June 7, 2000

News From Rotary International

'Change' a hot topic at RI's 91st Convention

While continuity will be cause for celebration at Rotary International's 91st Convention in Buenos Aires next month, change will be very much on the minds of delegates, too. Over the past year, President Carlo Ravizza and other RI leaders have encouraged grassroots discussion of ways Rotary needs to adapt to meet its own and society's needs in the 21st century. That topic will get prominent attention in addresses and workshops at the convention, as well as at the International Institute that precedes it.

President Ravizza has challenged Rotarians to have the "courage to change" what needs changing in Rotary, and to prepare to do so at the Council on Legislation in 2001 in Chicago, Rotary's birthplace. Over the past year, the RI Board has approved a number of decisions designed to make Rotary clubs and districts more effective in their mission. Among them are measures to strengthen districts, creation of a committee to expand Rotary service in Muslim areas, and a large-scale redistricting in Europe so that clubs in Central and Eastern Europe enjoy the advantages of Rotary's structure (see stories, pages 2 and 3).

One of the biggest developments transforming Rotary, like other organizations, is growing use of the Internet (see "Memo from the Secretariat," page 3). The Internet not only expedites communication and helps people in far-flung places experience Rotary's internationality, it makes Rotary known to a whole new audience. Technology's potential is of particular interest to participants in three pre-convention events in Buenos Aires: the Rotaract Pre-convention Meeting, the Youth Exchange Officers' Meeting, and the Alumni Reunion. District Youth Exchange officers, for instance, have been adept at developing Web sites that attract potential Youth Exchangees, a skill they will share at their meeting.

New links among the Web sites of RI and its member clubs and districts have not eliminated the age-old desire for face-to-face communication, however. Rotary founder Paul P. Harris attributed his own world view to the friendships he made and the insights he gained on his global travels. After spending time in Argentina in 1936, he wrote, in one of his Peregrinations, "the thought that we in Rotary are singularly blessed in the opportunity to blaze the trail toward better understanding came to me afresh and with renewed vigor." Rotarians from around the world gathering in Buenos Aires next month will experience anew that enthusiasm for advancing international understanding.