April and May bring to RLI several virtual events lead the way to a new Rotary year that will inspire all. In particular inspiration can be found in initiating and ultimately completing the RLI journey. It's clear that virtual RLI has provided a unique experience for training during the worldwide pandemic. But, as the world opens up and clubs, districts and, yes, RLI return to in-person events, online training will continue as an option for all Rotarians. 
 

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Each of our RLI areas will be having informational meetings using Zoom. In this article will be links to the recordings from those meetings.

Chesapeake Area (Districts 7600-7610)

 

 

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	RLI International March 2020 The RLI is a multi-district, grassroots leadership development program of member districts organized into regional divisions throughout the world. It was recommended by the R.I. Board of Directors and strongly endorsed by the Council on Legislation at three of their triennial meetings. RLI conducts a series of quality leadership development courses for potential club officers and other club members, including those who have recently joined a Rotary Club. The courses emphasize both leadership skills and knowledge of Rotary around the world. All course sessions are completely interactive. The 81 RLI Regional Divisions believe that leadership education has a positive impact on membership retention by creating enthusiasm and furthering engagement for Rotary.   RLI EXTENDS SINCERE CONDOLENCES TO MICHAEL AND CLAIRE RABASCA & FAMILY We mourn the death of Michael Bergamasco in a tragic accident in New Jersey USA. He was struck by a pickup truck while crossing a street. Michael was the son-in-law of RLI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Michael Rabasca and his wife, Claire. Michael, a surveyor, was the husband of Michael and Claire's daughter Nancy and the father of two daughters, Francesca and Arianna. Linett to Retire on July 1 Long time Founder and International Chair of RLI, David Linett, has decided to retire from that position on July 1. Linett founded what was later called RLI as he concluded his term as a district governor in New Jersey, USA in 1992. He served as a Rotary International Director during 2004-6 and in many Rotary leadership positions for many years. During his terms of office, he emphasized the expansion of RLI and was personally involved in bringing into RLI many new member districts and divisions. He expects to continue some RLI expansion efforts after his "retirement" (except that there are not too many expansion prospects anymore because RLI has grown so large around the world.) McGovern to succeed Chair Linett on July 1. RLI is fortunate to have Past International Director and vice-chair of the Board, as well as Past Trustee and vice-chair of the trustees as its incoming International Chair. Mike is currently well known around the world, not the least as the current Chair of the Polio Committee of R.I. A more complete biography will appear in a future issue of the RLI eBulletin. Some years ago, he served as the Chair of the RLI Northeast America Division for two years before being elected to the RLI Board. RLI WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE UPCOMING ROTARY CONVENTION Because Rotary International (for whatever its reason) failed to provide RLI with an exhibit booth at the Honolulu Convention, RLI has determined not to participate in the convention. RLI has had an exhibit booth in the Houses of Friendship for MANY OF ITS 27 YEARS. This year Rotary International sent RLI an acknowledgement of receipt of the required application that stated that RLI would be assigned a booth in the first group of assigned organizations. RLI has been assigned exhibit space in each House of Friendship for the past 20 plus years. Because an exhibit booth is a key part of the RLI participation in a convention, the planned Honolulu RLI Breakfast was also terminated. RLI H0PES TO OPERATE A CONVENTION EXHIBIT BOOTH at the 2021 convention in TAIWAN together with sponsoring a Convention Breakfast. The Orlando USA Curriculum/Best Practices Meeting a Great Success RLI leaders from North America and other places joined together during this past January in Orlando, Florida, USA to discuss possible revisions in the Recommended RLI Curriculum and division practices and procedures. Orlando has long been a site of such meetings and the results of such meetings have improved the practices and programs of RLI in many places of the world. Unfortunately, the Chair of the Orlando meeting, PDG Tim Schuler, was unable to personally participate at the actual event because of a surgery change of schedule but was ably assisted by Brenda Wendt of the Sunshine Division. PDG and RLI International Vice-Chair, Knut Johnsen assisted in the success of the event. Four other RLI International Officers also participated, including International Chair Linett, International Executive Director Michael Rabasca, International RLI Vice-Chair, Frank Wargo and International Communications Director, Paul Muczynski. It should be noted that the R.I. International Assembly will be holding its meeting next January in Orlando and some participants in that meeting may be also involved in the RLI event there after that Assembly. As Reported Previously, RLI has Begun to Hold Curriculum/Best Practices Meetings Around the World. To provide better access to Curriculum/Best Practices meetings for RLI leaders around the world, RLI has begun a series of such meetings outside of Orlando. Recent successful meetings have already been held in Mumbai, India; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Future such meetings are planned for Southeast Asia (at Indonesia) in 2020 and in the Scandinavian Region (at Denmark) during 2021. Previous meetings have proved very successful in attracting RLI leaders in those regions. The meetings have fostered a lively exchange of ideas, have promoted enthusiasm for RLI courses in those regions as well as great suggestions for the progress of those RLI Regions. RLI intends to increase these opportunities for Division and District leaders to improve the promotion and content of those events. Those Divisions that wish to develop these events in the future, should communicate with Chair Linett at ginlin@aol.com . A Look at Branding!! Rotary International has Instituted a Program of Branding Compliance. After many years of large numbers of Rotary organizations that were not technically part of the Rotary International Corporation, but used the Rotary name, the R.I. Board adopted a program to identify those such Rotary organizations. Such an effort is apparently designed to prevent successful claims/liabilities against the Rotary International corporation for any indebtedness or other liability of non-R.I. corporations/organizations that use the Rotary name, etc. For the Rotary Leadership Institute that has used that name for 20 plus years, it is a matter of amending its name. The most obvious solution seems to use RLI instead of spelling out that name. RLI has appointed a special committee to work on compliance. It is headed by PDG Bo Porter of Alabama, USA. When alerted to the R.I. project, Chair Linett and Vice-Chair Knut Johnsen held a telephone conference call with R.I. representatives. At the Orlando meeting, part of the program was devoted to compliance with the R.I. requirements. For now, we call on all our committees/entities, etc. to use the name RLI. Most of the Rotary world already uses RLI instead of spelling out the original name. Clubs can simply continue to use Rotary Club of .................. or District #_______, etc. The committee led by Bo Porter will be available for advice on compliance. The International RLI is in process of reviewing its documents to make the necessary changes to it documents. It will certainly take time for changing so many documents, etc., but is will eventually be valuable for us as well as Rotary International. (Note that our organization was approved by the R.I. Board of Directors in 2002.) AROUND THE RLI WORLD We plan to add some items on divisions, etc. activities for the next issue of the ebulletin in mid- April. Please send your items for the next issue by April 10 to Dave Linett at ginlin@aol.com. We already do have some information re: Mongolia, Ukraine/Belarus, Israel and central Europe. Also, in preparation for drafting the annual report we ask divisions to send pictures of their events to Knut Johnsen at knutjhonsen@att.net and Paul Muczynski at pmuczynski@epix.net.   HELP ROTARY IMPROVE RETENTION RATES - SEND ALL NEW ROTARY CLUB MEMBERS TO A RLI COURSE DURING THEIR FIRST YEAR OF MEMBERSHIP.

