PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Membership also involves Retention – the keeping of our members. It is the strong belief of our PDG Dato’ Dr Low Teong that involvement is the key to getting the most out of membership. Absolutely! When members feel wanted, they have the inherent instinct to contribute. Without mincing his words, Low Teong has made sure that every member is involved in one service project and one non-service one. Every member is requested to host meetings two times in a year. And during luncheon meetings, Low Teong has identified the newer Rotarians to be involved in presenting the Rotary thought of the day and in other duties at the meeting. Thank you, PDG for your commitment in Membership Development and Retention.

True to our commitment, the RCPJ is supporting this weekend’s workshop on Membership Development, organized for the District by RC Kelana Jaya. As many as seven Rotarians from our Club will be attending the half-day workshop that promises new things to be learned in Membership Development.

Clubs and District share their successful membership ideas in the Membership Development Best Practices Exchange. Among them are:

Five Rotarians, Kevin, Kamarul, Chris, See Seng and I attended the RC Temerloh’s Installation held at the Centre Point Hotel. It was great to meet up with the other Rotarians from the State of Pahang. RC Temerloh has established strong ties with our Club for many years. And it was a good gesture to strengthen our friendship. The President of RC Temerloh is President Dr Tee. Thank you, IPP Kevin for taking us there and driving us home as well.

Two Interact Clubs, the IC of La Salle and Bukit Bintang conducted their installations last Saturday. A SuperMum meeting was held sometime in the week at Weng Ki Restaurant. Jack Lim, Albert Yong, Low Teong, Kia Heong and I were present to talk about the Project ‘Pedicure and Manicure’ and the funding. A Group 11 meeting was held at Bukit Kiara’s Oriental Pearl Restaurant to discuss plans for more co-operation and the streamlining of activities.

Thank you Rotarians for your support and assistance. 

I do not think there is one Rotarian or one Rotary Club that does not think that membership development is important. We all know that in order for Rotary and Rotary clubs to become effective they need to grow. Yet from July 2002 to June 2009 the membership of our district had a net decrease of 96 members despite the chartering of 14 new clubs. In our own club over the same period the membership dropped from 61 to 42.

I am very sure that every club would like to see a healthy growth in its membership. More members mean more manpower to not only carry out the projects but to raise funds. More members mean more opportunities for fellowship and friendship. The advantages are many and the disadvantages none.

As a club we are seeing progress in our membership development. We admitted two ladies, namely Margaret and Rianne and some younger members. If some members of the club had not opposed the admission of ladies in the past we would have had many extra lady members by now. Nevertheless it is still an important barrier we had overcome.

If membership recruitment is so important why have clubs not succeeded all these years? I like to believe there was no concerted effort. This is where the new Club Leadership Plan is crucial. We now have a membership committee of a dozen members working on a target and a series of programs to achieve the target. In the past, membership recruitment was an ad hoc activity left largely to the whims and fancies of our members.

As the Chairman of the District Task Force on the Club Leadership Plan and having been a speaker and group discussion leader on the subject for a number of years in the district, I can safely say we have the best membership committee amongst the 72 clubs in the district. I have absolutely no doubt it will produce the results we are expecting. But the remaining 30 odd members of the club must support the effort of the membership committee. Membership recruitment must be the business of every member of the Rotary Club of Petaling Jaya all round the year.

A successful membership committee in our club will provide the opportunity for other clubs in the district to enjoy our success by following our model. In fact some clubs have already adopted our model. After being very quiet in district events in recent years, I am very proud that we have a delegation of 7 members to the District Membership Workshop on 9th August 2009 out of a total of just over 100 participants. Keep it up RCPJ so that we can reclaim our status as a premier club in the district.

I really like the new membership slogan: REACH ONE, KEEP ONE If every member of our club REACH ONE and help to KEEP ONE we will be the star club in 3300.

Mr Teoh Peng Kee addressed the club on the subject travel photography. Even though it was a rather technical presentation the members benefited from the various ideas he gave.

In the good old days we had to pay about 30cents to view every picture we took, no matter how bad it was. Now with the digital camera we can click all the time and simply delete what we do not want later. Photos are very useful to tell the story of a trip. However we must prepare ourself for the event. It is not a good idea to purchase a camera on the eve of your departure for a holiday. In other words know your camera before you leave.

