Posted on Nov 08, 2017
 
New Berlin Rotary, Rotary Club of New Berlin
Insight into Rotary from District Gov. Jeffrey Reed
 
Experiences in Rotary are as varied as our members. We learned a good example of that on Nov. 8. District Gov. Jeffrey Reed shared some of his Rotary experiences, which were rather fascinating. Reed also reviewed a number of goals established at the international and district levels.
 
A member of the Fond du Lac Morning club, Reed joined Rotary in 2000. That was soon after he moved to Wisconsin from New York. Reed had three goals in mind as a newly minted Rotarian: to network, make some friends, and get involved in service projects. It was service projects that really opened Reed's eyes to the value of Rotary.
 
One such project took place in the summer of 2002. Reed and other Rotarirans traveled to Irkutsk, Russia (in Siberia) to establish a microloan program. A Professor of Management at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Reed saw firsthand the value of such a program. One farmer rebuilt a barn that had burned down. Another person built a greenhouse that allowed her to extend her growing season. Reed visited a clinic for asthma sufferers that had been built with a microloan. He and the other Rotarians we amazed at how recipients used the money. "Here were Rotarians in Russia doing service to help others," he says.
 
This past March Reed assisted other Rotarians as they launched a series of soy milk "dairies" and bakeries in Lima, Peru. The five facilities in and around Lima use equipment donated by Wisconsin Rotary Clubs to produce 5,000 servings of soy milk each day. All that is given away to residents, many of them poor and lacking in good nutrition. Soy milk provides important nourishment and soy protein, especially for children, Reed says. Leftover soy-solid (called okara) is mixed with flour and baked for bread and pastries.
 
Participating Wisconsin clubs included Oshkosh, Oshkosh Southwest and Fond du Lac Morning. The clubs pooled their resources to donate a cooker, chopper and extractor for producing soy milk, as well as a commercial oven and other baking equipment. Wisconsin Rotarians partnered with the Lima club, La Molina Vieja Rotary.
 
Next, Reed outlined some of the goals for Rotary, at both the international and district levels.
 
1. RI is tagging along with the One Million Trees project started by a Rotarian in Sri Lanka. Rotarians are challenged to plant one tree for every Rotarian, 1.2 million trees worldwide, by Earth Day 2018. "A tangible, significant difference every Rotarian can make," Reed says. (You can learn more about the project here.) For District 6270, that would mean planting nearly 2,800 trees. Reed encourages clubs to fund programs that plant trees.
 
2. In 1985, Rotary International announced a goal to eradicate polio. Since then, polio diagnoses worldwide have dropped from approximately 1,000 cases per day to just 13 so far in 2017. During Rotary's international convention in June, Bill Gates announced a new pledge (and challenge) to Rotarians: a 2-to-1 match if Rotarians would raise at least $50 million in each of the next three years. If they did, the Gates Foundation would donate $300 million. (On top of the $355 million offered in 2009 in a matching grant.)
 
3. District goals: Increase membership by 54 members, or a net gain of one per club.
 
4. 2017-18 Rotary Citation program. Available to clubs that meet certain criteria for volunteer hours. Clubs would have to track members' service hours and submit that information to International. The goal is to have at least one-half of every club's members earn a Rotary Citation, Reed says.