Many changes are happening in Rotary as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. The other day one of our Members attended his first District 1120 Council Meeting by Zoom. Here is his account.
"After 20 years in Rotary I decided to take the plunge and attend my first District 1120 Council Meeting.
This would be an an opportunity, I thought, to thank District on the astonishing speed with which our Club's application for a grant to help feed 400 children severely impacted by Covid-19 was handled. We'd gone from application to positive response in less than 48 hours; together with other funds from our Club this meant that we were able to donate a total of £3,250 to the Prince of Wales Youth Club, enabling them to provide the lunch packs to the youngsters - some of whom live in the most deprived parts of our City.
The Zoom meeting turned out to be well organised, supported and structured ... Zoom, it seems, provides a very effective meeting control functionality. Many interesting examples of "Rotary in Action" across the District were shared among participants - together with opportunities to develop International virtual links with contact clubs and speakers from all around the world. Visits to other clubs are so easy now ... all from the comfort of our own homes! Zoom is seen by many clubs to be a game changer, and thus it may be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat. We can now add new things to those that we already do well!
I've taken many messages from the meeting back to own Club, which is only a year or so from celebrating 100 years since its Charter in 1922. This makes me think there's "renewed" life in the old dog yet - change is good, there's always a better way ... and so on.
Thank you District ... my virtual "visit" was well worth pressing the buttons ... and I didn't have to drive to Maidstone either. Carry on the great work!"
With thanks to Rotarian Bob Anderson for this article.
Picture: Video conferencing! Image from Alexandra_Koch on Pixabay.
