April 28— Four-Way Test Speech Contest

May 6— GSE group from District 1270 of England

May 14—john m Stone memorial Golf Tournamet (Donelson_Hermitage Club)

May 18— District Confer-ence

May 19—2012 Sunset Symphony (Columbia Break-fast Club)

May 26— Bike the Cram (Clarksville Club)

June 5— RYLA

July 14 &15— PRCA Rodeo (Savannah Club)

June 15— Rotarian Classic Golf Tournament (Spring Hill Club)

August 25— Rotary Founda-tion & Member-ship Seminar

Rotary Blast April 2012 News to unite our District UPCOMING

EVENTS

33rd annual Rotary fundraiser features food and fun By SUSAN LEATHERS

Brentwood Home Page

Another Rotary Pancake Breakfast

has come and gone, with the most

recent – and 33rd annual edition –

held Saturday morning at Brentwood

Middle School.

Close to 1,000 people lined up

throughout the morning for break-

fast. But also more than 100 people

gave blood and/or signed on to be-

come organ donors. Clowns enter-

tained the many kids attending and

all were invited to try to dunk one of

several city officials who volunteered

to sit in a dunk tank. A free Shred Day event was also available.

Though final tallies are not complete, club president Michael Hindman reports

that gross proceeds were over $25,000. Proceeds help the many local organiza-

tions supported by the Rotary Club of Brentwood, as well as its scholarships for

local youth.

“I am extremely proud to be part of an organization where

127 business leaders will take a day to flip some pancakes,

entertain some kids and engage the community. Now it’s

time to start planning for the Run for Rotary in October,”

Hindman shared.

Four of the many pancake flippers who

helped Saturday: Karen Bruton, Madonna

Agbermodji, Rod Freeman and John Stokes.

Dr. George Crossley clowns around with his favorite

Rotarian, City Commissioner Betsy Crossley.

Last Sunday, I had breakfast with Kim Kim. We were both at the Music City Sheraton

in Nashville at our Multi-District Presidents- Elect Training Seminar (more about that

later). As I sat down, Kim Kim, who is on track to be your District Governor during Rotary

year 2014-15, was heavily into reading a section from the Hendersonville Star News enti-

tled 2012 Sumner County’s Most Influential. As might be expected, there was Kim Kim’s

picture, under a headline “humanitarian.” The caption cited his work with Rotary and

Shelter Box. But as might be expected of a man who is always humble and self-effacing, he

was focusing on the other names and with excitement told me that of the 30 listed, 9 of them had a connection to

Rotary. “Wow, 9 out of 30,” he said. “That’s Great!” Well, yes it is - great for Kim Kim, great for the other

Sumner County Rotarians and, of course, great for all of us in Rotary, the premier service club whose mem-

bers are leaders!

Now, back to PETS. In a nutshell, it keeps getting better and better. For me, the key to Rotary is the

Club. And the key to a successful club is leadership and that means a prepared Club President who dreams it,

plans it and does it! That Club president needs leadership skills but also needs the practical knowledge of how Ro-

tary works, how it is organized, what forms to fill out when and how we get our international work done via our

Foundation. PETS is designed to give our Presidents-elect (PE’s) the tools to succeed. We had great speakers, in-

cluding Foundation Chair Bill Boyd who put faces and emotions on the work of our Foundation, and Polio Plus

Challenge Chair John Germ who said with our continued support, “we will eradicate Polio.” Just before PETS,

there was training for our 14 Assistant Governors and Coordinators, who then “did the bonding thing” with their

PE’s. It was inspiring, educational and full of fellowship. As our Clubs go, so goes Rotary. Good job, DGE Dan

and team!

Incoming Club Presidents and AG’s are not the only ones for whom we have training. For almost two years now, we

have been holding Rotary Leadership Institute Training (RLI). The course consists of three courses, which you take

consecutively, and is designed to train Rotarians for club leadership positions. Ed Maupin, from the Murfreesboro

Club, has been heading up this training effort which is making a real difference in creating knowledgeable Rotarian

leaders. We will be holding a RLI day in Dickson on June 9. Go to our website (www.rotary6760.org) and sign up

now.

Last Tuesday, I went to McKenzie. One thing about being Governor, you really do get to know Interstate-40. Leave

Nashville on I-40, head west and turn north or south and you’ll find a Rotary Club. In this case it was a north turn,

to Higg’s Restaurant on Highway 22. Why the visit? It was to present the McKenzie club with a rather fancy cer-

tificate from RI in celebration of their 75th Anniversary. They got their Rotary charter in March, 1937. Two other

of our clubs reached that 75th year maker this Rotary Year, Lexington and Union City. This prompts me to ask the

question: Do you know when your club was chartered? Do you have a significant anniversary coming up? I expect,

for example, that the Nashville Club is already thinking about how to celebrate its 100th anniversary. It’s coming

up in less than two years. Have something coming up to celebrate? Let me know. Let your Assistant Governor

know. We’d like to join you in Celebrating Rotary!

And, speaking of Celebrating Rotary, have you signed up for our District Conference? It will be a celebration of

this Rotary Year and we will have fun and fellowship, along with entertainment and energizing! The date? May 18

and 19 at the Cool Springs Marriott. To register, go to www.rotary6760.org and sign up.

