D-2483 DG's Monthly Letter 15 October 2018

VLADIMIR MATIĆ Governor 2018 - 19 Newsletter No 4 - October 15th 2018. Photo of the month: On October 13, Rotary training day gathered around 150 Rotarians at training sessions for foundations and grants, membership development and the public image.

DG Visits to clubs

DG Visits to clubs

DISTRICT ACTIVITIES On Wednesday, October 10, 2018, the Secretary of our District, Nikola Božić, was awarded the Order of the Academic Palms at the French Embassy in Belgrade. The award was presented on behalf of the Prime Minister of France by the French Ambassador to Serbia, H. E. Frédéric Mondoloni. Meeting with Tomislav Janković, President of the Governor Vladimir Matić and member of DLT Minja Municipal Assembly of Sremska Mitrovica. Discussion Nikolić at a work meeting with Dragan Bujošević, on the continued excellent cooperation between the Director General of Radio Television of Serbia. Municipality and RC Sremska Mitrovica. Education Minister Mladen Šarčević and DG Vladimir Meeting of DG Matić and members of RC Kraljevo with Matić attended the signing of the RC Čačak contract Deputy Mayor of Kraljevo Milun Jovanović. regarding the donation of 40 computers from the global grant 1870836 for IT cabinets in 4 primary schools in Čačak.

IPDG Bane Ranđelović as a member of the Nomination Committee for the selection of the Director of our Zone 21B. On that occasion, PDG Katerina Kotsali- Papadimitriou was elected director for the 2020-2022 period. The visit of the Governor of Šabac, Nebojša Zelenović. The governor’s visit to the mayor of Loznica The visit was also attended by DGN Danilo Ljevnaić and Vidoje Petrović. The District Delegation was also made up of DGN Danilo Ljevnaić and the RC Šabac president Zoran Živković. management of RC Loznica. The ceremony of the charter yachting fellowship of Serbia in Novi Sad. Congratulations to the charter fellowship president Milan Jovanović and all charter members.

Rotary training day On Saturday, October 13, Rotary training day was held in Belgrade, with the presidents, secretaries, club committee members and RC members attending. Three parallel seminars dedicated to the Rotary Foundation, membership development and public image were held. There were lecturers from abroad, among them the newly elected Board of Directors head RI Katarina Kotsali-Papadimitriou. Nearly 150 Rotarians participated in the seminars. The clubs that participated in the foundation seminar qualified to participate in grant bids. On this occasion, three clubs were awarded for the highest payment in RF per capita - RC Belgrade - Sava, RC E-club and RC Stara Pazova, and for the biggest payment to the Polio Fund - RC Kula, all for Rotarian year 2017-18.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE IN BELGRADE At the District Assembly held on October 13, 2018 in Belgrade, where 49 clubs from our District attended by 50 votes, a unanimous decision was made to adopt the report of IPDG Bane Randjelović for the Rotarian 2017-18 year. The second and third items of the agenda were dedicated to projects and grants. On this occasion, decisions on the adoption of the Rulebook on the use of DDF and other funds of the District 2483 and the Rules on the Management of Grants of the Rotary Foundation were made unanimously.

