Thanks to all our visitors to eClub One and those who asked about our community service activities as well as our Club fellowship activities.  We appreciate your interest in this new vision and horizon for Rotary expansion into vast new areas of service.

eClub Member Projects
Individual member projects as approved by the eClub Board members. The hours spent on Rotary Service Above Self project will apply to the member’s attendance requirements. (Active membership of 12, 9 July)

• Raising funds for research on preserving and managing the Great Barrier Reef - Australia

• Hosting an exchange student, Denver

• Participating in a work teams of local Rotarians in Florence, OR

• Rotary Volunteer dispensing reading glasses in Zanzibar

• Supporting Avoidable Blindness activities

• Hospice Respite Volunteer

• Maintaining a web site featuring positive ideas for leaders in any organization www.positivepath.net “Eyes in the Night” volunteers from different NGOs and other private citizens drive around the community weekend nights to show adult presence in the streets. (Sweden)

eClub Local Community Projects
eClub One joined five other clubs to support Rotary District 5450 in appreciation of Jefferson County Foster Parents (other clubs: Conifer, Evergreen, Golden, Lakewood Foothills, Arvada Sunrise) Foster Parents gathered at Mt. Vernon Country Club for an appreciation dinner on Saturday, May 3. Although the dinner is an annual event, funds for it had been cut from the county budget. Rotarians stepped in at the last minute to fill the gap. A record 165 people attended, including over 140 foster parents, case workers, county representatives and Rotary representatives.

eClub World Community Service Projects

The eClub One Make-up program has been approved by the board as an International Club Service project. Expenses required to maintain the many programs and specialized software development necessary to make many articles available, along with archived articles, are paid by eClub One. While there is no charge to visitors, the ability to make voluntary contributions to help support this cost is also part of the website design.

Rotary education is a major benefit to our visitors. “I am a charter member of the Rotary club of Barboursville WV District 7550 and been active for over 20 years. While “Visiting” EClub, I have learned several things about Rotary that I never knew. I will visit this site in the future as a resource even when I don’t need a make-up. You are helping make the spirit of Rotary grow.”

The most gratifying and perhaps most important part of this service is its role in keeping Rotarians connected.  Here are excerpts from a recent exchange:

Visiting Rotarian
“We have several former members who dropped out of Rotary because
of business travel or job responsibilities which made attending the
requisite number of meeting impossible. We should make them aware of your Club as a way to renew their affiliation with Rotary.”

And our response
”To those of us involved with the design of Rotary eClub One, we designed a place that was useful to our members...those who could not otherwise belong to Rotary but truly want to serve. We built a makeup process to try and convey the message that Rotary can be part of an individual’s life, even when otherwise it could not....We welcome the opportunity to share a little information, stimulate some thought, and maybe...just maybe...inspire someone, like yourself, to go back and get those lost Rotarians back into the game of service!...”

Since the program was initiated in February of 2002, more than 16,000 Rotarians have made up at eClub One - many of them 100%ers who were about to “loose it”. And others who admitted they were seriously considering dropping out altogether because their circumstances and ability to fulfill attendance expectations had suddenly changed.

eClub Partner Service Projects

These projects will be those approved by the eClub One Board and may be local or international in nature, and will be in partnership with other Rotary Clubs in the United States and/or outside the United States.  Because of our size and focus on start-up, this area has not developed. But that is about to change - rapidly. Two projects are in initial development. Their nature and objectives will be announced in the second quarter of this Rotary year. A requirement of the project design is to take full advantage of the eClub One Internet platform.

eClub Fellowship

Our fellowship is strong but in a different format. It is not the weekly “Hi, how’s business” handshake, but it seems to have more depth. In the words of one of our new members, PDG Gerry Roberts: “I missed hearing from one of our members today for instance. You and I have talked on several subjects both of us feel strongly about, and we agreed to do something about our feelings. That is STRONG FELLOWSHIP, and is by no means weakened in any manner because we are using the Internet and telephone.”

Here is a quote from another member, PP Chris Joscelyne of Sydney, Australia:

“While our website will engage with and inform the wider community (Rotarians and others) and showcase our projects and the character of our Club, I believe the email and telephone contact between members (as you and I have been doing) will be the powerful service/fellowship ingredient for success. Just look at the subjects you and I have covered in my first 8 days of membership. Neither of us has been to a meeting per se, nor visited an on-line chat-room, however we have brainstormed excellent ideas for exploration and possible implementation. Now, that’s what I call Rotary in action!”

eClub Membership

This month, July, membership will see an increase of 50% - from 8 to 12 active members. We also have a category of Correspondent Member, which brings our total membership to about 27 Rotarians engaged in eClub One activity. (Correspondent members are Rotarians whose membership is in traditional clubs but accept assignments with eClub One. Three are board members. This is how we have been able to ramp up with a small “active” membership.

Thus far our membership consists of former Rotarians who qualify under our bylaws: circumstances that prevent them from maintaining attendance due to frequent travel, conflicting professional schedule, loss of personal mobility, or resident in a place too distant to attend or makeup at an existing Rotary Club.

The remaining key question is “How to identify and recruit non Rotarians to eClub One?”  We do not yet have an answer.  However, one of our new service projects in development may provide a useful model. It is a model that involves both traditional clubs and eClub with executive level professionals.

Thank you for visiting and giving us the opportunity to answer your questions.
 

John Minter, President

Rotary eClub One of D5450

Enjoy Rotary as you “Lend a Hand”