Member Projects
Project: Braver Angels – Moderator
Club Member – Lori Dekker
twodogplumeria@yahoo.com
My service project is as a moderator for the grassroots organization Braver Angels. It’s mostly run by laypeople who are concerned about the decreasing level of civility in public and political life. The animosity between people of differing political persuasions has spilled out into the private and family relationships we once used to enjoy, which is not only a mental and public health hazard but is contributing mightily to inertia at all levels of governance. The point of BA is to let trained but frequently nonprofessional members facilitate positive communication training workshops and to provide opportunities for individuals to talk with people from “the other side”. We strive for Red/Blue parity in each of our sessions as the objective of each class is for participant to listen as well as to be listened to. At the end of every session participants are amazed that people whom they thought were so different, and perhaps even immoral, were not so different from themselves. It’s been a rewarding 6 or7 years for me, and like Rotary it has changed me probably more than I’ve changed the world.
As an adjunct but not wholly sanctioned BA activity two of my BA partners and I have teamed up with a young city councilman who has a passion for all things Constitutional. We teach a 4-6 week course through the adult education division of our local community college. Our classes fill up on the first sign-up day of every session. One reason for our popularity is that the Constitution has become a hot topic in recent years and because we stealthfully utilize BA techniques in class discussions, students learn they are safe when expressing their opinions but they also discover that the folks on “the other side” usually have rational and legitimate reasons for their opinions. They begin to appreciate that understanding someone else’s opinion is not necessarily agreeing with it. It’s not unheard of for people to change their minds about a topic and most students will admit to a softening of their own opinions.
One of the benefits of BA is that work of getting people together who would not normally talk to each other is that is that in a clandestine kind of way people are opening their minds and maybe their hearts for the good of the community. Drop me a line if you want to know more or check out their website…braverangels.org.
Combined EClub Service Areas and Interest Groups with Chairs & Interest Leaders
- Rotary Foundation
The Rotary EClub Rotary Foundation Committee helps raise money for The Rotary Foundation.
The money comes back to the club in several ways. It is used to fund global grants which all clubs may apply for. The funds are available to the district as District Designated Funds after three years. The Rotary Foundation is the way Rotary International funds the global polio eradication effort. Rotary Clubs do good things in the world. Rotarians often do good in their hometowns. The Rotary Foundation helps us to do good in the world on a larger scale.
- Membership Service
- Member enhancement team
To recruit and keep members, both new and old, engaged in EClub activities as well as in their service for peace.
To date, we have
• Designed, conducted, and summarized survey on members ’service for peace’ and presented to the EClub.
• Recommended EClub members self-select leadership/affiliation teams related to Rotary areas of service and/or Rotary areas of focus.
Next steps to “enhance membership” and more fully engage EClub members in our EClub meetings and in service for peace include:
• Diversify membership
• Add two (2) peace-related capacity building sessions to the EClub meeting schedule (Jan-June 2022)
The two sessions will help to enhance skills and capacities of all members, especially those interested in submitting proposals for the “Speakers Bureau of EClub members”: a concrete idea / interest proposed by new honorary member, Dee Boswell. Note: With Dee’s extensive Rotary background and networks, he can provide practical guidance for the speakers/ mentor’s ideas emerging from the Peacebuilding Club.
- Community Service
- Police2Peace as public health Lisa Broderick
Project to transition communities and police departments to peaceful existences and address the public health crisis of gun violence by bringing these two parties together to create “Peace Officers” our police officers for culture change that is fundamental to police reform and uniting them with their communities in programs that uplift and heal. - International Service
- Russia Rotary Clubs Relations –
- World Citizenship Arthur Kanegis
Rising above the borders that divide us to find our power as citizens of one world.
- Rotary/Peace Corps strategic partnership Mark Zober
Global Grant Project Development and Support – Rudy Westervelt
- Vocational Service Dennis Wong
- Youth Service JonDarr Bradshaw
- RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) – Camp for 11th graders
- PRYDE (Personal Rotary Youth Development) – Camp for 7th graders
- Interact (Rotary Club for high and middle school students)
- After school programs
- Tutoring
- Youth led online monthly forum JonDarr Bradshaw
I propose that we work with our district office to connect with Rotaract and Interact clubs from across the country and around the world to offer a monthly online forum where participants can come together, share information and ideas, and then take what they’ve learned back to their local clubs and communities.
Beginning in January our members, working in partnership with young professionals that we will recruit to help us, will serve as mentors, helping these young people (Rotaract and Interact members) to develop the critical leadership and communication skills that the world so desperately needs.
Participating Rotaract and Interact members will be intimately involved with each monthly forum. Initially they will work with our members to plan and facilitate the early sessions. Helping to select youth leaders from around the world as guest speakers, and recording field reports from Rotary Youth Exchange participants both here and abroad. However, the ultimate goal will be a youth-led forum, planned and produced by Rotaract and Interact members with guidance provided by the Rotary E-Club of World Peace.
- International Cities of Peace Fred Arment & Brian Berman
To facilitate Rotary Clubs in meeting the peace challenge of Rotary International by establishing their community as an International City of Peace, thereby contributing to local/global unity, engaging Rotarians in meaningful actions, and increasing Club membership.