Some useful tips on getting good pictures are:

Rotary quote of the day contributed by PDG Dato Dr Low Teong:

“Membership comes down to one simple statement: Strong clubs lead to strong Rotary. Without strong clubs, no amount of recruitment and retention efforts will help Rotary grow. With strong clubs, Rotary will flourish and provide another 100 years of service to humanity.”
Past RI President William B Boyd, President Rotary International 2006-07

ATTENDANCE: 23/37 = 62.16%

My fellow Rotarians: 

I have always thought it important to bear in mind that Rotary is a voluntary organization, composed of people who are all themselves leaders. When addressing such an audience, I have never thought it fitting to exhort or demand. Every Rotary club is and must be autonomous: The leadership of Rotary International exists not to control, but to motivate and guide. 

And so when we in Rotary speak about the importance of membership, I believe it of the utmost importance to bear in mind that the primary experience of Rotary, for the overwhelming majority of Rotarians, is of the club: of club meetings, club projects, and fellow club members.

When Paul Harris began the first Rotary club 104 years ago, he did not initially think of service. Instead, he had in mind a place where people of good character, intelligence, and morals could enjoy each other’s fellowship and friendship. The service came later, as a natural outgrowth of the gathering of such people. 

Every good Rotarian, every member who shares our core values, will make a club that much stronger, and that much more attractive for others to join. Unfortunately, it is also the case that bringing in the wrong person can have the opposite effect. Rotarians are and must be people of a certain caliber – people with the capacity to do great deeds, the sense to do them wisely, and the strength of character to do them honestly and well.

In the end, I believe that the best way to bring new members into Rotary is the way it has been done for generations: One member invites a carefully chosen friend, client, or colleague to a meeting and, if the match is a good one, proposes that individual for membership. This is the way that our clubs remain harmonious; it is the way that new clubs become old clubs, and new members become Rotarians for life. 

The membership challenges that we face today are considerable, and in many ways new. There is no denying the difficulties posed by the current global financial situation. But in the words of Henry Ford, “If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” And as long as we all do our jobs well, and bring in new members carefully, this is a security we in Rotary will never lack.

John Kenny
President
Rotary International

Message from Foundation Trustee Chair, Glenn E Estess Sr

Fighting polio with urgency and hope

The Rotary year we have just begun will be pivotal in determining the course of our Foundation in this, Rotary’s second century of service. There are new challenges before us – challenges that we must rise to meet in order to keep the promises we have made. The first of those promises, of course, is to eradicate polio. This is our number-one priority as an organization, and it will remain so until the job is done. 

Last year, more than 1,600 cases of the disease were identified around the world. This is a great improvement from the worst days of polio epidemics, which many of us remember from decades ago. But it is not good enough, and it will not be good enough until the number is zero. We cannot pause or slacken our efforts. We know all too well what happens when we do not reach every child. We saw it in Nigeria in 2003 and have seen it again in the Horn of Africa. 

In March, Rotary approved US$500,000 in emergency grants to UNICEF and the World Health Organization to help contain the outbreak of wild poliovirus that had spread from war-torn South Sudan into parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. This funding allowed for increased immunization activities in the three countries affected by the spread, and separate rounds of immunization have continued in South Sudan to halt the source of the outbreak.

We are optimistic that this outbreak will be contained, and remain confident in the viability of eradication. These recent events only serve to highlight the importance of our continued work. It is not enough merely to keep the number of new outbreaks low. We must bring it to zero.

Glenn E. Estess Sr.
Foundation Trustee Chair

ROSES & HANGING BASKETS

A teenage granddaughter comes downstairs for her date with this see-through blouse on and no bra. Her grandmother just pitched a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that!

The teenager tells her 'Loosen up Grams. These are modern times. You gotta let your rose buds show!' and out she goes.

The next day the teenager comes down stairs, and the grandmother is sitting there with no top on. The teenager wants to die. She explains to her grandmother that she has friends coming over and that it is just not appropriate....

The grandmother says, 'Loosen up, Sweetie. If you can show off your rose buds, then I can display my hanging baskets.

Happy Gardening.

On behalf of RC Kelana Jaya, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you and your members for our 1st joint meeting together. I sincerely believe this is a meaningful step towards building closer rapport amongst Rotarians, what more between a "mother & daughter" relation?! President Eric, we certainly made it to a first - an ordinary meeting graced by 3 PDGs, DGE and our group AG altogether - & we all agreed that we had a good meeting last night, right?

Thank you PDG LT, for selling off all the raffle tickets & for conducting such a meaningful fine session that together, both our clubs were able to raise RM342/-, and with President Eric's consent, donated to Protect & Save the Children.

It is without a doubt that we enjoyed good fellowship together, and on this note, my fellow club members and I will look forward to another meeting with you, perhaps, later this Rotary year. We will be happy to meet at your home ground then.

Thank you.
President Elizabeth Yam