District Secretary's Corner
DGN Jude T. Doctora
RC Metro Bacolod
District Secretary
September 2012
Dear Beloved Club Secretaries,
In the world of Rotary, September is designated as the “New Generations
Month.” This became Rotary’s Fifth Avenue of Service in 2010
and is defined in Article 5 of the Standard Rotary Club Constitution:
“New Generations Service recognizes the positive change implemented by youth and young adults through leadership development activities, involvement in community and international service projects, and exchange programs that enrich and foster world peace and cultural understanding.”
As Rotary clubs, we are expected to undertake activities that will promote the youngest generation of the family of Rotary in our vocational, community, leadership and international projects. We have four R.I. programs where you can channel your clubs’ efforts towards the youth. We have the Interact and Rotaract Clubs that can be an avenue for community and vocational projects. There is the RYLA, where we can provide them leadership training; and there is also the Rotary Youth exchange, where we can help build the culture of peace and international understanding among the younger generation.
What is a little sad, however, is that out of 51 Rotary clubs in our district, only 21 clubs have Rotaract clubs and only 25 clubs have Interact clubs. We would like to think that this is just an oversight on the part of the other clubs–probably forgetting that the youth programs of R.I. are very powerful tools in our desire to reach out to the younger people in our communities…a catalyst for a lifetime of service to Rotary. By investing in the youth and young adults, we are sealing our commitment to the future of our Rotary clubs because by reaching out to them, our clubs are cultivating future members…we get invigorated by their enthusiasm and, maybe, learn fresh ideas and look at things from a different perspective–all of these, in the spirit of Service.
Our challenge to you, as club secretary, is to continuously search for ways and lend your hand to your President in developing R.I.’s Fifth Avenue of Service. Inspire your club not to forego the opportunities that the new generation can offer. What will make our Governor even happier is for your club to share your best practices on this Fifth Avenue of Service through our Yahoo email group. We have instructed Elaine, our secretary, to add your email addresses to our District Yahoo Group. It will be refreshing to find emails from your club, sharing your best practices for other clubs to emulate. Once we start the sharing, maybe, we can motivate clubs that do not have Rotaract and Interact, to finally see the light and take action.
And lastly, as your District secretary, I also encourage you to share your experiences as club secretary. Please email me anytime. Again, this could be another wonderful way to share and learn.
And as always…Let us be Happy People…Helping People.
Yours in Rotary Service,
DS Jude Doctora
P.S. Please don’t forget to send you August MAR by September 15, 2012.
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