CLUB ACTIVITIES: Serving and socializing RC Ruma: Cleaning of wild dumps RC Ruma joined the big Clean Up the World action organized in 150 countries around the world with the aim of clearing wild dumps. RC Kraljevo: The breach of the Salonica front RC Kraljevo has become part of the City Protocol this year. With this status, and on the occasion of the breach of the Salonica front during World War I, the delegation of the Club attended a ceremonial academy and lay wreaths on a monument to Serbian warriors. RC Belgrade - Skadarlija: Donation RC Belgrade – Skadarlija on October 17, 2018 donated to the Institute for Mother and Child Healthcare of Serbia a surgical microscope camera with associated software. Igor Dimitriev, club president, presented the donation to the Institute director Prof. Radoje Simić, PhD. The total value of the donation is 35,700 dinars. RtC Kragujevac and RtC Beograd: Aid to school With the aid of Rotaract club Kragujevac and Rotaract Club Belgrade with Rotary and Rotaract clubs and friends, the official opening of the football and basketball courts as well as a playground for kids with seesaws, climbers, swings and spinners at the Julijana Ćatić Primary School in Stragari occurred on September 23, 2018. The pupils got new courts and playgrounds, and their happy faces showed gratitude to us this year as well. Within the framework of the October Remembrance Race 2017 and the Wine Evening with an auction of paintings and jerseys 2017 campaigns, a total of RSD 586,500 were collected, which were spent on the construction and renovation of the aforementioned courts. Joint meeting of three On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, a joint meeting of clubs of RC Bor, RK Knjaževac and RK Zaječar was held in Zaječar. There were 30 Rotarians present, and along with the members of clubs from Timočka Krajina also attending were CADG Zoran Martinović RC Niš, DGN Danilo Ljevnaić from RK S. Mitrovica, and DT Vita Djordjević from RK Morava - Ćuprija. The work programs of all three clubs for the next period were presented at the meeting. Danilo Ljevnaić gave a lecture on the topic A Successful Rotary Club, followed by an inspirational discussion.

A joint meeting A joint meeting of RC Stari grad and RC Ćuprija – Morava was held on September 26. RC Sombor: Smiling Apple RC Sombor on Friday, September 28, 2018 organized the Smiling Apple drive in Sombor. The drive was the continuation of last year’s socializing which marked World Apple Day. Also, below the clock that has been still for decades, members of the Rotary Club of Sombor distributed about 200 apples on St Trinity Day from 10 am to 1 pm. The price of the apples was not fixed and everyone gave as much as they could for the In That Sombor Town drive initiated by RC Sombor in order to collect funds for the reconstruction of the old town hall clock in the center of Sombor. All funds raised will be used to repair the clock. The drive will be continued when the clock starts to work again, until the clock has bells which will play the melody In That Sombor Town every day at noon. The Smiling Apple drive was supported by Sombor firefighters from the Volunteer Firefighting Company demonstrating some of the possibilities of a fire truck that was parked at the venue of the drive. RC Leskovac: Anniversary celebration On Saturday, September 29, RC Leskovac celebrated 83 years of its existence and 21 years since its re-establishment. Our guests were Governor Vlada Matić, Assistant Governor Dejan Ćurčić and representatives of our neighboring clubs Prokuplje and Vranje. Two computers were donated to the Gornja Jablanica Primary School from Medveđa celebrating 130 years and Radoje Domanović from Manojlovac - Leskovac, celebrating 140 years. RC Belgrade - Metropolitan: Twinning On the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons on Saturday, September 29, members of RC Belgrade - Metropolitan with the help of RC Gundogdu, RC Bornova and RC Manisa from District 2440 continued with the yard cleaning of the Retirement Home in Voždovac by planting flowers. On the evening of the same day, an official document on twinning between RC Gundog from Ismir and RC Belgrade Metropolitan was signed in order to strengthen good relations and cooperation between Turkish and Serbian Rotarians, as well as mutual support in the forthcoming Rotary projects.

