Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Local Club Needs Improving

Gurdon's Rotary Club needs to improve, according to District Governor Bill Shepard.

He said Gurdon's club is a viable one, but needs more members.

The theme for this year's Rotary International is  "Create Awareness, Take Action". Each year the new president selects a theme for all clubs for the coming year. This is the one picked by new president Frank Devlyn of Mexico.

Rotary, he told the club members, is the oldest civic club in the nation and was founded 95 years ago, with Gurdon's club being formed 73 years ago.

Rotary began in 1905 in Chicago with a group of businessmen meeting regularly at different offices on a rotating basis. One of the original founders was Paul Harris, and, today, it's an honor for any Rotarian to be a Paul Harris Fellow.

The original symbol was a wagon wheel with spokes. This was changed 24 years ago to the current cog with six spokes and a key slot.

Devlyn, Shepard said, told him to fill three positions within the district. The first was an Internet communications officer.

This was done with an Ashdown member, who has developed a website for the organization.

Anyone interested can log on at www.rotary.o.org and get information on what the clubs in the district are doing. There is also a spot on the site where other clubs can download pictures and information, while also being able to access the Rotary International site.

The second position has been filled with a Conway member, whose job it is to be district coordinator, working on memberships and extensions.

Membership in the organization has been on the decline, Shepard said, and the president is concerned about it.

To help turn this around, Jane Lucas, a former Rotary District Governor, has been named to head the membership development task force.

Shepard pointed out August is membership and extension month and challenged the Gurdon group to increase its membership. In fact, all clubs have been issued this challenge.

Shepard suggested the members invite others to the meetings, talk with former members and get them to join again, then put people on working committees to make the club more active in the community.

He said the club has done some good things in Gurdon, including having a coat drive, a hamburger dinner and auction for the band, hosting the Forest Festival pancake breakfast, an academic banquet and Christmas food drive.

Members, he said, could do volunteer work around the city, helping clean up areas or landscaping the school grounds.

Rotary, Shepard said, needs to partner with other clubs and organizations more. It did for its Polio Plus campaign, as one of Rotary International's goals is to wipe out polio worldwide.

Rotary International teamed with the United Nation's Children's Fund, the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control, after raising $378 million to provide polio immunization in third world countries.

The job, he said, still isn't done as there are some areas where access if difficult.

This, though, doesn't matter, Shepard told the club, as Rotary International has already raised another $20 million to continue the fight.

A celebration will be held on Dec. 31, 2000 to either celebrate the eradication of polio, or the fewest cases of the disease ever reported, he said.

To help raise money for the Rotary Foundation Fund, Shepard told the members to give $5 for a chance on a grandfather clock. This clock stands seven-feet tall.

The drawing will be held at the District Conference May 4-5, at the Majestic Hotel in Hot Springs.

"You have the power to change the community," Shepard said.