This Rowel is  little late because was not at the meeting.  Thanks to Peggi Koehler for taking notes and the photographs in this Rowel.  Actually, I was out of town until Sunday night, here: The Meeting Opening This was the Scholarship Awards and Teacher of the Year Award, at the Durham Community Park.  The meeting was called to order by Past President Larry Bradley.  He then led everyone in the pledge,   Jim Patterson presented a heartfelt Invocation. Following the invocation Larry led us in singing God Bless America. Larry then asked Rotarians at each table to introduce themselves and others at their tables.  With students and their families, we had close to 70 persons at the picnic.

Student of the Month

Larry Bradley presented a Student of the Month plaque to our Student of the Month for May.  She was Victoria White.

Larry introduced this year’s recipient of the Teacher of the Year.  She was Nancy Riley, a Resource Teacher at Durham High School.  She specializes in working with students as a SEL Teacher-Social Emotional Learning.  She received a plaque, a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Marigold Marketplace and check from Durham Rotary for $250.

 Camp Venture Students

Peggi Koehler introduce one of our Camp Venture Students, Seanna Cunningham.  The other, Jack Stevens could not attend due to a Durham High School baseball game.

 

Camp Royal Students

Larry then introduced our Camp Royal Students, Alyssa Messina, Sophia Owen,  Janelle Thorpe,  Ty Webb and Ryley Vanella.

 

Scholarship Winners.

Jessica Thorpe introduces out Community Excellence Scholarship Award Winners:  Max Landon, Juliana Sears, Hannah Oberdorf, Maddie Frazier, Victoria White, Brenda Zamudio-Rangel, Liam Wilber, Wade Wilson, Weston Wilson and Owen Solan.

Larry Bradley introduced our newest scholarship award.  It is the $1,000 Dave Jessen Scholarship in honor of our recently deceased member, who was a pillar of the Durham community and who gave to the Durham Community over many years in many ways.  It was awarded to Parker Allsup.

 

The Picnic

Attendees enjoyed a BBQ meal of hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, Caesar salad, variety of bags of chips, sodas, water, and beer for the adults. Thanks to Eric for purchasing all of the foods and drinks. Also, thank you to the Rotarian Cooking Team at the heated barbeque area with close to 100 degree temperatures outside. Diana Selland had purchased 3 dozen 2024 decorated red & blue cupcakes that everyone enjoyed; she also provided festive decorations - -THANK YOU, DIANA!! Many Durham Rotarians contributed in other ways as well, and also happily joined us, lending hands where needed, allowing our evening together to be a smashing success for all in attendance.

  

   

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member.  Your dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.  Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.

Go to the following Rotary International web site for information on membership development:  https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership .  From this website there is access to membership development and other related information.

The Rotary Foundation Donations

You can make a difference in this world by helping people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying filters that clean people’s drinking water to empowering local entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.

The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary to make these projects possible.

When every Rotarian gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is $25.00.   An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining member.  Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a Paul Harris Fellow.

If you have any questions ask Steve Heithecker.

It is possible to learn more about The Rotary Foundation on the Rotary web site. 

Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary, P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.

________________________________________________________________

From District 5160

RI Convention Social – May 26, Singapore

District 5160 Awards & Installation – June 13, Davis

World Peace Conference – January 24-26, 2025, Rohnert Park (Sonoma Wine Country)

_______________________________________________________________ri

From Rotary International

Rotaract club in Bangladesh rocks on, raises profile

By Arnold R. Grahl

It started with a bit of small talk. Several members of the Rotaract Club of DhakaOrchid in Bangladesh’s capital city were telling fellow members about a rock concert they had attended a few days earlier. They were especially struck bythe energy and enthusiasm of the younger music fans. As the excitement spilled into that conversation back in January 2023, the club’s charter president,Saddam Hossain Roni, got an idea. Not a fan of rock himself, he nevertheless saw the potential in having the club organize a concert of some of the top rockand metal bands in the country to boost Rotaract’s profile, attract members, and raise funds for projects.

“I felt like this was huge,” Roni recalls. “This generation of youth in Bangladeshis crazy about concerts and musical events. I felt that if we did something really big it would let people know about us and the activities we have been doing for the past 50 years. They would see that Rotaract is notjust a local club — it’s part of an international movement.”

