April, 2006 My Fellow Rotarians - Rotary's Global History Fellowship

District 6440 Histories 2005
2003-04 - President Ronald Hamelberg – Community Service - Sponsored and financially supported
“Children at Risk” program at two middle schools and one elementary school and several literacy
projects – ESL program (3 rd year) for adult parents and grandparents and bilingual library (1 st year) at
Sunny Hill Elementary School; financially underwrote and provided judges for Barrington Area Arts
Council’s Annual Young Writers Project; and provided judges for Annual School District 220 Speech
Tournament (earned District 6440 Award of Excellence in Literacy Projects). Sponsored “Beds for the
Needy” project and 3 rd Annual Spring Kite Fly for area youth. Participated with the two other
Barrington area Rotary Clubs in “Adopt a Highway” program and Barrington’s annual 4 th of July
celebration. Provided financial support for Gateway Arch at new Barrington Public Safety Memorial
Park (with Barrington Rotary Club), Barrington Council on Aging's new offices, New Generations and
Interact Clubs at Barrington High School, Health World Children’s’ Museum’s fashion show,
Barrington Police Department’s DARE Program, and Relay for Life of Barrington. Awarded annual
Service Above Self scholarship to Barrington High School’s 2004 Class Valedictorian. International
Service - Home hosted GSE Team from Finland, and sponsored a member and team captain of the GSE
Team to Australia. Sponsored two, including one successful, candidates for Ambassadorial
Scholarships. Vocational Service - Revival of Job Shadow Day at Barrington High School with several
club members, provided annual scholarship for Harper Community College student, and sponsored a
candidate for District Vocational Scholarship. Club Service - Sponsorship of one of Club’s most
successful and fun filled fundraisers, Allegro 2003, at Sanfillippo Estate, and fellowship events
including dinner/theater party in downtown Chicago, UIC basketball games, wine tasting party and post
holiday (January) party. The club successfully completed its 3-year pledge of $20,000 to the RI Polio
Plus campaign in two years. Club also exceeded the average of $100 per member in giving to The
Rotary Foundation Annual Fund.
Deborah Villers 2004-2005
2005-06 President John. A Meier
Philosophy and Overview for the Year
When I became president of the Barrington Breakfast Rotary Club on July 1, 2005, I established specific
goals and priorities for the Club. Some of the goals were “traditional Rotary”, but many were not. The
following points played an important role in establishing these goals / priorities:
1. Since the 1990s, the number of Rotarians in the United States has declined steadily.
While the number of clubs may have increased, total US membership has shrunk.
2. I was very cautious about Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation. My
experience with RF and RI suggested that these entities viewed themselves as the
focus and power base of Rotary, with the club’s primary role being one of financial
support and cheerleading. I believe strongly that the heart of Rotary is the local club,
not RF or RI, and therefore I did not necessarily agree with every “official” Rotary
idea, process or strategy.
3. During 2004, I developed and analyzed a club survey, which attempted to determine
what was important to our Club membership, and also determine if the Club was
spending enough time on these important issues. In a nutshell, we were
overemphasizing RI, RF and not-for-profit issues (which the members viewed as
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