Kalyan Banerjee is no stranger to running things. As a young chemical engineer, back in 1972, he took the initiative (and the risks) in starting a company to produce red phosphorous, an essential ingredient in fertilizer. Under Banerjee’s leadership, United Phosphorous Limited grew to become the largest agrochemical manufacturer in India. It was at about the same time he launched his business when Banerjee joined a fledgling Rotary Club in his hometown of Vapi, India.

For nearly four decades the worlds of industry and Rotary grew ever more entwined for Banerjee. Indeed, his successes and experiences in one enterprise had an abiding influence on the perspective and wisdom he brought to the other. One could say Kalyan Banerjee made the best of both his worlds.

Rotary International’s 101st president has seen the results of good leadership, not only in his professional life, but in his work with Rotary as well. “A club is as good as its president, as good as its leader,” says Banerjee. “Helping the leadership is what I would consider my job as president.” Not surprisingly, Banerjee feels his hands-on corporate management style will serve him well as he takes the reins at Rotary International. “I think Rotary needs that, for

the sake of efficiency and to be more current.”But let there be no mistake, Banerjee

is also all about service and fellowship. “I have seen the impact that our simplest

projects can have. I have seen firsthand our work in literacy, in health, in hunger, in providing safe water—and I have seen the difference it makes to each village, each family, and each individual human life.”

One gets the sense Kalyan Banerjee is both a no-nonsense corporate executive and a compassionate man of the world, in equal measure and at all times, and that can only bode well for Rotary during the upcoming year. “It will be an exciting

challenge to bring both of these elements together—the

efficiency and systems and methods of a tight, modern organization, coupled with the fact that Rotary is a universal blend of all kinds of cultures, countries, thought processes, and perspectives.”

It is little wonder Kalyan Banerjee chose as his theme for the upcoming Rotary year, Reach Within to Embrace Humanity. He’s been living his life that way for quite some time.

The information and quotes for this piece were taken from The Rotarian magazine and the article written by John Rezek in the July 2011 edition.

See pp. 36-45 for the full story.

2011-2012 RI President Kalyan Banerjee

J im Halderman, Distr i t G overnor 2011-2012

Where the M ountains M eet the Plains ~ Colorado, USA

ROTARYDISTRICT 5450

JULY 2011Number 1

TRANSITION MONTHCompassion Meets the CorporationThe Best of Both Worlds: Kalyan Banerjee is RI’s New Presidentby Paul O’Rourke, Rotary Club of Golden

What’s inside

1 Compassion Meets the Corporation

2Message from your Governor

2 Hike to the Top

2Ride with Rotary3Rotary History

4GSE Announcement

4Microcredit

5Speak Up!

6Crutches 4 Africa

7Membership Seminar

8PR Tips

8Rotary Quiz

8Polio $$$ Results

8District Pins Available

by District GovernorJim Halderman

Rotary Club of Golden

A Messagefrom yourGovernor

The Warbler is published monthly byRotary District 5450, Colorado USA

Editor: Paul O’Rourke (Golden)303-526-1745 • mopo8@aol.com

Publisher: C. Dale Flowers (Littleton)303-794-4218 • rotary@cdale.com

Robert Fulghum tells the story of the little boy who found a piece of broken mirror with which he enjoyed playing. The boy discovered that the mirror would reflect light into dark places where the sun could never shine, into deep holes and crevices and into the darkest of dark closets. It became a great game for the boy to shine light into the most inaccessible places he could find.

The boy kept the mirror with him

always as he went about growing up, knowing he could take it out during idle moments and delight in the playing of his much-practiced game. As he grew older and a bit wiser he awakened one day to understand his little mirror was more than a plaything, its trick with

light much more than a game. What the boy once found

entertaining had become a clear perspective on his changing world, for he had come to understand and appreciate there is goodness and beauty to be found in those dark places where light is often in short supply. What the young man discovered was a call to service.

To bring light—understanding and compassion—to those places and

to those people who find themselves in darkness, without sustenance, without education, without water, without health or hope is a calling to which we all can aspire.