RC Belgrade – Skadarlija: Humanitarian sailing RC Belgrade - Skadarlija carried out the 5th consecutive traditional humanitarian sailing. Nearly 50 participants from Serbia, Croatia, the United States, Finland and the Philippines sailed on 6 sailing boats and catamarans to raise funds for scholarships for young talents from Serbia who will apply for this year’s UWC (United World Colleges) scholarships. Many thanks to RC Kikinda, RC Novi Sad- Danube and RC Belgrade-Čukarica, as well as all friends of UWC and Rotary who supported the project and made it very successful, collecting EUR 7,800. RC Sombor: Safe House support The Safe House of the city of Sombor and RC Sombor continued the campaign of collecting books, children’s books, and textbooks for the Safe House residents. With 100 titles donated by RC Sombor, the target of one thousand books for the Safe House library has been exceeded. The drive started in the year 2018. Today’s gift by RC Sombor to the Safe House contained apples, the symbol of the Smiling Apple drive. Such activities are important not only in material goods, but they also raise awareness of the vulnerable and unprotected in our society, especially children and women, victims of family and partner violence. Cooperation between the Safe House of the city of Sombor and RC Sombor has been going on for years and fosters an excellent relationship of trust and support. RC and RtC Belgrade – Skadarlija: Wine and gastronomy evening Rotary Club Belgrade Skadarlija and Rotaract Club Belgrade Skadarlija have organized a traditional Wine and Gastronomy Evening in the restaurant Room 207! In the presence of 90 guests, an auction of exclusive drinks and wine was also held. We would like to thank the guests from the following Rotary and Rotaract clubs: Gundogdu Ismir, Metropolitan, Sombor, Belgrade, Zemun, Sava, Smederevo, Vranje, Šabac, Čukarica, etc. The total amount of funds raised was RSD 200,000 and will be used for the purchase of essentials for the Home for Children with Hearing Loss. RC Čačak: Twinning Rotary Club DRAMA (District 2484 - Greece) and RC Čačak signed a twinning agreement in accordance with the basic principles of Rotary International that promote close and interactive contacts between Rotarians from all over the world as well as serving the community, on October 6, 2018, the day of the 60th anniversary of RC Drama, signed a twinning agreement. With this document, clubs commit themselves to work together on community projects that will support peace, understanding and goodwill between the peoples of our two countries as well as around the world. Governor D2484 also attended the signing ceremony of the Twinning Agreement.

Rotary in Vranje: Cleaning the city’s picnic area On Sunday, October 7, 2018, Rotarians of all ages from the town of Vranje cleaned the city’s picnic area Ćoska, from the youngest RotaKids, Interact, Rotaract to RC Vranje. In addition, 2 ashes are planted. RC E–Club: Library digitalization RC E-Club has officially handed over the digitalized material from their collection to the library in Topola, which is the result of the digital literacy project in our District. A lecture was held on the same occasion. PROJECTS THE “500 COMPUTERS FOR 50 SCHOOLS IN 25 CITIES” PROJECT WAS INITIATED The first batch of computers was delivered to the Milena Pavlović Barili Primary School storehouse, according to the agreement with the Education Ministry Checking the computers and installing the LINUX operating system

Taking over the computers and their delivery DELIVERY OF COMPUTERS TO SCHOOLS IN VARIOUS TOWNS On September 1, 2018 the first delivery of 12 computers to Dimitrije Todorović Kaplar Primary School in Knjaževac was made RC Niš- OŠ \"Branislav Nušić\" Donja Trnava, Niš RC Niš KV- \"Miroslav Antić\" Niš

RC Bačka Topola-OŠ “Čaki Lajoš” Bačka Topola RC Subotica-ŠC “Dositej Obradović” Subotica RC Subotica-SOŠ “Žarko Zrenjanin“ Subotica RC S. Mitrovica-OŠ “Jovan Jovanović Zmaj” S.Mitrovica RC S. Mitrovica-O.Š. “Dobrosav Radosavljević Narod” S.M. RC Bg-Čukarica-O.Š. “Filip Kljajić Fića” Beograd-Čukarica

RC Bg-Čukarica-O.Š. “Vladimir Rolović” Beograd-Rakovica Na svakom računaru je nalepnica sa znakom Rotarija i nazivom donatora E-klub Berlin Global i porodica Česarov RC Senta-OŠ “Stevan Sremac” Senta OŠ “Žarko Zrenjanin”-GOSPOĐINCI-ZRENJANIN RC Užice,RC Bern i porodica Česarov RC Užice,RC Bern i porodica Česarov OŠ “Stari Grad” Užice OŠ “Dušan Jerković” Užice

RC Čačak-signing the contract with four primary schools from Čačak in the presence of the Education Minister Mladen Šarčević SEMINAR FOR IT TEACHERS Last weekend, the first of two seminars for computer science and technology teachers at the Petnica Research Station financed by our District within the project of equipping primary schools with computers was completed. Some 55 teachers attended this seminar.

