January Newsletter

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New Year. New Resolutions. New Beginnings. When the calendar

flips, we each reflect upon our year. We remember the highs and

lows, the successes and failures, our mistakes and lessons. We get

stronger, wiser, smarter. We dedicate ourselves to new workout

regimens, diets and financial plans. We feel a sense of newness and

hope. It is wild how much a single day changing—from December 31

to January 1—can create such a restored sense of self. If you’re like

me though, these resolutions can come toppling down by February or March. It’s hard to stay

focused and dedicated. We need people to help us.

How can we apply these concepts to our Rotary Club? What new projects, plans or goals will we

have? How can we make a resolution—a commitment—to make a difference in our club, in our

community, in someone else’s life? We have each other to rally around and make things happen.

Perhaps we can each commit to sponsoring one new member in 2015. Perhaps it is attending one

service project each month. Whatever you feel passionate about, share it with each other in the club,

go at a goal together, and let’s accomplish some truly great things in 2015!

Special points of

interest:

Looking forward

New Year, New

Beginning

Guest Speaker

In this issue:

President’s Piece 1

Guest Speaker:

CYP

2

2015 New

Beginnings

3

Rotary Awareness 4

Member’s Page

5

Flyers 6

Rotary District 7

Future Events 8

Rotary Club of the Blue Ridge - New Generation January 2015 Volume 1, Issue 6

R O TA RY R E F L E C T I O N S

New Gen Scorecard

Members 42

Avg Attnd 59.72%

(As of November 2014)

Pres ident ’ s Piec e

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Roanoke, VA – December 3, 2014

LeeAnn Reich who is the Executive

Director for the Community Youth

Program (CYP) at St. John’s Episcopal

Church. The mission of CYP is to

encourage learning and the development

of a positive self-image and to provide a

network of support for students in grades

4-8 and their families. CYP was started in

1998 and is in the 16th year of its

program.

Unlike most afterschool programs, the

students can come from any Roanoke City

Public School, it is kept intentionally

small, and so they can focus and make the

greatest impact on a small group of high-

need students. The program is also free,

and involvement continues after 6pm.

CYP serves 30 students with an age range

of grades 4-8, 100% of the students

qualify as low income families, and they

attend 8 different schools throughout the

city. CYP go through a referral from

Roanoke City teachers, staff, word of

mouth, and also from friends of families.

These students are limited and face

numerous barriers in regards to be able to

A fte r S c ho o l A i d

New Generation January 2015 Volume 1, Issue 6

Guest Speaker: LeeAnn Reich

The Community Youth

Program

attend larger afterschool programs; these

include low income single parent

households, have no mode of

transportation, homeless, and have

disabilities and some students receive

special education.

The Community Youth Program breaks

these barriers by transporting students to

and from the program, provide snacks,

homework help, activities, dinner, and

events such as bimonthly Family Nights,

Summer Programming and College

Events.

The families of the students that

participate in this program contribute

back to the program to help with the

success of their child. The families give

back to the program by donating money,

snacks, time, and providing transportation

to other students. CYP have also built

partnerships with different organizations,

they include United Methodist

Community Outreach Program, Blue

Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, Family

Service of Roanoke Valley, St. John’s

Episcopal Church, Roanoke City Public

Schools, and MemberOne Federal Credit

Union. Also, volunteers to the program

have come from St. John’s Episcopal

Church, Jefferson College of Health

Sciences, VT School of Medicine, and

other colleges, high schools and people

throughout the community.

The fact is that 18% of k-12 youth are

responsible for taking care of themselves

after school, and research has shown that

most juvenile crimes occur between 3-7

p.m. Monday-Friday. This is why the

Community Youth Program has shown

that they are not only beneficial for the

community, but also greatly needed for

the positive effect on the high-need youth

of our community. They offer an alternate

of having to be by themselves or engage

in activities with serious consequences,

research by Afterschool Alliance has also

shown that students who participate in

high-quality afterschool programs have

better attendance in school, improved

behavior, and perform better on tests and

have better grades.

They need help though, and this is where

Rotary can become more involved. They

need more people to get involved, spread

the word, and donations to the program.

More information is available at http://

www.cyproanoke.org and on facebook

CYPatStJohns. If you are looking to get

involved please contact LeeAnn Reich at

540.309.6300.

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Ke e p Yo u r Goa l s A l iv e


Some would consider New Year resolutions like a fad diet, you start with going all in, and as time goes on the focus fades and then

finally you give up on it. Most people go into the new year with the ―New Year, New Me‖ attitude, and while this is a good way to

start fresh and change your lifestyle, attitude or life as a whole we do not sit and draw up a plan of how to achieve these goals and

expectations of ourselves.