 

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RLI Winter Annual Business Meeting
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
Kannapolis, NC
January 11, 2020

MId-Atlantic RLI held its Annual Business Meeting at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Kannapolis, NC, January 11, 2020.

Chairman Leigh Hudson called the Annual meeting to oder: “Pursuant of Article 1, Section 1, of the ByLaws of Mid-Atlantic RLI. Minutes from the January 12, 2019 were approved with one correction.

Chairman Leigh recognized the following:

Mid-Atlantic RLI Board: Chair: PDG Leigh Hudson (2017-2020), Vice-Chair (Chair-Elect) PDG Lorraine Angelino (2019-2022), Secretary: PP Ed Shearin (2018-2021), PDG Sandra Duckworth (2017-2020), PP Georgia Oakes (2018-2021), PDG Rod Funderburk (2019-2022),Treasurer: Barbara Dresser (Ex-Officio), Immediate Past Chair: PDG Michael Ellington (Ex-Officio), Chairman Emeritus: PDG Bevin Wall (Ex-Officio) and Events Chair: PP Bob Stinson (Ex-Officio).

Committee Chairs: Events and Promotions, Bob Stinson; Faculty and Training, Marcia Scheideman, and Finance Committee, Lorraine Angelino.

Regional Coordinators: South Carolina, Rod Funderburk, North Carolina East Region, Dr. Tim Beck, North Carolina West (TBD), Chesapeake Region, Roger Harrell, and Mountain-Valley Region, David Cavender.

Chairman Leigh introduced Karen Shore, Training Coordinator for Carolina PETS and Cookie Billings, General Chair for Carolina PETS. They are Faculty Facilitators and look forward to developing a closer relationship with the Mid-Atlantic RLI and Carolina PETS going forward.

 

 

Roll call was conducted with 10 of the 14 voting members (District Chairs) present therefore Chairman Leigh declared that a forum was present.

