Our friends at the Rotary Club of San Fransisco Chinatown are a joy to partner with. They are as dedicated to serving their local community as they are to great work abroad. They work every week at a local food pantry, they support a massive water project in Mexico, and they invest in literacy programs in Guatemala. They do clean-up projects, Lupus and Alzheimer’s walks, and just hosted their first Mahjong/Texas Hold ‘Em social.
When the pandemic hit these People Of Action were on the streets, gloved and masked, handing out food.
When hate crimes spiked against Asian-Americans they immediately partnered with local advocacy groups to distribute personal safety alarms and create rapid response networks.Â
And they have fun doing it!Â
Pictured above on March 4, 2020, just days before we all learned the word “coronavirus”, Past President Reagan Lee stands in front of Chinatown’s Five-Way Test. It is as fun and creative as they are. At every meeting, in addition to the Rotary Four-Way Test, they ask themselves:
- Is it FUN?
- Will there be FOOD?
- Is it FREE?
- Will anyone get hurt?
- Will we get caught?Â
The Rotary Club of Eugene Metropolitan answers the Four-Way Test in the affirmative: It IS the truth. It WILL be fair to all concerned. It WILL build goodwill and better friendships. It WILL be beneficial to all concerned. It’s a beautiful affirmation of what motivates us.Â
We also ask ourselves, Will it be fun? And Who is Rotary? We answer Yes and WE are Rotary.
Every club is unique! What questions define your club? What answers celebrate who you are and what you do? We can learn so much from each other.Â
Share your ideas and insights with your fellow 5110-ers, (and beyond!), by telling us your stories. Click here to start posting yours.
Feature image description: a group of Chinatown Rotarians smiles for the camera, gloved and masked, in front of food bags they’ve packed for distribution during quarantine at the nonprofit Donaldina Cameron House in San Fransisco.Â
2 Responses
Great idea! Wish you had shared this awesome concept last year when I was president so I could have stolen your idea to use in my year! Hey, isn’t that what Rotary is all about? We share our club ideas so other clubs don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Yes, the Rotary wheel. When I get a chance I want to share some of what we did last year in our centennial year. Since the Rotary Club of Roseburg was the first club in our District 5110, the many clubs that will celebrate 100 years hereafter can either copy what we did, or tweak it however they wish.
PS… The Rotary Clubs of Coos Bay and North Bend are the second and third Rotary Clubs of District 5110, having started only one and two months after our club in 1922, so they probably have great ideas to share too.
With our District 5110’s new user friendly website we can learn a lot from each other’s clubs.
Thank you District Governor Aimee for inviting all our Rotary Clubs to be closer connected with you, our District leaders, and with every Rotarian throughout out our district. Great communications vehicle.
Past Presidents can always make suggestions, right? 🙂
We would love to hear more about your centennial celebration! Let me know if I can help you post a story so everyone in the district can read about your success.
And yes, kudos to Madam Governor Aimee for celebrating community and friendship and helping bring us all together <3