President's Message - August 16, 2013
It’s no secret that we have a big weekend ahead of us. Lots of work is still being done as we prepare for the largest fund raiser we will have all year. Please be sure to pull your raffle tickets together before Friday’s meeting. Please make sure the ticket stubs are filled out and place them in an envelope with the cash or checks and your name on the outside. We are all responsible to either sell the tickets or buy the tickets so make sure to fill them out if you are opting to buy them.
If you have not signed up for a volunteer position please do so this Friday. We are short around 15 people. Please include your family members if they are available as well. More details to follow at Fridays regular meeting.
Why do we do all of this? Pretty simple, this event provides the money to fund the clubs mission of service above self. If we don’t generate money and use that money to go out in the community/world and help make a difference in peoples lives we would just be a breakfast club. Go to the club web site and view the many projects we have supported over the years and the many projects we have planned for this year.
A few of you have heard the buzz going around about a book called “Toxic Charity- How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (and how to reverse it).” Several of you have told me you read it so I read the book recently and I was very impressed. The basic premise is what we have been saying all year that we are focused on a “Hand UP, not a hand OUT.” I am going to quote the author Robert Lupton as he lays out the Oath for Compassionate Service. You will see that we are going to implement these where we can as we go about using the money we have raised for our mission.
The Oath for Compassionate Service
- Never do for the poor what they have (or could have) the capacity to do for themselves.
- Limit one-way giving to emergency situations.
- Strive to empower the poor through employment, lending, and investing, using grants sparingly to reinforce achievements
- Subordinate self interests to the needs of those being served.
- Listen closely to those you seek to help, especially to what is not being said- unspoken feelings may contain essential clues to effective service.
- Above all, do no harm
This is powerful stuff and its like the old saying “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” We can’t change the world overnight but we can start in our little corner and work our way out. See you Friday.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Dan