Approvals: All reports were approved unanimously:

Presentation and Approval of 2018-19 Financials with Kathy Burns, PP Rotary Club of Morrisville, reviewed the financial and found no “significant recommendations”.

Nominating Committee report was approved with PP Bob Stinson, District 7730, 3 year term, 2020-2023, and Sean McAlister, District 7620, 3 year term, 2020-2023. With the election, two members are retiring: Sandy Duckworth and Michael Ellington. The body offered a round of applause for the outgoing Board members.

Election of Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee. The following members has been recommended to serve on the Board beginning July 2020:

PP Bob Stinson, District 7730, for a three year term, 2020-2023.

Bio of Bob Stinson:

Bob Stinson is a Partner in the firm of RLS Focused Solutions and an Adjunct at the Tillman School of Business, Mount Olive College. He was born and raised in New Jersey, He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Degree from Kettering University, Flint MI. and a MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison NJ. He has worked for a number of firms including General Motors, Singer Manufacturing, Thomas and Betts and Heraeus USA. With these firms, he has held the positions of Engineering Manager, Plant Manager, Vice President of Operations, and General Manger. Bob is a Past President of the South Brunswick Islands Rotary Club and has been a Rotarian since 2003. He currently serves District 7730 as Public Image Chair and Zone 33 RLI as Promotions Chair. Previously he served as Assistant Governor, and District Membership Chair. He is has been married to his wife Linda for 45 years, has three sons and six grandchildren.

Sean McAlister, District 7620, for a three year term, 2020-2023.

Bio of Sean McAlister

Sean McAlister is the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Chief Learning Officer for the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service, and manages the training and professional development programs for more than 1,600 federal employees working in 128 U.S. cities and 119 countries. He earned a PhD in adult education from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and both a master’s and undergraduate degrees from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. He joined the Virginia Tech Rotaract Club in 1992, and later the Capitol Hill Rotary Club in 2004. Presently he is serving a three-year term as District 7620’s Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) Chair (2018- 2021). Sean has also served as the Capitol Hill Rotary Club’s President, and various District 7620 leadership roles including Assistant Governor, District Trainer; District Conference Chair; and more recently the Executive Trainer for the Multi-District (7600, 7610, 7620 and 7630) Chesapeake PETS. Sean is a Rotary Major Donor, and is a member of the Rotary Bequest Society, Paul Harris Society, and Rotary Bourbon-Whiskey Society. He is a resident of Alexandria, VA, but spend as much time as he can on Smith Mountain Lake in Central Virginia.

Welcome Bob and Sean to the Mid-Atlantic RLI Board.

New Directors join the returning Directors for service on the Board.

The members of the Board of Directors beginning July 1, 2020 are:

• PP Georgia Oakes (term of2018-2021)
• PP Ed Shearin (term of2018-2021)
• PDG Rod Funderburk (term of2019-2022)
• PDG Lorraine Angelino (term of 2019-2022)
• PP Bob Stinson (term 2020-2023)
• PE Sean McAlister (term 2020-2023)
• Faculty Trainer: PP Marcia Scheidemen (Ex-Officio)
  • Treasurer: PP Barbara Dresser (Ex-Officio)
    Immediate Past Chair: PDG Leigh Hudson (Ex-Officio)
    Chairman Emeritus: PDG Bevin Wall (Ex-Officio, Non-Voting)
    Chairman Emeritus: PRIVP Eric Adamson (Ex-Officio, Non-Voting)

Retiring members of our Board of Directors as of June 30, 2020 are:

• PDG Sandy Duckworth (term 2017-2020)
• PDG Michael Ellington (past Chair, ex-officio)

 

Congratulate Sandy and Michael for a “job well done”. THANK YOU!

 

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 Mid-Atlantic RLI
Winter Board Meeting
January 9-10, 2020
Roway-Cabarrus Community College
Kannapolis, NC

1^st Row: Dr. Ed Shearin, Secretary; Lorraine Angelina, Chair Elect; Barbara Dresser, Treasurer; Georgia Oakes, Board Event
Coordinator; Marcia Scheideman, Faculty Training. 2^nd Row: Bevin Wall, Chairman Emeritus; Rod Funderburk, Coordinator of
Regional Coordinators; Dr.Tim Beck, Regional Coordinator; Bob Stinson, Events and PR Coordinator, Joe Running,
Materials Coordinator, Leigh Hudson, Chairman; and Ken Dresser, Web and DACdb Coordinator.

January 09-10, 2020, Mid-Atlantic RLI Board met at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College for its Winter meeting.

