[D9640general] [eFlash_Rotary] Digest Number 679

[Garry & Anne Krischock]

 Messages In This Digest (2 Messages) 
  1. 1323: The Wilkinson way From: Sunil K Zachariah 

  2. 1324: R I President's July 07 Message From: Sunil K Zachariah 
Messages 
  1. 1323: The Wilkinson way 
Posted by: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk   sunilkzach 
Mon Jul 2, 2007 6:24 pm (PST) 
The Wilkinson way

RI's new president believes Rotarians can change the world, one 
person at a time. 

By Past District Governor Tom Wilkinson, as told to Nancy Shepherdson

Rotarians are a hard-working, idealistic breed. We all care about 
people and believe in the values captured by The Four-Way Test. And 
many Rotarians perform incredible acts of generosity. Nevertheless, 
if I may go out on a limb here, I'll make a prediction: My brother, 
Wilf Wilkinson, is going to impress a lot of Rotarians as the new 
president of Rotary International by his intense devotion to Service 
Above Self.

Please don't think I'm boasting about my big brother. Wilf and I are 
Canadians, and everyone knows that most Canadians are rather shy when 
it comes to bragging about themselves. So I'll introduce you to Wilf 
and let you make up your own mind.

But let's just say that the fellow who convinced the Canadian 
government to give more than US$180 million to the Global Polio 
Eradication Initiative might be someone special.

"It was Wilf's unstinting application of both persistence and 
patience that persuaded the government to release the money," says 
Past RI Director John Eberhard, chair of the Canadian Rotary 
Collaboration for International Development. "Wilf is a very 
persuasive person when faced with a cause he truly believes in. He 
spent a lot of time developing the relationships necessary to get the 
job done."

Rotary beginnings
Wilf was new to the town of Trenton, Ont., when he was asked to join 
the Rotary club there in 1962. At his first club meeting, Wilf 
realized how lucky he was to have been drawn into a group whose 
ideals so exactly matched his own. One of Wilf's four sons, Peter, 
told me, "Dad's philosophy is `to whom much is given, much is 
expected.'" Wilf sees those high expectations reflected in The Four-
Way Test, which, according to Peter, "is something my dad really 
believes in."

In fact, Wilf believes in it so strongly that he and his partners 
created their own version of The Four-Way Test for their firm, 
Wilkinson and Company. The "Wilkinson Way," a list of 10 ethical 
principles, has hung in the reception room in the main office for 
decades. Wilf retired in 2001, but the Wilkinson Way is still 
displayed on the wall, a tribute to the rock-solid ethical foundation 
that enabled the firm to grow from a one-man office to three 
locations totaling more than 100 employees.

A firsthand observer of those principles at work is Ontario's 
premier, Dalton McGuinty. "I knew that Wilf was a tremendous leader 
long before I knew about his ascension within Rotary, or his 
professional success, or his many contributions to the community," he 
wrote to me recently. "And that is because I work closely with two of 
his sons: John, an elected member of our provincial parliament, and 
Peter, who is my chief of staff.

"Someone once said that if your actions inspire others to dream more, 
learn more, do more, and become more, then you are a leader," the 
premier noted. "Well, judging from their sons' idealism, work ethic, 
and commitment to serving others, it's clear Wilf, and Joan, are 
great leaders."

Wilf's desire to serve has been the key to his becoming a leader in 
Rotary. To this day, he feels strongly that you should never seek a 
leadership position within the organization. Just do what you are 
asked, and opportunities to serve will come your way. Wilf also never 
lets a day end without thanking as many people as he can, in writing. 
It's no surprise to me that, a mere five years after joining, Wilf 
became president of his Rotary club. In 1971, he became governor of 
District 707 (now 7070, covering parts of Ontario), and his rise in 
the leadership of Rotary International had begun. But he was more 
interested in changing lives, and he would soon get a chance he had 
never imagined to do just that.

A turning point
Wilf vividly remembers his visit to southern India in 1982 to help 
Rotary clubs there promote a measles immunization program. At the 
time, the disease was killing millions of children on the 
subcontinent. At a club meeting, Wilf watched as a doctor cradled a 
crying baby in his arms and administered the vaccine. "It was a life-
changing experience," Wilf remembered recently. "I saw the tremendous 
needs, and the dedication of Rotarians there to solve those needs."

