At the Rotary Club of Barbados 60th Installation of Officers; the new President Robin A M Ford outlined his plans for the new rotary year under the Rotary International Theme ‘serve to change lives’ during a virtual ‘diamond’ ceremony.
He began by welcoming the Governor General of Barbados and our club’s patron Her Excellency Dame Sandra Mason, Governor General of Barbados. He recognised all past District Governors, Our District Governor Sonya, AG Peter, Club Presidents, Honoray Rotarians, Special Guests, Fellow Rotarians, Rotaractors, Partners in Service and Friends of Rotary.
Ford stated that he was eternally humbled and honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead the Rotary Club of Barbados for the next year and expressed thanks to God, his family and club members for their continued support and encouragement.
President Robin spoke of the global challenges as it relates to climate changes, natural disasters including the most recent hurricane Elsa which affected Barbados less than a week prior to this event. He noted that the Rotary Club of Barbados has already been engaged in assisting our community.
He reminded those present that individually we must take small steps to save our planet and noted the composting project by PP Peter was an example of that, reducing our waste output and improving our environment at the same time.
He quoted President Obama “we are the first generation to feel the effect of Climate change and the last Generation who can do something about it”.
In 2020 Rotary International did a survey of their members and 78 percent indicated that Rotary needed to address Climate Change; since then the Board of Trustees added a new area of focus for Rotary – The Environment.
In support of this cause Robin noted that in this Rotary Year, we will focus on making our environment cleaner while seeking to create opportunities to raise funds to create more impact in our community.
With that said he announced that one of the club’s main projects will be the installation of a 5kW photovoltaic system on our club’s building - The Schoolhouse for Special Needs at Brittons Hill.
He revealed that the club has already secured a partner– Solar Watt Systems to install the entire solar PV System. This project has the potential to earn revenue which will be used for the upkeep of the property used for educating our special needs kids.
At that point he acknowledged receipt of a card from a student at the school by displaying it on screen:
Dear Rotarians,
We at the schoolhouse wish to thank you for all that you do to help us! and for providing this beautiful safe property for us to attend school every day.
The new president went on to say “As we continue to build engagement, we will be calling on our Rotarians to work alongside the company to arrange visual and practical educational sessions for the children, and to introduce them to the benefits of Solar technology and clean energy. This is a significant project, and once the necessary approvals are received, we expect to start work immediately with an expected completion date within two months.”
He noted that we have been challenged by our incoming Rotary International President – Shekhar Mehta: “He has asked us as Rotarians to Increase our Impact, Expand our Reach, Enhance Participant Engagement and Increase our ability to adapt and we will do just that.”
Robin informed the audience that to date Rotary has spent US$37M on COVID 19 related projects and expects this figure to increase. He also noted that Rotary has been asked to use its experience with Polio eradication to assist with distribution of Covid 19 vaccines. He indicated that “as a club we stand committed to support that effort and will be ready and willing to assist when called upon.”
President Robin noted that Rotary continues the fight to end Polio and as of 9th June, 2021 only four cases were reported for the year. One in Afghanistan, two in Pakistan and one in Burkina Faso. As a result Rotary will continue to distribute the Polio Vaccine because a halt to our efforts with Polio eradication could result to paralyzing as many as 200,000 children a year.
He explained “Solving real problems takes real commitment and vision. For more than 110 years Rotary’s People of Action have used their passion, energy and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects. From Literacy and Peace, to water and health, we are always working to better our world and we stay committed to the end.”
He then announced the clubs major project “Under the cause of Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene; we will undertake our major project for this year which is the installation of water tanks and refurbishing the supply of potable water at six secondary schools in the North of the island. This project is entitled ‘Sustainable Water and Hygiene Education Solutions for Rural Schools in Barbados – a R COB project in memory of Chuck Howey’.” Chuck was a Rotarian from District 6960 in Florida who maintained perfect attendance for 56 years, he died in December 2020. He left a monetary gift to Rotary for use of water and sanitation projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.
With our contribution from funds raised from our annual Carols by Candlelight event, the assistance of the District 6960 and our District 7030, the club has applied for a global grant from the Rotary Foundation.
He is proud of the achievement of Rotary Club of Barbados. He noted “41% of our current members have been in the club more for more than 20 years and 16% between 10 and 20 years. We are very proud that females now make up 26% of our club.”
He continued “We are also the proud sponsors of two new Early Act programs, one Interact club and two Rotaract clubs. We are extremely pleased about the achievements the Rotaract Clubs of Barbados and UWI. Both clubs have been recognized by Rotary International and our District with Citations.”
He noted “Our club will be embarking on some extremely ambitious plans over the next twelve months. We will seek to provide greater support to the Youth in our community. In this regard, I am pleased to announce we will continue the Youth at Risk Program which was successfully initiated by Director Arlene. This project has the potential to impact the lives of many young children in our community and our Board has decided to continue this program in the year of ‘Serve To Change Lives’. Director PP Stanley will be coordinating this project. “
The new president noted the importance of Digital Literacy, and even more so over the past year. He said “we will undertake a project to educate our school children about the importance of Digital Literacy. The aim is to enhance their knowledge on use of technology and help them maintain a responsible behavior when utilizing the online platforms.”
He also rolled out another new project - the Evening Lecture series. These lectures will be delivered online and will create an opportunity to raise funds for more community projects. Plans are at an advanced stage with three planned for this year and the remaining three to be delivered in the 2nd half of rotary year.
On the plan for membership growth Ford informed the audience - Rotary International encourages us to increase our impact and one of the ways this can be done is by increasing our membership. RI President Shekhar wants every Rotarian to bring in one new member for this year.
He noted “our very own District Governor Sonya has challenged us to grow by 10% and for us this means at least ten new members by June 30, 2022. I believe this is achievable and as such we will work together to achieve this goal and support our District lead by DG Sonya.”
He continued “PDG Lisle initiated the Childhood Obesity program and our DG Sonya has adopted this program hence we will continue from where President Fiona left off by raising more awareness of this disease that affects our children. I have also started discussion with the Presidents of Rotary West and South on how we can work together to address childhood obesity in our community. I will be calling on each of you to help us deliver these programs. “
Presdient Robin's final plea was to support the rotary foundation. He stated “we are the largest club in our district, and I believe we can do more. To this I would like our club – the Rotary Club of Barbados to be recognized as a PHF club. For persons who have not made any contribution to the foundation you can start this month, US$85.00 per month will get you there. I will be reaching out to our members who have not achieved that status as yet, to work with them to achieve this goal. Our contributions towards the foundation go a long way and this year our community will see benefits of those contributions.”
Robin thanked everyone for their support and expressed his excitement about the year ahead noting that he looks forward to serving as the club’s President.
The new President ended with a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt “Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a Gift. That’s why we call it “The Present”. And closed by saying “Fellow Rotarians, as we continue to focus on saving our planet, let us live up to Rotary’s history by fulfilling the goals of today so that tomorrow would not be such a mystery.”