Kalyan Banerjee asks that we “search first within ourselves, to understand that all of us, everywhere, have the same dreams, the same hopes, the same aspiration, and similar dilemmas.” Let us Reach Within to Embrace Humanity.

In the upcoming Rotary year I look forward to partnering with you, listening to you, and supporting your “reflections” as we bring light to the dark crevices in our backyard or around the world.

Join members of the Rotary International Cycling to Serve Fellowship on Saturday, July 30th at 9 am. It’s a fun ride from Tom Watson Park near IBM in Boulder, stopping in Hygiene for breakfast at the Crane Hollow Café and return. The 15 mile ride is mostly flat with a few short hills. Some will extend their ride.

Last year a number of District 5450 Rotarians joined the Cycling Fellowship for their health and service to the community. They hope that lots of Rotarians will check them out and promote Rotary throughout the district.

Tom Maier of the Broomfield Rotary Club is leading TeamRotary in the Buffalo Bicycle Classic on September 11th. Ride or volunteer as a road marshall helping to raise money for scholarships.

Find out more. Contact Boulder Rotarian Sam Pottinger at pottingers@comcast.net.

Ride With Rotary, Saturday, July 30

On August 7 all hiking Rotarians are asked to join District 5450’s Hike to the Top for the Foundation. We will hike Mount Sherman to the top at a height of 14,036 feet to enjoy the spectacular views that can only be seen from the high peaks. To join the hike you are asked to donate

$1,000 to the Rotary Foundation this Rotary year, July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012. You may donate the full amount yourself during this time period or ask those less energetic Rotarians you know to donate a portion toward the total. All parties donating will receive Paul

Harris Recognition, but the one who goes to the top will receive double points.

Mount Sherman is one of the easier “fourteeners” with a distance of 8 miles and 2,800 feet elevation climb. It is located just outside of Fairplay, off highway 285. At the top we will take photographs with a banner that can be used for publicity. Interested parties should email Bill Farrow of the Boulder Valley Rotary Club at bfarrow@comcast.net. Bill is an experienced guide for the Mountaineering Center and can answer any questions from first-timers about the challenges of climbing the high peaks. See you at the “Top.”

Hike to the Top for the RI Foundation

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Page 2 July 2011

Mark your calendar . . .April 27 - 29, 2012

District 5450 Conference

Join District GovernorJim Halderman

and TheRotary Club of Golden

As We CelebrateRotary 2011-2012!

The Ameristar ResortBlackhawk, Colorado

Rotary History by Jay Carpender, Rotary Club of University Hills

Hancock brings Rotary to Denver“Hancock brings Rotary to

Denver” could have been a headline in the Denver Post not in 2011, but in 1911. One hundred years ago, another Hancock, not the current Mayor-elect of the City of Denver, but Grattan E. Hancock, manager of the Smith-Premier Typewriter Co. helped to bring Rotary to Denver. Initially, Hancock wrote to Paul Harris, who had once lived in Denver and worked as a newspaper reporter and was then a young lawyer in Chicago, to ask about starting a unit in Denver. Hancock wrote his letter in 1908, and was sent the Chicago Club’s brochure on organizing a Rotary Club; the brochure was very similar to current club brochures or now websites in mission and wording.

Over the next few years he continued correspondence and in 1911 he received a letter directly from Paul

Harris, then President of the National Rotary Organization, which said. “The Rotary Club is a forceful idea and seems to take root wherever it is given a reasonable opportunity…so far as the altruistic side of our curriculum

is concerned; we can as a National Rotary bring to bear the same insistent force in national matters as a local Rotary can on municipal matters. The force of a combined Rotary

operated from all the large cities…would be almost beyond conception.”

“…the most vital consideration is the class of people whom you ask to join. Aim to secure the leading

businessmen in each line of business. Above all make no mistake in …those who will get the most direct benefit out of the club.

Hancock then generated a letter to Denver area prospects saying

“Rotary is a quality organization of quality [people] producing quality goods or if professional, dispensing quality thought, word, and deed. Every member is active.”

