ABOUT LITERACY..., TO FEEL GUILTY AND ASHAMED

I want to congratulate and thank all of you who have been actively engaged in the following three zone coordinator tasks during the past four weeks:

1. Encourage districts and their clubs to celebrate Literacy Month

2. Encourage clubs to earn the District Literacy Award (DLA)

3. Encourage districts to make literacy project awareness part of PETS, District Assembly and the District Conference.

Whatever the level of response from your districts may be, you have reason to feel good about the fact that you did your part. Once you get the information down to your district contacts, the responsibility for making clubs aware becomes the responsibility of the district governors and their district literacy coordinators. That fact suggests to me that each of you should do the following:

1. Feel good about the fact that you did your duty. (If you are among the handful of zone coordinators who are not communicating with your

districts, it would be appropriate for you to feel a little bit guilty and maybe even a little bit ashamed that you haven’t lived up to the expectations of President John when he appointed you to the post. But you still have

time to redeem yourself by communicating with your districts on itemsnumber 2 and number 3 on the above list).

2. Congratulate and thank those district governors who are sharing your communications with their clubs and encouraging them to take action with respect to Literacy Month, the District Literacy Award and sending

in reports of literacy projects. District Governors who do that show that they have three traits of great leaders… a sense of duty, caring and effective time management.

Richard Hattwick

(RI World Literacy Coordinator)

February2010

PHOTOS: Rotary Interchange boys and girls and their hosts in São Paulo Carnival (Brazil); attendants to the Birmingham Convention; International Reading Associattion symbokl; Allan Jagger, always facing life with pleasure, in San Diego International Assembly 2010.