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TEMPE RIO SALADO ROTARY CLUB

Minutes for the Meeting of July 21, 2011

PRESENT: Ben, Bobbi, Don, Dona, Geoff, Jack, Kent, Larry, Pat, Tim

GUESTS: Raul Chavez (North Tempe Boys & Girls Club), Chris LaBarge (District 5510 Interact

Chair)

IMPORTANT DATES

Saturday, July 30, 6:45 AM sharp, Target store at Longmore & Southern in Mesa: Boys & Girls

Club Shopping Spree. Please arrive no later than 6:45 am so that shoppers and volunteers can

be paired up. Should be finished around 9:00 AM. Volunteers must provide their first and last

name, birth month and year to Raul Chavez at raulc@clubzona.org as soon as possible.

All-Club Rotary Meeting, Tuesday, August 2, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Monti’s at 100 South Mill

Avenue, Tempe. Speaker will be Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu

Thursday, July 28, at our regular meeting the membership will vote on approving Raul Chavez

as a member of our club. Everybody come on down and make Raul feel welcome!

HIGHLIGHTS:

Ben rang the bell to bring the meeting to order because Jake…I mean, Jack, wasn’t

paying attention.

Our Satellite Club is holding a joint service project with Tempe Rotary Club’s Satellite

Club on the afternoon of July 28. The service project will be for people who are AIDS

victims overseas. Rock on!

Kent tried to get the meeting focused since Jack had already lost control.

Thanks to Facebook and Skype, the Rotary Club of Bentley Cirtin, District 9465 in

Western Australia, is now our Sister Club. They were able to provide us with an

agreement template that we can use for our existing and future Sister Clubs.

Don Kelley is scheduled for knee replacement surgery on Tuesday, July 26. Please keep

Don and Norma in your thoughts and prayers.

Tim will put together a paint and clean project for us in the Fall.

…and last, but certainly not least, Ben is starting up a new company. It will merge

YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook into one super site. The company will be called …wait

for it…, “You Twit Face!”

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FEATURED SPEAKER: Chris LaBarge, District 5510 Interact Chair on “Six Steps to Open An

Interact Club” and Maintaining and Supporting Your Interact Club”

With her usual enthusiasm, Chris spoke about the Interact Club we are co-sponsoring

with Phoenix El Puente Rotary at Horizon High School. Jake Barney will be the Interact

leader.

Details of her presentation are appended to the minutes.

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Interact Chair Chris LaBarge, celabarge@hotmail.com, c 480-229-0150 h 480-844-8714

SIX STEPS TO OPEN AN INTERACT CLUB ~ Check-Off Sheet for Rotary Club

1. Establish School’s permission & Rotary Club support to open an Interact Club.

___ Study Interact Club requirements in the Interact Handbook at www.rotary.org and speak with

other Rotarians, Interactors or District Interact Chair.

___ Your Rotary Club board should approve sponsorship of an Interact Club.

___ Decide on school-based or community-based Interact Club.

___ Check with District Interact Chair to see if the school you want does not already have an Interact

Club or is already being worked by another Rotary Club.

___ If school-based, Rotarian(s) and/or District Interact Chair should meet with school officials to

explain Interact program or if you have a student leader, he/she can talk with the school to get

their written permission to open an Interact Club.

___ A school-based Interact Club must have a faculty adviser.

___ If community-based, Boys and Girls Clubs are very good places for Interact.

___ An Interact Club may be sponsored by more than one Rotary Club with written approval from

District Governor. See pg 3 of Interact Handbook for conditions.

2. Identify potential Interactors.

___ Having just one enthusiastic student who’s interested in opening an Interact Club is the key to a

great start!! Make sure he gets a copy of the Interact Handbook.

___ If you don’t have a student, then ask the school or a faculty adviser for help in finding one or

more student leaders who they think would like to help you open an Interact Club. The age for

Interactors is 12 through 18.

3. Invite prospective students and Dist. Inter. Chair to informational meeting.

___ Whether you have a student leader or not, an informational meeting must be held at the school.

The idea is to get as many students as possible interested in joining.

