From the Editor.. Member Notes Loving thy Neighbor Rotariglife Bounty Realized Rotary News Basket

RI President-elect Glenn Estess truly hit the nail on the head with his choice of “Celebrate Rotary” as the RI theme next year. Not counting the many good things Rotary has done through the years, having lasted this long (and still growing) is reason enough to celebrate! Rotary started modest and small…and it grew steadily into a vital factor in making life better wherever it worked – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, healing the sick, educating the illiterate, promoting goodwill and peace in the world. For the Centennial year and thereafter…let us Celebrate Rotary!

We have special and fond memories of President Glenn. In 1991, he was RI Vice President, and he came to our District (3790) Conference as the RI President’s Representative. He impressed us with his friendly ways and the message he conveyed. Upon his selection as president nominee for the centennial year, we wrote to congratulate him, hoping he would still remember his short stay in Tarlac (site of the Discon). He wrote back to thank us and mentioned a lot of details to show that he did remember us! Another reason to celebrate…

Not wanting to belabor the issue raised by the HUNGRY/ANGRY Rotarian…we must thank our many friends who called to say that they sent text messages to that number, admonishing him to be more charitable and understanding. Please let us put the unpleasant incident to rest…the fellow did not even follow-up on his threat to write an article about it and dared us to publish it in the PRM. Even he must have realized that he really went “overboard” on the issue, and is now probably regretting his actions!

It is unfortunate that some clubs have received notices of suspension from RI for non-subscription or non-payment for magazine subscriptions. It may be late in the day to say “we told you so” but we did! We really worked long and hard to finally get RI’s cooperation and help. We are not happy about the delinquent clubs, but the rules have to be applied to be FAIR to all. As we have repeatedly written – we have over 1.2 million pesos in receivables…and no one can operate efficiently with such a heavy burden!

A very vital proposal in the next Council On Legislation is the move to periodically increase membership dues to $ 45.00 per year. We strongly suggest a thorough study of this proposal…specially in the light of our country’s deteriorating economy…for this can be disastrous to our Membership Development campaign. As it is now, we see many Rotarians dropping out because “business is bad” and Rotary is no longer affordable, no matter how much we love the organization.

March ends the first quarter of the second semester of the Rotary Year. At PRM, we used to continue serving clubs even if no payment was made at the start of the semester – up to 3 months only. This means we shall have to stop sending the magazine to “still delinquent clubs” beginning with the April issue. Please check on your accounts and read our Bulletin Board last month on the new Rules for Termination of clubs, effective RY 2004-2005.

Once again…we thank RI District 3830 and Governor Jun Cortes for sponsoring this issue. Governor Jun also commits to solve the problems of all suspended clubs in his district…he will not allow any club in his district to be terminated.