Board members present: Chair: PDG Leigh Hudson (2017-2020), Vice-Chair (Chair-Elect) PDG Lorraine Angelino (2019-2022), Secretary: PP Ed Shearin (2018-2021), PDG Sandra Duckworth (2017-2020),PP Georgia Oakes (2018-2021),PDG Rod Funderburk (2019-2022)

Treasurer: Barbara Dresser (Ex-Officio), Immediate Past Chair: PDG Michael Ellington (Ex-Officio), Chairman Emeritus: PDG Bevin Wall (Ex-Officio), Events Chair: PP Bob Stinson (Ex-Officio) except for Sandy Duckworth who was ill and Michael Ellington who had work conflicts.

Highlights of the meeting include:

• Chairman Leigh’s vision of “building a collaborative RLI organization” for RI Zone 33;
• Barbara Dresser has assumed the Treasurer position after Linda Carducci resigned;
• RLI International Meeting will be held in Pittsburg, PA next year;
• 14 Mid-Atlantic RLI Events, from Rockville, MD to Myrtle Beach, SC were help during Fall 2019 with 383 attendees;
• Marcia Scheideman was nominated and elected as Faculty Trainer replacing Sandy Duckworth who is on a leave of absence;
  • Bio of Marcia Scheideman:

Marcia Scheideman is a retired non-profit administrator previously serving as Executive Director for several non-profit organizations including Shepherds Center of Charlotte. Trained as a nutrition educator she has held a variety of positions throughout her career in education and training. As Regional Coordinator for Cornell Cooperative Extension, she was trained as a facilitator and spent several years as a trainer of trainers. Marcia received her B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA and M.S. from Syracuse University. A member of the Rotary Club of Gastonia, recently transferring from Charlotte Providence Rotary Club. She has been in Rotary for five years initially a member of the Will Rodgers Rotary Club in Tulsa, OK. She has served in various board and officer capacities throughout her years in Charlotte and is currently the District 7680 RLI Coordinator. Named her club's Distinguished Rotarian of the year 2017-2018, Marcia served as Club President for the 2016 – 2017 Rotary Year as well as newsletter editor, membership and community outreach chair. She is a Paul Harris Fellow +4. Marcia and husband Fred live in Lincolnton NC where they are both Master Gardeners. In addition to playing in the "dirt" they enjoy traveling, hiking, kayaking, going to the symphony and all things Rotary.

 

• 14 Faculty members attended New Faculty Trainer seminar to become Faculty Trainers which was led by Tim Mannix and Sandy Duckworth: Baggett, Magda - 7730, Brooks, Sandee - 7770, Carducci, Linda -7610, Ellington, Mike -7545, Faulk, Harry - 7545, Hellersperk, Steve - 7730, Howard, David - 7710, Kreis, Pam - 7620, Running, Joe – 7730 , Scheideman, Marcia -7680, Shearin, Ed – 7710, Snider, Rick – 7690, Stubbs, Renee Cousins – 7750 and White, Travis – 7610.

For additional information concerning the Mid Atlantic Board Meetings, please contact your Regional Coordinator: Carolinas East: Rod Funderburk (Chair of Regional Coordinators), Carolinas West: Dr. Tim Beck, Mountain Valley: Dave Cavender and Chesapeake: Roger Harrell.

Mid-Atlantic RLI Board at Work

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On Saturday January 18, 2020 a record setting and banner RLI event was held in Clayton NC at the Johnson CC Workforce Development Center in Clayton, NC.

A total of 61 Rotarians attended the sessions, Part I, II and III. Included at this event was a new Rotary Histroy Graduate course which had a total of 9 Rotarinas become Rtoary histroy experts. All participitants enjoyed the experience. Good lunch too.

A total of 10 Rotarians Graduated.

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RLI FREDERICKSBURG, NOVEMBER 9. 2019 – A HUGE SUCCESS.

 

42 Rotarians attended to strengthen their leadership skills and increase their understanding of the Rotary world. They participated in fast-paced, interactive sessions geared toward all knowledge levels, from new Rotarians to those with 20+ years of Rotary experience.

 

Eight outstanding, dedicated facilitators from three districts shared their Rotary knowledge with great discussions, exchange of ideas and fun techniques.
 