 

Members of the Rotaract Club of Dhaka Orchid, including (from left) Didarul Alam, Ahanaf Adib, Tahsin Miti, Saddam Hossain Roni, and Faysal Kanan, use popular music to boost Rotaract’s profile, attract members, and raise funds for projects. Several club members have formed their own band.

Image credit: Reza Rahman

The Rotaractors were excited by the idea, even though the upfront costs of staging the event were daunting. On 2 June, after a few months of research and planning, 12,000 young music fans streamed into a Dhaka convention center for the charity concert the club called Empathy 2023.

On the lineup were nine of the country’s top rock and metal bands, including Artcell, Warfaze, Shironamhin, and Ashes. Lights flashed from the stage, guitars wailed, and the crowd sang along. Most importantly for the club,concertgoers got a primer on Rotaract and many received T-shirts featuring both concert and Rotaract logos.

Play loud, be heard

The Rotaract Club of Dhaka Orchid has these tips for raising your profile through pop culture events large and small.

• Piggyback on popular culture. Create an event celebrating your community’s popular music, art, or food.
• Enlist influencers to promote your event. Young people all over Bangladesh heard about the club and the event through the performers’ social media channels.
• Don’t forget the merch. For weeks after the event, T-shirts with the club’s logo could be seen on the streets of Dhaka.
• Bring the fun. Tahsin Miti, a vocalist who plays the harmonium, is one of several club members who formed their own band and jam after meetings. “Members always want us to sing and play,” says Miti. “It has been attracting people, and our members increase day by day.”
• Dream big. Some were skeptical the Rotaract members could pull off a major concert. They decided to try anyway. Since then, more than 670 people have inquired about joining the club.

After the event, more than 670 people contacted the club to express interest in joining Rotaract, Roni says, and plans were made to charter more than 30 clubs in the city. The nine bands promoted the concert and Rotaract to millions offollowers on their social media channels, and the club saw a spike in its own social media traffic. Numerous media outlets covered the event. “For weeks after the concert, we would see youth wearing our T-shirts in the streets,” says Roni.

The Rotaract Club of Dhaka Orchid was chartered in 2015 after Roni moved from the eastern city of Comilla to Dhaka to study electrical engineering. He had by then become active in Interact, serving as treasurer of the Interact Club of Comilla Lalmai, then president of the Gomoti Interact club. His election as district Interact representative further expanded his contacts and leadership skills. “I made new friends, received support from others, and was inspired to develop myself further to bring change to my community,” he says.

One of those new friends is Faysal Kanan, who shares Roni’s passion to get young people involved in service. Prior to the concert, Kanan says, members had to spend a lot of time explaining to people what Rotaract was and how Rotary is dedicated to the eradication of polio, among other causes. “I felt if we could interest more young people to serve in Rotaract clubs, we could show them how they can serve everywhere at any time,” Kanan says.

The Rotaractors have demonstrated just that through their passion for helping communities affected by flooding or other disasters,especially in hard-to-reach parts of the country. In 2016, they provided clothing and supplies to Santal people who lost homes during ethnic clashes over land rights. In 2019, they traveled to the remote Kurigram district in northern Bangladesh to provide flood relief in the form of food,clothing, and medicine.

Roni remains connected to Interact through the Interact Alumni Association of South Asia, which he helped found. In 2022, he joined with Tahsin Miti, then a district Interact representative and past president of the Interact Club of Dhaka Paramount, to organize Interact and Rotaract clubs to deliver flood relief in the city of Sylhet after summer monsoons.

Some of the money raised through Empathy 2023 helped provide winter clothing to families. The club is planning a bigger event for 2024 in an open-air stadium that they hope will raise enough money to build permanent shelters for people affected by flooding.

The club received help at the concert from other young people. Miti, now a Rotaract member, organized volunteers and encouraged Interactors to promote the event. “I think we succeeded in showing many people a different image of Rotary,” Mitisays.

Roni is using industry connections he made to line up other celebrities, including awell-known comedian and magician who joined the club last year. Several club members, including Kanan and Miti, have formed their own band, Shadow, whichhas performed at Rotary and Rotaract events. The group plans to take the stage at the stadium concert this year.

“If we can promote our own band in the music industry, I think we can get even moreyouth interested in Rotaract,” Roni says. “This generation is so busy with their studies and their careers. But they are hungry for culture. If we can usemusic to show them Rotaract, we can get them excited about service and show them the difference it can make.”

This story will appear in the April 2024 issue of Rotary magazine.