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 FROM WHERE I SIT
By PDG Bob Aitken
Editor “Rotary Down Under” magazine and Friend of Rotary E-Club One
The annual Rotary International Convention is always crammed
with new Rotary experiences – even for veteran Rotarians with many
Convention experiences under their belts.
Los Angeles was no
exception and, on the Monday night, it was a privilege to be invited
to attend the annual changeover dinner for the now famous Rotary e-Club
One. It was quite an uplifting experience for this veteran Rotarian.
Rotary e-Club One was chartered in January 4, 2002, as Rotary
International’s first club with operations supported by electronic
communications, telephone and internet. Its mission is to connect,
inform, and inspire members and guests who are travel-bound,
location-bound, or schedule-bound and thus unable to fulfill
traditional Rotary attendance requirements.
Forty members
are drawn from Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Japan, Mexico, The Philippines, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates
and the USA. During the 2007-2008 Rotary year, Rotary e-Club One
devoted 4500 hours of service to vocational, international,
community and club projects.
Rotary e-Club One website
statistics are interesting and confirm the number of unique visitors
per day to Rotary e-Club One’s web site averages 405. Make-ups per
day average 218! In May, 2008, 10,829 visitors from 109 different
countries logged onto the club’s web site. Some 6609 of those people
were first time visitors.
All club Directors presented
impressive service reports to the annual meeting – a blood bank in
Nigeria, construction of a health clinic and crèche in East Timor,
youth development on the continental trail in Colorado, boat
restoration for troubled youth in USA, sponsorship of the Ranfurly
Library Book Aid service for needy communities in the Pacific
Islands, family literacy support for Hispanic families in
California, maternity packs for pregnant women living in poverty in
East Timor, advanced RYLA in Colorado and Wyoming, substantial water
projects, and support for ShelterBox. Rotary e-Club One has been
consistently awarded the Rotary International Presidential Citation
for service.
The conduct and content of the changeover dinner was
right up there in the best Rotary tradition. There were Paul Harris
Fellow recognitions, a professional excellence award and a special
award for service. Outgoing President Timothy S. Mowbray, of the
USA, handed the chain of office for 2008/2009 to Angus M. Robinson
of Australia.
Peter Baines, a young Detective Inspector with
the NSW Police Force, was a standout guest speaker at the Changeover
and the recipient of the club’s Professional Excellence Award. He
took charge of the team responsible for forensic identification of
5000 corpses in Thailand after the 2005 Tsunami and has since
embarked on an inspirational mission building orphanages for
children who were orphaned by the disaster.
There are now
14 Rotary e-clubs around the world, each a variation of a common
theme. Rotary e-Club One has an international focus, its members
located in several different countries. Rotary e-Club One is a full
service chartered Rotary club in every aspect of its management and
activities. Members do not meet for a weekly meal but the meetings
operate online 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the
year! All who apply for membership must provide evidence of personal
good standing and agree to the unique service requirement of Rotary
e-Club One: every member must commit to a minimum of 12 hours
personal service per calendar quarter. Most exceed this requirement
by many hours.
Rotary e-Club One is a wonderful example of
how Rotary must expand its thinking to cater for the exciting
changes that await us in the 21st century.
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