Global Grant Scholarships & Rotary Peace Fellowships
Rotary Peace Fellowship
Promoting peace is one of Rotary's main causes. The fully funded Rotary Peace Fellowship covers tuition and living expenses, increases the capacity of existing leaders to prevent and resolve conflict by offering academic training, field experience, and professional networking.
Up to 130 fellows are selected every year in a globally competitive process based on personal, academic, and professional achievements. Fellows earn either a master’s degree or a professional certificate in peace and development studies at one of the seven Rotary Peace Centers, located at leading universities around the world.
As our country faces trying times of divisiveness and racial tension, Rotary is about peace and bringing people together.
Our Peace Committee has been hard at work developing resources that can be used by clubs and individual members who are interested in growing and building bridges, to help ensure that all Rotarians know and feel our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
We've only just begun building that resource, but on District 5180 website, you can find a resource page that we'll continue to build out with books you can read, webinars you can view or attend, and speakers you can invite to your club to help us all grow and become better humans, better Rotarians, at a time when the world really needs people who can bring togetherness.
This page is new, but we are always seeking to add to it. If you have more ideas or suggestions about programs or resources we can add, please reach out to our Peace Committee chairperson, Lynette Anderson.
So August is Membership Month for Rotary. And with virtually all of our meetings VIRTUAL, there's never been a better time to invite a friend!
When District Governor Hastey says Rotary is "FFF'n Amazing," one of those F's is for Friends! This is the time to invite your friends to join us, to learn more about what Rotary stands for, and to check out a meeting or join us for a (safe) community service project! With virtual meetings, it's easier than ever for someone to attend. Just make sure you welcome them and help them understand what to expect.
Now, more than ever, people want to connect and find a way to serve their communities. Let's make the most of this wild time, and introduce as many people as we can to the clubs, and to the organization, that we all love. As this year's theme touts, "Rotary Opens Opportunities," but Rotary can also be a light and a spark of hope for people who want to be part of the solution.
Not sure where to start with a potential Rotarian, check out this web page with great information about what Rotary is about, and links to the various clubs in our district.
And if you haven't already, please make sure you add your online meeting information to your website. It's only visible to members, but lets prospective members know that you're still active, meeting and serving your communities in spite of all we're facing these days.
COVID Strikes Again, Rotarians Rise to the Occasion
Just when some of us were beginning to return to some kind of "normal" in the time of COVID-19, the cases have started rising significantly in our region, forcing the shutdown of our in-person meetings and cancelling events. Deja Vu, right?
I just have to share how impressed I am with all of the flexibility you've shown.
In the last few weeks, I've seen incredibly creative demotions done online, virtual fundraisers planned, and truly inspirational meetings and speakers all done via Zoom.
If you do gather in small groups for community service or meetings of any kind, I ask you to please, wear masks, ensure you're six feet apart and practice good hygiene. It's incredibly important that Rotary set a good example, but it's a whole lot more important that none of you get sick or spread the Coronavirus to others.
So please, continue to be creative and think out of the box, and if you've got an idea that could be easily replicated among other clubs, please share them with us, so our other clubs can also thrive during these challenging times.
Together, we thrive.
Thanks so much for all that Flexibility and your commitment to Rotary,
Jennifer E. Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, has been nominated to become Rotary International’s president for 2022-23, a groundbreaking selection that will make her the first woman to hold that office in the organization’s 115-year history. Jones will officially become president-nominee on 1 October if no other candidates challenge her.
Brent Hastey assumed the role of District Governor today, but in light of social distancing requirements, outgoing DG, Ray Ward, had to get creative about how to best pass the baton. Here's what he came up with:
District Leadership Transition in the Time of COVID-19
Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are renewing their longstanding partnership to end polio, announcing a joint commitment of up to $450 million to support the global polio eradication effort.
Rotary & the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Commits to Eradicate Polio
Shanti Landon from the Rotary Club of Lincoln created this lovely video explaining some of the misconceptions about Rotary and what we truly are as an organization.