Finally, do you know that on our Rotary calendar, April is Magazine Month? I just got this month’s Rotarian

magazine. Muhammad Yunus, father of micro-credit is on the cover. Were you aware he was a Fulbright Scholar

who came from his home in Bangladesh to study at Vanderbilt? And he taught at MTSU in the “boro,” 69-71. He

was not an Ambassadorial Scholar, but Fulbright is OK. Got me thinking about the power of exchanges to

change lives and change the world! Have a great April. Sign up for RLI and our Conference. YIRS, Dick

From the Governor…

CLUB SPOTLIGHT

Swimming to beat Polio

The Rotary Club of Green Hills doesn't mind getting

wet for a good cause. When the Rotary Club of Gran-

tham, England, advertised a worldwide Rotary swim

marathon to defeat polio, Green Hills was

the first club in the United States to dive in. The goal

was to raise money for polio eradication, to set a

Guiness World Record, and to have fun. Each partici-

pating club had to have at least 25 people swimming 100 meters nonstop and independent

verifiers to qualify for the record. All swimming occurred during 12:00 noon GMT, or 6 a.m.

Nashville time.

The event was a success! Not only did Green Hills meet

the requirements with 27 swimmers in Nashville (some

from other Rotary clubs), we also had an auxiliary team of

25 swimmers in Knoxville and raised more than $1,000 to

eliminate polio. Worldwide, 5244 swimmers took part and

more than $90,000 for polio eradication was raised.

Rotary in Service to Special Kids Andrew Oppman

Apr 03, 2012

Our Rotary Club helped stage the "Run for the Kids" on March 31 at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic to benefit the Special Kids organization. Special Kids, located in Murfreesboro, has provided therapeutic rehabilitation and professional nurs-ing services to children with special needs since 1998 and has served over 2,200 families in 11 middle Tennessee counties. Here are some pho-tos from your club in action at this event!

Celebrating new members

This year’s District Conference in-cludes a special event for new Ro-tarians. Anyone who joined Rotary after July 1, 2011, is invited to a New Member Celebration. It will be held on Saturday, May 19 from 2:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs.

This will be an excellent oppor-tunity for new Rotarians to celebrate their first year, learn more about Ro-tary and meet one-on-one with Ro-tary leaders like District Governor Dick Bowers. Plus, there will be a scavenger hunt, games and prizes!

Registration is free for the event. First-year Rotarians should click on http://dc2012.rotary6760.org to register and answer “yes” to the question about whether they joined Rotary after July 1, 2011

This New Member Celebration is part of the 2012 District Confer-ence. Neophyte Rotarians are invited to join the conference for lunch be-fore the Celebration, dinner after-wards or any part of the weekend-long events.

Meeting Changes

The Rotary Club of Hender-sonville is temporarily “homeless” as their meeting place is under construction. If you are in the area and think-ing of attending their 7:30am meeting, be sure to contact President Eric Jackson or sub-scribe to their weekly news-letter to keep up with the weekly meeting location.

If you are not receiving The Rotary Gazette, and would like to click here (Hendersonville newsletter).

Gain a better under-

standing of Rotary

and hone your lead-

ership skills!

The Rotary Leader-

ship Institute (Parts

I, II & III) will soon

be held in D6760.

Registration is now open for Satur-

day, June 9, 2012.

For additional information, please contact

Ed Maupin @ 615-867-3273 or

maupinedward@bellsouth.net

Email all club press releases, events, and great project information to

news@rotary6760.org. We want to spotlight clubs or outstanding members every

month; PLEASE share with us!

Visit the District website at rotary6760.org for district information, club meetings,

directories, and MUCH MORE!

Rotary announces partnerships with food bank network and youth service group By Ryan Hyland

Rotary International

Two new service partnerships announced this month by Rotary International will support humanitarian efforts by clubs and dis-

tricts.

RI will combine resources with the Global FoodBanking Network to alleviate hunger worldwide. And

Rotary and YSA (Youth Service America) will work together to encourage young people to participate

in service projects in their communities.

Working with the Global FoodBanking Network, Rotary clubs and districts will be able to volunteer at

food banks and help create new ones, organize food collection drives, sponsor trucks for food delivery

and distribution, raise awareness of hunger, and distribute food to hungry children through the Back-

Pack and other school food programs.

“Rotarians have served selflessly in the communities where we are

developing and expanding food banks,” says Jeffery D. Klein, CEO of the Global FoodBanking Net-

work. “We want to connect Rotary clubs and districts to service projects and food distribution in the

more than 20 countries where we are currently engaged in food banking activity, and inspire them

Top: The Global FoodBanking Network works with food banks in 19 countries to collect goods that would other-

wise go to waste from sources such as stores, manufacturers, restaurants, and farms, and distribute them

through local pantries, soup kitchens, hospices, and school programs. Bottom: Craig Nemitz (left), director of

field services for The Global FoodBanking Network and a member of the Rotary Club of Channahon-Minooka,

Illinois, USA, presents a banner to Rotarian Hennie de Bruin, a strong supporter of FoodBank South Africa in

Johannesburg. Photos courtesy of Global FoodBanking Network