Fellow Rotarians good evening! This is the last of our inductions for 2008-2009. This is why I have saved the best for last. Tonight I shall share with you the fruits of our endeavors during the first quarter of our year – how we fared against the dreams we have set to “Make Dreams Real.” Before that, however, I want to congratulate “Real Good” Presidents Gary Gonzales of RC Makati San Antonio, Beth Amat of RC Parañaque Multinational,  Dan Daffon of RC Makati Greenbelt and their “Real Good” team for the honor and privilege they have been given to lead this great club. To choose leaders in a Rotary club is a demonstration of trust and confidence rarely given to equals. Rotarians, as captains of industry, are leaders in their own right. To be chosen as leader among these leaders is a rare honor and privilege.

This rare honor and privilege however demands the fulfillment of a great responsibility – to ensure the attainment of specific goals that contribute to the success of the Rotary movement in addressing specific human concerns carefully chosen by the RI president for his year of leadership. In making his choices, he begins with the year’s theme to inspire Rotarians to work together as a team. He then chooses the specific goals or thrusts to guide all forces of the organization towards one direction. Lastly, he declares the President’s Emphases or areas of focus of service projects to achieve maximum results.

These “Real Good” Presidents and their team are part of the Rotary leadership in our district that have been given the RI mandate to lead under the RI theme, “Make Dreams Real” and to achieve the twin goals of reducing the rate of child mortality through the RI President’s Emphases in the areas of Water, Health & Hunger, Literacy, and Environment.    

With this background in mind, I have chosen this occasion to reveal our success stories for the year. I have indeed saved the best message for this last induction of officers for 2008-2009.

At the beginning of our year we set our common purpose: Building Effective Clubs for a Stronger Rotary. And to achieve this, we committed ourselves to be guided by the hallmarks of strong and effective clubs:

• Significant membership growth
• Meaningful service projects
• Important contributions to The Rotary Foundation
• Committed leaders that will be serving beyond the club
• Well governed clubs that are accountable to their members and compliant with RI policies and guidelines

Based on this common goal, we set specific goals for our district:

• A total membership of 3,000 Rotarians – to be achieved through an increase of 900 new Rotarians  and organization of 33 new clubs.
• Total contributions of US$300,000 to The Rotary Foundation
• 100 percent of clubs will receive the RI Presidential Citation.

By achieving these major goals, we have committed to leave two legacies that should become our district’s foundations for a strong Rotary movement in our part of the world:

1. To make our District 3830 the Premiere District in Philippine Rotary.
2. To make our District 3830 Number One in terms of Membership and Number One in terms of TRF Contributions by the end of 2008-2009.

Another dream, which has captured my heart and mind, is for us to leave a third legacy: a permanent “HOME” - a permanent office and full time support staff for D3830. This office shall have its own board room and sufficient office space for a reasonable number of staff. This office will offer great benefits to our district:

• Integrity. A permanent office projects an image of stability and reliability.
• Continuity, in terms of handover and preservation of relevant district records.
• Efficient service - to be provided by a professional full time staff that will be based in Makati.
• Ready office space for future district leaders who aspire to serve but are not prepared to spend to maintain their own office while serving as district governor.
• A business center, especially for clubs that don’t have their own office and secretariat. 

This, my friends, is a challenge I would like to give to our “Real Good Presidents” – the rare opportunity to leave a legacy that will give our district its own “Home.” As a token of gratitude for their support, if we make this dream real, I shall enshrine on the walls of this district office the names of the “Real Good Presidents” and their clubs – an everlasting reminder that they have made the district’s permanent home a legacy of their time. For this, I seek the invaluable support of every Rotarian in the district.

