Portsmouth Supports Rotary Foundation with EREY pledges

Posted

on Feb 27, 2015

Portsmouth Rotarians Pledge to Rotary Foundation

Annual EREY Pledge Drive Kicks off

Portsmouth Rotary’s many international service projects took center stage this week as club Foundation co-chair and international service director Bob Herold, joined by Leonard Seagren and Ted Alex, shared the work they, along with many others, have been doing beyond the Seacoast. A full summary of their program can be found in the weekly meeting Log.

The club then kicked off its annual “EREY” pledge drive, in which all Rotarians are asked to make a donation in any amount to the Rotary Foundation’s annual SHARE fund.

Because Rotary’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30, many members had already made a donation before this drive: if you gave an EREY amount along with your club dues in July, you’re already among the 55 members previously credited as Foundation supporters this year. Another 22 pledges were received on Thursday, including three that qualify for Paul Harris Fellowship matches from the club (donations of $500 or more).

This impressive response is a “Happy Birthday Rotary” message from Portsmouth Rotarians. As Rotary International celebrates its 110^th birthday, eleven club members pledged $110 each to the annual fund – as a “birthday card” to the foundation.

Did you miss the meeting? You can be counted too! We can get you a pledge card, or you can simply email a pledge to either Dave Underhill (dave@underhilladvisors.com) or to Bob Herold (bobherold00@yahoo.com).

If you're not sure whether you've given this fiscal year, send an email to Dave or Bob and we'll check for you.

Here’s a summary of the pledge drive as presented to the Rotary meeting on Thursday, February 26 by foundation co-chair Dave:

All these things need to be paid for!

The way we do that is by making a donation to the Rotary Foundation.

The program is called EREY, “Every Rotarian Every Year”.

It’s simple. We ask every Rotary member to give SOMETHING to the Foundation’s annual fund. Three years later, half that money is distributed for worldwide projects and the other half comes back to our district for local projects like the ones you just saw.

Last year our EREY program sent about $12,000 to the RI annual fund…this year, a $45,000 grant came back to our Uganda/Friends Forever project. Pretty good return!

Our club has a unique program. You can give $500 and the club will match it with another $500, sending one thousand dollars to the Foundation, and giving you the right to name a Paul Harris Fellow.

That’s more than many of us can afford, so here’s a simple ask:

It’s Rotary’s 110^th Birthday. Send Rotary a birthday card!

There are pledge cards on your table. If you can, give $110. If you can’t do that, please do what you can --- maybe the cost of a lunch, $17, or $25 or $50. What matters is that you said “I remember you, Rotary, thank you and Happy Birthday! ” You’re saying you think the work Leonard and Bob and Ted are doing is important.

We have 161 club members. As of this week, 55 of us have already made a donation or pledge. That includes 18 board members and all those who added a Foundation gift to their dues invoice back in July. If you’re not sure whether you’ve already given this year, see me right after the meeting and I’ll check for you.

Will you join with us in sending a birthday card to Rotary? The birthday cards (pledge cards) are on your table. Please give them to Bob or to me and pay the pledge by June. You can also make an ongoing annual pledge if you’d like, and cancel it anytime in the future.

The folks in this room know that I believe in Rotary --- I give it my time, energy and money. When I read the news about terrorism or hatred or violence around our world, I know that I’m doing something to counter it.

I’m investing in Peace, Understanding, kids in Columbia and Uganda and Bangladesh, teachers in Guatemala and clean water in El Salvador. I’m proud of Rotary, and I hope you are too. If so, please join me: send Rotary a birthday card by making a pledge to the Foundation.

Thank you!