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District 7090
What is now District 7090 is
the remnant of former District 709 that straddled the U.S.-Canada
border at the Niagara frontier. Between 1915, when districts were
created, and 1989, when District 7080 was formed, the district
experienced many boundary changes and renumbering. In 1980, District
709 had 75 clubs with a total membership of 3,600. Rotary
International informed the district governor that the district was
too large for effective administration and asked him to reduce its
size. A committee was established in 1981-82 charged with
responsibility for recommending change. Despite much discussion, the
committee reached no consensus on boundary change other than that
the district should remain international.
Rotary
International gave the district a deadline to reduce its size. A new
committee was established and much intense discussion followed. The
committee recommended the creation of a new district - 7080.
District 7090 and District 7070 each surrendered 17 clubs. Rotary
International approved the change and District 7080 began
functioning on 1 July 1989. The first district governor was Robert
Hartman. Today District 7080 has 48 clubs and 2,076 members.
District 7090 has 74 clubs and 3,127 members – almost the same size
as before the division. Districts 7080 and 7070 are Canadian
districts but 7090 remains international.
A Group Study Exchange with Soviet Georgia
In 1990, I had the privilege
of leading a group study exchange (G.S.E.) team from District 7090
to Soviet Georgia - the first exchange with Georgia and the second
to the Soviet Union. Georgia had no Rotary clubs, and so the Georgia
branch of the foreign ministry arranged the exchange, providing us
with an opportunity to view the Soviet Republic both from the
peoples’ point of view and from inside the government apparatus.
The team
consisted of David Mitchell, a dairy farmer from near Hamilton,
Ontario, Bertie Donovan, an elementary school teacher, and Ann
Schneider, a research bread chemist, both from Buffalo, New York,
Thomas Holt, a nursing home administrator from Amherst, New York,
and Peter Turnquist, an accountant from Jamestown, New York. Prior
to a three-week visit to Georgia, we toured Moscow for three days
and later visited St. Petersburg.
Because adequate housing was scarce, we stayed with only one family
and frequently in hotels. The families we stayed with were those who
would have a member on the reciprocal G.S.E. team. Our hosts
welcomed us warmly. One dinner party we attended had 41 courses,
interspersed with toasts, wines, and folk songs. The singing was
exceptionally good. The orthodox churches have no organs; choruses
with several basso voices sing a cappella. The fresco adorned
churches have no windows or pews. Parishioners have to stand.
We visited
several businesses, schools, and government offices, but we were not
able to see inside a court. Requests to visit courts were refused
with such reasons as “the court is too shabby to receive visitors,”
“the staff has no time,” “the court is closed.” We did manage to
speak to some criminal lawyers; civil law, still undeveloped, is
administered by the bureaucracy. We witnessed a curious business
phenomenon – the so-called “show” business that dates from the reign
of Catherine the Great, when a Russian count built a fake village on
the bank of a river on which she was cruising. We saw a show
hospital for children. A former elementary school, the hospital had
an operating room, fully equipped but never used. With a full staff,
the hospital had only five patients. We visited a factory equipped
with rows of computers, but no one was working. We did, however,
visit a functioning grape processing factory and a producing dairy
farm. The farm had no machinery and it was very dirty.
The
Soviet Union was experiencing profound political change in 1990. In
the last year of his presidency, Gorbachev would soon witness the
break-up of the union. Shevardnadze, former leader of the Georgia
communist party and soon to be president of Georgia, was Gorbachev’s
foreign minister. Originally a monarchy, the country had been joined
to imperial Russia by the last king of Georgia for defensive
reasons. Briefly an independent republic after the communist
revolution, Stalin, a native of Georgia, forced the republic into
the soviet system. Georgia had already announced its intention to
become an independent republic before we arrived; political parties
were forming.
We
saw evidence of a conflict between the Russian and Georgian
cultures, especially in the schools. There were two school systems –
Russian governed by Moscow and Georgian, administered locally and
representing Georgian values. Every student had to learn both the
Russian and Georgian languages. We judged the Russian schools to be
generally more up-to-date in teaching technique than the Georgian
schools. One sensed a rebellious mood on the part of young
Georgians, manifested in the large number of young males attending
orthodox churches, their participation in political parties, and
their insistence that the KGB office in Tbilisi be closed.
The
Georgians struggle to establish a democracy and a capitalist
economic system. A free market system did not yet exist. Under the
soviet system, prices had always been centrally controlled, and so
the fact that people could not afford the prices charged for goods
at the market did not induce the merchants to lower them.
