The Rotary Clubs of Greater Contra Costa

Rotary Clubs of Greater Contra Costa WWW.ROTARYCOCO.ORG

Suggestions and contributions welcome. Send email to: Web Master, Rick Hanson rick@zoomie.com and/or Chuck Graham, Web Support Team chuck@grahamphoto.com

PURPOSE:

To create a greater influence on the community and media. A single club has almost no influence on the greater community and little to no influence with local media. Our plan is to provide a wealth of information for the Rotary Clubs of the Greater Contra Costa County, including Berkeley, Albany, Vallejo, Benicia and Rio Vista.

MISSION:

To locally promote the concept of service as a worthy endeavor, strengthen and expand Rotary membership through public awareness, and to foster unity among clubs to present Rotary events in the local media.

GOALS and OBJECTIVES:

To make it easy for clubs to get better participation at their fundraisers and special events from Rotarians and the public. To present information about local Rotary clubs for the improvement of membership and participation in all clubs. For participating clubs, www.Rotarycoco.org, functions as a non-profit Public Relations site for the Rotary Clubs of Greater Contra Costa.

THEME:

The design theme is a dedication to Rotary in the future. In a galaxy, far far away, Rotary lives on. The Rotary Spacecraft, the Space Shuttle Paul Harris, carries supplies to those in need. The crew is all volunteers on yet another mission of peace ... with a lot of fun thrown in for good measure.

HISTORY OF THE FOUNDERS:

RICK HANSON:

Rick has an MBA in Management Information Systems from John F. Kennedy University, Orinda. Rick's web site services to the Rotary Club of Clayton Valley/Concord Sunrise and District 5160 started in early '94. He's been a programmer and information manager since '67. He serviced computers in the Navy during Vietnam. After the service, he aspired to teach systems management courses at San Jose State, Golden Gate and John F. Kennedy Universities, and other schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for fourteen years. Rick's been online since '79, has taught online, and has run a successful online mail order business since '83. Building web site presentations is not new to Rick. He says that Internet activities the past six years has given him a greater opportunity to meet and work with many fellow Rotarians.

Rick says that his Internet Rotary work was encouraged and supported by mentor, Past Pres. Chuck Graham, and by Past District Governor, Joe Chiappino. Rick donated thousands of hours in building and maintaining the original District web site. Rick, on his own, took the show on the road, year after year, visiting clubs, around the district as a speaker on, "Rotary, On the Internet". Rick continues by saying, "Rotary work is volunteer work. I have learned a lot and met many of wonderful people who volunteer their resources for Rotary. My greatest gifts have been my growth in leadership skills and the exchange of ideas with some of the most intelligent and giving people on the face of the earth. My biggest lesson was learning that the heart of Rotary is the Rotarian, not the club, the district, or even Rotary International. The lesson learned was to follow my heart."

CHUCK GRAHAM:

Chuck is a second generation Rotarian, the son of a Pittsburg club President. Chuck joined the Rotary Club of Antioch in 1971 and became President there in 1976-77. He started serving the district on the Conference Committee in PR in 1978. Chuck served continuously on the District Membership Committee from 1980-2000 serving as District Member Chairman for DG Joe Cramner and DG Joe Chiappino and District Membership Director for DG George Chaffey. In 1988 Chuck moved to the Rotary Club of Clayton Valley/Concord Sunrise serving there as President in 1995-96. In 1988 was DG Warner Schwarz's Governor's Special Representative for the creation of the Rotary Club Delta/Antioch. In 1996-98, Chuck served as the District Liaison on the Zone 23/24 Task Force for Member Education presenting workshops for California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. 1997-2001 Chuck was the Rotary mentor and sponsor of Abby Collins-Sears, Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar. Abby was the District's number one selection in 1997 and received a two-year scholarship to study at the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, So. Africa. In February 1999, together with Rick Hanson converted the District Membership reporting requirements to all-electronic reporting on the Internet. Chuck served the District as District membership Secretary from July 1999 to October 2000. Chuck received the "Open World" certificate in October 1999 from Ed Futa of Rotary International for coordinating the Russian Leadership Program for the District.

CLUB CALENDAR:

A user-editable and interactive Club Calendar is waiting for your club's use. The Club Calendar program is free. All you have to do is place the link below in a page at your web site and pass your password onto all the leaders in your club. Here is the general link. Contact me for your club's free password and xx number to complete your code.

Our Club Calendar

If you are using the old club calendar, all you have to do is alter the link, replacing 5160 with coco. The calendar is supported by rotarycoco.org. If you would like to use the calendar from your club site please let me know.

Rick Hanson, Media Relations Team | zoomie@zoomie.com | RC Martinez

The content and design of these web pages is the intellectual property of Richard Hanson, Chuck Graham and other volunteer contributors for the use of the Rotary Clubs of Contra Costa County and Rotarians worldwide. Its design and upkeep is for the express purpose of improving Rotary Club Membership Development, Public Relations and Rotary Club operations in general.

The Rotary emblem and certain articles are the copyright property of Rotary International. The articles are reproduced here for the convenience of Rotarians and Rotary Clubs in accordance with the guidelines of Rotary International. The Rotary name and logo are the exclusive property of Rotary International www.rotary.org. Special thanks to Tord Elfwendahl of the Stockholm Strand Rotaryklub (Sweden) for his Rotary graphic images which we have used throughout this web site.

This Web Site is privately owned and operated by Chuck Graham and Rick Hanson and is dedicated to Rotary Clubs and Rotarians for the betterment of Rotary.