Chu's Rotary Journal - Aug 6 to 12, 2007

Posted by Chu Wu

After spending a laid back week with my wife, kids and parents on the Oregon Coast flying kites and riding dune buggies, there was nothing like "hanging out" with PDG Chris Offer to get me back into Rotary. On Tuesday, Chris was our guest speaker. On Friday and Saturday, Chris chaired the Rotary International Presidential Membership Conference, which Leo Nimsick and I attended. More than 400 Rotarians attended this sold-out event in Richmond. On Saturday night, at a by-invitation only dinner, RI President Wilf Wilkinson presented Chris Offer with an award for his work on Polio eradication.

On Tuesday, PDG Chris Offer came to our club to speak on the Rotary Foundation. Chris was a police officer with VPD when the Rotary Foundation's GSE (Group Study Exchange) program was offered in the fall of 1980. Chris applied and represented District 5040 GSE team as a member to India in the spring of 1981...and as the saying goes, the rest is history. Chris Offer joined Rotary, became a Club President, led a GSE team to England in 1993, became our District Governor in 1999-2000 and continued to serve Rotary through raising money for The Rotary Foundation and training Rotary leaders. He was awarded the Rotary International's highest honor for individual Rotarians, RI Service Above Self Award, in Rotary's 2004-2005 Centennial Year.

Chris Offer's messages to us about TRF (The Rotary Foundation) were:

Give to TRF, because it is our foundation and one of the best managed foundations in the world; and
Use TRF programs to make a world of difference in both our local and the world communities - GSE (Group Study Exchange), Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Rotary World Peace Scholar, Rotary Matching Grants, District Simplified Grants.

During the weekend, Chris Offer chaired Rotary International Presidential Membership Conference in Delta Airport Hotel, which drew many Rotarians south down I-5 all the way to California and east over the Rockies all the way across Canada. There were many Albertans, partly because our Zone 22 RI Director, Monty Audenart, is from Red Deer. In Rotary, they call Alberta: "Montyland". There was also a French speaking contingent from Quebec. The diversity of the attendees really makes one appreciate the "reach" and "power" of Rotary. It was an amazing experience to talk casually to RI President Wilf Wilkinson and RI President Elect D.K. Lee several times over the weekend.

A series of skillful speakers made high impact presentations on membership issues and ideas. The bottom line was that without members, there will be no Rotary clubs. Membership is the responsibility of every Rotarian. There were three lively table top discussion sessions, one on Friday and two on Saturday. Those were the best sessions where all the members really got involved in brainstorming, discussing and reaching consensus. For me, I had two exhilarating and exhausting days. I was not only an attendee. Chris Offer had me working as the volunteer A/V technician. I had to get one DVD and 12 Power Point presentations ready throughout the weekend in front of 400 people! Thankfully, everything went smoothly.

Looking ahead to next weekend -- Saturday, August 18, is our Club's Summer Garden Party. Please sign up online or call Claudette Hayward. BE INCLUDED. I also want to remind everyone of the Traveling Wilburys' Walk to End Cancer next weekend. Please read on and follow the link to Past President Mike and Kathy Storey's Personal Pages and give them your support. BE INVOLVED.