Transforming the world through positive action, from kindness to climate change, was the focus of comments by Giovanna Mingarelli, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of two international companies: M&C Consulting and MC2.  She started with questions to the audience about ‘service’ and how many had done an act of service today, or during the last two days, or last week.  Not surprisingly, the audience of Rotarians did very well!  “We want to quantify, celebrate and share with others ambitious goals,” she said, “with more than one trillion hours of good intentions that go unrewarded or noticed.” Her remarks included how 350 million trees were planted in 12 hours in Ethiopia and how 220 million trees were planted in India as examples of quantifiable or social proof these activities happen.

 

Pivoting to millennials (those ages 18-35), she said they were too often characterized as complacent when in fact their form of communication and action is different than conventional thinking.  “Ninety-four percent of all millennials are smartphone users who,” she said, ”wouldn’t give up their phones for shampoo, television or pets, and post 110 text messages on their smartphones every day.”

She cited a report based on 150,000 surveys that described millennials’ non-traditional approach to community service. “They want to help people by micro-volunteering, listening to their peers versus organizations, and providing support from their couch or phone or help on their own time,” she said.  “Not in the way we see tree planting but focus energy by micro-volunteering in non-institutional ways.”

 

Refocusing on K-12 students, she is part of a movement called Dignity in Action which is a non-secular organization that promotes dignity in classrooms and has reached one million students.   But there was no way to quantify the impacts of kids engaged in dignity activities.  “We created an instant messaging application that enables young people to find dignity related articles and to show their individual and collective social impact,” she continued. “The dignity action mapping tool invites students to engage in one of 12 dignity activities that aim to build a world where dignity and love matter.”

 

Millennials are not joiners and tend to avoid large organizations.  The membership model is ‘breaking’ because emerging generations communicate and contribute differently.   When engaging in an act of dignity or community service, it must represent their interests as opposed to that of an organization.

 

President Kim opened the meeting with the day’s song – an entertaining Rotary themed version of the Beatle’s song ‘Come Together’ (scroll down) by Linda Rough accompanied by Jevon Powell on guitar, followed by an update of the Seattle Rotary Service Foundation’s fundraising, important work of the Rotary Foundation, and announcements including 25% discounted tickets to Shout, Sister Shout on December 5th at the Seattle Rep and a reminder about the annual holiday party on December 18th featuring Teatro ZinZanni style entertainment.    Jane Tornatore led Rotarians in a 10-minute table talk about ‘What Rotary means to you’. 

 

For more photos, see our Facebook page in the Totem.

 

 

 

 

 

COME TOGETHER
(to the tune of 1969 Beatles Abbey Road song, ‘Come Together)

 

By Linda Rough accompanied by Jevon Powell on guitar

Here come Rotarians, they come groovin’ like cyclones,
they’ve got GOOD in their eyeballs,
They speak TRUTH in their cell phones.
They got FAIR down to their knees,
Got to build big BRIDGES so that ALL we will please!

 

We feed the hungry, we give vaccinations,
We get skeeter netting for the smallest nations.
We say, I know you and you know me,
One thing I can tell you is you got Rotary.
Come together right now – Rotary!

 

We got all sizes, got all faiths and genders,
Got some high-ball rollers, got some feathered frienders
We got rainbow colors, you and me,
These are all the members that make up Rotary.

 

We clean the water, we got polio crackin,
We got malaria runnin’ and we got Bill Gales backin’,
We make peace in clubs from sea to sea,
We join hands and wear the pin that means Rotary.
Come together right now, Rotary…come together, yeah!