The letter produced an initial meeting of 24 individuals from various businesses, including the hotel business, schools, equipment sales, architecture, dentistry and the railroad. On December 9, 1911, the group grew to 40 Charter members of the Denver Rotary Club, the 31st Rotary Club in the Rotary System. The club was started before there were international clubs or District Governors

What Paul Harris felt would be a force in the nation, has eclipsed his dream by becoming an International Organization with almost 40,000 clubs worldwide.

Gratton Hancock’s business card

Rotarians gather in Wichita, Kansas in March of 1915. Denver Club 31 founder and RI Director Gratton E. Hancock is located far right in the photo.

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According to the World Bank, some three billion people in the world live on less than $2 per day and close to half live on less than $1.25 pre day. One of the most powerful tools we have to address this terrible situation is Microcredit, a system of providing small loans to poor people, mostly women, to help them start or improve a small business.

In May of this year, funds from a Matching Grant, supported by eleven Rotary clubs (ten in District 5450 and one in District 5470) and supported by our district’s DDF, started to flow to poor women in the Sumpango area of Guatemala. Total funding was $50,842 and at an average loan of $300 this will help some 170 women start, or expand, their businesses.

Our partners in this initiative are the Rotary Club of Guatemala Metropoli and Friendship Bridge,

a Microfinance Institution (MFI) with offices both in Guatemala and Denver. Anna Raymundo is a typical Friendship Bridge borrower. Anna is

dreadfully poor. She has two children. Her husband has left her. She lives in a concrete block building in Nebaj

with dirt floors and huge gaps between the walls and the roof. Using a backstrap loom she weaves and sells “huipiles” a form of traditional Mayan blouse. Cash flow is a continuous problem and she does not make enough to pay for electricity. With a loan from Friendship Bridge she hopes to even out her cash flow and increase the amount of huipiles she can weave and so increase her income.

Rotarians interested in finding out more about how they can support microcredit

are encouraged to contact members of the District Microcredit Committee, Mike Hayes, Chair, at 303-460-8571 or hmichaelhayes@comcast.net.

Microcredit by PDG Mike Hayes, Rotary Club of Westmminster 7:10

Reducing Poverty in Guatemala

Anna Raymundo, her two children and a Friendship Bridge loan officer.

Business and professional people in the Denver Front Range area, between the ages of 25 and 40, are encouraged to consider a great opportunity to visit either Croatia in April 2012 or Brazil in May 2012 as part of The Rotary Foundation’s Group Study Exchange (GSE) program.

The program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for businesspeople and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams of four or five individuals to visit either Croatia or Brazil. Hosted by Rotarians in Croatia and Brazil, for three to four weeks, team members will experience the country’s culture and institutions, observe how

their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical three to four-week tour, team members participate in five to ten full days of vocational visits, make a number of presentations to local Rotary clubs, and spend two to three days at a Rotary district conference. In addition, three to four hours per day may be spent on cultural

District 5450 Rotary Group Study Exchange to Croatia and Brazil in 2012Appplications due by August 15

and site tours; and three to four hours per day of free time are spent with host families.

For each team member, The Rotary Foundation provides the most economical round-trip airline ticket between the home and host countries. Rotarians in the host area provide for meals, lodging, and group travel within their district.

Applications must be made through a local Rotary club. Details are available at http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/160en.pdf.

Applications are due to John Logan by August 15, 2011. Interviews will be in September 2011.

Information can also be found at www.rotary5450.org or by contacting the GSE Chair at john.logan@comcast.net. 

“Vocationally, I gained a better focus and direction in my job. I am more willing and ready to take up challenges, including giving public lectures. I have returned with a strengthened feeling of self-worth and confidence.” GSE Team Member

Rotar y Distr ic t 5450

Page 4 July 2011

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Learn from the success of the Arvada Sunrise Rotary Club about a community project that is truly “beneficial to all concerned.”

This creative Rotary club awarded eight Arvada and Pomona

High School students cash for college at its second annual Speak Up! Speech Contest held this April at the Arvada Center.