Ken Hobbs, a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Whitby, Ont., and 
a doctor who made it his goal to eliminate measles in India, recalls 
how my brother got involved: "In 1980, Wilf and several other past 
district governors in Ontario approached me to join [the] measles 
committee. Wilf handled the financial part of the project. He also 
helped persuade the Indian government to provide cold-storage areas 
for the vaccine. And he got the Canadian government to pay to ship 
the vaccine to India from Rahway, New Jersey."

P.V. "Puru" Purushothaman, past governor of District 3230 (India), 
remembers Wilf's trip well. "The Salem group of Rotary clubs had 
vaccinated 150,000 children against measles in 45 days," Puru told 
me. "When he landed in Salem, they saw a friendly, bright young 
Rotarian with a captivating smile, which made it easy for people from 
all walks of life to approach him."

As he arrived in Salem in the state of Tamil Nadu, a surprised Wilf 
was greeted by fireworks, rockets, and a festival. "The news of his 
arrival traveled fast," Puru remembers. "When he was to visit a 
remote village to vaccinate children, in the absence of a 
communication system, the village people thought of a bright idea: to 
fire rockets and firecrackers as he passed a certain road crossing. 
When Wilf arrived at the village, it was a festive occasion, with 
children flocking around him and wanting to shake hands with him. 
Wilf was touched."

Even before the measles project was over, Wilf had been tapped to 
apply his skills to another need. In 1986, Gerry Wooll, then chair of 
the Canada PolioPlus Committee and past RI treasurer, named him vice 
chair and treasurer of the PolioPlus program in Canada. The task was 
daunting: to raise C$10 million from Rotarians across Canada. Less 
than three years later, they had raised $12 million, and based on 
that success, he was asked to head up the Canadian advocacy effort 
that has secured more than US$180 million for PolioPlus from the 
Canadian government.

`Just keep asking'
To hear it from Wilf, a tall 77-year-old with wispy, white hair who 
is rarely seen without a crisp suit, conservative tie, and pocket 
handkerchief, those money-raising forays were all in a day's 
work. "The secret of fundraising," he has told me, "is being 
convinced of the need, having the courage to ask, and not being 
discouraged when someone says no. You'll get a donation from about 
every fourth person, so just keep asking. And you'll get something 
eventually from the person who turned you down last time - if you ask 
again next time." Then the task is to see that the money raised is 
spent wisely. His first fundraising project, back in the 1960s, was 
to rebuild his church in Trenton, a feat that was accomplished in 
record time. Since then, my brother has never encountered a project 
that he couldn't raise money for - the local hospital, Loyalist 
College, and the Cheshire Homes for adults with physical 
disabilities, to name a few.

As a forensic accountant, Wilf is adept at analyzing problems by 
listening and gently posing questions. "Have you thought of this?" is 
his familiar approach to difficult problems that often stymie other 
folks.

When Wilf was involved with refugee camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan 
border in the wake of the U.S.-led bombing in 2001, for example, the 
problem wasn't money: Rotary clubs had raised US$1.7 million in less 
than four months for refugee relief. The committee leading these 
efforts was headed by Past RI Director Lynmar Brock, and Wilf 
remembers: "What we had to do was figure out how to spend the money. 
The great lack was blankets, boots, coats, and all kinds of winter 
gear. The committee wrote specs for what was needed and put them out 
for bid to local companies. It also had to consider how it got the 
material distributed to the camps so it wouldn't end up on the black 
market."

As he traveled through the Khyber Pass in 2002 to inspect the camps 
and begin the process of relocating people back to their homes, Wilf 
learned that many of the refugees were farmers whose fields were now 
studded with land mines. So, he and fellow Rotarians helped local 
clubs set up training in trades such as plumbing, electrical, and 
carpentry work, thereby providing returning refugees with marketable 
skills.

Centennial convention chair
This international exposure prepared Wilf for the challenge of 
chairing the 2005 Chicago Convention Committee. To 
celebrate Rotary's centennial, nearly 40,000 people came from 200 
regions of the world, one of the largest turnouts for any RI 
Convention. Rotary Foundation Trustee Louis Piconi, who chaired the 
2005 Chicago Convention Promotion Committee, credits Wilf with much 
of that success: "His sincere appreciation for every level of effort 
is a characteristic not seen as often as it should. He has the 
[ability to] endear people all around the world."