___ Get the student leader or school to advertise for you (date, time, & meeting place).

___ Invite Rotary Club president and any interested Rotarians, school faculty adviser, District

Interact Chair, and Interactors from nearby clubs.

___ At the meeting the District Interact Chair or a Rotarian should do the following:

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___ Pass around to attendees a sheet for names, emails, and phone numbers.

(Interact student should use this to invite students to first organizational meeting, which

is Step 4).

___ Welcome students & present a short history of Rotary.

___ What is Interact? What should the goals be of this new Interact Club?

___ Highlight fundraising, service projects, and Interact’s internationality.

___ Have Interact brochures available & maybe show Interact DVD.

___ Talk about RYLA, RYE, Rotaract & Ambassadorial Scholarship.

___ Talk about District Council, FLC & PWR.

___ Give Interact Faculty Adviser Guide & Rotarian mag. to faculty adviser.

___ At this point the student leader, if one is available, may do the following:

___ Solicit ideas for club projects with these prospective members.

___ Take a vote to confirm there’s enough interest to start an Interact Club.

(15 members to start is recommended by RI but not mandated.)

___ Set a date for the first organizational meeting.

4. Hold first organizational meeting.

___ The sponsoring Rotary Club’s Interact adviser should be present to help with this.

At the meeting:

___ Hold elections for president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and other members of

the Interact Club board. Exception: If a student approached you from the beginning to

sponsor the opening of his/her Interact Club, then that student is automatically

president of the club.

___ Develop a membership plan to ensure the club is well-balanced with male and female

members, as well as students from each grade level.

___ Discuss and establish annual club dues. (Dues are not necessary.)

___ Determine where and when club meetings will be held. (Clubs must meet at least twice

a month. Faculty adviser must be present but Rotary Club’s Interact adviser need not be

present.)

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___ Determine where and when Interact Club board meetings will be held. (Board must

meet once a month and the Rotary Club’s Interact adviser must be present, along with

the faculty adviser.)

___ Begin planning for service activities and fundraising events.

___ Familiarize club members with the constitutional documents attached:

___ Standard Interact Club Constitution (3 pages). Fill in blanks and kids vote to pass

(subject to Rotary Club approval). Interact Club secretary keeps in Interact Club

binder.

___ Standard Interact Club By-Laws (2 pages). Fill in blanks and kids vote to pass

(subject to Rotary Club approval). Interact Club secretary keeps in Interact Club

binder.

5. Complete the paperwork to officially establish your Interact Club.

___ Sponsoring Rotary Club feels their Interact Club has a strong membership base.

___ Sponsoring Rotary Club’s Interact adviser works with kids to complete the attached Interact Club

Certification Form (not Interact Officer Data Form) by:

___ Obtaining signatures from Interact Club president, Rotary Club president (and co-

sponsoring presidents, if any), and District Governor.

___ Making photocopies of the Interact Club Certification Form for Interact Club and Rotary

Club.

___ Sending original Interact Club Certification Form to Rotary International, One Rotary

Center, 1560 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201-3698

___ Upon receipt of the new Interact Club’s Certificate of Organization from RI, which takes two to

four weeks, Rotary Club’s Interact adviser must:.

___ Send copy of Certificate of Organization to District Interact Chair:

Chris LaBarge, 2332 E. Grandview Circle, Mesa, AZ 85213

6. Plan an inaugural ceremony.

This may be hard to accomplish with the way people’s schedules are these days. But if you can,

it’s a great way to celebrate with the Interactors.

___ Create an inauguration ceremony. (You could use your Rotary Club’s.)

At the ceremony:

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___ Briefly explain Rotary and The Four-Way Test.

