as needed. Communicating with the staff gave us insight that students needed more than these hygiene supplies. We switched to a model of supplying a yearly cash grant of $500 to the schools for the staff to purchase a range of things for the students.

This year we are proud to announce that we applied for and were awarded a District grant for $750 which we will match for supplies for the schools. Our mission to provide supplies for all students can expand to meet their growing needs. Our bathroom carts to supply hygiene products to young women at the school continues.

Questions about the District Empowering Girls team?

Email district6360empower@gmail.com

Rotarians Strengthen

Goodwill and Friendship

Occasionally there is a temptation to criticize the laws, customs and traditions of another country which may seem strange or contrary to our own. In some instances illegal practices or customs of one nation are completely lawful and acceptable in another.

As members of an international organization dedicated to world understanding and peace, it behooves Rotarians to exercise restraint in judging our Rotary friends and citizens from other countries when their behavior seems unusual to us. A Rotary policy has existed for more than half a century relating to this dilemma of international relationships.

The statement, adopted in 1933, says that because it is recognized that some activities and local customs may be legal and customary in some countries and not in others, Rotarians should be guided by this admonition of tolerance:

"Rotarians in all countries should recognize these facts and there should be a thoughtful avoidance of criticism of the laws and customs of one country by the Rotarians of another country." The policy also cautions against "any effort on the part of Rotarians of one country to interfere with the laws or customs of another country."

As we strive to strengthen the bonds of understanding, goodwill and friendship, these policies still provide good advice and guidance.

People of Action: Rotary and

Kiwanis Clubs Working Together

for the Area’s Youth

Above:Photo Left to Right: Kaileigh Eddy, Mary Sure Lyon, LaRae Odland, Dallas Thames, Gabby Bell, Anna Rydecki, Amy Rader, Annie Brown, and Robin McGinnis

The South Haven Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, worked together to support the Youth Development Company (YDC) during the Oktoberfest 5K pancake breakfast fundraiser. The fundraiser generated over $2,500 to help YDC continue their mission to young people in the South Haven area. The young people of the South Haven community will benefit in a very meaningful way that provides much needed playgrounds and equipment, proven quality curriculums, and qualified and trained staff.

The YDC Board of Directors Friend-Raising Committee organized an impressive collaboration of civic groups, churches and businesses that demonstrates how sincerely the South Haven community is invested in the education, growth, and success of our young people because these groups and organizations were willing to roll up their sleeves as ‘people in action’ to raise funds for them.

The YDC team, with help from the Rotary Club of South Haven, Kiwanis, Star of the Lake Mason clubs of South Haven, St. Paul's Lutheran, the Hodgman Foundation, and South Haven Music Instrument Boosters, along with local businesses such as Harbor Light Brewery (the host site of the fundraiser), Bob's Processing, The Lodge, Biggby Coffee, True Blue Farms, and Decorators Choice all collaborated in Celebrating Community Service and putting words into action!

Diabetes Awareness Action Group

Cereal City Sunrise Rotarians, Robin Cunningham, Tony McCrumb (Robin and Tony in photo below) and T. R. Shaw took part in a Diabetes Awareness event at the Love in Action Ministries Picnic in Battle Creek Saturday, September 23. This is one of many events planned by the club to raise awareness and work with local health care providers to offer screenings and referrals, including a major event on November 14 for World Diabetes Day.

The club is working closely with the Rotary Action Group for Diabetes and working to expand the group throughout the District. The club sponsored the 2023 EPiC Journey Against Diabetes Ride, "Windy City to Cereal City" this spring for the District Conference. Learn more at www.rag-diabetes.org

DG Sharalyn Enjoying her Club Visits!

District Governor Sharalyn Davis recently visited the Mason Rotary Club on her trek to visit each club in the District. Sharalyn shared her vision for the year and showed off her beautiful scarf with the colors of this year's RI theme, "Create Hope in the World!"

Three Rivers Rotary Club Host California Sisters

Julie and Martha Stroud, twin sisters from California and avid watchers of Judge Jeff Middleton’s 3B District Court YouTube channel, shared with the Three Rivers Rotary Club about their visits to St. Joseph County and the fondness they have developed for this community.

They discovered the channel after a March 8, 2021 video, in which a victim and her assailant were in the same apartment during the ZOOM court proceedings, went viral. Fascinated by the concept of ZOOM court, they watched all previous videos on Middleton’s channel, and began watching every day going forward.

As they watched daily, they not only learned about legal proceedings, but felt like they were getting to know the court personnel and the defendants.

With Julie in graduate school for her master’s degree and Martha undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, they began to form an idea: when Julie graduated and Martha got a clean bill of health, they would visit St. Joseph County.

In August 2022, they booked their first trip—fully immersing themselves in the county experience, visiting local landmarks (taking pictures with road signs, township halls, and places mentioned frequently in court proceedings), as well as getting to meet the people they’d been watching.

They found the community exactly how Judge Middleton described it.“This is a really special place,” Julie said, contrasting it with the larger cities where they live, where people don’t talk to their neighbors or approach anyone else. “There is such a community here—I hope it isn’t something you’re taking for granted.”

On the channel, they have seen some of the best of the community—the response to helping those displaced from Riverwood Apartments after burst pipes—as well as the worst of the community—such as the impact of meth and drunk driving. They have watched Middleton grapple with difficult cases, and appreciate his interest in the whole person and the root causes of the behavior.

They have also appreciated getting to know people locally who address underlying issues such as poverty and mental illness, and have made donations to some of these organizations.

Martha, a cultural anthropologist, and Julie, a social worker, called it a privilege to be able to support St. Joseph County. They feel they are already a part of it, and it is a part of them.

In some areas of the world weekly Rotary club meetings begin with all members standing and reciting the Object of Rotary This statement, which comes from the Constitution of Rotary, is frequently seen on a wall plaque in Rotarians' offices or place of business.

The Object of Rotary is "to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise." The statement then lists four areas by which this "ideal of service" is fostered: "through the development of acquaintance as the opportunity for service; the promotion of high ethical standards in business and professions; through service in one's personal, business and community life; and the advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace."

The Object of Rotary has not always been expressed in this manner. The original Constitution of 1906 had three objects: promotion of business interests, promotion of good fellowship and the advancement of the best interests of the community By 1910 Rotary had five Objects as increased emphasis was given to expanding Rotary. By 1915 there were six Objects. In 1918 the Objects were rewritten again and reduced to four. Four years later they had again grown to six and were revised again in 1927.

Finally, at the 1935 Mexico City Convention the six Objects were restated and reduced to four. The last major change came in 1951, when the "Objects" were streamlined and changed to a single "Object" which is manifested in four separate ways. The "ideal of service" is the key phrase in the Object of Rotary. This ideal is an attitude of being a thoughtful and helpful person in all of one's endeavors. That's what the Object truly means.

District Foundation Corner

What will you be doing on October 24^th? Join fellow Rotarians at the District 6360 Foundation Annual Dinner at 5 p.m. in Hastings at the Walldorff. Not only will you socialize, have a great meal, but you will help celebrate the hard work of a number of non-Rotarians who are going to be honored with the Golden Trowel Award.

Additionally, this is also the night when winners of the District Foundation Raffle will be selected. You too may be a winner that is, if you bought your ticket. You still have time to purchase them at your club if you haven’t already. Check your calendar and if you are available, register by clicking below. Thank you!

For general questions about your District 6360 Foundation and how it can help your Club, please contact Foundation President Gary Campbell, campbellgary929@gmail.com

Any correspondence should be sent c/o Rotary District 6360

to 741 Wolverine Road, Mason, MI, 48854