The Rotary Club of New York

www.NYRotary.org                                       www.NewYorkCityRotary.org                       

 

 

 

 

October 6, 2003

 

 

 

 

Fellow Rotarians,

 

The speaker at our next New York Rotary meeting on October 7th will be Rizek Abusharr. He is the Retired Executive Director at Jerusalem YMCA and was awarded the Marthe Laube Prize for Tolerance and Democratic Values in recognition of his pioneering work with the Jerusalem International YMCA in which Jews, Muslims and Christians share in joint activities. You can read more about Rizek Abusharr in the latest Bulletin on the Internet at http://ussterilizer.com/bulletin_10-07-2003.pdf (click on the link).

 

We have many interesting speakers at our legendary Rotary Club. This is thanks to Larry Parks, who is great at finding good speakers. You can see our list of future speakers on our website at www.nyrotary.org/Events/events.html.

 

Funda Bozkurt wrote a very good Reporter of the Week about our last meeting. Thank you Funda for a great report! You can read it in the latest Bulletin. It also has many pictures from our Fellowship Day.

 

82 year old Bill DeLong just came back from his trip to Ghana. He was a sensation on Fellowship Day when he showed up in his Ghana traditional dress and with a present to our Rotary Club from the Queen Mother of Ghana. You can see pictures of Bill and the other Fellowship Day participants on our website at www.nyrotary.org/president_greg/fellowship_day.html. One would think that Bill, who will be 83 years next week, has come home for a long rest. I was quite surprised when Bill told me that he is already leaving for Ethiopia on October 14th. Where does he does get all his energy from? I asked him if he was going to be away for the rest of the baseball season. He might miss seeing the New York Yankees win the World Series.

 

We had a great Rotary United Nations Day last Saturday, October 4th. The leadership of Rotary International came including Rotary International President Jonathan Majiyagbe, RI President Elect Glenn Estess and RI Past Presidents Frank Devlyn and Rick King together with a majority of Rotary International’s Board of Directors. Many thanks to Rotary International Representatives Bob Coultas, Brad Jenkins, Barney Barnet and everybody else, who worked hard to make the Rotary UN Day such a success. You can see pictures from the event on our website at www.nyrotary.org/united_nations/un_day_2004.html.

 

RI President Jonathan Majiyagbe gave a very interesting speech during the Rotary UN Day. Here are excerpts from his speech:

 

Throughout human history, contentious rhetoric has made the same evil arguments: there is not enough to go around, so we must fight for our share. Love is dead, so we must hate to survive. Human lives are worth so little that squandering lives is of no consequence.

 

As Rotarians we refute these arguments with all of the resources we can muster, And as Rotarians, we are most fortunate to have excellent resources available to us.

 

In 1945, 49 Rotarians went to the United Nations Charter conference in San Francisco. By helping to draft the UN Charter, Rotary became a part of history and Rotary's close relationship with the UN continues to this day.

 

The world needs Rotary's commitment to peace - perhaps now more than ever. Global tensions are high and conflicts have broken out everywhere. We have a surplus of hate and a shortage of tolerance. For many of us, it is hard to open a newspaper without becoming quickly overwhelmed.

 

But by working together, we can encourage each other and remain hopeful about the future.

 

RI President Jonathan was very kind to give me a copy of his manuscript, so you can read the complete speech on our website at www.nyrotary.org/united_nations/un_day_2004.html. 

 

A couple of days earlier last week, I was invited to speak at the Rotary Club of Chatham, MA in Rotary District 7950. It is a great Rotary fellowship story about how I ended up speaking there. When I was in Sweden last August, I met Ralph Nixon and his wife Cherie. I had never met them before, but as Rotarians often do, we became instant friends and Ralph and Cherie invited me to come and stay with them and to speak at Ralph’s Rotary Club. It turned out that I was going to Boston last week on a business trip, so I accepted their invitation. All I can tell you is that the visit was a blast, including my speech at the Chatham Rotary Club. I received the following message from John Gulow, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Chatham. He also took the picture of me and Ralph:

 

Matts....

 

On behalf of the Rotary Club of Chatham [MA], I wish to express our appreciation for your informative and entertaining presentation regarding Paul Harris and the start of Rotary. There is no question that it was enjoyed by all.

 

Many thanks....

 

John Edw. Gulow

 

Thank you John for the picture and many thanks to Ralph and Cherie for inviting me. You can see John’s picture from the event on our website at www.nyrotary.org/meet_our_members/mats_ingemanson/index.htm. By the way, I am scheduled to give the same speech at the Rotary Club of New York on November 4th.

