Rotary International held its annual "UN DAY" on Saturday, November 1, 2013 at the United Nations. The annual event is sponsored and hosted by the two giants in international humanitarian activities Rotary International and the United Nations, which have a long history of working together and sharing similar visions for a more peaceful world.
Over 1,000 Rotarians and guests, with hundreds of members of Rotary's youth wings - Interact and Rotaract - came from all over the world to the UN. In addition to Rotary International President Ron Burton and other Rotary dignitaries, several top UN officials including Hon. Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary General, and Ole Lund Hansen, UN Global Compact LEAD, addressed the gathering. Rotary International currently holds the highest consultative status offered to a nongovernmental organization by the UN’s Economic and Social Council, which oversees many specialized UN agencies. Rotary maintains and furthers its relationship with a number of UN bodies, programs, commissions, and agencies through its representative network . This network consists of RI representatives to the United Nations and other organizations.
Rotary’s UN day began at 9 a.m., with sessions on "Economic, Community, Basic Education and Literacy," "Doing Good in the World," "Health Panel: Maternal and Child Health", and "How Engaging With Rotary Changes Lives". Government representative, community leaders, and humanitarian activists - Rotarians and non-Rotarians - such as El Salvador Ambassador Carlos Enrique Gonzales; Sharon Tennison, author of the best selling "The Power of Impossible Ideas"; and Consul General of India Dnyaneshwar Mulay - spoke about various humanitarian initiatives that had been successfully implemented across the Globe. The post-lunch featured break-out sessions on five of Rotary's top priorities: Water, Youth, Maternal and Child Health, Disease Prevention and Treatment, and Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Rotarian Past District Governor Deepa Willingham from California made a spell-binding presentation on the importance of focusing on educating girls and women. Rotarian Willingham is the founder and Chair of PACE Universal, a charity dedicated to the eradication of poverty through the education of girls and women. She founded a girl's elementary school in a remote, poverty-stricken part of India, Piyali. That school is now a thriving success and a model for other similar schools being established in Honduras and other parts of the world.
Rotarian Jeffrey Teitel from the Deervalley Rotary Club in Vermont spoke about another innovative program, "Rotary International Syllabus for Envoys of Peace" (RISE for Peace), which was launched last year as an educational course to teach young people close to a Rotary Club the "basic tenets of peace and conflict resolution." The courses are tailor-made for High School students to earn a social studies or history credit. Rotarian Teitel, one of the originators of that Program, said that the idea of teaching peace curriculum is gaining traction locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. "It's important to train the young people who will lead the world," he said. "The more people are educated about peace, the less likely they are to pick up an AK-47." http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_22617981/conflict-resolution-rise-program-guides-young-leaders-...
Briarcliff Rotarians Kris Chittur and Scott Lanoff attended the inspiring event.
In addition to meeting and establishing contact with humanitarian leaders through the world, the event opened up vistas for new community projects and humanitarian initiatives in Briarcliff Manor and in Westchester. “I'm quite literally looking forward to this event next year,” said Scott Lanoff.
Samuel Lanoff, who is Rotarian Scott Lanoff’s 13-year old son attending Briarcliff Middle School, also attended the UN Day. This was the second time Samuel attended this event, having been inspired by last year’s experience. "My experience at RI's UN-Day 2013 once again showed me the positive impact Rotary International is having on peoples lives around the planet,” he said. “I met many Interactors - future Rotarians - from over 20 countries, several of whom I've already been in touch with on Facebook."
The Briarcliff Rotary is proud to have been a participant in this event advancing international understanding and peace. The Club hopes to emulate some of the phenomenal projects discussed in the UN Day, launch initiatives locally and internationally to assist those less fortunate than us, and advance international understanding and peace through Youth Exchange, Ambassadorial Scholarships, and other Rotary programs. We invite persons interested in being a participant, not a spectator, in advancing these ideals, to join us! For further information, contact: kchittur@post.harvard.edu, Chair, Membership Committee, Rotary Club of Briarcliff Manor.
