The All Boots on the Ground Program has already gained significant traction as it has been presented to 12 Clubs as of this morning.

November is Rotary Foundation Month!! As a lead in to Foundation Month our District 7980 Foundation Team has put together a Rotary Foundation program (coded named “All Boots on the Ground“) that is being presented to all of our D7980 Rotary Clubs. The program takes 15 – 20 minutes and is designed to create awareness about The Rotary Foundation (TRF) in easy to understand terms.

Program Rationale: Each year many Rotary Club leaders typically scramble at the last minute for a Foundation speaker to come to their Clubs. Our Foundation Team wanted to proactively get ahead of this annual need by ensuring that our Rotary Clubs received a quality Foundation program delivered by well trained presenters.

‘Boots’ Chair Sheryl A. Shaughnessey (Fairfield Rotarian)

PDG Rick Benson,
District Foundation Chair 2013-16

The Backstory on the ‘Boots’ name: Delivering the same Foundation program to 61 Clubs in the weeks leading up to Foundation Month is a sizable undertaking that has taken months of planning and organizing by Chair Sheryl Shaughnessey and PDG Rick Benson plus 19 additional volunteers.  At the onset the project was named ‘All Boots on the Ground’ to reflect the aggressive coordinated effort required between content, clubs and committee members (3 C’s).

Boots Rollout:

The three links below demonstrate the execution of the program rollout in different views:

• TRF Boots Assignments by Date – 10-17-2013
• TRF Boots Assignments by Club – 10-17-2013
• TRF Boots Assignments by Speaker – 10-17-2013

Desired Program Goals:

• Increase Club participation in the Grants process (District Managed, Global, Scholarships, VTT., etc)
• Increase Foundation giving through a better understanding of how it benefits communities and the world
• Create awareness for the Annual District Foundation Recognition Event on Nov 7th

Special thanks to Rick Benson, John Bradshaw, Simion Cooper, Robert Friend, Donna Gada, Colin Gershon, Alan Hurst, Jim Lang, Gerri Lewis, George Markley, Chip Marsh, Mukund Nori, Julie Reppenhagen, Nancy Riella, Rupi Rupwani, Jim Satterwhite, Sheryl Shaughnessey, Gerry Tom and Dennis Wong for working so diligently on this program to support our Foundation.