Rotary Quote: “As a humanitarian organization, peace is a cornerstone our mission. We believe when people work to create peace in their communities, that change can have a global effect. By carrying out service projects and supporting peace fellowships and scholarships, our members take action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources… Rotary creates environments where peace can happen.”
https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/promoting-peac
- Positive Peace Academy ( Institute for Economics and Peace) Vana Prewitt
The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP) is a global think tank and research organization. It’s purpose is to measure peace. How they go about this is complex, robust, and thought provoking. They produce the Global Peace Index (14th ed.) annually, which gives an overview of the attitudes, behaviors, and systems of (most) countries that either promote or hinder peace. IEP is an official partner of Rotary International as is their training program, Positive Peace Academy. Both are aligned with Rotary goals and beliefs, which makes this a valuable path for Rotarians to consider.
The Positive Peace Academy is a structured 2-hour self-study online program that can be conducted as a workshop. The training comes in five small modules that are interesting, engaging, and informative. It takes the learner through the basics of the IEP research and concepts that frame Positive Peace. Once this course of study is completed, one can proceed to becoming a Peace Ambassador. There have only been a few cohorts and no way of knowing how much longer they will continue to train Ambassadors. The Ambassador role is to help organizations and individuals teach others how to activate Positive Peace.
Vana Prewitt is available for consultation, networking with global peace activators, and training support.
- Social Justice & DEI Dennis Wong
Let’s Have a Rotary DEI Party for Success
Food, drinks and different cuisines bring people together.
The proposal is to publish a book authored by fellow Rotary members.
The book will have member recipes with related stories.
This week, I will draft my story about a three-generation fruitcake recipe developed by my immigrant grandfather from China when he cooked for a Catholic bishop in Hawaii.
Now, I am carrying on the tradition … including baking and giving fruitcakes as Christman gifts. As delicious as ever, the Lum-Wong Fruitcake recipe.
Rotary Poets for Social Justice
This is about a different approach that involves the hearts, minds, and creativity of all members of the Rotary family.
Remember the hit of President Joe Biden’s inaugural was Amanda Gorman and her poem titled “The Hills We Climb.”
Text … https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-the-hill-we-climb-full-text.html
Also see …Using Poetry as a Force for social change.
https://www.hrc.org/news/using-poetry-as-a-force-for-social-change
Let’s provide a Rotary place and platform for social justice.
Be and Think as a Rotarian
Both programs will ask participants to think about Rotary principles and the Rotary Path. For example:
Rotarian Code of Conduct — Deal fairly with others and treat them and their occupations with respect.
The Four-Way Test — Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
The Eight Pillars of Positive Peace — Acceptance of the rights of others, and the equitable distribution of resources.
Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention area of focus — Take Action to pursue projects that address the underlying causes of the conflict including: poverty, inequality, ethnic tensions, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.
And there are the Rotary DEI statements.
- Olympian Thinking Marilyn King
- “Healing Arts” Tami Briggs
- Rotarians Meditating for World Peace Tami Briggs
You are invited to attend a monthly (or bi-monthly or quarterly?) Peace Meditation on Zoom for Rotarians and your families/friends. We meditate in silence, holding intention for the highest possible outcome of peace for the world. Tami Briggs, therapeutic harpist, plays the harp intermittently throughout the hour to keep our vibration high and focused. We are a powerful group of manifestors!
Please join us as we help shift consciousness to manifest a culture of peace around the globe.
- Peace Through Music Tami Briggs
Music can be a powerful vibrational force for peace! This special interest group supports the Rotarian community by providing healing music focused on peace. This includes concerts on Zoom, downloadable music suggestions, YouTube video recommendations and other music resources to help Rotarians stay in peace.
- Art for Peace Brian Berman
- Peacebuilding Through Art Laurie Marshall
The Singing Tree Project is Shovel Ready to go. Facilitators are available to co-create an intergenerational collaborative mural that envisions success to community challenges and helps heal heartbreak, rooted in the mutualism of Nature and the possibility of peace. A training program is also available for those interested in learning the methodology of Peace Building Through Art and Unity Through Creativity. 100 murals have been created by 21,000 people from 52 countries to date. https://www.unitythroughcreativity.org/the-singing-tree-project
Steps to take, what is needed to fully implement:
Just awareness of the Resource of the Singing Tree Project.
Conclusion, what do you have for other groups:
A joyous way to learn collaboration, conflict resolution, how to make a shared vision of success, spark innovative action and be connected to an international network of peace leaders using art and storytelling. Peace Building Through Art is a 21 century survival tool.
See The Mahogany Singing Tree to Reunite Children with Their Families below. 11’x 7’, designed by 8th graders, 150 contributed. The project raised $13,000 to give to Kids In Need of Defense https://supportkind.org/ who have reunited 1100 families who were separated at the U.S./Mexico border.
- Rotary Speakers Group Brian Berman
- EClub Speakers Bureau Dee Boswell
- SIMCenter Peace Rooms Peter Meisen
To develop SIMCenter visualization spaces within major NGOs, university sustainable depts, and ideally the UN. One goal is a facility at Rotary Int’l in Evanston so the leadership can better “see” all the issues and projects, and the help manage the progress on the 7 areas of focus.
- Peacebuilding and conflict prevention
- Disease prevention and treatment
- Maternal & child health
- Clean water and sanitation
- Economic & community development
- Basic education & literacy
- Environment
- Environmental Sustainability (ESRAG) Andrea Shields
Work with the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group as well as local groups to advocate with government and business for more actions to sustain our environment, particularly to stabilize our climate.