There were nearly 100 attendees, including Rotary members, city dignitaries, local business owners and friends and family of participating high school students. Speeches had to follow Rotary International’s theme, “building communities and bridging continents,” while applying concepts from The Four-Way Test.

“The Arvada Sunrise Rotary focuses significant effort helping children along a path to success,” said Arvada Sunrise Rotary board member John Thielen. “We started the Speak Up! contest because it was important to give deserving kids a head start in college. When coupled with the

community’s support, the program gives me great hope that these future generations will not only find success, but also share their talents with service to others.”

Each student gave a six- to eight-minute speech judged by a

panel of professionals that included Arvada assistant city manager Bill Ray and local business leaders. The speech contestants were judged on a 100-point system broken into four main categories: personal qualities, organization, presentation and effectiveness.

Contestants spoke about a variety of topics, ranging from misconceptions about the U.S. and other countries, starting a cause locally and expanding internationally, overseas volunteerism and personal triumph.

Cole Chernushin won a $3,000 first-place scholarship for his speech about how food connects us locally and worldwide, and Rachel Tenney won the $2,000 second-place scholarship for her speech about how

the Internet bridges continents, but requires thoughtfulness. Both are seniors at Pomona High School. The remaining contestants took home $500 participation gifts, including Brandon Sheeder, Danielle Bennett, Rachel Moore, Melissa Muniz and Kailee Morton from Pomona High School and Jessica Camomile from Arvada High School.

“We support Arvada and Pomona High School students who dream of going to college, and hope our event will continue to grow each year,” said Barbara Fox, International chair for Arvada Sunrise Rotary.

ASpeakUp!ChallengeLet’s build on the

accomplishments of the Arvada Sunrise Rotary Club. District Governor Jim Halderman and Doug Young, Chair of The Four-Way Test Committee challenge clubs throughout District 5450 to initiate a Speech Contest for their local high schools. The ultimate goal is to showcase the best of the club winners at the 2012 District Convention and crown a District 5450 Speaking Champion!

To learn more about conducting a Speech Contest in your club, contact John Thielen of the Arvada Sunrise Rotary Club and a member of the District Four-Way Test Committee. johnt@rothdistributing.com or 303-949-9619.

Speak Up! and impact your community with a Four-Way Test Speech Contestby Michelle Francis from 2020 Strategies Inc.

2010 Speak UP! Speech Contest Fianlists: front row left to right Rachel Tenney, Jessica Camomile, Melissa Muniz, Rachel Moore, Danielle Bennett; back row left to right Brandon Sheeder, Kailee Morton, Cole Chernushin

Rotar y Distr ic t 5450

Page 5 July 2011

This story really begins in the neglected corner of anyone’s garage, where an unused and forgotten mobility device (md) is discovered and the proverbial light bulb goes off: I’m going to donate this piece of equipment to Crutches 4 Africa (C4A). And when that happens, something very special is the result.

On January 19th, 2011, a 40-foot shipping container was loaded with over 3,000 donated mds—not only crutches, but canes, and walkers, and wheelchairs—which were collected throughout District 5450 and destined for Mombasa, Kenya. Even though we knew our shipment had arrived in Mombasa on May 4th, we couldn’t plan our trip until we were certain the mds had cleared customs. And that announcement came, finally, on May 26th, 2011.

By the time we reached Mombasa, the container had been unloaded and the mds stored at a local university. Our first task was to separate the mds into three shipments. One allotment was to remain in Mombasa for local distribution. Two others were scheduled for Nairobi and Kisumu, respectively, and were transported to those places (along with us) on the East Africa Railroad.

Once we’d made our deliveries in Nairobi, we made a special trip to Magori, where the local Rotary Club—whose President had contacted

C4A directly for assistance—helped us distribute the mds in their town.

