November 1997

With the chartering of the Rotary Club of Base Marambio, Antarctica, on May

13, Rotary entered a new continent.  Formation of the nondistricted club

came less than six months after the first Rotary Peace Forum.  The forum

explored ways to ensure the environmental and social protection of the

world's last unspoiled continent.

The first Rotary club on each continent are:

    1905      Chicago, USA

    1911      Dublin, Ireland

    1919      Manila, Philippines

    1919      Montevideo, Uruguay

    1921      Melbourne, Australia

    1921      Johannesburg, South Africa

    1997      Base Marambio, Antarctica

Eight Brazilian students arriving January 25, 1998 and leaving February 24,

have no place to live.  They were invited to our district and we MUST find

homes for them.  Please, please call Jim Nelson.

    (815) 288-6660 Home

    (815) 284-2222 Work

Club newsletters, selected at random from the month of February, will be

judged to determine the best in the district.  The criteria being looked

for in the best newsletters are:

    Readability                   30 points

    layout, ease of reading

    Program Information           30 points

    past, present and future programs

    Rotary Information            20 points

    Club projects, district and RI events

    Value as Club Directory       10 points

    members, officers, makeup places

    Creativity                    10 points

    humor novelty, member recognition

Here are the areas and their weights in judging.  Make February your best

newsletters ever!

Have a Family event once in a while;  the more partners &/or family are

involved, the more they understand and support Rotary.

Suggestions: steak cookout, summer picnic.

If possible, consider getting the partner to join Rotary.  People are

looking to join clubs together.

Look in the Yellow Pages.  Give each member a page.  Have them contact the

business and work getting the owner, manager, accountant, etc. to join

Rotary.

World Community Service is the Rotary program by which a club or district

in one country provides humanitarian assistance to a club in another

country.  typically the aid goes to a developing community where the Rotary

project will raise the standard of living and the quality of life.  The

ultimate object of World Community Service is to build goodwill and

understanding among peoples of the world.

One important way to find a club in some other part of the world which

needs help on a worthy project is to use the WCS Projects Exchange, a list

of activities in developing areas.  it outlines projects, provides

estimated costs and gives names of the appropriate contacts.  The District

does select 3 or 4 projects from this list so you may ask your WCS

representative for more information.

Every Rotary club is urged to undertake a new World Community Service

project each year.  The WCS Projects Exchange list is an excellent tool to

find a real need, a project description and cooperating club in a

developing area.  the job then is to "go to work" to complete the project,

and at the same time build bridges of friendship and understanding.

Governor Ray Den Adel has offered $500 to those clubs that show the

greatest net membership gain between July 1, 1997 and March 30, 1998.  One

club in each category, 30 and under or 31 and over, will be eligible to

receive the award.  the money is to offset expenses in sending a delegate

to the International Convention in Indianapolis.

                                  by Martha Bazik

Mike Crotty, President of the Rotary Club of Moline announced the

award of a grant to The Literacy Connection (TLC) at the

September 22 meeting.  Present to receive the grant for TLC were

Director Carol Kepler, Steering Committee Chairman Allen

McCaulley and Treasurer Carol Knapp.  Representing a cross

section of the leaders of business, industry and education in the

area, the ROtary Club of Moline has supported the efforts of this

Moline community based family literacy program for the past two

years.  Its after school reading/tutoring program, summer

enrichment program and monthly family nights have met with a high

degree of success.

Recently, under the leadership of Director Carol Kepler, TLC has

initiated a Parents Club.  Parents of all children enrolled in

the after school program are eligible to join.  TLC recognizes

that parents are the child's first and most important teachers.

By building their literacy skills, staff feel that many positive

benefits will accrue to the family, the school and the community.

The need for the club became apparent when parents began

attending the summer enrichment program with their children.

According to Rotary's Literacy Committee Chairperson, Martha

Bazik, such programs are essential to the economic viability of

the Quad Cities.  Statistics from the State Literacy Office

reports, "One out of eight workers reads between the 9th and 12th

grade level.  There is a mismatch between job requirements and

worker skills today.  By the year 2000 this mismatch will have

grown.

in addition to continuing its support of the after school program

for children ad providing additional funds for the initiation of

the Parents Club, Rotarians have also backed the project by

serving as tutors for the school program and as TLC steering

committee.