First, you have to come up with a concrete plan, just because you have a plan it doesn’t always mean it will be successful. When you

really think about a concrete plan, it not only embeds itself in your memory, but it also makes it harder and some would say guilty to

break because of the commitment to yourself and the time it took you to develop this plan.

Second, make yourself have a reward or a consequence. When saying make consequences, I mean really make it something that will

affect you in some way. When you have a motivational factor to back your plan then you will be more likely to complete your goal

than fail at it.

Third, recognize obstacles or some might call them ―temptations‖ before you put the plan into effect. We all know there will be ob-

stacles that will block or distract us on our way to successfully accomplish our goals, but if we can recognize some of these things

that might hamper our path then we can be prepared to deal with them as they come along. It is good to be proactive and reactive no

matter the situation, but the key is to be both.

Finally, seek support. Goals are achieved at a higher rate when you have the support of others (family, friends, co-workers, etc.) or a

group that are seeking the same goal. This would be the time to find a mentor, we all can learn from somebody who has completed

the road that we are only beginning to travel.

Is this a guarantee that you will be successful at all goals you have laid out for yourself in the New Year? Of course not, but if you

take the necessary proactive steps before you try and conquer the world then it has to be more successful than not. This is the beauty

of New Generations, because we find an objective or goal, then we put it through the 4 – way test to make sure it fits the criteria of

Rotary. We have the support of our club members with the same goals, and we come together to brainstorm and use our personal

strengths/skills to work through any obstacles that may land in front of us.

So here’s to our Rotary Family and to all the goals we have set for the new year, the only request is that we all show support

throughout the year to help New Generations be the most successful it can be.

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A new year as stated by Daniel always means new beginnings, and a chance to learn new things to improve your life. What a

better time for Rotary Awareness Month?

Let’s celebrate Rotary Awareness Month by learning, or retraining members on the history of Rotary, programs, and raise

awareness of our club’s projects and events among the community.

We can also learn from other Rotarians as we all have a story or an experience while being apart of Rotary that will be able to

educate and inspire us to be better Rotarians. Rotary is like a classroom , those who participate and learn will help not only the

community, but also helps acceptance of yourself, boost your confidence and change your life and those around you in a short

amount of time.

We as young professionals have to be ready to take a hold of the torch as it is being passed to us not only in the professional

world, but also within our community. The people before us did a lot to give us what we not only needed, but what we wanted in

life. It was to make our life’s easier than theirs, and for us to have more opportunities than what they did at our age. Also, they

did the same for the community around them, and wanted a better life for not only their children but they took pride in

developing a better life for those in the community also.

This is our time to shine and to step up to show we are ready to take the reigns to continue to build on the foundation of what has

already been laid. Are you ready to lead, or will we just continue to follow somebody else?

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No Member’s Minute this month, because

honestly I forgot to contact anybody until the

last minute. (My fault)

Just to remind people this is a section that

you can tell us more about yourself, and

other fun facts you would like to share.

This is just a fun way to get to know every-

body in the group, and I promise we will

have one next month.

Member’s Minute

The Social Network

We live in an age where technology has made socializing a little more easier, but

nothing really beats being able to get together and unwinding after a long,

strenuous week of what our jobs and other responsibilities in our lives.

This is a time we can come together as a group and converse among each other

while escaping reality for a little time out of our lives. This is also a time to take

advantage of really meeting new people and learning about new things, offer

advice or support to others.

I guess you could call a social experiment, since our last social went pretty well, it

has been discussed to continue to build upon that in the future. This is a time to

put away work, Rotary and other responsibilities and just enjoy the company.

We would like to schedule the next social for January 30 at 6pm, we encourage

everybody to come out have a good time and enjoy the time with others, and it is

an open invitation.

“Celebrate what you want to see

more of.”

~Tom Peters

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Celebrating 100 Years

of

Rotary District

Conference

The 61st

Conference

at

The Homestead

Distr ic t Convent ion 2015

S a v e t h e D a t e

M a r c h 1 3 - 1 5 , 2 0 1 5


Hot Springs, Virginia

540.839.1766

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We’re on the Web

http://www.rotaryblueridge.org/

400 Salem AVE, 2C

Roanoke, VA 24016

President: Daniel Bliley

E-mail: [email protected]

Rotary of the Blue Ridge - New

Generations

What The Future Holds Roanoke Area Events

1/31-Oyster Roast

Birthdays Shawn McMahon 27-January

January 2015

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 Rotary Meeting 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 Rotary Meet-

ing

22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Rotary

01/07-Rotary Meeting 6pm

Guest Speaker: Happy Healthy Foods

01/21-Rotary Meeting 6pm

01/30-Rotary Social 6pm

January 2015 New Generation Volume 1, Issue 6

Documents

January Newsletter