My brother's gentle touch has guided a host of other projects. A 
decade ago, he decided that a defunct Rotary club in Stirling, Ont., 
needed reviving. He called up the editor of the local paper and 
gathered a dozen people for a meeting. The reborn club was chartered 
a few months later and has since gone on to raise more than C$200,000 
to turn an old train station into a community center.

But Wilf's service extends beyond Rotary. In 2001, in honor of his 
active commitment to his church, he was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et 
Pontifice medal by Pope John Paul II. Right up to the time he became 
president-elect of RI, he was executive director of the Quinte Ballet 
School of Canada, one of the country's leading dance schools.

Yet all his community involvement has never pulled my brother's focus 
away from his family. Wilf and Joan have a tradition that allows them 
to stay close to their four sons and eight grandchildren. When their 
oldest son, Bill, left home for university, they would call him every 
Sunday afternoon, and to this day, they've kept up that weekly 
communication with all their sons - Bill, Peter, John, and Stephen, a 
member of the Rotary Club of Barrie-Huronia, Ont. And Peter recalls 
from his high school days that whenever he had an important 
basketball game, he could always count on his father cheering him on 
from the stands. Even if the game was 200 miles away. Even if it was 
tax season.

Where it all began
Wilf is still deeply moved whenever he talks about our mother and 
father and how they continue to inspire him, even though they've been 
gone many years now. Our father helped build our parish church in 
Montreal, where we grew up, and eventually went on to chair the Holy 
Name Society for the Archdiocese of Montreal. "I saw what could be 
done by a simple person, in simple ways," Wilf says about our dad.

My brother has a story about a Holy Name Society meeting he went to 
with Dad. Some young fellows were talking about how they had worked 
hard on a fundraiser but still lost money. Dad said, "Here, I'll make 
up half the loss, and we'll see what we can do about the other half." 
And, drawing his wallet out of his pocket, he did just that. That was 
a lesson about appreciating peoples' efforts that Wilf never forgot. 
He learned a lesson about leadership that night too: Our father was 
elected vice president of the society at that same meeting.

At the time, Wilf was recovering from a childhood experience that 
changed his life. For two consecutive winters, he had been bedridden 
with pleurisy and pneumonia. While other boys ran and played outside, 
my brother explored the world through National Geographic magazines. 
But when our baby sister succumbed to the same illness, Wilf was 
devastated. I am nearly certain that those two terrible seasons of 
sickness and tragedy fuel his deep passion for helping others 
whenever he can.

Once he recovered, my brother worked hard to improve his physical 
fitness, going out for football and track at school. On the football 
team, he played so hard that he endured repeated concussions. Wilf 
always had time to help his siblings - he has six sisters and three 
brothers - with their homework, and he worked to achieve the highest 
honor in Canadian scouting. He would later be recruited into Rotary 
by the district scouting commissioner, proving that no good deed goes 
unrewarded.

That pursuit of excellence, unsurprisingly, is also reflected in 
Wilf's career. In the early days, Wilf worked full time for an 
accounting firm in Montreal while attending classes at McGill 
University. Though warned by his superiors that very few people who 
were married with children ever completed the national examination 
requirements to become a Chartered Accountant on the first attempt, 
Wilf accomplished this feat and was awarded the designation in 
October 1958. He's also a Certified Fraud Examiner.

But his professional achievements encompass more than a successful 
business. In Canada, becoming a fellow in the accounting profession 
is a special honor conferred by one's peers. Wilf was elected as a 
fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (FCA) in 
1979, according to David Wilson, a Rotarian and past CEO of that 
organization. He also received certificates of outstanding merit from 
both the Ontario institute and the Canadian Institute of Chartered 
Accountants.

"Along the way," Wilson added, "numerous other honors joined Wilf's 
FCA. But what was always clear was that personal recognition was 
never the reason he gave so generously of his time and talents. He 
accepted the honors with true humility and modesty and just kept on 
giving and giving."

Wilf's wife, Joan, has always been a full partner in his Rotary life, 
accompanying him to RI headquarters in Evanston, Ill., USA, for the 
extended stays required of a president-elect of Rotary International. 
She plans to continue to do so during his year as president. 
According to Peter, "My mom says my dad's hobby is going to meetings."

