RI President-elect Ray Klinginsmith speaks
during the closing plenary session on 23 June at the 2010 RI
Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Photo by Alyce Henson/Rotary Images
As the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec,
Canada, drew to a close on 23 June, RI President-elect Ray
Klinginsmith outlined his plans for his term, which begins 1
July. Participants also got a preview of next year’s big event
in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, where the Host Organization
Committee has planned fun for the whole family.
Klinginsmith will ask Rotarians to apply
"cowboy logic" and make Rotary clubs "bigger, better, and
bolder."
The fundamental principles of cowboy logic are
taking pride in your work, talking less and saying more, doing
what has to be done, and remembering that some things just
aren’t for sale, he explained during the closing plenary
session.
"I believe the way for Rotary to remain viable
and vibrant in the next century is to help our clubs to be
bigger, better, and bolder," Klinginsmith said. "The clubs are
the life and breath of Rotary. Therefore, it is clear to me that
my job is to help the district governors to help the clubs. We
can do it, and we will do it, if all of us follow the simple
solution of cowboy logic."
Klinginsmith also listed improvements that he
and the RI Board have already authorized, including revisions to
the RI Strategic Plan to make it easier to implement and
evaluate, a realignment of RI committees to fit the revised
plan, the recruitment of 41 Rotary coordinators, and a
commitment to finding new ways to attract younger members and
enable them to serve as district governors.
Klinginsmith’s Rotary journey started in New
Orleans, where he boarded a ship to begin a Rotary Foundation
Ambassadorial Scholarship at the University of Cape Town, South
Africa, in 1961. After returning home, he and his wife, Judie,
married and then honeymooned in the city. He said he is excited
about the venue of the 2011 RI Convention because he will have
traveled full circle in both his personal and Rotary life.
During the fourth plenary session, members of
the 2011 Host Organization Committee shared some of the
highlights planned for Rotarians, including a concert featuring
a traditional New Orleans brass band, a gospel choir, New
Orleans jazz performers, Cajun music, and the Mardi Gras
Indians. A French Quarter dining experience and an evening at
the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas will be other host-ticketed
events.
By Arnold R. Grahl Rotary International
News – 23 June 2010
Kalyan Banerjee speaks to attendees after
being elected president of Rotary International in 2011-12
during the fourth plenary session at the 2010 RI Convention in
Montréal, Québec, Canada. Photo by Monika Lozinska-Lee/Rotary
Images
Kalyan Banerjee, of the Rotary Club
of Vapi, Gujarat, India, was elected president of Rotary
International in 2011-12 by delegates during the fourth plenary
session at the 2010 RI Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
"I thank you from the depths of my heart
for this incredible opportunity to serve the world's most
outstanding service organization," said Banerjee, who stood
beside his wife, Binota.
Banerjee told attendees
about his first encounters with Rotary in India. "I loved the
way the Rotarians seemed to enjoy meeting friends and enthusing
about community service projects to benefit hundreds of people,"
he said. "I decided then that I must be a Rotarian as soon as I
could make it."
As Rotary continues to grow and become more
influential, it increases its capacity to effect change in
India, Banerjee said. "As I have seen more and more Indians
choose to become Rotarians, and I have seen what those Rotarians
have achieved, it has become clear to me that India and Rotary
International are part of a symbiotic relationship: Each is
making the other stronger," he said, pointing to the PolioPlus
program as a sign of Rotary’s ongoing success in India and other
polio-endemic countries.
"In a way, some parts of
India still exemplify a developing country, and this gives me
perhaps a different perspective on Rotary's international
service," he said. "I have seen the impact that our simplest
projects can have. I have seen firsthand our work in literacy,
in health, in hunger, in providing safe water -- and I have seen
the difference it makes to each village, each family, and each
individual human life." Banerjee encouraged all Rotarians to
self-reflect and to serve generously.
"Through service, we are able to look
within ourselves to find reserves of generosity, of grace, and
of care and concern, and to seek a deeper meaning to our daily
lives. We discover what it means to help a human being and, in
so doing, become more fully human ourselves," Banerjee said.
By Joseph Derr Rotary International
News -- 23 June 2010
John Kenny