All
the political parties in Tbilisi are housed in one building. The
first night we arrived there, one of the offices was bombed. The
Tbilisi city council has over 300 members. When I pointed out that
Buffalo, New York, with a comparable population had a nine person
council, the mayor thought that undemocratic. He believed that
democracy required all community organizations to be represented on
council.
The visit to Georgia was a memorable one for all of us. Two of the
male members have since joined Rotary clubs. The district enjoyed
hosting a return team from Georgia. We offered one of their leaders,
Kakha Imnadze, an opportunity to visit a Native reservation. The
fact that he was able to visit a Native elementary school and tour
the Tuscarora reservation, freely, amazed him, because he had been
taught that Natives in North America are kept in concentration
camps. We were thrilled recently to see Kakha Imnadze on television
acting as a spokesman for the president of Georgia.
Apples and Dictionaries
… a gift is not a gift until it is given
In 1992 the
Rotary Club of
Hamilton, Ontario established as one of its priorities the needs of
an inner city neighbourhood and the agencies that service it. A
focus on disadvantaged youth emerged, leading ultimately to the
creation of the Child Poverty Task Force, a predecessor of the Inner
City School Committee, and now the Inner City Initiatives Committee.
The work of these committees has always involved both Rotarians and
members of the wider community.
Initially, one
of the Rotarians made contact with an inner city school staff and
asked them to identify their most immediate needs. The staff
responded “Apples and Dictionaries!” And so our first activity was
cutting a cheque to satisfy the immediate needs of an inner city
elementary school.
Some of our
committee members had a wider vision of the ultimate positive impact
the club could have in the local community, if members of the
community identified needs and became catalysts for change. We
studied the work of John McKnight (1995) on community capacity
building. Following McKnight’s lead, we mobilized leaders in the
local community around the concept of community renewal, but from
the outset, we involved the community in a framework of identifying
the abilities of natural community leaders, not from the standpoint
of needs and deficiencies.
First, we set
about building relationships within the community. To this end, the
club made a long-term commitment to the project, enabling club
members to develop a high level of trust and understanding of and
from the community. The city community the club adopted had been
studied and surveyed repeatedly, but residents had seen no tangible
positive results. Our task was to prove to the community that the
club was worthy of their trust by us producing tangible differences.
By choosing to partner with the community and acknowledging the
capacities of each person, the club has achieved much. In the last
six years, the following activities have taken place.
- Natural leaders have
come together and brought forth others.
- With mentor support
from Rotarians, the skills of natural leaders have improved.
- A variety of
neighbourhood improvements have been made, with the
participation of parents, teachers, and students.
- A neighbourhood park
has received $60,000 in improvements, facilitated with a $5,000
grant from Rotary.
- Rotarians spend an hour
each week in the school assisting slow readers.
- Rotarians have provided
funds to the YMCA to enable it to offer after-school activities.
- Rotary offers a
three-week summer refresher reading course.
- Rotarians organize a
Christmas lunch with Santa Claus, entertainment and small gifts.
- Children enjoy
out-of-town trips, paid for by Rotary.
- The community conducts
information surveys.
- Rotarians organize an
annual jazz festival with elementary and secondary school jazz
bands. Community leaders raise funds at the event by selling
donated hot dogs and soft drinks.
- A fall nature walk and
barbecue is arranged by Rotary.
- A school choir is led
by Rotarians who provide the choristers with T-shirt uniforms.
- Rotary has helped the
community to secure a three-year grant to hire a community
development officer to plan future projects.
The project has also had a
positive effect on the club.
- Because the project
provides a “hands-on” opportunity for service, a renewed sense
of pride has developed in the club.
- The project offers club
members opportunities for both short- and long-term service.
- The children’s art and
letters of thanks, published in the newsletter, inspire
Rotarians to become involved in the project.
- The project helps in
recruiting new members.
- The project has focused
the energies of the club and members know they are “making a
difference.”
Gift of Smiles
In the early spring of 1994,
Paul Cannon, a Hamilton Rotary Club past president and I attended a
Presidents Elect Training Seminar in Buffalo, New York. There, we
participated in a workshop entitled “The Gift Of Life” – a program
that brings third world children to a local children’s hospital for
cardiovascular surgery.
Driving back to
Hamilton, we discussed the possibility of the Hamilton club
operating a similar program in conjunction with the Hamilton General
Hospital. We discussed the idea with the club’s board of directors
and the district governor; they gave us permission to proceed. We
soon learned that the Hamilton General Hospital did not undertake
heart surgery. After much discussion by the club’s board of
directors, we decided to look into the possibility of other types of
surgical intervention. I discussed the idea with my neighbour Dr.
