Friday, 4 January 2019
A new year has begun. Happy 2019 to all of you!
January is Vocational Service Month. Our vocations and businesses are the foundation stone of Rotary. As a matter of fact, the Rotary movement started off when our founder attorney Paul P. Harris, an attorney, gathered three business acquaintances (a mining engineer, a coal merchant and a tailor) in downtown Chicago, United States for a meeting. They then rotated the meeting place giving rise to the word “Rotary”.
The idea of vocational service is rooted in the second object of Rotary, which calls on Rotarians to encourage and foster high ethical standards in business and professions, to recognize the worthi-ness of all useful occupations, to held in high regard each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
In District 3310 I happy to note that we have been active in Vocational Service. Our activities take many forms including the provision of career guidance, re-training of working people, holding voca-tional talks in schools, annual awards to deserving entrepreneurs, recognition of professionals such as teachers, firemen, railway staff, etc. I encourage all of you to continue your efforts in this avenue of service. Here are some suggestions. Get new Rotarians to share about their profession or busi-ness. Take an inventory of the skillset of your members and compared these skills to the needs of your own community. You can then mobilize the relevant members to serve your own community. Maintain high ethical standards and integrity in your profession. Tap on your network of business people and partner with them to provide vocational talks, career guidance, mentorship program to school students. Organize computer skills for the poorer members of your community.
It is timely to remember that 6 months have elapsed since the start of the RY 2018-19 on 1 July 2018. I urge all clubs to do a mid-term assessment of what you have accomplished against your Club’s objectives. Look into those areas that have not been done and work on it right away. There are also situations in which you need to relook at your objectives to see whether some objectives need to be changed and/or replaced. Consult your respective Assistance Governor for advice.
As the calendar year 2018 draws to a close there are clubs who will need to prepare for their annual general meeting. Do remember to get your accounts in order and take steps to ensure your club will be able to meet the statutory requirements for such filing. Some clubs will also get ready their office bearers for the next Rotary year. I encourage all clubs to start planning early for your next group of office holders as our District will be organizing PETS1 and PETS2 in due course in addition to other courses and seminars.
I wish all of you a successful year – a year of inspiring projects, fun-filled fellowship, generous giv-ing and healthy membership growth.
Sincerely yours
Henry Tan Kok Hiang
District Governor RY2018-19
