Fellow Rotarians,

I hope you are all well as we navigate our way through this public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you are all aware, all in person Rotary meetings, through the end of March, have been cancelled. We know, from our 100 plus year history, that friendships & fellowship are an important component of Rotary and we want to ensure that those tenents can continue through creative opportunities.

Our Club board met Tuesday morning via video conferencing with the bulk of conversation addressing our club’s Monday meetings, committee meetings and club service projects; how do we keep those options available to you as member of Toledo Rotary? The conversation evolved and resulted with the following short-term solution:

Beginning Monday, and until further notice, we will begin hosting our weekly meetings as online meetings. An email link will be sent prior to those meetings. For Monday, March 23 we are confirming a representative from the Lucas County Health Department to provide a real-time update on the Coronavirus in our area and what area health officials need from the business community to keep everyone safe.

ZOOM Online Meetings

Zoom is an online platform for video and audio conferencing. If you have not used Zoom before, there are just a few easy steps to get started:

1. Before joining a Zoom meeting on a computer or mobile device, you can download the Zoom app from their Download Center. Otherwise, you will be prompted to download and install Zoom when you click the join link.

2. Each meeting has a unique number called a meeting ID that will be required to join a Zoom meeting.

More details on the Zoom meeting and how to join will be sent early next week.

The board has created an ad hoc committee that is working on this orchestration and implementation process for online meetings. We are working to confirm US Senator Sherrod Brown for April 6th. It is our intention that this solution will include the opportunity to participate during the meeting with comments and questions for the guest speaker.

Additionally, the member engagement committee and its Ambassadors will be making phone calls to Rotarians. The purpose of the calls is to stay connected with each other during this challenging time and to hear how you are experiencing this crisis.

Toledo Rotary is exploring opportunities for us to volunteer to support others in ‘service above self’; two such opportunities are featured in the pages below including the United Way invitation I recently emailed to you inviting you to participate in the city-wide program to help feed kids in our community. We welcome your ideas for other club and/or partnership projects as we move through the next several weeks.

I wish you all my best, stay well, and please reach out directly to the Rotary office if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

President Tim