All the volunteers working to build CNY Rotary would like to thank the members who took the time to attend the recent Town Hall events. The three, one-hour zoom meetings brought up many great questions about what goes into a project like this and how our work is going to translate into action. Here are a few of the common questions we heard and addressed in the meetings:
Why are our districts coming together?
The short answer is due to declining membership numbers. The long answer is that Rotary wants to have districts be of a certain size in order to justify the costs associated with supporting each district. With our three districts just barely at or below that threshold, our leaders chose a proactive solution rather than having Rotary International decide for us.
Will the President of CNY Rotary visit all the clubs like District Governors do?
Rest assured that everyone will get a chance to meet with the President of CNY Rotary. It will be more common that clubs come together for a visit, but we feel that this is a great opportunity for clubs to make new connections and establish new traditions.
CNY Rotary sounds like a really big district. Is that normal?
Broadly speaking, each of our districts currently have about 40 clubs and about 1,000 members. So becoming CNY Rotary with about 115 clubs and about 3,000 members sounds pretty big. Having a district that takes five hours in the car to connect its furthest corners is a new challenge for us, but none of this is new or unique in Rotary. Many districts cover regions far larger, like the entire state of Alaska. Some requiring boat or airplane travel. Many span multiple countries. There are leaders who must be bilingual in order to communicate with all of their members. And we are not talking about districts on the other side of the world either. You can find districts with these added travel and distance challenges right here in North America. CNY Rotary’s leadership team will be built to serve this larger footprint and in-person gatherings will be adapted to be as accommodating as possible. Thankfully we are all adept at virtual meetings, which will make it even easier to stay connected in between our get-togethers!
How do these changes impact my everyday experience in Rotary?
This is a great question! The average member is not likely to notice anything change in their club experience as we transition to CNY Rotary. Clubs will continue to operate autonomously just as they do today.
Club leaders who receive training, support and resources from the district will have new, expanded teams to work with.
There will be many more leadership roles on district committees, providing more members with rewarding opportunities to serve their fellow Rotarians. So, if you want to serve in new ways, it is great news for you!
CNY Rotary’s events like District Conference will attract a much larger crowd, which helps us attract exciting speakers and presenters to inspire us with bigger and better ways to serve.
Speaking of the District Conference, you will get an opportunity to connect with members of the CNY Rotary Steering Committee and hear the latest news at our joint District Conference in Clayton, NY May 5-7, 2023. Get details and register at
www.rotary7150.org!
There are more questions and answers from the Town Halls available on the FAQ’s page at
www.cnyrotary.org.
These three Town Hall meetings brought people up to speed on what work has been done so far, but there is still much more to be done. The Steering Committee will continue to provide updates like these in your district newsletters, post details to their social channels on Facebook and Instagram @cnyrotary, and update their web site with additional information as it becomes available. Please follow along to stay informed and reach out using the contact form at
www.cnyrotary.org any time you can’t find an answer to your question.
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