Date: October 19, 2019
Location:          Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Conway Campus
Attendees:        14 registered, 12 attended; 8 from District 7770, 3 from District 7730, 1 from District 7620
Facilitators:       Rick Moreau, Anita Moreau, Tarek Moneir, Sandee Brooks, Susan Cannup, Herman Dixon, Tom Ledbetter
District 7770 Representatives:   Governor Johnny Moore, DGE Paulene Levesque
RLI33 Representative:               Rod Funderburk

Summary:

We were pleased with the turnout, the participation, and the outcomes of this training.
Four (4) attendees graduated with Completion of Course certificates (picture attached, L to R):

Tom Ledbetter:  District RLI Chairman
Clint Berry, South Brunswick Islands (7730 in NC)
Dean Roberts, Hilton Head Island (7770 in SC)
Chris Stevenson, Leland Area (7730 in NC)
Ginger Weldon, Myrtle Beach (7770 in SC)
Johnny Moore, District Governor 7770

The Rotary Leadership Institute in Charlotte, NC on October 12, 2019 was a tremendous success. There were 20 participants altogether with seven (7) in Part 1, seven (7) in Part 2 and six (6) in Part 3 representing clubs from South Carolina and all three geographic areas of North Carolina. In addition to Parts 1, 2, and 3 a training for new facilitators was conducted by Joe Running using the newly written curriculum for the second time (first time in Durham three weeks prior). Twenty-one (21) different clubs were represented from Districts 7545, 7670, 7670, 7680, 7710, 7730, 7750 and 7770.

 

Six Rotarians completed Part 3 and became RLI Graduates - Christy Smith (Charlotte Providence), Celeste Renaldo (Denver/Lake Norman), Brent Messer (Gastonia), Maya Tsekova (Ballantyne) and Deborah Friedman (Summit) not pictured.

A banner RLI event was held in Jacksonville, NC on Friday September the 13^th.

Our Graduates:

 

Part III Graduates (L-R) Gary Lazorek, JC Hardee, Bunch Anderson, Susan Usher, Mary Schronce, Glen Curtis and Bill Hayes

 

There were a total of 13 Rotarians in Part I, 11 in Part II and 7 in Part III, Graduates,  for a total of 31 attending

 

Assisting in the Graduation ceremony was PDG RB Richey.

 

The group making new friends in the Public Safety Building Conference Room

 

Thanks to DGE Dawn Rochelle for arranging our use of this nice facility.

We were supported at the event by our D7730 DG Doug Wolfe and DGEN Ellen Deaton.

Facilitating were:  Anita and Rich Moreau, Joe Running, Tim Beck, PDG RB Richey and Steve Hellersperk.

Thanks to Chris Stevenson, class participant, for the great photos.

Food was provided through Rotarian Reva Sullivan, and it was good.

A good time was had by all.

District 7610 RLI – November 9, 2019, Germanna Community College, 2130 Germanna Hwy, Locust Grove, VA

We are excited to bring you ourRotary Leadership Institute (RLI) near Fredericksburg at Germanna Community College, 2130 Germanna Hwy, Locust Grove, VA (just off Rt. 3 toward Culpeper). RLI offers a series of three multi-district, one-day courses in sequential order that are offered to refine a Rotarian’s leadership skills and increase their base of knowledge of Rotary. The course sessions are fast-paced, interactive and emphasize both leadership skills and knowledge of Rotary around the world. Courses are also geared toward Rotarians of all knowledge ranges, from new Rotarians to those with 20 or more years of Rotary experience who want to enhance their Rotary knowledge. To register: www.rli33.org– click on Events Registration in top ribbon – select the event on left side and “more info” – scroll to bottom of page, click on “Request EZLink registration link” – follow instructions.

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Mid-Atlantic Rotary Leadership Institute Columbia, SC Event

The April 27, 2019 Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) event healed at the Midlands Technical College Airport Campus in West Columbia included Parts I, II and III.  A great time was had by all.  There were 38 participants representing 27 Rotary clubs from 4 districts (7770, 7750, 7690 and 7680).  At the end of the day we celebrated 17 new graduates.  Catering was provided by Eggs-Up Grill and Travinia’s Italian.  A special thanks to our district chair who arranged all of the details.

We are especially appreciative of the six faculty members who guided the fun:  Tim Beck, Herman Dixon, Georgia Oakes, Marcia Scheideman, Renee Stubbs, and Doris Wallace.  The District 7770 Governor, David Tirard participated in the opening welcome, and the graduation ceremony as well as visited many of the classes during the day.

Rod Funderburk

Back Row
Don Worley, William Keller, Jerry George, Robert Bussa, Jeffrey Baldwin, David Tirard, Tom Ledbetter, Scott Powell, Eric Taylor

Front Row
Jack Walker, Bea Walker, Sharon Teague, Holly Furr, Pandra Lemrow, Lorena Prince, Bonnie Littrell, Sharman Poplava, Dawn Reynolds