Rob Hollenburg, a paediatric neurosurgeon at the Hamilton Children’s
Hospital. Dr. Hollenburg was enthusiastic about the project, and
discussed it informally with his colleagues. A week later we got a
positive response from the hospital. During the next three years,
past president Jim Logan, Paul Cannon and I held numerous meetings
with the hospitals chief executive officer and the staff. Finally,
in September 1997, we were ready to proceed.
Nurse Nancy Fram,
R. N., a clinical director of the hospital was named hospital
coordinator and liaison person for the program. Without Nancy’s
help, we would not have got the project off the ground. All hospital
staff – surgeons, operating room staff, critical care team, children
specialists – volunteered their services.
On October 31,
1997, District Governor Rodger Allan announced to Rotary District
7090 that the Gift of Smiles was in business to provide non-heart
related surgery aimed at helping children from the third world and
underdeveloped nations with serious medical problems.
Our first
patient was actually recuperating before October 1997. Antonio
Haynes, aged 13, from the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent arrived in
Hamilton in the early autumn of 1997 for plastic surgery. We were
informed about Antonio by a staff physician at the hospital who had
been vacationing on St Vincent. Antonio had been severely burned on
the face, neck and upper torso. The Hamilton Rotary Club contacted
the Rotary Club of St. Vincent and they, along with others, arranged
transportation for Antonio and his mother.
Dr James Bain
led the surgical team in a six-hour surgical procedure to repair
the disfigured scars and restore mobility to the neck and jaw.
Antonio spent 10 days in the burn unit recuperating. His mother,
Jasmine, stayed at the Ronald McDonald House and Antonio spent time
with her there after his surgery. Thirty-four Rotarians provided the
following services to Antonio and Jasmine during their stay in
Hamilton.
- They provided
transportation for Jasmine to the hospital daily.
- They attended the
hospital with Jasmine during the surgery.
- They visited Antonio
daily.
- They provided
transportation to Toronto for garment fittings.
- They provided
transportation for shopping for Jasmine.
After his hospital stay, Hamilton Rotarians extended much Rotarian
hospitality to Antonio and his mother. They took them to Niagara
Falls, on a lion safari, and to a rotary meeting. They enjoyed home
hospitality for dinners, barbecues, and a big farewell party. Gift
of Smiles paid all costs – hospital, lodging, food, transportation.
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)
The prime purpose of the
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program is to encourage and
assist selected youth leaders and potential leaders in methods of
responsible and effective voluntary youth leadership by providing
them with a training experience. Typically, a RYLA program consists
of a series of seminars interspersed with social activities at a
meeting place in the district, frequently a camp or some other
institution. The awardees are young men and women aged 18 to 24,
chosen by individual Rotary clubs to attend cost-free. Launched in
Australia and New Zealand in 1959, the Board of Rotary International
adopted RYLA as a worldwide youth activity in 1971. District 7090
(formerly District 709) launched the first RYLA program in Canada in
1977.
In 1975 District
Governor Nominee Edwin Pfohl from Grand Island, New York, discussed
the program with a group of DGNs from Australia at the International
Assembly at Boca Raton. One Australian DGN offered to train a person
from District 709 over a period of three weeks. District Governor
Pfohl persuaded the District Council to fund a trip for David
Sandrock of the Rotary Club of Kitchener, Ontario to study RYLA in
Australia. The District paid transportation costs and the
Australians hosted Sandrock. He gave District 709 a two-year
commitment to organize RYLA programs upon his return. Sandrock spent
the first week learning how the Rotarians prepared for the program.
In the second week, he participated in the program and during the
third week he reviewed the experience and consolidated his
knowledge.
Upon his return
to Canada, Sandrock organized a district RYLA committee, appointed a
director, and found a place to hold the program. Ridley College, a
large private school in St Catharines, Ontario, proved to be an
ideal spot. The first program was held in June 1977 with over 80
attendees from both sides of the border. The first director was
David Dineen, a non-Rotarian at the time. The program has grown and
is now offered twice a year in two separate locations – one at
Ridley College, the other in a community college in Jamestown, New
York. PDG Pfohl reckons that RYLA is one of the finest programs
District 7090 offers to young people to help them build and hone
their leadership skills. He notes that he has met many young
successful business and profession men and women who credit RYLA
with giving them the confidence they needed as they launched their
careers. |