___ Describe how the new Interactors are part of the Rotary family.

___ Review the history of Interact and how the new club was formed.

___ Induct members individually and announce board members and officers.

___ Include school- or community-related themes, mottoes, and traditions.

___ Present each member with an Interact pin.

___ Take photos to commemorate the event.

MAINTAINING AND SUPPORTING YOUR INTERACT CLUB

Sponsoring an Interact Club has some incredible benefits to it like being able to help

teens with service projects and fundraisers; and they can help you with yours. But

it’s also like planting a garden. If you don’t water it or remove the weeds, the garden will

die. Take care of your Interact Club by reading and acting on the following requirements

below:

1. The role of the Rotary Club’s Interact adviser.

The Rotarian adviser plays a major role in supporting an Interact Club. He/she:

Makes sure his/her Rotary Club understands and follows the district’s youth-protection policy when working with all students.

Coordinates any risk-management plan with the school administration in a school-based club.

With his/her Rotary Club assesses any Interact-related liability issues and seeks appropriate insurance coverage.

Must attend the monthly board meeting of school-based Interact Clubs.

Should occasionally attend a routine Interact Club meeting.

Must attend all meetings, including board meetings, of community-based Interact Clubs, such as those held at Boys and Girls Clubs.

Provides counsel to Interactors as they plan service projects or fundraisers.

Acts as a liaison between the Rotary Club and the Interactors and between the Rotary Club and the faculty adviser for school-based clubs.

Should befriend and check with faculty adviser on occasion. Is faculty adviser doing a good job as described on page 14 of the Interact Handbook, 2007 edition? What can Rotary do to help?

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Oversees Interact Club’s elections each year and reports the names and addresses of new officers to the District Interact Chair.

Introduces Interactors to Rotary’s youth programs: RYLA, Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotaract and Ambassadorial Scholar.

Stays in touch with graduating Interactors and helps them stay involved with Rotaract and eventually Rotary.

2. Annual meeting between Rotary Club and Interact Club.

At the beginning of every school year, the sponsoring Rotary Club’s Interact subcommittee

should contact its Interact Club and host an annual meeting for all Interact Club members, the

Rotary Club president and all interested members of the Rotary Club. During the meeting, the

following topics should be discussed:

Establish service goals

Preparing meeting agendas

Interact Club procedures

Projects completed during the previous year

Ongoing projects

Encouraging good attendance at club meetings

Membership development strategies

Publicizing service projects to RI and/or local newspaper

3. Rotary Clubs are encouraged to create a lasting bond with Interact Clubs in these ways:

Perhaps provide an Interact Club banner for your new club.

Maybe buy Interact t-shirts for the charter members of the Interact Club.

Invite Interactors to Rotary Club meetings to report on their activities. An excellent time to do this is during fall break or spring break.

Send one or more Interact students to RYLA.

Sponsor one or more Interactors to Interact 5510’s Fall Leadership Conference (Oct.) and to Interact Presidents’ Winter Retreat (Feb.).

Think “Interact student” when you think exchange student.

Create an annual joint Rotary and Interact service project and participate in World Interact Week (The week of November 5).

Apply for a District Simplified Grant and use it for your Interact’s service project.

Show Interactors how to produce a club newsletter and Web site.

Help Interact Club develop strategies for recruiting & retaining members.

Establish recognition program to acknowledge Interactors’ achievements.

Publicize Interactors’ accomplishments to community & Rotary world.

Inform Interactors of other Rotary International or Rotary Foundation programs available. (RYLA, RYE, Rotaract, Ambassadorial Scholar.)

Ask Interact Club officers to meet with the District Governor during the governor’s official Rotary Club visit.

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Invite Interactors to District Conference to showcase club activities and to network with Rotarians.

Invite your Interact Club’s faculty adviser to one or more of your Rotary Club’s meetings.

Keep in touch with your faculty adviser.

Say thank you to your faculty adviser by presenting a gift card and certificate at one of your club’s meetings.

Statement of Conduct for Working with Youth: Rotary International strives to create and maintain a

safe environment for all youth who participate in Rotary activities. To the best of their ability, Rotarians,

Rotarians’ spouses and partners, and other volunteers must safeguard the children and young people

they come into contact with and protect them from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Recommendations:

Invite our District Youth Protection Officer to come to your club and talk about the latest RI requirements for protecting all youth.

Rotary Club’s Interact adviser, because he/she will be working with youth, should apply for a District 5510 background check.