What Are We In Power For?
By
Dennis Valdes
Somewhere in this issue of Pagkakaisa is our club’s final Club Achievements
Report, which was submitted to the Governor last week. Take a look through it – it is
a chronicle of everything that has happened this year.
There’s a lot in that report, but if I
had to distill it all down to one achievement – the one I’m most proud of –
that would be our inducting 27 new members (including Balikbayan members, but according to
the Governor’s own counting rules, they do count).
The additional 27 grew our club from 45 to
today’s 71, a growth of 60%! That is a significant change in our club’s culture,
dynamics – virtually everything there is about RCMA is different. All the members,
both old and new, have to adjust to these changes. It is not easy and it is very clear
that this will be our focus for the remainder of this RY and will be PE Paul’s focus
for next year as well.
Fellowships are going to be a key part of
this bonding exercise. I feel that we cannot really expect members to get socially
involved until they feel part of the RCMA team. Of course, we will continue with our
social projects and try to increase these projects – but to get arms and legs to help
on these projects, we cannot just assign them to new members who are not aware of what
being an RCMA’er is really all about.
Last Wednesday night, we had a New Member
Fellowship Night and Orientation at my place. The highlight of the evening was really the
failed "Calcutta." A Calcutta, to the non-gamblers, is a betting scheme wherein
punters place bets on the most likely outcome – in this case, how many Baby Rotarians
would actually show up by 9 P.M.
Given the on-the-spot nature of the dinner
– no e-group email, no group text messages, no faxes from Cherry – the bets were
forecasting a low turnout. Forty bets were placed between the numbers 8 and 13.
Incredibly, from the last bet at 8:15, when 7 Baby Rotarians were present, no one else
arrived. Thus, the entire P4,000 pot had to be returned to all.
Nevertheless, the small dinner was a good
bonding occasion to the few that arrived. And I believe that a lot of our future
fellowships can be smaller – no problem, since this way more bonding can take place.
We’re also planning more golf outings and other ways for us to get to know each
other.
Tomorrow, we have a Cigar Night at the New
World Hotel, thanks to Cigar Night "founder" Rtn. Tony Yap and Baby Rotarian
Atab Rivera. Here’s our chance for all of us to show off our Paul Harris
"Torch" lighters! Rtn. Atab says the damage is P500 net per person – which
includes pica-pica and a Cuban cigar and at least one glass of wine. Sounds like a great
deal so see you all there!
Before all the new members feel that all we
do is socialize, let me report that we just completed our 8th Medical Mission
for the RY. This one was completely handled by our Rotaract Club together with their
sister Rotaract Club in Baguio. Of course, we funded the medicines, transport and other
expenses. Baby Rtn. George Lagos also added to the value of the Mission by organizing an
Old Clothes Drive, which resulted in around 10 sacks of clothes which the two Rotaract
Clubs will be distributing in Benguet. Congratulations to our Rotaract Club and to Baby
Rtn. George.
Of course, one last announcement – I
plug again our visit to our sister club, RC Tsuen Wan in Hong Kong this coming May 19-21.
We have so far a group of 8 RCMA’ers and are hoping to complete one table of 10 for
the trip. Rtn. George Juico has very nicely put together a $320 tour package (hotel,
airfare on PAL, transfers and breakfast outside the hotel). This is a very good
deal so I hope everyone gives it another thought while you all enjoy your breakfasts. |
