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President Usha's Notes
26 August 2020
Dear fellows,
In-person meetings
 Our
last in-person meeting at the SEC was a runaway success. After a long time, we
had ‘job talks’ from our very own fellow Rotarians Chris Virgona and Prabhat
Sinha. We had the opportunity to hear first-hand from the people at the coal
face whose businesses have a continuous stream of clients walking in off the
street day after day in these covid-19 times. The talks were on a serious
subject, yet presented beautifully in a light hearted manner, that kept the room
breaking out in laughter. Through these talks, we got a glimpse of myriad
challenges businesses are facing and how creatively and continuously these are
being managed. Our thanks for these interesting talks.
Hybrid Meetings
With our meetings alternating between zoom and in-person, scheduling the guest
speakers has been challenging, where many of them prefer a specific mode of
presentation and some changing their mind altogether. We are thankful to our
Program Manager Janelle Watson for dealing very efficiently with these
challenges in this uncertain climate.
National Youth Science Forum Panel
This Saturday, I had the privilege of joining the
National Youth Science Forum (NYSF)
panels to interview around 50 students. Although it was a long day (from 9am to
5pm), the impeccable organisation by the NYSF Committee made it worthwhile and
time flied. Students were run through three panels with 5 minutes for each, a
total interviewing time of 15 minutes. It was a great pleasure meeting 50
talented and capable students and also working side by side with many of our
District leaders and the NYSF Committee members. We will meet again this coming
Saturday, to complete the remaining interviews virtually for students who are in
Covid19 isolation and were unable to attend last week.
 Raffles
Hurrah! Our raffles are back. We found the way forward last week with our first
‘bonus’ raffle, thanks to PP Peter Manenti. Now the raffle will be conducted
weekly regardless of the meeting being in person or via zoom. Members wishing to
participate should make a
one-time payment for a ticket to all weekly club
raffles (excluding events), even if you are unable to attend a meeting.
Celebration dinner
The
Celebration dinner is coming up soon and the seats are filling fast. With
strict limit on the number attending, members are reminded to
book early to avoid
disappointment. Thanks to all those members who have already booked for the
event. The committee has assured me that it will be a great evening with many
attractions including live music.
August RDU magazine
The
August RDU magazine had a great column by K R Ravindran, Foundation Trustee
Chair titled ‘Emerging Stronger’, which I liked a lot. Here is an excerpt
from this article:
... As of June 4, we have funded 208 disaster response grants for $5.2
million and 159 new global grants at $13.8 million – all in 3 months. We
have leveraged individual Rotarians’ generosity with Foundation funds, and
in many cases other corporate funds, to make projects larger and more
impactful.
We never allowed the pandemic to overpower us. Indeed, history shows that
Rotarians are a curious breed. We are visionaries, an idealistic lot that
dreams big dreams for a better world. At the same time, we are resilient and
are able to withstand challenges that others might succumb to.
We were not idle during the pandemic lockdowns. We raised funds and did
projects just as we would have if there had been no lockdown. We remembered
that it’s the same business that we always do - reaching out to people in
distress - except the methodology by which we did it changed...
The Disadvantaged
This week we will hear from Maria Calibo-Sales on an interesting topic
‘Capability with Conscience’ , for the program for the Disadvantaged.
Yours in Rotary
Usha Garg
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