As we enter the autumn/winter season—a time of harvest/ celebration and reflection—I’d like to suggest that we give thanks for the opportunities we have to share fellowship and good work with our sisters and brothers in Rotary around the world. While it’s only natural for us to be focused on our local clubs—holding meetings, recruiting new members, planning and executing service projects take a lot of time and effort—we shouldn’t forget that we’re part of a much larger organization, with more than 1.2 million members doing amazing work in 220 countries.
And while the efforts of 35,000+ clubs add up to a lot—CNBC ranked Rotary among the top 10 charities changing the world—there’s a force within Rotary that brings us together to accomplish even more—the Rotary Foundation. You might be surprised to learn of its size and impact: it is ranked among the 60 largest foundations in the world by assets and distributed more than $130 million in grants last year. Charity Navigator, the leading assessment organization for charities, gives it Four Stars—it’s highest rating.
As you know the Rotary International theme for this month is Foundation. When you and your club donate to the Rotary Foundation, you help cure disease, provide clean water, rebuild disaster-stricken communities, and much, much more. Grants provide aid around the world, and also many of our contributions come back to help our local clubs in their service work as well. In 2020-21, 30 clubs in District 7950 received Global or District grants to further their good work!
Our efforts to eliminate Polio in the world is still a major priority. Together we can achieve this goal and even extend our experience and infra-structure to address other areas of concern affecting populations across the plane. Each contribution to Polio Plus is matched by the Gates Foundation $2 to each $1 contributed for that purpose.
It's a joy to report that the generosity of Rotarians in our District is awesome! Thank you for adding your share to this important work.
We call on you to join fellow Rotarians for our annual District 7950 Foundation Dinner at Rosebrook Center, 50 Rosebrook Place, Wareham MA, at 6PM on Friday, November 12th. Cocktail hour begins at 5:30. We’ll be honoring Paul Harris Fellows and all Rotarians. Our speaker will be Kevin Andrews, a polio survivor.
You can purchase tickets for $65 per person, through this link:
Raise Money, Recycle Waste, Plant Trees and Feed the Hungry:
East Greenwich Electronic Waste Day is a Grand Slam Event!
The East Greenwich Rotary Club organized an Electronic Waste Day at the East Greenwich campus of New England Institute of Technology (NEIT), on Earth Day, April 24th. With the help of NEIT employees, the NEIT Rotaract Club and the Interact Club of the Rocky Hill Country Day School, Rotarians accepted more than 17,000 lbs. of electronic waste, which will be sent on to a recycling center. In addition, 13 containers of non-perishable food and canned goods were collected for the Rhode Island Food Bank. Corporate Sponsors and donors helped to raise $3,000, which is being used to fund tree planting on public property to enhance the health and beauty of the East Greenwich community.
East Greenwich Rotary partnered with the East Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, Cartridge World, Office Recycling Solutions and Dauntless Advertising to plan and promote this innovative event. “So many businesses and individuals came forward to help us make this a success,” says Harry Waterman, one of the Rotarians who organized the event, “that we’re already planning our next Electronic Waste Day for April 23, 2022.”
Revamped District website is up and running
I'm happy to announce that the District Website has continued to evolve, and now should be even easier for members to find the news and information they need. Special thanks to Margaret LaBarge of the Lincoln-Woodstock club in District 7850, whose help redesigning our District website was invaluable. If interested in professional help revamping your club site, Margaret can be reached at margaret@boldeverything.com.
We’d like to feature more stories about club projects, so please send a brief summary of the project your club is most proud of, with 1-2 high resolution photos (landscape format preferred), to District Public Image Chair Bruce Rutter (brucerutter@comcast.net). Make it your business to take a look at this new and innovative resource now operating in our District: www.rotary7950.com. Another special “Thank You” to Bruce Rutter for leading this effort!
Diversity, equity & inclusion
While we work to diversify our clubs, we shouldn’t forget that most are still largely male. At roughly 20% female membership around the world, we’ve made progress since the first women were officially admitted to Rotary in the late 1980’s, but still have quite a way to go before we achieve gender balance. Here in our District women have shown how much hard work, dedication and enthusiasm they bring to Rotary, and now represent a significant portion of our District leadership, including Immediate Past District Governor Charlene Jarest, District Governor Nominee Angela Ponte, Assistant Governor Coordinator Lori DiPersio, District Membership Chair Missy Garlisi, 8 of 12 Assistant Governors, and 25 of 65 Club Presidents. Kudos to Barnstable Sunrise, Fairhaven, Falmouth, Foxboro, Holbrook, Nantasket/Hull, North Kingstown, North Providence, Rockland-Hanson and Smithfield for achieving 50%+ female active membership in their clubs!
Historic ties between New England whaling and Portuguese seafaring brought many Azoreans to RI and MA. In the past 50 years, there’s been significant immigration from Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries as well. To learn more about the growth and impact of Latinx immigration to New England, read this Google Book: Latinos in New England, edited by Andres Torres.
Our District is seated in the ancestral homeland of the Massachusetts, Narragansett and Wampanoag tribes. To learn more about their heritage and the work of the three tribes today, please visit