Tonight, at this induction of officers and directors of your club, we look back to those dreams as we close the first quarter of our year and ask ourselves: “How far have we gone in the pursuit of those dreams?” Well, let’s take a few moments to see how much we have achieved in the last three months: Let’s begin with partnerships our district has forged with several institutions to lay the foundations for programs and projects in the RI President’s Emphases:

Forged Partnerships with RI District 3830

Child Mortality:

• National Children’s Hospital – signed with Dr. Roberto Enriquez

Environment:

• City of Parañaque – “Linis Ilog Project for Parañaque River” signed with Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe
• Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) – signed with GM Edgardo Manda and two other districts: D3800 (DG Ferdinand Fuentes) and D3820 (DG Felino Noguera) for the Save Laguna Lake Projects
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Philippines – signed with its president, David O. Valdes and the other nine RI districts in the Philippines represented by their respective district governors.
• Haribon Foundation, Inc. – signed with its chairman, Jesus P. Francisco and the other nine RI districts in the Philippines represented by their respective district governors.

Matched District Agreement:

• RI District 2840 (Japan) – signed with DG Koichi Yokohama
• RI District 3620 Cheonan South Korea - signed with DG Eun Soo Moon
• RI District 3860 - signed with DG Billy Parilla

Now, let’s go to some figures on Membership Development and Extension:

End of June membership (based on SAR data from RI) is 2,267.  Beginning of our term (based on SAR payments with clean up of members), we start with about 1,976  (figures still have to be adjusted because some clubs have not yet paid SAR).

Membership Development and Extension:

• Number of new Rotarians inducted - 332
• Number of clubs to be extended -  33  

Given these figures, I am proud to say that we are certainly ahead of our target. If we continue this trend until the end of our year I hope we will exceed our goal of 3,000 members. Let us give ourselves a big round of applause...  Thank you.

On contributions to The Rotary Foundation, here is how we performed:

Contributions to TRF

• Grand total number of pledges obtained – 234
• Total contributions already paid to TRF – US$69,611.63 (PhP3,014,700)  (coming from 133 TRF contributors including  payment to PDG Alex Huang )
• From this total, pledges for Major Gifts contributors totals to 41 (if paid is equivalent to $309,000)

From what we see, we are certain that we will attain our year’s goal of US300,000 and even go beyond that if all those pledges are met. Let us exert more efforts to get those pledges and write a new record in Philippine Rotary.

On relevant service projects, the figures we have consolidated from reports for July, August, and partly September are truly inspiring.

Relevant Service Projects by Clubs

• Child Mortality: July - 28 clubs; August - 42 clubs
• Environment: July - 24 clubs; August - 38 clubs
• Health & Hunger: total number of projects and activities - 146
• Water Management: total number of projects and activities - 16
• Housing units donated to GK – 16
• New Generations: total number of projects and activities - 48

These are our figures for the first two months of 2008-2009 (September reports are yet to be turned in) . From where I stand, I am truly pleased and proud to say that we have made a fine start as far as membership development and extension, TRF contributions, and service projects are concerned. Let us give ourselves another round of applause. Now, let me present the district seminars we have so far conducted to enhance our knowledge and skills and boost our efforts towards the attainment of our goals this year:

District Seminars Held

My friends, I cannot help but wonder at the amazing performance we have shown in the first three months of our year. We have begun our year fully prepared and have Hit the Ground Running! We have overshot some of our targets (areas where we have excelled) and have performed at par with our goals in other areas. There is no doubt in my mind that we can make our year a spectacular success. But we cannot afford to sit back and relax. We have just begun and there is so much more to do in the next quarter up to the end of our year.

We have just begun and there is so much more to do in the next quarter up to the end of our year. With the world economy threatened by a giant financial crisis, we are facing great challenges that try men’s souls - challenges that could threaten the realization of our dreams for the year. I believe however that we are a strong nation. As Filipinos, we are a resilient people. As Rotarians, we are committed to our cause and will leave no stones unturned to pursue our goals – to “Make Dreams Real.”

I therefore ask “Real Good” Presidents Gary, Beth and Dan and the rest of the “Real Good” presidents to lead our clubs with more burning enthusiasm and commitment to the relentless pursuit of our goals this year. This is our year of leadership. There will be no other, for we have just one year to lead, unless time and circumstances conspire to give us a second chance.

This year is our only opportunity to leave not two, but three legacies for which we can be remembered for all time. This year, let us make District 3830 the Premiere District in Philippine Rotary, Number One in Membership and Number One in Contributions to The Rotary Foundation. This year, let us give District 3830 a permanent “home.”

With committed and effective leadership, these legacies are ours to give.