 

The next UN meeting of the International Service Division of our legendary Rotary Club
will take place on Wednesday, October 15 from 08:30 to 09:45 AM at the German Permanent Mission to the United Nations on the top floor restaurant on First Avenue (between 48th and 49th Streets). Our guest speakers will be Oscar de Rojas, Director Financing for Development Division, UN Department of Economic & Social Affairs. You can e-mail your reservation to the Rotary Club of New York at "ny.rotary@verizon.net" with a copy to Allison Alessi, International Events Coordinator at "aealessi@aol.com" or you can send a fax to (212) 633-1954.

It is time to plan for the Rotary International’s 95th annual convention in Osaka, Japan. We are encouraged to register by the first deadline of 15 December 2003. Through that date, registration fees are only $300 for each Rotarian or guest. You can read more about it on Rotary International’s website at www.rotary.org/newsroom/newsbasket/2003/030924/osaka.html

 

I received the following message from Morris Gelber at the Bryan, Texas, Rotary Club:

 

Dear Mat,

I enjoy receiving your weekly NYC Rotary news mail.  I visited your club back in December and was very impressed with the exciting group of members you have.

I belong to the Bryan, Texas, Rotary Club.  We have about 175 members and meet every Wednesday for lunch at a local country club.

I am the recipient of a Rotary Grant to go abroad to teach for a semester.  If everything goes according to my plans, I will go to Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, in January 2004 and teach the spring semester in the Teacher's Institute of Kazan State University.  This will be my fifth trip to Kazan.  In 1991, I accompanied 10 local high school students on a five-week cultural exchange to Kazan.  Kazan is one of our Sister Cities.  I have made three subsequent trips and have enjoyed each of them.


What I would like to know is:  Are there any members of your club who have received Rotary Grants for teaching abroad and if I could contact them for ideas about what to expect in this experience.

I hope to visit NYC in December before I leave for Russia in January, and if I'm in town on a Tuesday, I'll be sure to come to your club again.

Rotary regards
Morris Gelber

 

Thank you Morris, for your message. If you have any ideas about what to expect in this experience, you can reach Morris via e-mail at MGelber@aol.com.

 

Don't forget to reserve your table for our next meeting. You can reserve via e-mail to our office at ny.rotary@verizon.net, or call Andreas or Ana at 212-633-1311. You can also fax in the RSVP form, which you can download at http://ussterilizer.com/rsvp_10-07-2003.pdf. Our fax number is 212-633-1954. At our next meeting, the culinary staff at the Princeton Club will serve us Roasted Breast of Chicken.

 

I recommend that you visit our New York Rotary website every week at www.NYRotary.org or www.NewYorkCityRotary.org. 

 

Rotary is about having fun

and do good things!

 

 

Matts Ingemanson

Chairman

Internet Communications Division

The Rotary Club of New York

www.NYRotary.org

www.NewYorkCityRotary.org

 

Chairman

Group Study Exchange

Rotary District 7230

www.nyrotary.org/GSE7230

 

Ambassador of History

Rotary’s Global History Project

www.historynewsletter.org

 

 

The power of the Internet puts the brains of millions of people together. It also puts 1.2 million Rotarians together. It does not matter where we are and when we are available. The Internet makes it possible for Rotarians around the world to instantly participate.

 

This newsletter has also been posted on our website at www.NYRotary.org or www.NewYorkCityRotary.org.

 

I want to thank our Executive Director Andreas Runggatscher and his Executive Assistant Ana Rivas for working so hard every week creating and mailing the Weekly Bulletin. In addition to mailing it out to our members, they also send me the electronic Bulletin so I can upload it on our website. They have also been working hard with the administration of the World Trade Center - Disaster Relief Fund.

 

In order to read the PDF file of the Bulletin-on-the-Web, you need Acrobat Reader Version 5.0 or later. If you don't have Acrobat Reader, you can download Acrobat Reader 6.0 for free from the web at:

 

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

 

 

You can find the following interesting websites at:

 

1.      New York Rotary Club at www.NewYorkCityRotary.org/.

2.      Rotary’s Global History Project at www.historynewsletter.org

3.      Rotary District 7230 at www.rotarydistrict7230.org 

District 7230 Group Study Exchange Project at www.NewYorkCityRotary.org/GSE7230/

4.      Rotary Youth Leadership Awards at www.rotaryryla.com

5.      Rotary Radio every Tuesday 5-6 PM EST or 2-3 PM PST at http://12.162.161.64/cart/ProductList.asp?SearchFor=Rotary+Radio&x=36&y=6

 

Matts Ingemanson, Helen Reisler and Jim Thompson from the New York Rotary Club were interviewed on Rotary Radio Tuesday July 9, 2002.

http://12.162.161.64/cart/ProductDetail.asp?PR_ProductID=329

 

You need Windows Media Player to listen to Rotary Radio. Windows Media Player is included with Windows Millennium and Windows XP. If you use Windows 95 or Windows 98, you can download Windows Media Player for free from Microsoft.

 

Click here to download Windows Media Player