On the following day several Rotarians from Magori and our crew traveled to the far southwestern part of Kenya, to the little village of Muhuru Bay. We surprised the people at a small rural medical clinic just outside of town with an unexpected but much appreciated delivery of mds. As we made our way into Muhuru Bay we came across a boy, of perhaps 15 years,

who appeared to have suffered multiple breaks in his right leg. Either the bones had not been set properly, or maybe they’d not been set at all. In either case, his mobility was severely restricted; he had no crutches and had to hold his right leg with one hand so as to steady himself as he tried to walk. We stopped.

In the few minutes it took to fit the boy with a pair of crutches, a curious crowd of maybe 75 had gathered to see what it was our crew was doing. With the boy smiling on his new crutches, we resumed our way into Muhuru Bay to the wonderful sound of the people applauding as we passed.

In Kisumu, we met up with our recently delivered mds and after

segregating out what went where we set out for Kitale, north of Kisimu, one of the principal distribution points of our trip. The people of Kitale knew we were coming; they knew the mds were coming, too, and they’d made plans. There was music and dancing and numerous speeches that, like all speeches, went on for a long time. Mine was last, and I did my best to get everyone wound up, cheerful and excited. With the formalities concluded

we went about the happy work of giving the people of Kitale what they’d come for: mobility.

People were fitted for crutches and canes and were placed into wheelchairs and all was going well when the rain came. The joy and celebration went on undeterred. And with new and improved ways of getting around a good many of them (and us) began dancing, in the rain. I couldn’t think of a better way to wind up such a successful and gratifying distribution.

For more information on the Crutches 4 Africa program and how you and your club can become involved, please contact Dave Talbot at c4a@crutches4africa.org.

Lean on Me…Crutches 4 Africa Delivers Mobilityby Dave Talbot, Mountain Foothills Rotary Club

Dave Talbot, founder of Crutches for Africa

Clockwise from uppe left: A polio survivor in the slum of Kabera, Nairobi, Kenya who received a pair of new crutches from Crutches 4 Africa, June, 2011; 124 Another polio survivor receives new crutches on the Beach, north of Mombasa, Kenya; Dave’s wife Candice Talbot working in the warehouse in Mombasa, Kenya where the container had been unloaded. She is helping to separate the mobility devices (md’s) for transport inland for distribution.; Another survivor in Kabera slum, Nairobi Kenya.

Rotar y Distr ic t 5450

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Haiti has the worst maternal and child health statistics in the western hemisphere and amongst the worst in the world. Only 25% of births are attended by trained personnel as compared to 90% in neighboring Dominican Republic. Partners in Health’s work (i.e., Paul Farmer/Harvard University) in central Haiti has shown that investing in midwifery can significantly reduce maternal mortality (by 50%) even under the harshest of conditions. Midwives can be drawn from local populations as “local daughters”, and are more accepted and trusted in remote villages.

A project, proposed by Dr. Blair Gifford of Denver Mile High Rotary, was awarded $100,000 by the Rotary International Foundation. This project will establish a midwife auxillaire training program at the Ecole Professionnel CAMEJO (EPC) in Leogane, Haiti. Leogane, a community of 250,000 people, was at the epicenter of the January 2010 earthquake. Instructors for this program will be provided by Midwives for Haiti, based in Virginia, the midwifery program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and some midwives from Denver Health. District clubs that contributed to this Matching Grant project included:

Midwifery Vocational Training Project In Haitiby Dr. Blair Gifford,Denver Mile High Rotary,

Boulder, Conifer, Evergreen, Denver, Denver Mile High (lead), and Parker.

Peter Ewing of the Boulder Rotary has joined Dr. Gifford in an additional fund raising effort for this project. An additional $43,000 is needed to build a vocational training center and clinic for EPC. Currently $10,000 has been raised and construction has begun with the advice and design of volunteer professional architects and structural engineers. Would your club consider contributing to this important project? Note; since this project involves building

construction, funds contributed are not eligible for match from either District or RI. Additionally, do you know of individuals, organizations or foundations that might consider a contribution to this project? Peter and Blair hope to collect the needed funds so as to complete the building by January 2012, when the first class of midwifery students arrives.

For further information, please contact Blair at Blair.Gifford@UCDenver.edu or 303-315-8400 or Peter at pmjewing@earthlink.com or 303-449-4795.