A member a year
Though his leadership responsibilities keep him away for long 
stretches, Wilf manages to remain very involved in his home club, 
where he continues to serve on the membership committee. Perhaps that 
explains one of his principal goals for Rotarians this year. He's 
told me, "I want Rotarians everywhere to accept the responsibility of 
bringing in one new member each year and mentoring that person to 
become a committed Rotarian."

Wilf deeply believes in the power of one person, one Rotarian, to 
make a difference. Earlier this year, he went back to Pakistan to 
accept an award on behalf of Rotary from President Pervez Musharraf. 
In their meeting, Wilf challenged the Pakistani leader: "You were 
reported to be the last country to eliminate smallpox. Will you make 
a commitment not to be the last to eradicate polio?" He suggested 
that Musharraf help the process along by creating video promotions 
and earmarking government funds for the cause. The president became 
so involved in his discussion with Wilf that his attendants had to 
come in three times to remind him to end the meeting. Musharraf 
finally did bring their meeting to a close - but he did promise to do 
more for the eradication efforts in his country.

In fact, the effect my brother has on leaders and ordinary Rotarians 
alike makes it hard to be skeptical when he reveals his most daring 
dream for Rotary: "World peace is possible, and Rotary can help 
achieve it." Impossible? Maybe. But I've learned that when Wilf 
Wilkinson says he can make something happen, only a fool bets against 
him. 

Tom Wilkinson, past governor of District 7820 (Canada; Saint- Pierre 
and Miquelon), is a retired educator from Prince Edward Island and 
charter president of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty. Nancy 
Shepherdson is a freelance journalist based in Illinois, USA, and a 
member of the Rotary Club of Lake Zurich.

This article originally appeared in the July 2007 issue of The 
Rotarian. 

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary


 2. 1324: R I President's July 07 Message 
Posted by: "Sunil K Zachariah" sunilkzach at yahoo.co.uk   sunilkzach 
Mon Jul 2, 2007 6:25 pm (PST) 
President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson's JULY MESSAGE

Dear fellow Rotarians,

It is the privilege of every incoming president of Rotary 
International to choose a theme for his year in office. For each 
president, the challenge is to find a theme that will encapsulate how 
he feels about Rotary, convey his message, and motivate Rotarians 
around the world for the year of service ahead.

Immediate past president Bill Boyd chose Lead the Way, and this was a 
wonderfully appropriate theme. His timely call to serve as 
the "heroes, not celebrities" that our communities need has inspired 
us all, and his leadership has given us a stronger Rotary.

For me, Rotary Shares was the natural choice as the 2007-08 theme. I 
have always felt that the essence of Rotary is about sharing. Every 
day, in every club, Rotarians share with others in too many ways to 
count. We share our time, we share our talents, and we share our 
resources. We share our kindness, and we share our love.

In Rotary, sharing doesn't mean giving away the things you don't need 
for yourself. In Rotary, sharing means giving of yourself, freely, 
for the good of others. It means taking the time to see what our 
communities need and to decide which of those needs we can meet most 
effectively. It means sharing what we have with those around us, as 
well as with those we will never have the chance to meet.

All of us came to Rotary to share what we have with others and to 
share our friendship and fellowship with other Rotarians. We share 
Rotary with others through bringing in qualified new members, and we 
share Rotary with the next generation by focusing on youth. 

Rotarians have so much to share, and there is so much that the world 
needs from us. Our vocational classification system ensures that 
every club contains a full range of business and professional skills. 
Within every Rotary club, there is a world of talents, skills, and 
abilities. Each club has the resources to tackle nearly any obstacle -
if there is the will and the commitment to do it.

This year, I will ask all of you to say yes to the challenges that 
being a Rotarian will bring you. Through this year's emphases of 
health, literacy, water, and family of Rotary, we have an enormous 
range of opportunities for service. Those projects, those 
possibilities, those open doors all await us in the months ahead. All 
we need to do is say yes.

Yes, I will turn that idea into a project, and I will lead the 
project to completion.

Yes, I will share my skills, time, and resources with my club and 
with those who need my help. 

Yes, I will share Rotary with others, by bringing a qualified new 
member into my club.

I look forward to a year in which we demonstrate that Rotary Shares, 
by sharing the best of ourselves with our clubs, our communities, and 
the world.

Wilfrid J. (Wilf) Wilkinson
President, Rotary International

Courtesy: eFlash_Rotary
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