A THE ABCs OF ROTARY Excerpt from the book by Cliff Dochterman RI WORLD HEADQUARTERS The seat of Rotary International was always located in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The first seat was located in Chicago itself, but in 1954, a suitable building was found in the area surrounding Chicago, in Evanston. This building on Ridge Avenue was sufficient for the Rotary Secretariat’s needs until the 1980s, when the expansion of the program, the emergence of the Rotary Foundation and the new PolioPlus activities resulted in a lack of space, and some employees had to be accommodated in nearby offices. When in 1987 in Evanston a modern 18-storey office building was put up for sale, RI felt that it would satisfy the need for space not only at the time, but also in the foreseeable future. The steel and glass building was built in 1977, with 37,000 square meters of office space. Rotary International bought the building and rented about 2/3 of the space, until the moment it was needed by Rotary itself. The building houses a hall with 190 seats, a large parking garage, a 300-seat cafeteria, as well as a functional business space for the 400 employees of the World Headquarters. The presidential offices on the 18th floor include a conference room where meetings of the RI Presidency and committee meetings are held, as well as the office of the president, the elected president and the secretary-general. The building called Rotary Center One will allow Rotary International to function more efficiently for many years. SOME OTHER “FIRSTS” • Rotary became bilingual in 1916 when the first Rotary Club was founded in Havana, Cuba, where English is not the official language. • In 1917, Rotary founded the Donation Fund which was the forerunner of the Rotary Foundation. Rotary adopted the name Rotary International for the first time in 1922. The former name was the International Organization of Rotary Clubs. The Paul Harris Fellowship was established in 1957 for the first time. The acknowledgement is rewarded for donations over USD 1,000. • The first Rotary Club to start weekly meetings was the Rotary Club of Oakland, California – Club No 3. • The Rotary emblem was printed on a commemoration stamp for the first time in 1931 during the Vienna Conference. • The first Rotary Club banner (of the Space Center in Houston) was carried by astronaut Frank Borman, a Club member, while in a lunar mission. • The first Rotary International conference held out of the USA was in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1921. • The first head of state to talk at a Rotary Conference was US president Warren G. Harding in 1923 in Saint Louis. ROOM 711 – THE BIRTHPLACE OF ROTARY Number 711 has a very special importance for Rotary. Room 711 of the old Unity Building formerly located in Dearborn Street in the center of Chicago, Illinois, USA, is the room where Rotary International was born. This historic room, which was the office of engineer Gus Loehr, was the location of the first meeting where Paul Harris and his friends met to discuss the idea of establishing a club for professionals and business people. Several Chicago Rotarians invested a lot of effort and time to preserve and restore it to its 1905 authenticity. For years, Rotarians around the world preserved this room as a miniature Rotary museum and who contributed annually to the “Paul Harris 711 Club” which provided funds for leasing and room maintenance. In 1989, the Unity Building was planned for demolition. Club 711 members carefully dismantled the room and placed the contents in storage. There it stayed until 1994, when the restored Room 711 found a permanent home. This piece of Rotary heritage is preserved at the RI World headquarters in Evanston.

Contents: Photo of the Month Gubernatorial visits District activities Rotary Training Day District Meeting in Belgrade Club activities Projects Seminar for IT teachers in Petnica The ABCs of Rotary The District in numbers District in numbers: On October 15, 2018, according to the database on my.rotary.org, our District 2483 gathered 66 clubs with 1,245 members. Yours in Rotary,