Tonight's Rotary minute was presented by Pierre Boulos and kept with the theme of literacy followed by our guest speaker Taylor Lanoie who presented about the power of social media.
Tonight’s Rotary Minute presented by Pierre Boulos, began with a correction. The new Peace University is Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and is the largest university in Africa. In keeping with this month’s theme of literacy, Pierre presented some facts regarding the number of people not able to read or write in the world. 17% of the world’s adult population is illiterate. Rotary had previously set basic education at the primary level but due to pressure by Rotarian, Om Chandra, the level has now been raised to the end of high school education; proving that once again, one person can make a difference. Pierre also shared information on ProLiteracy Detroit which recruits and trains tutors to work with adults. In the past year, 500 adults have raised their reading level 3 grades. Rotary has now shifted its focus to mentoring and coaching teachers in more effective methods.
Social media strategist, Taylor Lanoie, shared the power of social media with members through her power-point presentation on how it can be utilized to assist the club in meeting its goals. Taylor began by sharing the three goals identified the Rotary Club of Windsor (1918). They are 1) Increasing membership by 10%, 2) Increasing diversity within the membership, and 3) Increasing fund-raising capabilities. Through a series of diagrams and statistics, Taylor highlighting how very important social media can be in reaching these goals. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can all be used by members to share information on the club and its many activities. Details of “Catch the Ace”, a new fund-raising initiative were also presented.