Haiti government-run well baby clinic.

A U.S. State Department funded workshop was held on the Auraria campus (Denver) in September 2010. The Ecole Professionnel CAMEJO and midwifery training were the projects that the workshop participants decided to develop. Dr. Gifford directed the conference.

Plan view of vocational training center and clinic for EPC

Rotar y Distr ic t 5450

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Rotar y Distr ic t 5450

Page 8 July 2011

DISTRICT5450LEADERSHIPDistrict Governor

Jim Halderman (Golden)District Governor-Elect

Mike Klingbiel (Denver Southeast)Distrct Governor-Nominee

Dan Himmelspach (Denver Mile HIgh)Treasurer

Dick Castleman (Englewood)Secretary

Patricia Fiske (Castle Pines)Past District Governors

Karten Sekich (Longmont Twin Peaks)Mike Oldham (Parker)David Beall (Littleton)

District Trainer Karen Briggs (Denver Southeast)

District Events Resource Team Chair Gary Fletcher

Rotary AwarenessBill Fernow (Parker)

Membership ChairBob Walsh (Denver Mile High)

Service Projects ChairCraig Essex (Smoky Hill)

The Rotary Foundation ChairAnn Tull (Denver Mile High)

Rotarians at LargeMary Kay Hasz (Highlands Ranch)George Maybee (Commerce City)

Carol Carper (Conifer)District Office Manger

Liz Anderson

ASSISTANTGOVERNORSSteve Sehnert (Denver Mile High)

Steve Mast (Denver)Ted Cluett (South Jeffco)

D’Lynn Morse (Peak to Peak)Steve Baroch (Castle Rock HIgh Noon)

Jo Kirkenaer (Niwot)Peter Ewing (Boulder)

Beverly Mendel (Carbon Valley)Kevin O’Connell (Brighton Early)

Dan Hershberger (Arvada)Dan Green (Golden)Al Johnson (Parker)

Bob Martin (Highlands Ranch)Susan Jurgensmeier (Summit County)

Mark Lund (Winter Park)

ROTARY DISTRICT 5450 OFFICE13214 West Utah Circle

Lakewood, Colorado 80228303-477-0654 • Fax 303-477-0658

district secretary@rotary 5450.orgwww.rotary 5450.org

Beginning with this issue the District Newsletter will feature easy to use ideas for improving or enhancing club efforts to promote Rotary. We invite you to share strategies you have found to be successful in your community too!

4 Subscribe to Rotary PR Tips, an e-mail publication from Rotary International. Using the basic Rotary messages it suggests ways to modify information for use in your own community. Subscribe atwww.rotary.org/enMembers/RunningAClub/Informing/InformingtheCommunity/Pages/ride.fault.aspx Honest!

4 Make a list of popular publications

PR Tips. . .from our team to yours.

or web sites in your own community. Reach out and ask to partner with them in publishing stories or pictures about Rotary events and activities.

4 Let the District 5450 PR team help. Contact Debbie Lynch at lynch1jd@comcast.net or Tom Hughes at eth5530@cs.com.

The very simple rules: the first person to correctly answer the monthly question (all questions will come from that month’s edition of The Rotarian magazine) will win a small prize and have their name announced in the next newsletter. In addition the winner may

This month’s question:

What are Kalyan Banerjee’s two favorite magazines?

Your Monthly Rotary Quizsubmit an article or announcement about their work or their committee’s work on a Rotary service project, to be featured in the next month’s district newslet-ter. All responses should be sent to Paul O’Rourke at mopo8@aol.com.

Polio $$$ as of July 15All District 5450 clubs combined, (including Castle Pines, a brand new club which contributed $800), raised $190,000 in 2010-2011, for a total of $593,500 since the Gates Challenge was announced in Nov. 2007. That is 106% of our District declared goal.

District 5450 lapel pinsDistrict 5450 lapel pins can be ordered through PDG Karen Sekich at ksekich@aol.com. The cost to the District is $1.05 per pin and payment should be made to Rotary Interna-tional District 5450.”

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