District Governor Rod Funderburk

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August 25, 2015 – District Governor Rod Funderburk joined us at our August 25 meeting. Funderburk is a graduate of USC and currently works as an independent energy consultant for 3rd party procurement of energy solutions. He is a charter member of the Rotary Club of Lake Murray Irmo and was Club Rotarian in 2007 and 2010. He is a 10 Star Rotarian, RLI graduate and faculty member. He has been married 41 years, has 2 children and 5 grandchildren.  

Each year the Rotary Theme is created by the incoming International President. Last year it was “Light Up Rotary” or show what you club does and he indicated that should continue. This year’s theme is “Be a Gift to the World”. The world being where you focus, either the global world or your community and the gift being what you give to that world you focus on.

He outlined 3 things the clubs should focus on this year, Cure, Compassion, and Communication.

Cure: Nigeria and Africa are now Polio free but Afghanistan and Pakistan remain to be polio free so there is still work to be done to cure Polio. The next is for Alzheimer’s. 1 in 12 males and 1 in 7 females will get Alzheimer’s disease but for every dollar spent on Cancer research only three cents is spent on Alzheimer’s disease. (See CART, page 3)

Compassion: Rotarians, by their very nature, each want to help where there is need. We can do more together than we can do separately. If individually we are great, together we are spectacular. Projects have included those to help the blind to see, the lame to walk. We have installed Sanitary and Water systems, taught reading and writing and have guided the drive to end polio. It is about making a greater impact in the community than last year and an even greater impact in the next years. Analyze your acts of service in terms of the impact you make on the community. If something you do does not impact the community, find a substitute. There is a reason you joined, telling people why and introducing them to the club can be a gift as well.

Communication: Is the basis for the Rotary and everything you do in Rotary hinges on communication. The most successful project(s) in the club are due to communication and while this club is very successful, many clubs fail at their projects due to poor communication. We as humans fail to communicate routinely. It is not about the packaging or the medium, it is how you create your message. A Rotary acronym is one you should not use as acronyms confuse people.  He related a story of his granddaughter’s reaction to hearing him describe the weather as “raining cats and dogs” and the expression on her face of “surely you did not mean what you said”.  As Rotarians, we do not want to communicate like that.

He concluded by inviting everyone to the District Conference in March (in Columbia) and challenged us with – if you asked people on the street, “what do you think of the Historic Rotary Club of Charleston?” today, and their answer is the same 12 months from now, you have failed.

Don Baus, Keyway Committee Chair